Your puppy has a life of its own, it has its own needs, it has its own wants and depending on its breed, of course, its own nature and lifestyle. Even though you are most likely not a teacher or a specialist in raising your puppy we are here to help you learn how to become the master of your dog.

When we first begin the venture of getting a Bullmastiff puppy and raising one, most of us are dummies. That is why we are here, to gain more knowledge and a better understanding what it takes to raise our puppy. The goal here at “Puppy Training for Dummies” is simple, it is to help you learn more about what you will need to know to keep, raise and teach your puppy how to become a better dog.

It will not turn you into a seasoned professional from an absolute novice. What it will do is bring you some of the basic, yet extremely important facts which will help you avoid possible discipline and health problems you might encounter while raising your Bullmastiff puppy.

Quite often dog owners fail to consider these facts and as a result they end up giving up, only causing their dog behavior problems to become worse! Giving up is never a solution. So, let’s rumble, instead…

Bullmastiff puppy training can be a chore; but for many it is a pleasurable art. And with just a little work and knowledge it can be the same for you. This is where dummy puppy owners differ from the rest. A dummy owner might think that their Bullmastiff puppy is the smartest dog in the world. They may expect as much from their puppy. They often treat it as if it were the most intelligent creature in the world and must learn everything right away.

They find it difficult to realize that a Bullmastiff puppy may, as does any other puppy, need time to learn things. Often this lack of patience may lead them to think that they have tried everything but their puppy just doesn’t seem to want to learn. The question here is. Has everything they tried also included all the things they need to know about raising and training a Bullmastiff puppy?

As you are training it your “Bullmastiff puppy” is continuously learning. It is a fact, they are very eager to learn. That is one of the major differences that set them apart from many other breeds. So the first and foremost thing we want you to understand in “Puppy Training for Dummies” is this, your dog will be learning by default. So the question you might address is, not how much your puppy can learn but what it is learning. Mainly is it learning good or bad habits?

Another important point in Puppy Training for Dummies is about having positive training attitude, this will help put you in a win-win frame of mind. What we mean by this is that when training your puppy you should keep this in mind. Your puppy obeys your commands because it is keen to do so, not because it is afraid of you.

People who take the latter view are more likely to treat their puppies harshly. In the end they feel happy that their training was successful, but actually, they end up raising an unhappy dog. Think of your poor dog. How can fear possibly bring happiness for him? The bottom-line is this: raise your dog with Puppy First attitude.

Finally, as you leave our Puppy Training for Dummies mini workshop one most important, all-in-one piece of advice we want you to take with you is this. Educate yourself about raising your Bullmastiff puppy. Do not stop learning. This way you will be able to teach your puppy (later on your dog) to continue to learn.

Furthermore, in order for you to always stay one step ahead of your dog, and more importantly, to keep your dog from manipulating your behavior instead of the other way round, set yourself on learning so you will learn too.

To sum up, here are five things we have covered in this Bullmastiff Puppy – Puppy Training for Dummies mini workshop:

1. Have patience and treat your puppy with a Puppy First attitude

2. Trust your puppy for its innate tendency and potential of learning

3. Allow your puppy sufficient time to assimilate what you teach it

4. Don’t give up or leave your puppy to get spoiled

5. Learn, learn, learn, and always continue to learn

If you would like to know more about raising and training your Bullmastiff puppy, check out Bullmastiff Dogs and Puppies at Amazon

and ‘Puppy First’ dog portal.

Another good book you should read is “Bullmastiff Puppy Training for Dummies, a Reference for the Rest”. It will help solve many of your puppy training problems

Ideally, puppies must be taught to restrain from biting before they are 4 month of age. And the best way for them is to learn it when they are still a part of their original family. They naturally pick biting etiquette from their mother, their litter mates and other members of the pack. The need for your puppy training biting arises usually because we take them away from their environment before this learning process is completed.  If we don’t take over the training from where they left off it can grow worse and maybe we might think that the problem has not yet occurred, it may become too late for a simple solution and therefore much harder to address when it does occur.

Bullmastiff puppies are loving and affectionate most of the times. Only rarely does something specific happen that makes them bite. Here are some of the reasons why even a wonderful puppy may have or develop a biting problem. Along the way, we will also suggest some techniques that can work in puppy training biting.

Teething – Just like our kids, it is normal for puppies to chew on things while teething; It is their natural urge and needs to be provided for. Give your puppy an outlet for biting. Make plenty of chewies and toys available for him to bite on and play with.

Lack of Socialization – A major cause of biting is lack of socialization. A puppy that has not had enough time and company of its litter mates will not have realized how biting can hurt. They will not have learnt to inhibit or control their biting. If you allow your puppy to play with other puppies, they will bite one another everywhere every now and then while rolling and tumbling. This interaction will teach them how biting too roughly can result in reactions. This is something puppies can learn from their litter mates or pack-mates.

Hyperactivity – Puppies’ are known to have higher energy levels that urge them to engage in equally higher levels of physical activity. If you don’t cater for this, they can find biting as an alternative outlet. Allow them sufficient time and opportunity to move around and play. Puppies that do not play can be much more hyperactive and destructive in the home as well.

Fear and Aggression– When puppies are afraid of something or someone they will either avoid and leave or act aggressively in an attempt to make it, the problem, go away – fight or flight response. Your puppy can be afraid of the presence of strangers, or other animals including dogs. Try not to expose them to these situations before they are properly socialized. In addition to socializing with other puppies or socialized dogs, your puppy also needs to play with children and other family members. Puppies that are not socialized with humans often end up biting them.

Fore more information on your puppies biting problem and how to solve it go here…

Accessories for Dog Training

1. Dog collars

There are a lot of moral issues revolving around the use of dog training collars. But at the end of the day, the dog owner’s compassion for his dog will turn a dog collar into a productive tool. Any dog owner should have a dog training collar for obedience training. Just by pushing a button, a dog owner can convey his message to his dog.

There are dog collars that have a lot more features than others. One important thing you must check is the range of the remote control. Instead of raising your voice to shout out a command, you can simply use the remote control.

2. Dog Muzzles for Your Dog

Biting behavior in your dog is a no-no. If your dog has biting problems, you are in for a training challenge. What’s difficult when your dog bites is that he can bite a person and injure him. A dog muzzle can make your dog safe to bring to any affair like a picnic and a dog park.

If barking is the main problem, you can also use a muzzle. But make sure you understand that teaching your dog to wear a muzzle is not a walk in the park. Training to have a muzzle on should be complemented with training without the muzzle.

3. Dog Harness

Have a dog harness ready when you’re training your dog. Walking with your dog is easier with your dog wearing a harness. This harness will make traveling with your dog in tow easier. Some collars also lead to neck problems. Choose a harness over a collar especially if your dog has a delicate spine.

Visit this website for information on: Dog Muzzles

In fact, of all the numerous typical reasons given by people to forgo dogs in the house, even by folks who normally long to own one, food costs is the least difficult to deal with. Veterinarian visits are an important expense, and maybe the single largest one of all.

Walking twice a day, every day, no matter what, is quite the chore. And hair all over the place or chewed-up slippers and furniture may be the final straw. But simple dog food? Not a problem. Just use a coupon!

The newspapers are full of dog food coupons every week if not every day, as well as the local supermarket’s own sales circulars. Then there are those available via direct mail marketing, or those placed in advertisements in dog-owners’ magazines. And lastly, there’s always the internet! Specialty sites along with general coupon sites are sure to host them.

It doesn’t take much to feed a dog. In a worse case scenario, they can actually live off a lot of what humans eat. However do be careful and research the matter carefully first when considering such an option. Many common human foods are actually harmful to dogs, however the vast majority are just fine, if not always ideal.

As an example, grapes and chocolates are toxic to dogs, while rice and of course meat is just fine – but even then, care still needs to be taken, for chicken bones can be more brittle and can present a choking harzard.

Training collars particularly those that vibrate or generate electricity are quite controversial because they might show traumatic for the pet. Some research suggests that a lot of harm could be carried out with the incorrect use of an electric dog training collar. This really is why experts suggest that you simply seek advice from a dog behaviorist or perhaps a specialist coach who has experience with the use of electrical collars and their multiple applications. The online guide available may not be as helpful as a specialist’s hand in the dog’s training.

The major problem with the use of an electric dog training collar is that your pet finally ends up generating improper associations among numerous encounters and also the electric shocks. The Polsky examine, for instance concludes that the electrical shocks brought on by collars boost dog’s aggression and unknown conduct. Dogs that were subject matter to such treatment attacked and bit their victims continuously and with out any kind of caution.

The majority of problems appear when the electric dog training collar is used randomly and chaotically because the dogs turn out to be anxious and change their conduct in a damaging path. Nevertheless, technological research has examined creatures which obtained light shocks only if performing a particular behavior. Within a managed training atmosphere, the technique was used professionally and also the creatures did not create any kind of problem in any way.

This implies that you should not try out to use the electric dog training collar within understanding precisely what you’re doing. The consequences for the animal and for your well-being extremely rely in your much better view. Therefore, I personally advise against the usage of an electric dog training collar except you’ve qualification for the work. The discussion on the topic is quite warmed up, and it is not going away too quickly.

A few organizations promote and help the usage of electric collars whilst other people are completely in opposition to these. In fact, the usage of shock collars has been banned in certain countries, because it the case with Wales, in the Uk. Criticism stays higher as tons of dog owners have tested the collars on on their own and declare how the electric shock is similar to sticking a finger in a light plug!

The goal of housetraining your puppy is to teach it to eliminate (urinate and defecate) outdoors, or in a designated indoor area, rather than inside the house. You want to break your puppy’s habit of eliminating at its own convenience. For effective housetraining your puppy you will need to plan and decide beforehand exactly how you want your Bullmastiff puppy to relieve.

For this purpose the three crucial questions that need to be answered first are:

1. Where exactly you would like your bullmastiff puppy to eliminate? Will it be OK if it chooses to relieve anywhere except inside your house? Or do you want it to recognize a specific area outside(or even indoors) for this purpose.

A puppy’s relieving anywhere outdoors is not as big a concern for countryside dwellers as it is for those living in urban areas. If you live in a city, designating an area inside your house will be more appropriate. Consider using a litter box or sand box if you live in an apartment and have no other suitable place to designate for your puppy’s relieving.

2. Do you want your bullmastiff puppy to follow a specified schedule for eliminating? Or would you be able to tolerate its ‘going’ at its own convenience?
In order to set and control it elimination schedule you will need to put your pup on a feeding schedule. In this way you will know what time of day it usually needs to eliminate. You can then take it out only at those times instead of every hour.

Crate training is also a very useful and proven method for setting up an elimination schedule for your puppy. Housetraining your puppy using a crate you can easily make it have good bladder and bowel control.

3. Would you like to supervise your puppy’s relieving? Will it be possible for you or someone else in the house to keep track of and attend to when your puppy needs to eliminate?Arrange for this for first few weeks until you are absolutely sure your puppy will not go wrong if there’s no one to oversee. Young puppies need to eliminate several times a day. So, in order to avoid any mistakes or accidents it will be best to keep track of your puppy’s relieving using a diary.

Housetraining your puppy successfully is one of the corner stones to overall dog grooming process. And considering the above questions and options should help you take a good start to successfully achieve this goal.

If you would like to learn more please checkout our http://puppyfirst.com

Your puppy crate or kennel crate is a dog house within your house. Just as you enjoy having your own room where you can go for peace and privacy, your Bullmastiff puppy also loves having his own room. Unlike a cage which is typically used for absolute confinement or punishment the purpose of a kennel crate is to provide for your puppy’s natural instinct of living in a den-like enclosure which it can come out of or go into according to a set routine which it loves to follow.

Additionally, in the process of crate training your puppy the crate serves as a very effective housebreaking tool. It helps prevent your puppy from destructive chewing. It keeps your little Bullmastiff puppy away from many a potentially dangerous item or situation. It can even help reduce your puppy’s separation anxiety.

Crate training your puppy also helps when you want to teach your puppy to have bladder and bowel control. Puppies naturally dislike soiling their ‘dens’ or resting/sleeping quarters, so if your approach to crate training your puppy is appropriate, your puppy will learn to wait and hold back from urinating or defecating until released from its crate instead of eliminating inside at its own convenience. What this means is that using a crate you can exploit short term confinements as a technique to inhibit your dog from eliminating when confined, so that she will want to eliminate when released and taken to an appropriate area.

An important thing to remember about crate training your puppy is that a crate, or any other means of confinement, should never be used as a punishment. If you do so, your Bullmastiff puppy will begin to hate the crate. It will no more prefer its crate as a place to rest in.

If your aim for your puppy is to happily use the crate throughout its lifetime, make its crate experience a fun thing to do repeatedly. Go as far as to furnish it with toys and treats, attach a water dispenser, place a towel or blanket to make a comfortable bed or sofa for it to enjoy sleeping or sitting on it.

Other good uses of crate training your puppy are portability and social acceptability. As any other portable household item, it can be moved from place to place within or outside your house as and when necessary. While outside, crates serve as a travel cabins for your bullmastiff puppy. You can freely and fearlessly travel by car or plane. Even some public places like hotels or hospitals now-a-days allow dog entrance with the only requirement that they are crated and crate trained.

To find more information on Bullmastiff puppy training, go to http://PuppyFirst.com

Why Dogs Eat Poop

Dogs will eat poop for any number of reasons. The simplest explanation is that they may be hungry or they might be trying to clean up their space. If you do not feed your dog enough or if they are in a dirty pen, they will work to resolve these issues, often resorting to eating their excrement.

There are also health issues related to poop eating. A dog might not be getting enough nutrients due to parasites or worms that suck the nutrients dry of their food. They simply might not be getting the nutrients they need from the dry food they receive each day.

Other dogs will eat poop as an anxious habit, or even because they have seen you picking it up and are trying to mimic your behaviour in their own way. They could also be copying other dogs eating poop.

The important thing to know is that no matter why dogs eat poop in your household, the problem can be solved relatively easily.

How to Adjust the Behaviour

If your dog likes to eat poop, the first thing you should do is check for any health problems. This is especially true if the dog never did it before and has started recently. Dogs that eat poop regularly could have worms or other parasites or may not have enough food. See your vet to determine why this is happening and then treat it immediately.

If your vet gives your dog a clean bill of health, they don’t have any other problems that could lead directly to the issue, and they don’t stop doing it, you need to address whatever other problems might be causing them to eat poop.

Start by keeping the yard clean of poop. Remove the poop from your yard every day, check the paths near your home and pick up any poop your dog leaves. It doesn’t matter why dogs eat poop if it is not a health problem – it is behavioural and can be treated by removing the source of the problem.

Adjusting the Behaviour

Alternatively, you can take other measures to stop the eating. It might seem strange that bitter apple and cayenne pepper would be worse tasting for a dog than the poop, but they are. Additionally, if you feed you dog a spoonful of pumpkin puree a day, the poop will taste much less appealing to them. You can also spray them with a water bottle or use a sharp “No!” whenever they start to eat poop.

Ultimately, removing the cause of the problem is the easiest way to solve your dog’s coprophagia issues, but if you frequently take you dog to dog parks or let them off the leash outside, you’ll want to take more advanced steps. Be consistent, watch them carefully and by all means, don’t let them lick your face.

Although this may seem like a relatively minor inconvenience, it’s actually a pretty serious thing – not only can it be dangerous for your dog (for example, if he’s heading towards a busy road and ignores your ‘come’ command), but it’s also detrimental to your relationship with your dog. Disobedience is rooted in disrespect. When your dog deliberately does not obey you, he’s saying, “I don’t respect your authority enough to do what you want me to do”. If you allow him to get away with this, you are allowing him to form the habit of passive-aggression. This is not something that can just be left to “fix itself” – the problem will worsen, not get better, if you leave it. It’s very important that your dog recognizes that you outrank him in the social hierarchy of the household. The concept of alpha status is one that you need to be familiar with in order to maintain a healthy, functional relationship with your dog. It may sound cruel from a human perspective, but your dog is happier when he knows that someone else is in charge of making all the decisions – including his day-to-day behavior and obedience levels. It is not possible to have a good owner/dog relationship if he does not understand that you are the clear-cut authority figure: he must know that he’s beneath you in the chain of command. Your first step in dealing with generalized disobedience is to reestablish your dominance. Here are some tips on doing so: – When leaving the house and the car, you must always leave before your dog. This is unmistakable alpha behavior: to a dog, only the alpha leaves first. If you allow him to exit the house or the car ahead of you, you are saying to him, “You’re stronger than me; you should go first because you’re the decision-maker”. Inside doors aren’t so important, but every time you leave the house or the car to go outside, you must make him wait for you to go first, until you release him from the ‘wait’ with a release-word. – Make him wait for his food. Your family and you must always eat before him – if it means he has to wait an extra half hour or so for his meal, it won’t hurt him any. When you put his food down for him, make him sit and wait until you release him to eat. Keep his feeding schedule varied, so he’s always aware that you’re in charge of his food – don’t allow him to form expectations of when he should be fed. – Don’t allow him free, uninhibited access to the whole house. The house is your den: you’re allowing him to be inside. Remind him that you’re allowing him into your den – it’s a privilege for him to be there, not a right – by sometimes allowing him inside, and sometimes sending him outside for half an hour or so. Keep certain areas of the house strictly for your own, as well (such as your bed, certain pieces of furniture, or some rooms). – Never allow your dog to initiate play. If he’s nudging you for attention or to start a game, you may think that it’s cute and affectionate; but what he’s really saying is, “I’m the boss and I’m telling you to play with me right now.” If he starts bothering you for attention, ignore him for a few moments: get up and do something else. Wait until he’s given up before initiating the play yourself. Playtime is a fantastic way to bond with your dog, but it should be done on your terms, not his. – When you arrive home, don’t rush straight over to him and shower him in affection. That is not alpha behavior at all – an alpha dog, upon arriving home, doesn’t go over to the other dogs and throw himself at them, saying, “Here I am! I missed you guys! Let’s have a cuddle!” – he ignores everyone else, relaxes for a short while, maybe has something to eat, and only interacts with them when he’s good and ready. Even though you’re probably good and ready to interact with your dog as soon as you get home, it will make more sense to him – and underscore your authority – if you ignore him for just three to five minutes upon arriving home. Another fantastic way of counteracting disobedience is to start – and maintain – a basic obedience training plan. You don’t have to do anything fancy or super-demanding; just ten minutes a day of learning and enforcing commands. This can drop to five minutes a day once your dog is completely reliable with the commands. Here are some tips for a good training program: – Never give a command that you cannot reinforce immediately if he chooses to disobey you. Every time your dog takes the opportunity to ignore your command, he’s learning that it’s both easier and a lot more fun to ignore you. For example, if you call across the park for him to ‘come’ as he’s playing with some other dogs, the choices are clear-cut to him: he could cut his play-time short and come to you, or he could ignore you – which is easy, since you’re so far away – and continue to have fun. Until your dog is completely reliable with commands, he should be on a long line or retractable lead so that you can enforce them if necessary. – Remember to use your voice to the best effect. Praise should be in a light, cheery, happy tone of voice; if possible, smile at the same time. It makes a difference to your tone of voice, and most dogs will study your face to make sense of your expressions, too. Corrections should be uttered in a stern, brook-no-nonsense tone: you don’t need to shout, but your voice should be low and authoritative. – When you’re verbally interrupting your dog, it’s more effective to shout, “OI!” or “Ah-ah-ah!” rather than saying, “No”. The sounds are more clear-cut, and you’ll get a better response. – Do not repeat a command. Remember, you should be training on a leash or a long line: if he ignores you, he gets a short, sharp tug (some call it a ‘flick’) on the lead to remind him that you’re present, and you’re in charge. Repeating yourself teaches him to wait for the command to be repeated at least once before he obeys you. – Five to fifteen minutes per day is an adequate amount of time for training. Any more than this in one sitting, and your dog’s concentration will likely lapse: fifteen minutes of intense training, where your dog is concentrating hard on what you want, is enough to send even the most energetic dogs to their beds for a snooze afterwards. – You can move on to more advanced training and ‘tricks’ if you feel like it, once your dog’s got the basics completely sussed; but it’s not something that you should feel like you have to do. – Another great option is formal obedience training classes. They’re a great way of socializing your dog (he gets to interact with other dogs, and those dogs’ owners), and also teaches him to concentrate on what you want despite the manifold distractions taking place around him. It’s also very helpful to have face-to-face contact with a trained professional: they can pick up on any mistakes you might be making, and give you advice for tightening up your training techniques. For more information For further information on typical doggie behavior, including a fantastic resource for training how-to’s and loads of detailed information on preventing and dealing with problem behaviors, check out Secrets to Dog Training. Written by a professional dog-trainer, it’s an absorbing guide that deals with all the subjects a responsible dog-owner could ever want to know about – well worth a look.

Your puppy training routine should start the day you bring your new puppy home. Dogs are always learning, but they learn best when they are young. This is a vital time for influencing your dog’s future behavior. Without your intervention, your dog will learn, but not what you want it to. Start implementing some simple puppy training tips the day your new canine companion arrives in your home.

To help with training a puppy, make sure you provide him with a well-fitted collar, a private place to sleep, a designated play area, and suitable toys. These toys belong to you, the pack leader, and should not be left lying around. Your pup’s mind is most open to new experiences when it is under 12 weeks old. The more it experiences now – children, cats, other dogs, joggers, cyclists, baby carts, cars, and public transport – the more it will take these things for granted. Successful puppy training means you need to ensure your pup learns as much as is necessary, while it is still young, to live the life you plan for it.

Start training a puppy as soon as you bring it into your home. Teach the puppy your rules before it makes its own. All family members should routinely handle a new puppy while it learns to wear a collar and lead, eat only from its own food bowl, sleep in its own bed, come when called, and wait on command. However, only one family member should be responsible for learning and teaching free puppy training tips.

Free Puppy Training Tips

The bed as a refuge

Dogs are curious and sociable animals, so do not isolate your new canine family members. Set up a dog bed as a personal space for the puppy, and place it in a busy area of the home, such as a corner of the kitchen.

Curious chewing

Puppies investigate their environment by tasting. They play by biting, but you should discipline the puppy when it nips by saying “No” firmly. Never reprimand the puppy by hitting it.

Bitter spray

A non-toxic, bitter-tasting spray is available from most veterinary surgeries and pet shops. Apply it to articles that you do not want the dog to chew, including your hands.

Learning to wait

Your new puppy should learn that people eat before dogs, and are therefore more dominant members of the household, or pack.

Learning respect

A puppy must learn to obey the family in its new home, so all responsible family members should handle the puppy.

People go first

Dogs naturally want to rush through doors first. By teaching a puppy to wait and allow you to go first, you assert your authority over it. If the puppy does not understand this relationship, training can be difficult.

Positive enticement

By using food enticements rather than discipline, you will find training a puppy much easier as this will teach the puppy more quickly which activities are not allowed.

A private place

Train a puppy to enjoy being left in a crate with its toys. Start by leaving it alone for short periods at first.