When I had my first Springer, I did very little training with him, other than housebreaking. Because he was a sick dog, he was very calm and very little more was needed. With my second Springer, Spencer, I trained him the same as my first dog. While he was easy to housebreak, I did not win the other battles.

Battles such as when company came, the first thing Spencer needed to do was jump up on them to kiss their face. While some dog lovers did not mind, most people did! Next, was to show off his aerobic skills, by running circles in the living room and using the back of the sofa as a spring board! Then he would race up and down the hallway, to show off his speeding abilities! Other battles I lost included pulling on a leash, stealing food if no one was watching, chewing on furniture, chewing on toys, and clawing a wooden door. After he got older and matured some of these bad habits stopped, and the rest became not so dramatic.

When I got my third Springer, Eliot, he has by far the most dominant personality of the three dogs. I had decided soon after he came to live with us that he was going to dog school. Little did I know that the dog school was not for him but for me! Dog schools are about training you how to control your dog! I also used one of the Dogs for Dummies books (Amazon.com) on training and tricks.

So, if you come to visit, Eliot will not jump up. But if you enjoy food with us, he will beg (that is my husband’s fault). When I walk him, he does not pull, and he will heal when told. He can wave, shake, high five, double high five, wait and stay.

I am not bragging, because he is not perfect. As a pup he only chewed one thing that was not his. That thing was a red pen on my tan carpet, but I did manage to clean the ink stain before it set in. I highly recommend dog school and using dog training books. A well behaved dog is worth the time spent! Just last week, someone said to my husband, “That is the most well behaved dog I have ever seen.” It made me proud!

Tags: behavior, chewing, dog school, housebreaking

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 7:21 pm and is filed under Dog Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.