In-Home Obedience & Guard Dog Training

Reasons to Train

• You may want a watch dog trained well enough to alert you of trouble. A fully trained guard dog, however, can frighten a prowler away or even attack, dog experts at PupDogTraining say. A pet dog that will not be expected to be on guard will fit into the household better with obedience training. Training can help stop problems like begging, biting, barking, digging, chewing and jumping. Obedience training makes a dog respect its owner and other people, along with giving it more self-confidence. An untrained dog is more likely to be given up or become difficult to control and dominant, PupDogTraining advises.

Obedience

• Training your dog at home gives it limits and manners so it does not cause problems. Learning basic daily commands--sit, down, come, heel, stay--helps the dog stop bad habits and behave acceptably, trainers at Free Dog Training Info say. Be directly involved in your dog's training so your pet will see you as its boss, PupDogTraining advises. It adds that being consistent with the training, and keeping sessions brief and fun, will help make obedience part of your dog's normal daily behavior.

Rewards and Punishment

• Giving your dog rewards and praise right after it does something right gives it a reason to repeat good behavior, says the Humane Society of the United States. Do not punish a dog in obedience training if it cannot do something that it has not fully learned yet. You risk cutting off progress if you scold, yell or push the dog too much, PupDogTraining says. Once your dog is well trained, you can ease off the rewards, but don't move too quickly or the dog may show frustration, the humane society's trainers advise.

Guard Dogs

• Give your dog obedience training first if you want it to be a guard dog. PupDogTraining recommends socializing your dog, teaching it obedience and limits and asserting yourself as the "alpha," or boss, before attempting guard training. If you just want a dog that will bark at an intruder, guard dog training will be too much. Guard dogs must be precisely trained to know when to guard or attack and when to stop, the experts at PupDogTraining say. Types of training include police dog training and schutzhund training, a German program that combines protection with social behavior, but most home protection dogs are not likely to need that much. A loyal, obedience-trained German shepherd or Doberman pinscher will likely protect most homes and families adequately. If you plan to train a guard dog, it's best to get professional advice, PupDogTraining warns.

Breeds

• Most breeds can become good watch dogs, including German shepherds and Doberman pinschers, as well as boxers and Yorkshire terriers Any good family dog will alert its owners of possible danger, PupDogTraining says. Breeds that make good guard dogs include those with herding tendencies, as well as German shepherds, Belgian malinois, rottweilers and Dobermans. Obedience training can be done with any breed of dog.

Warnings

• Be careful when deciding to train a guard dog because the dog can be a weapon with the wrong behavior at the wrong time, experts at PupDogTraining warn. You must make sure your guard dog is strictly trained to know appropriate times and situations for action so that it does not become confused and attack a child, for example. Owners of protection dogs should check local laws and insurance restrictions, along with any liabilities, PupDogTraining strongly advises.