By Mary Jane Anderson

To correct any problem you are having with your dog, your must work with your dog. Working with your dog and training will improve the most unmannered dog with patience and basic obedience commands such as “Sit,” “Down,” and “Stay.” Every dog should learn these commands and respond to them immediately.

With any behavior problem the owner must know what situation motivates their dog to misbehave. Does your dog jump up on you when you come home? Maybe, you are unknowingly encouraging him to jump to get a pat on his head. Think each problem through and fit the correction to the problem and your dogs particular need. For this jumping problem, a “Sit/Stay” command would solve the problem as the dog learns by sitting and staying, he will get his reward by getting a pat for good behavior.

Another example is our dog walking without any problem down a quiet country road. But, take the same dog on Main Street with all the traffic, meeting people walking their dogs, or a loose dog, cat or squirrel and walking becomes a major problem.

Many problems in the home are minor and accepted but if you want a well trained and obedient dog in public, you will need daily reinforcements of his behavior when he walks on Main Street.

There are three important factors you must consider as you train your dog. The first is your voice. There are three different levels of intonation: a high voice for praise, a normal authoritative voice for commands and low controlled voice for correction.

The second factor is confinement. If your dog is causing a problem, which usually happens at the wrong time, you should confine your dog to a crate or a special area. Also, if you are frustrated or angry, take “time out” to cool off. When you are relaxed, return to your dog. Then, you will be able to calmly deal with the situation.

The final factor is noise association. Many trainers use a can filled with pennies or a boat foghorn to startle and distract a dog, when he is misbehaving. Always remember, yelling at your dog will never correct a problem and corrections must be done immediately when the dog is misbehaving. Otherwise, corrections after the fact will not help you to solve the problem.

By spending time, and with consistency, and patience, you will be able to correct any problem that has developed with your dog. After all, you will have your dog as long as 10 or 15 years.

Those years will be happy because you taught your dog good manners!