Whenever you bring a new dog into your home, there are always adjustments and training. If you have a new puppy, there is a lot of training and the next two years will be devoted to your dog. A well trained puppy becomes a well mannered adult. I’m going thru a trial and error time with my new dog.
Sophie is a rescue that came from a breeding kennel. She is mostly potty trained, but still has accidents. She doesn’t have very good boundaries regarding rough play, and my other dog Bailey is teaching her limits. And she needs a little help learning what is appropriate to chew… and not chew. But overall, she’s doing a really well.
She is a very sensitive dog so positive training is so important. She thrives knowing she is pleasing me and I let her know every time she does something correctly. And basically ignore the bad things. Dogs want to please you, so if they know they are doing it right, they strive to do it right again. I learned this method of training many years ago and my dogs have all become well adjusted dogs.
But what about the other way to train…. the alpha method. The Dog Whisperer made this method popular about 10 years ago and I’ve never been comfortable with it. I do not want my dog to fear me. If you have been led to believe that alpha training is the correct way to train, here is an article with more info on why you should avoid this training method.
