How To Teach Dogs To Trim Their Own Back Nails

June 30, 2017 by Fanna Easter

Trimming a Dog’s Back Nails

Dog Nail Trimming Tips — Mikkel Bigandt/Adobe Stock

Trimming a dog’s nails can be difficult, especially if your dog hates nail trims. Holding your dog down to trim his nails only makes him hate dog nail trimming even more, and eventually he’ll learn to bite. There’s an easier way to keep your dog’s nails trimmed, and you don’t even have to touch your dog’s nails!

Trimming Back Nails

Instead of trimming a dog’s nails, teach him to grind back his own nails. You’ll need pea-sized treats, a concrete surface and your dog. Sit outside, preferably on the ground, and toss treats along your driveway.

Now, there’s an art to tossing treats for maximum back nail grinding. Instead of throwing treats up high, toss them along the concrete surface—almost like skipping a rock across a lake. Listen carefully as your dog scampers across the rough surface; you should hear his nails scraping along the concrete. If not, grab really good treats (e.g. cheese chunks) and toss about 3-4 feet away from you. Once your dog learns to run after a treat, slowly increase the distance.

Keep sessions short, about 3-4 minutes, but practice every other day to shorten nails quicker. Running and chasing treats for a long distance can cause paw damage because your dog is using his paw pads to stop himself, so keep the total distance traveled under 6 feet.

Watch your dog’s paw pads during this process to ensure he’s not rubbing his paw pads raw, and only play this game on cool concrete.

WATCH: How to Teach a Dog To Trim His Own Back Toenails

Trimming Front Nails

For front nails, teach your dog to scratch his nails against a sandpaper-covered board. Dogs get really good at this behavior so much so they can scratch their nails bloody. For details and a video demonstrating this behavior, check out this article on DIY dog nails.

Keep dog training sessions short, about 2-3 minutes per day, and practice every other day. Once your dog’s front nails are shorter, it will take a day for the quick to recede back a bit, so your dog won’t bleed.

WATCH: Trimming Dog Nails With a Scratchboard

https://youtu.be/XXx8HTT2has

Put down those nail trimmers, and teach your dog to trim his own nails instead!

4 Dog Training Cues Every Dog Should Know

June 2, 2017 by Fanna Easter

Teach Your Dog These Basic Dog Training Cues

All dogs should learn a series of basic dog training cues to keep them safe while having fun. Most puppy group classes teach these important behaviors, but dogs are never too old to learn these training cues either.

Grab your clicker, super yummy treats and your dog. Practice daily for 1-2 minutes to ensure your dog’s behaviors are sharp. In addition, practicing these cues will provide your dog lots of mental enrichment, which is a good thing.

1. Touch

Touch is such a simple dog behavior that can be used anywhere and for anything; it’s my favorite cue for all dogs. Dogs love this behavior too because it’s easy and super fun.

Teach your dog to touch his nose to the palm of your hand when your hand is presented. There’s no verbal cue. Instead, your hand becomes the signal to play the “touch” game. Once your dog understands to purposefully touch his nose to the palm of your hand, move your hand farther away, so your dog walks over and touches.

This dog game can be played quickly or slowly, and can be played at your vet’s office, in the car, at the park or on the sofa. Touch is extremely useful when teaching loose leash walking and coming when called too.

2. Come When Called

Training a dog to return back to you on cue is invaluable. This training cue prevents dogs from running off and getting lost, chasing things, fence fighting, and so much more.

Start by playing this game indoors and use high value rewards. Every time your dog returns back to you, throw a party! Once your dog reliably returns to you indoors, it’s time to take this game outdoors and make it fun.

Try running away from your dog while rapidly repeating high-pitched sounds to prompt your dog to chase you indoors. When your dog returns to you, make treats rain from the sky. If you’re more interesting than the squirrel, your dog will return back every time.

3. Body Handling

All dogs should learn that body handling is super rewarding. Teach your dog that you touching his ears, paws, tail and belly make treats appear. Once your dog is comfortable with body handling, meaning he doesn’t pull away while you’re touching a body part, reward for longer sessions.

Start slow and click your dog when he comfortably allows you to touch and look into his ear for a second. Gradually increase the time by 1-2 second increments. Reward your dog for mouth handling too, which is a great introduction to tooth brushing. Don’t forget your dog’s rear end too! Click and treat when lifting your dog’s tail, touching his belly and touching his rear paws.

4. Leave It

The “leave it” behavior can be used anywhere too. Train your dog to ignore discarded chicken bones during walks, dropped food in the kitchen or another dog in the distance. “Leave it” is an amazing impulse control game too. Your dog will soon learn that his behavior really matters. Reward this behavior heavily and keep it light and fun.

UP NEXT: Does Positive Reinforcement Dog Training Really Work?

Does Positive Reinforcement Really Work?

May 23, 2017 by Fanna Easter

Yes, Positive Reinforcement Dog Training Does Work

Every single day, I’m asked whether or not positive reinforcement dog training works. While many pet owners purposely pursue a positive dog trainer, there are still doubts written across their face. This is very evident when working with reactive dogs; many pet owners just don’t trust the dog training technique.

As with anything, there are pros and cons, but you’ll notice very few cons with positive reinforcement dog training. When doubt creeps in, tell yourself to trust the process because positive dog training really works.

What is Positive Reinforcement Dog Training?

Positive reinforcement dog training is when you reward your dog for a specific behavior, so the behavior will happen more often. When a dog sits, and he gets a treat, he learns to sit more often. Positive reinforcement works even when pet owners don’t suspect it.

Positive Reinforcement Examples

If you open a crate door, while your dog is barking inside it, your dog learns barking means you’ll open the crate door. Begging is a good positive reinforcement example too. If you feed your dog while he sits next to your plate, he learns that sitting close to your plate makes food happen. Yup, this is positive reinforcement too!

Positive reinforcement works in the human world too. We work for paychecks—that’s our reward for working hard. Pats on the back, bonuses and hugs are human rewards too. Super yummy treats are easily great dog rewards because everyone loves food. Praise, pats, fun games, tidbits from your dinner plate, escaping a boring crate or moving away from a scary dog are great positive reinforcement examples for dogs too.

Pros and Cons of Positive Reinforcement Training

Pros

Easy to do: You can’t make mistakes.; just reward behaviors you want to see more often.
Fun for dog and pet owner: Positive reinforcement is fun because earning rewards is fun! Celebrating wins are much more fun than digesting mistakes.
Extremely effective: Hands down, positive reinforcement works much faster than punishment-based dog training methods. Don’t believe me? Check out the latest research on teaching children. 🙂
Can be done anywhere: Dog training sessions can happen anywhere; just grab food treats and go!
You don’t need fancy equipment: Throw out choke chains, pinch collars and electronic collars. All you need are a handful of treats, a clicker and your dog! If you’re training your dog outside, attach a leash to your dog’s body harness.

Cons (And Solutions)

Treat dependency: Dog will only work for treats.
- This is an easy fix; just fade training treats once a dog understands a cue.
Withholding treats is frustrating: In the beginning, this can happen.
- Again, this is a quick fix. Set a dog up for success and reward every single step toward a goal.
- If needed, take a few steps back and build until the desired behavior happens.
What if you don’t have treats? Simple. Use praise, games and the happy dance to reward your dog for good behaviors.

Dog Training: When & How To Add A “Down” Cue

May 12, 2017 by Fanna Easter

Adding the “Down” Cue

Dog Training Commands — lnichetti/Adobe Stock

When training your dog, it’s important to add a cue once the behavior has been fine-tuned. So often, pet owners will spend oodles of time training their dogs how to lie down, but fail to add a “down” cue to the behavior. Those who do use a training cue assume their dogs know what it means, but half the time their dogs don’t.

Dog training cues are vital when teaching a dog new behaviors because they serve as information for a dog. Check out these steps on when and how to add a “down” cue to the behavior.

Dog Training Commands vs. Cues

Dog training cues are a signal to perform a specific behavior. Many decades ago in the dog training world, cues were known as commands. Commands meant “do this or else” while cues signal information. Thankfully, the term “command” is considered outdated terminology and no longer used in dog training.

What to Use as Dog Training Cues

Cues can be anything. In dog training, cues are usually short verbal words or hand signals (either one or the other). Dogs learn contextual cues too, such as the presence of a leash means walks and the jingling of car keys means car rides.

Dogs usually respond to hand signals quicker than verbal cues because pet owners use hand signals consistently. Verbal cues are tricky because people say them differently, repeat the cue over and over, or add additional words.

When choosing a dog training cue, select a word or hand signal and use it consistently. If you’re using a verbal cue, use a flat tone. Imagine you’re giving directions to a stranger. High-pitched or low growl cues are confusing unless the pet owner uses this tone each and every time, which is very difficult for humans. Keep it simple and use your “follow these directions” voice. 🙂

When to Add a Cue

Most pet owners add training cues way too soon. When teaching a new behavior, it’s important to say nothing. Refrain from saying a cue during the learning process because the dog hasn’t learned the behavior yet.

Think about it this way: If someone is trying to teach you to stand on your left foot and continued repeating “mais,” you would get frustrated. Once you understand standing on your left foot makes it rain $100 bills and then someone said “mais” right before you stand on your left foot, you learn the meaning of “mais.” When practiced, you’ll quickly learn to stand on your left foot every time you hear “mais” because you know you’ll earn money.

Once a dog will readily offer a “down” behavior 90% of the time, it’s time to add a “down” cue. Offering a behavior means a dog will lie down during a dog training session or can be easily lured into the behavior. Take a moment and think of a short word or hand signal cue for the next step. Ensure your entire family is precisely aware of the “down” cue and that everyone says or does the signal consistently.

How to Add a “Down” Cue

Grab a handful of pea-sized high value training treats, a clicker (or marker word, such as “yes”) and start a session with your dog. Right before your dog offers the desired behavior, give the “down” cue and click/reward the behavior. Practice this 3-4 more times, then end the training session. After a 5-10 minute break, practice adding the cue before the behavior 5 more times, then end the session.

If, for some reason, your dog offers a “sit” or “stand” when given a “down” cue, wait until your dog chooses to do the “down” behavior. The moment your dog finally lies down, click and reward. When this happens, your dog is learning exactly what the dog training cue means, and is brilliantly problem solving. Reward generously (give 2-3 treats) when your dog chooses to lie down.

RELATED: Healthy Dog Treats

Reward Cued Behavior Only

Once your dog will lie down when given a “down” cue, it’s time to reward cued behavior only. This is called stimulus control, and it’s an important step. If you miss this step, your dog will learn to walk right in front of the TV (during movie night) and “down” for a treat. 🙂

WATCH: How to Add a “Down” Cue

How To Teach A Small Dog To Lie Down

May 10, 2017 by Fanna Easter

Teaching a Small Dog the “Down” Behavior

Teach a Dog to Lie Down — cynoclub/Adobe Stock

The three most challenging dog behaviors pet owners struggle to teach their dogs are walking on a loose leash, coming when called and lying down on cue. Let’s discuss simple tips for teaching a small dog to lie down. Teaching a small dog to lie down can be challenging, and it’s much different than teaching a large dog.

First, You’ll Need a Few Things

You’ll need 20 pea-sized pieces of yummy treats, a clicker (or verbal marker, such as “yes”) and your dog. Before a dog training session, chop up treats and place them in a bowl or treat bag next to you.

OK, here’s the hard part: Remain silent when training your small dog to lie down. Don’t say “down,” “lie down,” “platz” or whatever the verbal cue will be—this will happen later. Speaking while teaching a new behavior interrupts the learning process. Can you imagine your French teacher babbling while teaching you specific French words? Talking muddles the water. There are two ways to teach a small dog the “down” behavior: using a food lure and capturing the behavior.

Using a Food Lure

In a low distraction area, such as your living room with the TV turned off and/or children napping, sit on the floor with your treats. If your dog tries to mug you, move the treats away. Now, take a treat in your hand and place the food lure right on the tip of your dog’s nose. Think of a food lure as a magnet stuck to your dog’s nose. As the treat moves, so will your dog’s nose.

Front Half Down

With your dog sitting or standing, place the food lure on the tip of your dog’s nose and slowly lower the treat straight down to the floor. A dog will follow the lure, but sometimes “fall off,” so move the lure slowly. (Of course, it’s totally acceptable for your dog to nibble on the food lure as you lower it.)

The moment your dog follows the food lure and the front half of his body is almost on the ground, click and give your dog the treat. Practice this 4-5 times, and end the session for 5 minutes or so.

Back End Goes Down

It’s time to teach your dog to lower his entire body to the ground. Place the food lure on your dog’s nose, and lower it to the ground. Once he lowers his head, wait a few seconds for him to lower his rear end too and place his elbows on the ground.

If your dog pops back up into a stand, lure him down again and wait a few seconds. Usually, a dog will lower his rear end into a crouch, so click and reward this behavior. Continue practicing until his elbows touch the ground.

Capturing the Behavior

Many pet owners swear their small dogs just won’t lie down. Hmm, dogs have to sleep, right? Dogs lie around the house right? Capturing your dog lying down is a great way to teach your dog the “down” behavior.

Grab your dog training treats and bring your dog inside the bathroom. You may need to toss a few treats inside the bathroom to reassure your dog it’s not bath time. Now, close the door and have a seat on the toilet (yes, you can multi-task during this training session 🙂 ).

Watch your dog from the corner of your eye. The moment he lies down, click and toss a treat across the bathroom. Say nothing and wait for him to lie down again, then click and treat the moment he does. Practice a couple of times, and soon your small dog will lie down and look right at you. Reward it! 🙂

London Bridge

Sit on the ground with both legs straight out in front of you. Bend your left leg upward to form a triangle. Using your right hand, lure your dog under your bent left leg. As he crawls under your leg, he’s forced in a “down” position, so click and treat the moment this happens. Practice a few more times, then end the training session.

Next, Add a Cue

Practice teaching your small dog to lie down several times a day for 1-2 minutes. End the session by placing unused treats in the refrigerator for your next dog training session and putting your clicker in a drawer. Soon, your dog will offer a “down” behavior with neither food lures nor bent knees. When this happens, it’s time to add a verbal or visual cue.