Dog Training Obedience - Boundaries

Dog Training Obedience � 1st Step, Communicate the Idea
The first thing you need to do with this exercise is show your dog what areas you want off limits. Depending on your home you may have to do some alterations here. You want some sort of visible, defining boundary between �allied� and �enemy� territory. So if it is a room that you want off limits, and that room has a doorway, that will do. If there is a flooring surface change between ok and off-limits, such as carpet to tile, that will serve as a boundary as well. If it is just a portion of a room or some other designation that isn�t visibly clear you are going to have to create a boundary. The best way to do that is to place some masking tape temporarily on the floor to make a boundary. This is only a temporary step. I once had a client with an enormous house that needed several off-limits areas for their dog. By the time I was finished there was more masking tape in that house than a painter would use. But after a few days their dog understood the boundaries and we were able to remove the tape.

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Once your boundaries are clearly marked you are ready to go. For the sake of an example I am going to show you how to teach your dog from going into the bathroom, (that area is off-limits for my dogs) however, this dog training techniques and principles are the same if it is a doorway or a taped line on the floor.

Begin with your dog on leash. Walk toward the bathroom and as you step over the threshold let one of your hands trail behind you holding the leash, and therefore preventing your dog from entering with you. You aren�t going to go deep into the bathroom, just one step, but your arm will be stretched out beyond the border doorway so that your dog is on one side and you are on the other.

So keep this up. Keep entering the bathroom all the while making sure that he doesn�t enter in behind you. As you step over the threshold and prevent him from entering you should praise him as he stays on the other side. Mix it up a little bit. Do one session then walk him through the house to distract him and then approach the bathroom again. Do this a lot. You will soon notice that he starts putting on the brakes on his own as he reaches the boundary. As soon as he reaches this point you are ready to move on to the next step.

At this stage it is important to never give your dog the chance to make a mistake. This exercise is not fully trained so if you were to now just give him free run of the house he may just go into the bathroom. If he does that while you aren�t around to supervise he is training himself to go to into the bathroom whenever you aren�t around. Solution? Supervise him constantly while home, when not at home put him in a crate.

Dog Training Obedience � Step 2, Using Compulsion to Proof it
The second phase is going to start out the same way as the first, with your dog on leash. Approach the bathroom again but this time don�t let your hand with the leash trail behind you. Instead, keep the leash slack and step into the bathroom. If he stops at the boundary on his own, great! Praise him. If he starts to enter the bathroom you need to immediately jump back into the hallway as you give him a swift jerk, or correction, on the leash. Again, don�t tell him anything. He may be confused as to why he got that correction but if it happens enough times he will soon realize that he only gets corrected when he tries to enter the bathroom.

Repeat this process over and over. At this point you should break out your long line. Use it so you can venture further into the bathroom while still maintaining leash control of your dog. When your dog consistently puts on the breaks automatically at the bathroom doorway, even if you are deep in the bathroom, it is time to go to the next step.

Dog Training Obedience � Step 3, Test it
At this stage your dog knows that there is a boundary at the bathroom. He can�t enter and he gets praised when he doesn�t enter. But up until now he has only seen it from one perspective, that is to say, while following you. Now we need to train him to not enter regardless of whether or not you are near the bathroom. It is time to set him up.

Have your dog drag around a long line. Put some sort of enticing food in the bathroom and wait. If he even steps one foot into the bathroom in pursuit of the treats grab the long line and quickly give a strong correction and then ignore him. Pretend it wasn�t you who gave him the correction. Remember, we want the boundary to speak for itself, so better for him to not associate the correction with you.

Now the task is to come up with creative ways such as this to try to get him to enter the bathroom so that you can give him a correction.

If you can do this many times over the course of a few days you will have successfully trained your dog to respect a new boundary.

Dog training obedience

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