First of all, let me start by saying that anything that you do with this animal is going to take more time and dedication from to learn what to do, than it will for your dog. You want ALL the answers, start reading!!!!!
1) Housebreaking.
If done properly, housebreaking your Dog does not have to be as much of a hassle as some owners make it to be. Your Dog is a creature of habit. If it is taught where you want it to eliminate, and you control its food and water intake to regulate when it will eliminate, you will have a happy relationship relatively free of accidents.
The biggest mistake made by Dog owners is inconsistency. It is important that you first choose the method of housebreaking appropriate for you and your pet and secondly stick with it. We know of many Dog owners who are impatient or inconsistent when housebreaking their pets. The end result is a pet that is never fully housebroken.
So, remember the three P's - persistence, patience and praise, and you are guaranteed success.
Here are the 3 methods you can use to housetrain your Dog:
The Paper Method -
The paper method seems to work better with a puppy than with an adult Dog, although it can be used on both. To begin housetraining your pup with the paper method, first you must choose a location where your puppy will be staying until housetrained. Make sure the room is puppy proofed and that elimination on the floor in this area will not cause permanent damage to your home. A bathroom or small kitchen is usually a good place for this.
Once you have chosen an area, cover the entire floor with newspaper. If you have a young puppy, it will eliminate much more often than when it is older. So, just be prepared for many messes in the beginning. In the beginning, it is important to replace the paper as soon as possible after the elimination has occurred. This helps your puppy establish the area as its own, and it will help you get a better idea of where it favors doing its business.
As your puppy eliminates throughout the day, it may go in several different areas of the room. But, as it gets a little more used to its room, it will choose a certain area where it prefers to eliminate. When its preferred area for elimination is established, begin removing the paper from the rest of the room, only covering the area it uses. Make sure you leave its papered area large enough so that it does not miss the paper. If it misses the paper, the area is too small and you need to add more paper. When it uses its papered area, praise it. The more your puppy associates a reward with its choice of the paper instead of the linoleum, the quicker your puppy will be trained.
After it has established that it will use the papered area instead of the floor, begin moving the paper towards the area (presumably somewhere outside your house) where you want it to go when fully trained. The paper should only be moved a little at a time towards this location. If moving the paper confuses your puppy, you may only be able to move about one inch per day, until the paper reaches its final destination. Once your puppy understands that it is to eliminate only on the paper, and you have been able to move towards the area where it will eventually go outside, monitoring its habits will be much easier. Once the paper is completely removed, it will go to that area automatically and sniff or turn circles, letting you know it has to go out.
Crate Training -
Crate training can be used on both a puppy and an adult Dog and is probably the most effective and efficient way to housetrain your pet. No Dog will want to eliminate in a place it considers to be its own and therefore, unless left in its crate for too long, it will not eliminate in its crate.
Once every hour, place your Dog on a leash and walk it in the area where you want it to go potty. If it has not gone in five minutes, return it to its crate for another hour. After another hour goes by, the dog that did not go last time will most likely go this time. When it does go, be sure and praise it profusely and return it to its crate. The excitement in your voice when you are praising it will help it better understand that THIS is the place you want it to go.
Once that is established, it will do its best to make you happy by eliminating in its designated area. Once you feel it understands where it is to go to potty, you may lessen its crate time, and begin opening up its area to more than just its crate. Be sure and open up its area a little at a time so it clearly establishes the larger area as "its area", increasing the desire to keep its area clean. Eventually, you will be able to open up your entire home, but this is only after a lot of time has been spent training and proof that it understands.
Litter Pan Method -
This method will have the best chance of success with an young puppy but an older Dog may be able to litter train with success as well. Similar to paper training, litter box training begins in a confined area such as a bathroom or kitchen. Although you may be able to use a traditional cat litter box for this purpose, pet supply stores do sell doggy litter boxes. They are shaped a little different and are a bit larger than the traditional kitty box. Also available are special litters and papers that should eventually be used in the box.
Like paper training, the beginning stages have paper lining the entire floor of the room. You continually change any soiled paper until the puppy chooses a place on the floor it likes to eliminate. Once the puppy has eliminated in an area about the size of a litter pan for approximately two weeks, place a litter pan on the floor and paper inside the litter pan. When it goes and does its business inside the litter box, make sure to praise it profusely. It has got to establish this is the correct behavior before it will be comfortable with it.
Once it is used to the litter box with the paper, you may begin the change to doggy litter if desired. As time goes on, you may add additional litter until eventually the paper is gone and only litter remains. If you choose this method, you must clean the litter box every time your Dog eliminates. It will not go in a dirty box. Failure to consistently clean the litter box will result in your puppy reverting back to the floor.
Follow any of the above 3 methods consistently, and you should soon have a fully house-trained Dog!
2) The barking issue.
You have to realize that your dog's barking is something that you have to understand. He barks for two reasons. a) To let whomever he/she can't see out there, know that it's in there. b) to warn you that something is out there that you don't know about. Dogs sinse of hearing and smell are so much more accute that humans,they hear and smell things long before we do. I suggest that when the dog barks, initially you make a show of going to wherever it is and looking to see what it's barking at. Then you can say, "Good boy/girl"! and now SHHH or quiet, and calm her/him down. After a while, and it will take a while, your dog will begin to just give 1 or 2 barks, then look at you for what to do next. When it stops barking after you've said SHHH or quiet, give it a treat and manual and verbal praise.
3) Teaching your dog to sit.
This is a form of obedience.
The key to success in training your Dog is understanding the psychology of your pet - i.e. how its mind works, and then incorporating that with proven training techniques and a few training aids.
Remember, your Dog is not a human and therefore does not think or react as a human would. Also, your pet does not verbally communicate with humans and you should not think that it does.
It may recognize the word "out" and associate it with going outside, but that is only because it is a common action that occurs consistently before it goes outside.
If you change the verbal word you use to communicate with your Dog along the way, your pet will no longer understand what you want. It is important that whatever word you choose to give a command, you stick with that same word each and every time, without the least alteration.
Also, before you can even begin training your Dog, your must establish that you are the "Master" and your Dog is the "Follower".
Remember, the Dog has an inherent trait that makes it a social animal, needing a dominance subordination hierarchy. You must establish that you are the leader of its pack before you will be successful with any type of training. This is called "social reinforcement".
The following items will help you establish that leadership role in the life of your Dog:
i) Do not compromise with your Dog. For example, if you want it to perform a desired behavior, don't just give up and walk away when it does not perform. Instead, use some type of reinforcement to show it that its behavior was not correct, such as withholding the
treat or toy.
ii) You should always initiate interaction with your Dog and terminate the interaction with your Dog rather than the other way round.
iii) Avoid tending to your pet's every desire. Rewards should only be given for desired behavior, and should never be given just like that.
iv) When you are spending time with your Dog, pet, talk and touch it often. This will help establish the trust needed to truly set you forth as the leader.
Obedience Training Styles
Just like housebreaking, when you are training your Dog, the key thing is consistency. You need to pick a training style that is suitable for you and your Dog and stick with it.
The two most popular types of obedience training are leash and collar training and reward training.
In the leash and collar type of training, the leash is used in the beginning as the tool to teach the correct behavior, then once the behavior is learned, the leash is only used to correct unwanted behavior.
A mistake often made by the novice owner with this type of training is they forget the leash is used only as a tool.
Often a novice owner will abuse the leash to nag at the Dog.
This defeats the purpose of the leash. The leash must be used only to get the Dog to obey. It is used to establish the leadership role between master and pet, but to be successful in training, the Dog must understand the command with or without the leash and you must be able to utilize any tool at hand to solicit the correct behavior from your pet, not just a leash.
Reward training usually incorporates food rewards or a reward that is associated with getting food. The associated award could be the command "Good". Many owners now use a clicker as an associated reward.
A secret to making the reward trained Dog reliable is working the pet around distractions in its
environment and teaching proper socialization.
If you only train your Dog in the house, it will not be used to extra stimuli. The well trained
Dog, then exposed to unfamiliar people, may not respond as desired. When reward training, it is important you train both inside and outside your home to make sure your Dog is exposed to as much stimuli as possible.
Another important tool in communication between you and your Dog is the tone of your voice when delivering a command.
The command "Good" will have a more positive tone. The excitement in your voice will be picked up by the Dog and it will eventually associate it with the feelings of acceptance for that response to the previous command.
The word "No" will have a more forceful tone, usually associated with a negative response, such as a stern tug on the leash if leash training. The Dog will eventually establish that tone as an indication for an undesired response to your command.
As you move on in your training, the tone will be as important to the Dog as the command itself.
Also frequently overlooked by the novice owner is body language. Once you get to know your pet better, you will understand its meaning behind specific body motions.
An owner who really understands his/her Dog will see even the slightest head movement in certain situations and understand exactly what it means. This enables the owner to give a command prior to a behavior occurring. The most rewarding method results in the dog wanting to please you, and wanting to do the things you want it to do.