Greetings, vibrant viewers, and welcome to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. On today’s program we present the first in a three-part series featuring renowned dog trainer and animal behaviorist Carolyn Menteith, who discusses how to develop mutually respectful relationships with our canine companions through training.

Carolyn works with Dogs Trust, the largest dog-welfare charity in the United Kingdom, whose mission is to usher in a new, golden era in which all dogs enjoy a happy life. Carolyn shares with us about the importance of having a well-trained dog, basic dog-training tips, how to keep our dog companions happy, and the first lessons to teach.

Dog Trust presents Dog Training Made Easy with Carolyn Menteith

1 WHY TRAIN YOUR DOG

Well, first of all, a well-trained dog has more freedom, the freedom to be allowed off the lead to run and play and get more exercise, and also the freedom to be more involved in your life. You can take him everywhere with you, to visit friends, on holiday, even to work because you know that he’ll be well-behaved. It’s not just about freedom though, it’s about safety as well.

If your dog is well-trained, you can keep him safe. And you can keep everyone else safe from your dog. You owe it to anyone who comes into contact with your dog to make sure that he is a well-behaved member of canine society. And you owe it to your dog to be able to keep him safe and give him a long and happy life.

But more important than that, a well-trained dog is a joy to live with. You don’t have to worry about him knocking over granny, or rounding up the children, or chasing the postman. You can just get on and enjoy your life together. A well-trained dog is a happy dog. And the caregiver of a well-trained dog is a happy caregiver. So what do you need to train your dog?

EQUIPMENT

Carolyn explains that the equipment needed for training a dog is very basic. You need a wide, comfortable collar, a 2-meter long training lead, some type of healthy treats which your dog finds very delicious, and, of course, your dog.

Hallo, Oliver.

Dog Training Made Easy with Dogs Trust is the fun, enjoyable, but most importantly, positive way to train your dog. Positive training is all about rewarding your dog when he does things right.

2 HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DOG

Positive doesn’t mean permissive. You can create all the same boundaries, all the same ground rules for your dog using positive training methods as you can using any other method of training. But you’ll do it in a way that builds the trust that your dog has in you and builds the bond between you. With positive training methods, we are going to show the dog what we want him to do instead, and then reward him for it. So how are we going to reward our dogs? We are going to use really yummy food that they love.

Dogs are hard-wired to work for their food. That’s how they would survive. And so we can use that instinct to make sure that we have a well-trained, well-behaved dog. A well-timed treat means that you could be guaranteed that that behavior is going to keep happening. So, why don’t we punish our dogs? Punishment erodes the bond between you. Dogs are supposed to be our best friends. And you wouldn’t teach your best friend to do something by shouting at him or even worse hitting him if he didn’t get it right.

If you did, he wouldn’t be a friend for very long and he’d think you were a bit of a bully. Dogs are thinking, feeling, emotional creatures, just like us. So why should they do what we ask unless we show them that it is fun and that it is beneficial for them?

Later on in your training, you are going to learn how to reduce the number of treats that you’re using so that you’re not having to reward every time because your dog’s just doing it for the fun of it. So get out there, stop looking for the bad things to punish, and instead show your dog what you want him to do and reward him for it. So get out there and have some fun.

Many people take a dog into their life without really understanding what they need to be healthy and happy, and more importantly, to be easy to live with.

3 WHAT YOUR DOG NEEDS TO BE HAPPY

Most people know that dogs need a constant supply of clean, fresh water, good quality food and regular grooming to keep their coats clean and healthy. But the one thing that people often underestimate is just how much exercise a dog needs. Exercise is the number one thing that you can do to improve nearly all behavior problems in dogs because they come because dogs are bored, they’ve got pent-up energy or just are really frustrated.

Dogs need exercise every single day. And depending what sort of dog that is, depends whether it might be half an hour a day, or a couple of hours several times a day, with lots of running and play off lead to keep them happy. But it’s not all about physical exercise, either. Dogs need to use their brains. Training is good for that. So Dog Training the Easy Way with Dogs Trust is a great way to bond with your dog and keep him mentally healthy.

But there is lots of interactive toys you can use, anything from straightforward as just putting some food into a rubber KONG toy for your dog to try and work out how to get out, or even more complicated toys for the canine Einsteins of the world who can work out how to puzzle them out. It doesn’t have to cost you a fortune, though. Even old toilet rolls with a bit of dried dog food inside and the ends folded down can prove a great toy for your dog. Or if you don’t have a cardboard tube, you could use an old plastic bottle with some treats in it.

But always supervise your dog when he’s playing with toys. If they get really good at that, you can move on to even bigger tubes to see how he manages with that. So when we take a dog into our life, we know we have to give him good food, mental stimulation, our company and that is really important because dogs are social animals. That’s why they fit into our life so well, and plenty of exercise. Dogs need your energy and your time to be healthy, happy, and easy to live with. So go and have fun.

One of the things that we don’t always remember is that some dogs aren’t naturally happy being handled, being groomed, or being cuddled. And so we have to teach them that it’s enjoyable and it is a fun part of life as a family dog.

4 HANDLING YOUR DOG

Sometimes if people get bitten it’s because a dog reacts fearfully to being handled when he’s never been taught just what a joy it is. Body language for dogs is very different to us. For a dog to have a hug, to put his paw across the top of another dog, he’d have to be spoiling for a fight. That’s why quite often dogs react by barking when their humans have a hug. They really just don’t understand it.

So we have to teach them how to enjoy being hugged and being handled. For dogs who live with children or just for the caregivers who love doggie cuddles, this is one of the best things you’re ever going to teach your dog to do. And so to help me show you how to teach your dog to enjoy being handled, I’ve got Basil here. Now what we need is a really good supply of yummy treats that Basil really likes. And then while giving him a treat, just slowly start to stroke – and he can’t have the plate, he has the one in my hand – slowly just start to stroke him all over his body.

Always start in places that you know he’s comfortable being stroked, and give him a treat after every bit. So you can stroke down the side of his body, keep giving him a nice yummy treat, so that he links your hands in his mind with feeling good. You can run your hands up his ears, run them down his paws, so you can examine his paws, all the time giving him a treat so that he knows that hands mean good stuff. If he is small enough, you can tip him upon his back and just rub his tum, all the time giving him treats so he’s got positive associations with your hands.

If you find a bit that your dog’s uncomfortable being handled with, just go back a few stages, stroke the bit that he likes, and then gently move into the areas that he’s not quite so comfortable with. Hey, look, isn’t this just lovely? And he’s learning that hands and brushes and everything is just really, really enjoyable. Get everybody in the family to do this, and everybody must know that the dog needs to be handled nicely and with respect, so that hands are always something to enjoy rather than to be worried about. You’re a good boy, aren’t you?

One of the things many people forget to do is to actually teach the dog what his name is and what it means. How many times have you seen people shouting the dog’s name while he completely and utterly ignores them? You need to teach your dog that his name means something good is about to happen to the dog, so that he learns that you’re really worth paying attention to. This is the best way to build to get his attention when you need it, and it’s also the first step to teaching a dog to always come back when you call him.

What’s the most significant lesson you can teach your canine companion? Why is it important to teach your dog to lie down? Join us again tomorrow as we present the second episode of our three-part series on Dog Training Made Easy, with Carolyn Menteith.

For more information on Carolyn Menteith please visit:
Dogs Trust please visit:
A copy of the Dog Training Made Easy with Carolyn Menteith is also available at the above website.

Thank you for being with us today on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television for Enlightening Entertainment, right after Noteworthy News. May all dogs and their caregivers enjoy a heavenly time together.

Would you buy something so dangerous that it contaminates everything it touches? E. coli, salmonella, listeria…the list goes on. You put your health at direct risk every time you decide to eat meat.

Packaged meat now carries a warning label telling consumers to wash everything that's even come into contact with meat.

Learn more about why animal products are to be avoided in the conclusion of a six-part series featuring excerpts from “Eating,” a documentary about why a plant-based diet is the key to a lifetime of wellness and vitality, Monday, April 11 on Healthy Living.

Welcome, lively viewers, to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. On today’s program we present part two of our three-part series featuring renowned dog trainer and animal behaviorist Carolyn Menteith along with Dogs Trust, one of the largest and oldest dog-welfare charities in the United Kingdom. In this episode, Carolyn discusses teaching our canine companions their names, how to sit and lie down, and how to consistently come to us when called.

5 TEACH YOUR DOG THEIR NAME

So to help show you how to teach your dog what his name is, I’ve got Stanley here.

When you’re sitting at home and your dog’s lying or sitting quietly and not paying any attention to you, what you need to do is to say his name really brightly, and if he turns and looks at you, throw him the treat. If he comes to you, that’s fine as well, that the reward is for actually looking at you. Stanley! Oh, good. Go. Wow! If he doesn’t look at you, don’t repeat his name, there’s no second chances on this one. He just doesn’t get a treat. Repeat it again a few minutes later instead. You want him to look at you the first time you say his name.

We’re going to teach your dog to sit when you ask him to. This is a great first exercise to teach your dog, because it’s something he does naturally anyway, and it’s a start of good canine manners. Once you’ve mastered the 4 simple steps to training the sit, then you can teach anything else.

6 TEACH YOUR DOG TO SIT

Step 1 Lure Your Dog

So the first thing we’re going to do is show the dog what we want him to do, that’s the first step. So we don’t do that by pushing him or pulling him, because that would just end up being about who’s the strongest, and that’s not what dog training is about. What we’re going to do is take a treat, hold it on the end of his nose, and we’re going to lift the treat up and back over his head. Figures, round this way! Good lad!

As his head comes up, his bottom has to go down, and then he gets the treat. Perfect! And practice that lots and lots and lots. It might take a few minutes or it might take a few weeks, but practice it until the minute you lift your hand up, your dog sits. Good lad! What a good boy!

Step 2 Make Your Dog Think

So the next thing that we need to think about is getting the dog to use his brain. I want him to think, “Ah, so if I put my bottom on the ground, fantastic!” So Figures, treat is on the end of the nose. Yes! Aren’t you good! Figgie, Figgie! Look, look, look!

Good boy! And you need to practice this again, lots, until the minute you just hold the treat, your dog sits. Well done! And this again you’ve got to practice a lot until the minute you take that treat and hold it, his bottom goes down.

Step 3 Name the Action

The third step, you should only move on to when you’ll be prepared to bet £100 that when you take your treat and wait, your dog will sit. And so, take your treat, this minute you see his bottom start to go down, put the word “sitting” because you want to link in your dog’s brain the action of sitting with the word. So, Figures, sit! Good boy! And you get the word in just as you see your dog’s bottom going down. So Figures, sit! Oh, good lad! And this is another one you then need to practice and practice and practice before moving on to step four, which is the most important part of dog training.

Step 4 Practice Everywhere

So you practice it in the garden, do it in the park, start off where there is few distraction, and then you can build up to doing it maybe when there are dogs around or people around, so that he knows that “sit” always means “sit.” And at this stage, you can start to reduce the number of treat you’re giving your dog as well. So Figures, ready? And sit. You’re such a good boy! Okay, let’s go and practice some sits then. So get out and have fun and practice. Don’t you think so?

I’m going to show you how to teach your dog to lie down when you ask him to. It’s invaluable when you take your dog on vet’s visits or take him to the groomer’s, and even more importantly, it’s the first step in having a dog that you can take anywhere with you.

7 TEACH YOUR DOG DOWN

So to help me show you how to teach your dog to do a down, I’ve got Mouse here.

Mouse! Hallo, Mouse.

Step 1 Lure Your Dog

So as always with step one, you lure the dog into the position that you want, starting from a sit, and then bring your hands straight down, and the dog’s nose will follow, and he should lie down. Let him have the treat the minute that he does.

Now don’t get tempted to push your dog. If you use your hands to push, your dog will start to resist you, or if you’ve got a really happy dog like this, he’ll get all wiggly, giggly about it and lose his concentration. So just use the treat, lure him down. Fantastic! Don’t take your hand forward. If you take your hand forward when you’re doing it, the dog will just stand up and walk off.

Step 2 Make Your Dog Think

So after you practice that a lot, you can move on to step two, which is to get the dog to use his brain. So take your treat, just hold it in your hands and show the dog you’ve got it and wait, and wait for long enough that he sort of thinks, “Now, what was it that she wanted? Oh, it was that like lying down thing!”

Yeah. Good boy!

And practice this until you can just take the treat and he’ll lie down straight away. Be really quick to give him the treat the minute that he lies down. You’re rewarding him for lying down not getting back up again. So, got the treat, “What do I do for it?” Oh! Good.

Step 3 Name the Action

So when you are completely convinced that when you take the treat that the dog will lie down, it’s time to put the cue word in to link it to the behavior. So take the treat, hold it and as the dog starts to lie down – “Down, good boy” – say the word and then reward him.

Step 4 Practice Everywhere

I’m going to teach you how to train your dog to come back when you call him. This is the most important thing you will ever teach your dog to do. If your dog will come back when he is called, you can let him off lead and he can have all the exercise and fun that he needs. Most importantly, you can keep him safe from roads or any other dangers.

8 TEACH YOUR DOG RECALL

You’re going to find it really useful to use the six-foot training lead. It’s long enough that you can get a good distance away from your dog, but still keep him safe because he is on lead. One clip goes on to your dog’s collar, and you can either hold the other end or clip that onto your belt so that your dog’s secure and you’ve got both hands free. So, to help me show you how to teach your dog to come back when you call him, I’ve got David. Hi, David. Look at you!

Step 1 Lure Your Dog

The first step as always is to show the dog what you want him to do and lure him with the treat. Put it on the end of his nose and you’re going to walk backwards, so you’re teaching him that he should follow you. So, “David, David, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave…. Good boy!” And give him the treat when you stop. So practice this a lot, until your dog really knows that he should be following you when you go backwards.

Step 2 Make Your Dog Think

And step two as always is getting the dog to offer the behavior without the treat, and then the treat comes as the reward. So, “David! Look, I’ve got a treat!” So going backwards as before. “David, David, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, David!” And then rewarding him at the end. Be really up and positive, be fun for your dog to follow.

Step 3 Name the Action

Once you’ve practiced that a lot and your dog follows you every single time, it’s time to move on to step three, which is putting the name to what you’ve just taught. So you can use “come” or “here,” whichever word you like. So the first thing you do is use your dog’s name as you taught him earlier on to get his attention.

If a dog’s not looking at you, he is not listening. After you said his name, encourage him to come to you as you did before, and as he starts to move, put that word in, so that he links coming to you with that word. So it’s always name first and then the command. So, “David, David, come! Good boy! Good lad!” And then reward him when he gets to the end.

Step 4 Practice Everywhere

So after you’ve practiced that so often that your dog knows to come to you when he is on the lead, it’s time to take him off lead. Make sure you’re in a really secure space that’s safe. And now the thing is make sure your dog’s focused on you and paying attention to you.

Please join us again tomorrow for the concluding episode with Carolyn Menteith, as she shows us how to teach our canine companions to walk in a relaxed and happy manner on a lead, to stop pulling, and to stay.

For more information on Carolyn Menteith please visit: www.DogTalk.co.uk Dogs Trust please visit: www.DogsTrust.org A copy of the Dog Training Made Easy with Carolyn Menteith is also available at the above website.

Gentle viewers, thank you for your delightful company today on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Up next on Supreme Master Television is Enlightening Entertainment, right after Noteworthy News. May all animals soon enjoy many safe and happy years on Earth.

Welcome, enthusiastic viewers, to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. On today’s program we present part three of our three-part series featuring renowned dog trainer and animal behaviorist Carolyn Menteith along with Dogs Trust, one of the largest and oldest dog-welfare charities in the United Kingdom. Carolyn says that when a dog is well-trained both she and her caretaker enjoy a more relaxed, loving relationship. In this episode, Carolyn discusses teaching our canine companions how to walk on a lead, to stop pulling, and to stay.

Today I’m going to show you how to teach your dog to walk nicely on the lead without pulling. This will transform your walks and make them far more enjoyable and a lot safer for you both.

9 TEACH YOUR DOG TO WALK ON A LEAD

Step 1 Lure Your Dog

So to start to teach your dog how to walk on the lead, strangely we are going to do it without one, because I don’t want the temptation for the dog to pull or for you to pull on your dog. This isn’t about tug of war this is about walking nicely besides you.

So the first step as always is to show the dog what you want. So take a treat, hold it near the end of his nose so he sees where it is, and then take a few steps forward with him nice and close beside you on the left hand side. Come on Barley. Keeping the treat near the dog’s nose. If the dog loses interest, put the treat back on the nose and just lure him back again. Oh, you are so clever. What a good boy! So practice that lots until you can do 10, 15 paces with the dog staying beside you.

Step 2 Make Your Dog Think

Step two is to get the dog to think about what it is that got him the reward last time. In other words, walking beside you. So, show him you’ve got a treat – and then without holding it on the end of his nose this time, walk with him and encourage him to come with you. Ready, Barley? Let’s go, good boy! Oh good lad! And then he gets the reward at the end.

And you need to practice this a lot, so that every time you walk, he walks closely beside you.

Step 3 Name the Action

Step three, as always, is putting a name to the behavior. So we want him to know that when I say either “heel” or “close” or whatever you like, that he should be walking beside me. So, no treats, ready, nice and close, close, close, close. Oh you are so good, so good, yes!

Good boy. And practice this a lot so that you link the behavior of being close to you with the words.

Step 4 Practice Everywhere

The stage four is to get out and about and practice this everywhere. So your dog learns that he always walks close beside you on the lead. You have to use a lead for this bit, because it’s not safe otherwise. So use your long training lead because that’s really useful to be able to attach the other end onto your belt, so that you’ve got your hands free.

Come on then. Let’s go and do it again, good, good. Our dogs genuinely believe that the quickest way to get us to go anywhere is to pull. This makes walks unpleasant for both of us and if you’ve got a large and strong dog, it can be dangerous. It can even injure your dog’s neck if he’s continually pulling all the time. So we have to train our dog that he will never ever get anywhere faster by pulling ever again.

10 TEACH YOUR DOG TO STOP PULLING

So to help me show you how to teach your dog never to pull again, I’ve got Digby here. Now you need to start in a really quiet place with no distractions. You need some really nice yummy training treats – there you go, Digby – your six-foot training lead and that needs to be clipped on to a plain flat collar. There we go, we’re ready to go.

So step one of teaching this, is to teach your dog that a loose lead is good. So as long as the lead is loose, it doesn’t matter where he is, you can give him a treat. Hold it right at the end, and he has to learn that “loose lead” means “good stuff for the dog.” Now after you’ve practiced that a lot so that your dog knows that every time you clip the lead on, the lead ’s got to be loose when you’re standing still, it’s time to be able to move around a bit.

So remember, if the lead is loose, he gets a treat. It doesn’t matter where he is, he can be on either side of you, front or back, as long as that lead‘s loose, he gets the treat. So yeah, get one for that. Good. Oh yeah, still loose. If at any point the lead gets tight, you just stop giving him the treats, stand, wait ’til he comes back to you and the lead ’s slack again and then give him the treat, and practice this all the time. He has to know the minute that lead goes on, it’s got to be loose.

Yeah, good boy! Now as you know from the other films, step three is putting a name to the behavior. But this is the only one that’s different, because the cue for your dog not to pull is now going to be clipping the lead on in the first place. Not pulling is going to be your dog’s default behavior from now on, isn’t it, Dig? Good lad! So once you’ve practiced that a lot so that your dog knows not to pull on the lead, now you can start to other distractions to make it a little bit harder. Maybe something like a toy that your dog really loves, like Mrs. Pig here.

And what you’re going to teach the dog is the only way that he’s going to get to that toy is with a slack lead. So you start walking towards it. “We’re going to go and see Mrs. Pig. Look, Mrs. Pig! And if the lead gets tight, you back up. As soon as he comes back to you, start walking again. So the only way he’s going to get to Mrs. Pig, is if he does it on a loose lead. And if he gets all the way there, he can have it.

Yeah! Good boy. Very well done. Your dog has to believe 100% that the only way he’s going to get to that toy, is if the lead’s loose. If the lead gets tight at all, it’s going to take twice as long. As long as he believes that, it’s in his interests to keep the lead loose. Good boy! Shall we do that again?

See, I told you it was really easy to teach your dog to walk on a loose lead. He just has to believe with all his heart and all his soul, that never again will he get anywhere faster by pulling. The only quick way to get anywhere is on a loose lead, but it does take a lot of commitment. From now on, your dog must never, ever pull on the lead again. And that can be difficult because sometimes you just quickly want to get somewhere.

But if he pulls just once and gets there faster just once, he’s always going to believe that it’s worth doing. So if you don’t have that commitment or maybe there are just days when you don’t have time, you could put a harness on your dog or a head collar on your dog, just to give yourself a bit of power steering. It’s far better that you walk your dog on one of those than let him go on half strangling himself on a collar, which could cause injury to him and it could also be unsafe for you. So from now on, get out, and practice and make sure that your dog never, ever pulls again.

I’m going to show you how to teach your dog to stay in one place. This is the beginnings of having a “go anywhere” dog. It’s really useful if you can get your dog to lie quietly if you stop for a chat or to wait in the back of the car while you clip on a lead before you go for a walk, or more importantly, if you’re going to take him out visiting to friends’ houses. You can teach your dog to stay in either a stand, a sit or a down, but the down’s the most useful because then your dog can lie quietly beside you.

11 TEACH YOUR DOG TO STAY

So to help me show you how to teach your dog to stand or down, I’ve got Bac. Bac, come on man. Halo, lovely! So before you teach your dog to do a down stay, you have to make sure that she’s got a really good down. If your dog doesn’t, go back over the “down” film and practice that until it’s perfect. So Bac, down. Oh, perfect.

So now you can work on the down stay. So the first thing you’re going to do is get her to stay down for longer. So you’re going to ask her to lie down, and then you’re going to count to five seconds before you reward her. Just hold your hands up and then after 5 seconds, give her the treat.

So, Bac, down. Hold your hands, it’s almost like a stop sign for five seconds, and reward her. She’s so clever. Make sure you give the reward while she’s lying down. You’re rewarding her for staying down, not for getting back up again.

Our many thanks, Carolyn Menteith and Dogs Trust, for sharing your thorough knowledge on positive training to improve the relationship between humans and their canine companions. Your insights and experience help us develop a better understanding and a more joyful partnership with our beloved dog friends. May we continue to be immeasurably enriched by our precious animal co-inhabitants.

For more information on Carolyn Menteith please visit: www.DogTalk.co.uk Dogs Trust please visit: www.DogsTrust.org A copy of the Dog Training Made Easy with Carolyn Menteith is also available at the above website.

We are grateful for your thoughtful company on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Enlightening Entertainment is coming up next on Supreme Master Television, right after Noteworthy News. May the Earth be evermore graced with the loving and noble presence of our animal friends.