Important Dog Training Techniques That Everyone Should Know

It is extremely important to be able to train your dog to not bite people unless the dog is being used for defense. This is important because unwarranted dog biting can lead to fines, loss of your dog, or termination of the dog's life. The tips in this article will help you with preventing your dog from biting.

If you want to have a well behaved dog, make sure that you are filling their most basic needs. They need to have water, food, shelter and love. These are essential to a happy and healthy pet, and only then will they want to or have the energy to let you tell them what to do.

With aggressive dogs it is best to begin slowly. Aggressive dogs see themselves as the dominant role in the pack and trying to take that role from them too quickly can result in a negative response from the animal. To avoid bites or difficulty, take small steps in establishing yourself as the pack leader.

Don't force your dog to go into his crate. Instead, profusely praise him when he enters his crate on his own. Young puppies, in particular, might be somewhat afraid of the crate when it is first introduced. If you force them to enter it their fear might turn into terror. Their natural curiosity will eventually override their fear.

Crate training is something that is accomplished over time. First, you should only expect your dog to stay in the crate for short periods of time. As your dog grows older you can gradually extend this confinement, which can eventually stretch out to much longer periods of time without any ill effect on your pet.

Watch your demeanor when you are training your dog. You need to remain calm, but assertive at all times. Do not show anger or raise your voice. If you do this, your dog will require you to shout commands in order to follow them, if this is how he is trained.

When training your dog to walk on a leash, remember that your dog should follow where you lead, not the other way around. Dogs are pack animals, and the leader of the pack always travels in front. You want your dog to see you as the leader, so they need to learn to walk behind you.

If you use treats for positive reinforcement when training your dog, be sure that you use them sparingly. If the dog receives a treat every time it follows one of your commands, it will learn that treats and obedience go together, not you and obedience. If you stop giving treats at that point, the dog will stop obeying.

If you want to house train your dog and teach it to ask to go outside, you should associate a command with going outside. Stand with your dog close to the door, say the command and take it outside. As you repeat this, your dog will go to the door when you say the command if it needs to go.

Be mindful of exactly what behavior you are reinforcing, so stand your ground and don't give into your pet's persistence. A dog will generally repeat whatever action has previously earned him a reward. Thus, if you give a dog food so that it will stop begging at the table one night, you're only making the dog more inclined to beg for food again, the next night.

Never punish your dog, or discipline him, after the fact. If you find that he urinated on the carpet earlier in the day, punishing him now won't help. Dogs cannot reason and have very short term memories, so they will not associate the earlier accident with the punishment at hand.

One tip to keep in mind when training your dog is to be firm with orders and do not overuse your commands. This is important because if you over-saturate your commands, your dog will not be as responsive. Only give your dog orders when you are looking for a response.

A dog owner who attempts to train his or her pet while angry will never be successful. Dogs are extremely sensitive creatures, and they can sense their owners' displeasure. Anger and dissatisfaction with a dog's performance can poison an entire training program. A dog trainer who becomes angry with their pet's performance should take a break and calm down before continuing their training program.

One tip to keep in mind when training your dog is to ensure that you make it absolutely clear to your dog what it is that your are disciplining it for. This is important to avoid confusion and to teach the dog what is desired and what is undesired behavior. An example of what to avoid is hitting your dog hours past and in a different room from where it shredded your couch.

In summary, nobody wants to be bitten by a dog. You are responsible for anything that your dog does, and if someone is bitten by it then you will pay the price. Follow the tips in this article in order to keep your dog under control so that both you and your dog will benefit.

Train Your Dog The Right Way With These Helpful Ideas.

House training your dog can be very difficult when first bringing home your new friend, but that is only true if you do not have a consistent routine. This article will show you how to properly establish a routine that you and your new dog can easily follow.

When corrected your dog verbally, make sure to use sharp, concise wording. Don't rant on and on about how bad your dog is. Just tell them no, and point them in the desired direction. Do not scream, but rather use a loud and firm voice so they understand that you are serious.

Your dog needs to get plenty of exercise. Boredom often befalls an inactive dog, or he may find himself in a "mutt rut" with a dull and listless routine. Bored dogs are difficult to train. When your dog is happy and well-exercised, he will be more willing to pay attention to his training. It is a great idea to take your dog out on runs or walks through the neighborhood.

Always be kind and patient with your dog. Understand that training dogs can be frustrating since some dogs have a more difficult time learning obedience than others. Always try not to lose your temper and resist the urge to scream or shout at your dog. Also, never hit your dog as this will only serve to confuse it and will actually make training more difficult.

Housebreaking a dog takes time. The key is to be consistent when teaching him where it's not acceptable for him to relieve himself and consistent in the message that you send as to where you expect him to go. This may be on a pad inside the house, on a lead when you take him outside or running free in a fenced yard.

When you are first starting out in training your dog, try to schedule the training sessions to take place at about the same time every day. If you are making the training sessions a positive experience and doing them on a schedule, your dog will start to look forward to the sessions and enjoy them more.

You should pick a phrase to say to your puppy while he is being house trained. Every time you take him outside, tell him "go potty," (use whatever phrase you have chosen) and this will help him learn to focus and remember what he has gone outside to do.

When you get a new puppy, the best way to train it is to remove the temptation to behave badly in the first place. For example, if you have a puppy that is inclined to chew on shoes, store all of the shoes in the house out of reach of the dog. This way, the behavior doesn't have to be trained out of the dog later.

If you have a dog that begs, the easiest way to train them from this behavior might be to simply remove the dog from the situation. Shutting the dog out of the room at mealtimes keeps them from pestering you while you eat, and removes the temptation for you to give in to that cute face.

Dogs much like people all have their own personality. Some dogs can just be more difficult to train than others for whatever reason. If someone has a dog like this that is not responding to training or otherwise acting difficult sometimes the right choice is to seek a professional dog trainer for help and information.

Train your dog so that living together is fun for both you and your dog. Living with a dog should not be a hardship, but it can be if you don't take the time to research the type of training a dog understands. A dog does not think like a human, so learning how to train in a way they understand will make it easier for both of you.

A great dog training tip is to assume the role of the pack leader. All dogs have a pack mentality. There is typically a pack leader that influences the behavior of the rest of the pack. By acting as the pack leader, your dog will become more obedient.

Food is one of the best positive reinforcement tools available to the owner in the dog training process. Feeding a dog after it has behaved acceptably is a powerful message that any dog will understand. Of course, dogs should not be starved! But associating feeding time with success will encourage a dog to work harder to live up to its owner's expectations.

As mentioned in the beginning of this article, it is very important to get your new dog to understand what should and should not be done inside your house. If you set a routine and be consistent in your training methods, this will lead to a greater understanding from your dog as to what is the proper way to behave.

Hitting And Spanking A Dog, The Wrong Way To Train.

Dog training can be the perfect way to welcome your new dog to the family. Dog training can help him to understand who the boss is and what you expect of him. This can help to avoid bigger problems later on. This article can help you learn more about dog training, and the benefits that it has for everyone.

Dog owners can find great value in being affectionate toward their pets. Positive reinforcement has been proven to work better in a training situation than negativity. Dogs are social beings and love praise. Your efforts will go a long way toward improving future training sessions as well.

Never reward negative behavior. Many dog owners have difficulty training their pet. When a long training session has ended and there has been no progress, they might find themselves tempted to reward their dog anyway. Even if you love your dog dearly, never reward their bad or undesirable behavior.

You may need to try different treats until you find what works for your pup. There are a lot of different dog treats on the market, but your dog has his own tastes and preferences just like everyone else. If a particular treat doesn't seem to get your dog motivated, try something else.

It is important to understand that training your dog will require a lot of patience and repetition. It often takes a dog between 25 and 50 repetitions before they are able to learn a new command. Getting frustrated will only delay your results and may hurt your relationship with your pet.

Never cave in to bad behavior. Your dog will always love you, but it needs to know that you're the boss. Don't encourage bad behavior and let your dog know that any such behavior will be met with punishment. At the same time, make sure you reward good behavior as well.

To have an obedient dog, you should establish yourself as a master right away. Do not let your dog bite you or jump on you. You have to punish or reward your dog constantly. Never let your dog get away with anything, or even worst, become hostile towards you.

Training needs to continue during the dog's life. A dog still learns, even as an adult. When you work with your dog consistently to produce the best behaviors, you help your dog to remain healthy and happy. Discipline will keep him in line.

To teach your dog how to walk on a leash, you should start by getting your dog used to the leash at a young age. Walk around your yard or garden with your dog on a leash at first. Reward your dog if it does not tug on the leash. Use a command such as 'come' and tug on the leash at the same time. Your dog should quickly understand that you wish it to follow you.

One-on-one training sessions can be the way to go for some dog owners. One-on-one training can be extremely flexible for your schedule. It is also often priced per session. This means that for a dog that only needs a few sessions, individual training might be less expensive than group.

Exercising your dog is a good way to get rid of pent up energy which can impede training. Through this technique you establish a calm demeanor in your dog. This does not mean tiring the animal completely, but blowing off some excess steam can greatly reduce over excitement when training.

The fastest way to train your dog to sit is to utilize positive reinforcement. If you command your dog to sit and he or she sits for a decent amount of time, then you can give the dog a treat. The dog will then recognize that when you say sit, if they succeed they will get a treat so they will eagerly sit longer and longer.

A new puppy needs to be socialized to many different environments. This will help them to become social, so that they are comfortable with those around them. This will help in reducing sporadic behavior when it comes to new environments, also.

In many cases, a dog's diet can be contributing to the behavior and health problems that he is having. Be sure that you are feeding your dog a balanced diet and he is going to thank you by adapting his behavior to be accepted, more important than that, he will be healthier for many more years.

It has been said that dog training is the perfect way to welcome your dog into his new spot in the family. It can also be a great way to spend time with your new dog and get to bond with them. By studying the above article, you can welcome your new pet into the house with love and confidence.

How To Teach Your Dog To Behave

Dog training can be a great thing for you and your dog. This can assist you in developing a well-behaved dog, which will cause you to be a much better dog owner. This article could help you understand how to train your dog in a positive way. You'll be so happy during the sessions and afterward.

Any dog owner should consider their pet's diet when looking to correct behavioral problems. As with humans, dogs are what they eat. If their diet is not nutritionally sound, internal and external problems can develop. Make sure your dog is eating his best, and improved behavior will often follow.

Repetition is what causes a dog to learn. It's very common to repeat a command up to 50 times before your dog can learn it. Just remember to keep trying and be patient. Eventually, your dog will learn.

You can show your dog how to do tricks, get some treats. Firstly, have the dog lie down. Hold a treat between your forefingers near the left side of your dog's head, and then slowly pass the treat in front of his face and to the opposite side. Your dog is probably going to follow the treat in your hand with his nose, which means he will rollover his whole body. Upon seeing him roll over, issue the command. You can then repeat the command to the point where he rolls over without the added incentive of a treat. Have patience since your dog may not get the trick quickly. However, once he does, he'll be the center of attention at the dog park.

The key to successful dog training is to start them as soon as possible. No matter how old your dog may be it is never too late to get them started. While it may take a little longer, you can still achieve a great deal of success. You can start training most puppies after they are about 6 weeks old. This is the perfect time to get the ground rules setup for a calmer more obedient dog.

When you are training your dog, remember to take frequent breaks and not try to teach too much all at once. Your dog will quickly become overwhelmed and refuse to follow directions if the training period is too long. So ensure your sanity and your dogs by teaching in small increments.

To teach your dog anything, you need to be consistent. This means you should give the same order every time, and reward or punish your dog in a similar way, all the time. This will help your dog assimilate certain concepts much faster than if you were using a more complex and diverse way of communicating.

If you aren't having success training your dog on your own, hiring a trainer can help. Trainers are specially qualified to work with difficult dogs, and find easy ways to modify troublesome behavior. Many a dog has been able to remain with his family because of the help of competent trainers.

Not showering your dog with enough positive reinforcement when he does good, will reduce the power you have over him in training. Since dogs love attention, giving them plenty of it, provides him with incentive to listen to you. If all he ever hears from you is what not to do, he is not getting any encouragement, only discouragement, so be sure to reward him with praise often.

A great dog training tip is to assume the role of the pack leader. All dogs have a pack mentality. There is typically a pack leader that influences the behavior of the rest of the pack. By acting as the pack leader, your dog will become more obedient.

By taking your dog out on active walks that are physically exerting, your dog will be to tired to dig holes that tear up your back yard when you get home.

Check with the community management's pet policy. Pet lover families can be in trouble when moving from a home with a generous pet policy to a place where no pets are allowed. Move to a place where the pet policy allows you to keep your family friends. Don't give them up just because the first place you find has a no pet policy.

Crate-training is an excellent way to curb bad potty habits. Your puppy or dog will benefit from a sanctuary fitted to his size. Dogs are evolutionarily designed to stay away from where they 'go', so a crate uses this fact to your advantage. This also makes it more likely that your dog will hold it until you get home, however, never use the crate as a form of punishment.

As stated above, training your dog is very beneficial. The tips in this article will help you train more effectively. You and your dog will enjoy learning how to work together and follow the rules.

How to Stop Your Dog from Coprophagia (poop eating)

 Coprophagia (poop eating)

Coprophagia (sometimes called coprophagy, or poop-eating) is a pretty disgusting habit that fortunately only some dogs indulge in. It seems to be "one of those things" as far as dogs go: a behavior that defies logic and scientific study, and mystifies dog trainers and veterinarians around the world.

Many, if not most, dogs will eat the feces of other animals (particularly other dogs, cats, sheep, and horses) with gusto whenever the opportunity presents itself. It’s a very common behavior in dogs, but not particularly well understood. The simple truth is that nobody really knows why some dogs will make a beeline for a pile of poop that's lying on the grass.

It's natural for dogs to want to sniff the poop - almost all dogs will do this, since the depositor's anal glands have left a kind of Post-It note there for other dogs to "read" - and it's just as natural (seemingly) for some dogs to want to consume these little signposts. It's just that we don't really know why they do it. Actually eating the feces seems to be a matter of personal preference, from dog to dog: some dogs derive great satisfaction from consuming poop, whereas other dogs appear to be simply more fastidious by nature.

There are several popular theories about the causes of this strange habit:

- A dog that eats poop is doing so in order to supplement his own, nutritionally-deficient diet. He is not getting enough vitamins from the food he's given in his own home, so he chooses to eat the poop of other animals (usually dogs and cats) in the hope that there may be some residual nutrition available for him to sponge up the second time around.

This is a faintly plausible theory, apart from the fact that studies have been conducted on dogs suffering from malnutrition and well-nourished dogs with a clean bill of health: and the incidence of cophrophagia among both groups was virtually identical.

- The behavior may be derived from the carnivorous/scavenging heritage of our dogs. When carnivores make a kill, they typically consume the entire carcass of the animal – everything from the actual flesh to sinews and tendons to “offal”, which includes the stomach, digestive tract, and its contents (poop). It’s been suggested by some that coprophagia is a simple and natural extension of this instinctive behavior.

- It may be related to boredom or stress. The particulars of this theory are hazy, but essentially, bored or stressed dogs – such as those that spend too much time on their own, those that lead understimulated, underexercised lives, and those that are excluded from family life and adequate human attention and affection – often succumb to strange and compulsive habits, like pulling out their own fur, spinning in circles for hours on end, and (theoretically, at least) poop eating.

In other words, a dog will eat poop simply because there’s nothing else for him to do.

- Internal parasites, such as worms, may be leaching nutrients and calories from the dog’s stomach and digestive tract. Typically, a dog with worms will have a voracious appetite (even more so than usual!) and will consume all the food that he has access to. In more advanced cases, an infested dog will turn to technically-edible substances (such as poop), which he would not normally consider appetizing, to fill the gap.

- Improperly housetrained dogs sometimes eat their own poop in an attempt to conceal the “crime” from their owners and thus avoid detection. This is especially true of dogs whose owners tend to punish them for housetraining mistakes, whether out of impatience/frustration or because they believe that the dog is somehow doing it to “spite” them.

A dog that’s pooping inappropriately indoors either has not been housetrained correctly, in which case the accidents are not his fault; or the reason is medical in nature. To rule the latter out, the dog should be taken for a check-up at the vet (particularly if the indoor defecation has started suddenly and without warning).

- Nursing female dogs eat the poop of their puppies as a means of keeping the den area clean, and of hiding the existence of her pups from potential predators. It’s thought by some that one of the reasons that coprophagia is so commonplace in puppies, especially, is because they’re emulating the behavior of their mother.

Clearly, theories abound on the subject. Unfortunately, most of them lack merit: the simple truth is that, although we can guess as much as we like as to the reasons that our dogs willingly and enthusiastically ingest poop pretty much whenever the opportunity presents itself, nobody knows with any degree of certainty as to why they do it.

Although it’s nearly impossible to “cure” a dog with a taste for poop of this socially unacceptable habit, here is a short list of tips for coping with the behavior and minimizing it as much as possible:

- Clean up the poop in your own backyard as soon as the dog toilets. If he doesn’t have access to it, he can’t eat it – and it’ll save you from dealing with the flies, the odor, and the eventuality of someone treading in it.
- Teach your dog the “leave it” command for those times when you want to be able to walk him off-lead. Reliable obedience in the “leave it” makes off-lead walks a real pleasure (and it’s a lot safer for your dog, too – the usefulness of “leave it” applies to things like herbicide, snail bait, and broken glass as well as poop!).
- You can try booby-trapping the poop in the backyard with things like Tabasco sauce and lemon juice, but this seems like a great deal of (rather disgusting) trouble to go to when you could just pick the poop up. In addition to the natural deterrent of having to repeatedly handle specimens of dog turds, reports of success from this technique are pretty erratic – in most cases, it seems that a dog bent on coprophagy isn’t going to be put off by a brief burning sensation in his mouth.
- There are substances you can buy from pet stores and vet clinics which, when put into the dog’s food (or the food of the household pet whose poop he’s eating) makes the poop smell and taste very unappealing to dogs. One such product is called “For-Bid”.
- You can experiment with adding natural deterrents – such as a few tablespoonfuls of canned pumpkin or pineapple, or fresh grated zucchini – to your dog’s meals. Again, anecdotal evidence suggests that most dogs will readily eat these substances, but that their presence in poop makes it unpalatable.

For Further Information

For more information on bewildering canine behaviors – what they are, how to recognize them, why they happen, and what to do about them – check out Secrets to Dog Training. Written by an experienced dog-trainer, it’s packed with useful and valuable information on training your dog and coping with problematic behaviors. No responsible dog-owner should be without a copy! You can check out Secrets to Dog Training by clicking on the following link:

 

How to deal with a whining dog

Whining in puppies

As puppies, it comes naturally: a very young puppy will whine without even realizing it when she’s hungry, tired, or cold. The mother dog will respond to this whining with milk, warmth, and a safe place to sleep – and as time goes on, the puppy begins to realize the association between the two. This is when she begins to whine deliberately, to notify her mom that something’s amiss or that she needs something.

When you adopt your pup, she should be between eight and ten weeks old. This is the time that a puppy will either learn that whining doesn’t work with her new, human family; or, she’ll learn to use whining as a manipulative tool (of sorts) to motivate her new “mommy” (that’s you!) to give her what she wants. This is why it’s generally advocated for you to leave your new puppy alone on her first night – if you respond to whining with positive attention (cooing, patting, sympathy, taking her out of the crate and cuddling her) how can she help but learn to whine until she gets what she wants?

You’ll need to use your common sense and good judgment, of course. For a really panic-stricken pup, she probably does actually need some attention and affection, if only to distract her from the scariness of her unfamiliar new surroundings. The trick is to respond in a timely manner so that she doesn’t feel like it’s her whining that’s got the result (or else you’re conditioning her to whine whenever she wants something, which is paving the road to hell).

For a puppy that’s working herself up into a real frenzy of crying and whining, don’t feel like you have to cold-bloodedly ignore her. By all means, pay her a bit of attention and calm her down – just initiate the contact when she’s no longer whining. It’s not always realistic to wait until she’s stopped whining altogether – contrary to popular (albeit misguided) opinion, some puppies simply do not stop whining and really will continue for hours on end. If you suspect that this may be the case, you don’t have to prolong your pup’s misery: just wait til she’s stopped for even a few seconds, then seize your moment and open the crate door. It’s not ideal, but under the circumstances, it’s likely the best you’ll be able to manage.

Whining in adult dogs

Whining is not a natural form of communication between humans and dogs. Most dogs grow out of whining around the six-month age; if your dog is whining after this period, it means she’s either doing it unconsciously, or she’s learned that it’s a useful motivatory tool to get her something that she wants or needs.

As an adult dog, there are a variety of reasons as to why she might be whining:

* In pain
* Bored/lonely
* Needs to go outside
* Afraid/anxious

Your response to her whining really depends on the cause of it. Sometimes whining is justified, and does require a response – and sometimes, it’s just plain manipulative. Other times it may be justified, but the response that comes most naturally won’t necessarily help your dog.

To clarify things, the more common reasons for whining – and suggested ways for you to react – are listed below.

When she’s whining out of pain

A dog that starts whining all of a sudden, and then keeps it up steadily afterwards, may be whining out of pain. This isn’t just limited to older dogs: puppies and young dogs can be subjected to some pretty severe growing pains, so don’t rule out this possibility on the basis of age.

If you think your dog may be in pain, check her over to see whether there’s any merit to this belief. First, check for the obvious signs: is she holding any paws off the ground, or favoring a limb/side of her body? Check her face and body for scratches and splinters. Next, you can palpate her limbs and joints for inflammation (like arthritis) and possible injuries. Remember to be very gentle: if she’s in pain, you don’t want to make it worse. Simply rub your hands along each leg, pausing at the joints to give each one a gentle squeeze. Run your hand down her tail to check for lumps and bumps, too. Even if you can’t find anything seriously amiss, if you think she’s whining out of pain, a trip to the vet is in short order.

When she’s whining out of boredom and/or loneliness

You’ll be able to tell if this is the cause because she’ll be wandering around the house (probably following you around, or pacing about the room you’re in), whining aimlessly and without direction (i.e. she’s whining to herself). The best cure for a dog that’s whining out of boredom is a quick shot of exercise: take her out for a brisk walk as soon as you can, and on a more general level, try to ramp up her daily exercise quotient. A tired dog is almost never a bored dog.

For a dog that’s whining from loneliness, you’ll have to try your best to spend more quality, interactive time with her. If you don’t have a lot of spare time to spend with your dog, then make the time that you do spend together really count: play, groom, train, cuddle.

When she’s whining out of fear/anxiety

Normally, it’ll be fairly easy to tell whether she’s whining out of fear or anxiety. When she’s afraid, it means there’s a direct cause to her fear – like a thunderstorm or a windy afternoon that’s rattling the windowpanes and spooking her a bit. If she’s anxious, it means there’s no direct, tangible cause for her edginess – she might be a bit on edge because you’re a bit stressed and she’s feeding off your energy, or perhaps there’s been a change to her daily routine (she didn’t get her normal morning walk, for instance).

Without spending any more time quibbling pedantically over semantics, your response to this sort of whining should always be one of discouragement. Don’t attempt to punish or correct her for whining out of fear or anxiety – that will simply increase her stress, making her feel worse and making the whining worse, too. Instead, simply ignore her. It’s a bit hard to do at first – in fact, it can feel like the least natural reaction in the world! But it really is the best thing for you to do.

If you lend unwonted credence to your dog’s mood with an excessive reaction – patting, sympathy, cooing – she won’t be comforted; she’ll actually be more worried, because you’ve just validated her fear. If it seems to her like you think she’s got a good reason to be worried/afraid – and if you react with comforting words and soothing pats, that’s how it’ll come across – then she’ll be more afraid. Not less. So in this case, you need to ignore the whining outright. Don’t molly-coddle her; instead, distract her with play, or run through a quick obedience routine.

Get her thinking about something else.

If she needs to go outside

If your dog’s whining because she needs to go outside, first of all you should give yourself – and her – a big pat on the back: it’s the sign of a genuinely well-trained dog. She needs to go badly enough to be whining about it, but she knows not to do it inside – and she’s smart enough to try and let you know that she needs to go out, too. This one’s easy: if she’s standing near the door, or just has That Expression (if you’ve had her for a while, you’ll grow to know That Expression – it’s different for every dog, but most owners are able to easily and correctly interpret it as meaning, “Let me out – now!”), you should let her out. It’s as easy as that.

Further Reading

For more information on dog ownership, including a huge variety of detailed information on canine problem behaviors, dog psychology, and the most effective ways to train your dog, take a look at Secrets to Dog Training. It’s the ultimate resource for the intelligent dog owner, and it covers just about every subject pertaining to the care of your beloved dog that you’ll ever need to know about. You can visit the Secrets to Dog Training site by clicking on the link below:

 Dealing with a lonely dog

Our dogs are pack animals. They’re highly sociable creatures with a genuine need to socialize and interact. Because we humans have done such a bang-up job in domesticating our canine friends, socialization with other dogs isn’t enough for your friend: you are the center of your dog’s world. She needs to spend time with you.

Of course, this is sometimes easier said than done.

Life, for most of us, is pretty busy, and at times it’s difficult to find genuine pleasure in performing the most basic of caretaking tasks for our dogs. When time is short, responsibility becomes a burden. It’s even worse when added responsibilities or increased demands on our time begin to detract from the quality of the time we do spend with our dogs.

If other stresses are weighing heavily on your mind, everyday pleasures with your dog can morph from a joy into a headache – the half-hour walk after work is just one more thing to get through, rather than an opportunity for you both to unwind and spend some time together in mutual, tacit admiration of the natural world.

Whether we like it or not, the lifestyles that we choose (to a certain extent, anyway) to put ourselves through – a general dearth of time, moderate to high stress levels, job anxiety, shifting personal commitments – affect our dogs as well as ourselves. Sensitive pooches can become so negatively impacted by the less-than-positive frame of mind held by their owners that they themselves become depressed and anxious. Other, more well-adjusted dogs suffer through isolation: when obligations are pressing, the twice-daily dog walk can be the easiest thing to relegate to the back of the line (your dog can hardly raise his voice in outrage, can he?).

Making time for our dogs isn’t always as easy as we would like it to be. But it doesn’t have to require a huge input of time or a Herculean amount of energy: there are ways that we can include our dogs in our lives without spending minutes and hours that we don’t have.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Bring her along with you. When you’re running errands – picking up the mail, dropping children off to music lessons, soccer, and Little League, stopping by at work – your dog will jump at the chance to come along. Even if she stays in the car, the opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy a change of visual and olfactory scenery will be genuinely welcomed by her – and it’s a good way for the two of you to spend some casual one-on-one time together. If your errands involve other people (ferrying kids around, picking up a spouse, visiting a friend), accompanying you can go a long way towards meeting her social requirements for the day, too. (Tip: if you’re going for the Big Grocery Shop, or plan on doing something else that requires an extended absence from the car, best to leave her at home – any more than half an hour alone in the car is pushing the boundaries of responsible ownership for most dogs.)

2. Invite her into the bedroom. You don’t have to ask her up on the bed with you; she can sleep on her own dog bed, either in the corner of the room (most dogs prefer to sleep with something at their backs) or next to your bed. This is a fantastic way of spending “down-time” with your dog (you’re both enjoying the same pastime in an undemanding way), and of increasing your bond, too. Dogs like to sleep with their pack (that’s you!). As pack animals, they’re hardwired to enjoy close contact with others during their most vulnerable hours. It reinforces their sense of togetherness and security. By allowing your dog into your bedroom at night, you’re fostering closeness with your friend. And it’s easy, too!

3. Spend time in mutually-enjoyable activities. Walking the dog becomes a chore when it’s boring – if you’re enjoying yourself, you’ll be more likely to devote more time to it, which is good news for your dog, yourself, and your relationship with each other. Don’t feel like you have to limit yourself to the same old twenty-minute circuit round the park – break out and explore new territory. As much as dogs love to reinvestigate familiar turf, they appreciate new sights and sounds too, so try the riverbank, the dog beach, a different park, dog exercise yards (you get to chat with other owners, too, while your dog makes new friends), hill trails, or go for a walk downtown – with your friend on a leash, of course.

4. Perfect the art of multi-tasking. Whenever I’m cooking dinner or reading a book, my Rottweiler plumps himself down about two feet away from my ankles and stares at me dolefully from under wrinkled, upslanted brows. This used to bother me: I could almost sense the waves of silent accusation wafting off him. “Why aren’t you playing with me?” I felt like he was asking. “How come whatever that is gets your attention when I don’t?” As much as I love him, I still feel that I’m entitled to my one or two chapters a night (and a well-cooked dinner); so I decided to counteract the tear-jerking expression on his face by learning to multi-task.

So now, cooking time is also training time: I use the momentary hiatus in between stirrings and choppings to practice Sit and Down. Reading time has become read-and-cuddle time: we sprawl on the couch together, I get to relax and read my book, and he gets his tummy rubbed while he snoozes. If I had a TV, I’d use my TV-watching time for grooming time, too.

5. Counteract the “one-man dog” tendency. If you live in a multi-person household, it makes things easier on you if you can share the responsibility around a bit. It’s healthier for your dog, too – the more she interacts with the people that she lives with, the better. You can share responsibilities like walking, playtime, feeding, and grooming: the more social stimulation your dog gets, the happier she’ll be.

If you have children in the household, the amount of responsibility they get is really best decided on a case-by-case basis: some younger children are perfectly OK to walk the dog, but some can find the experience traumatic and scary (which makes it unsafe for the dog, too). As a general rule of thumb, before allowing a child out of doors and unsupervised with a dog, make sure you’re OK with how the dog and the child interact. The dog should obviously know that the child “ranks” above her in the social hierarchy of the household, and obey her commands reliably; the child should be able to handle herself confidently with the dog, and know the basic rules of dog-walking etiquette (leash-laws, poop-scooping, dog-on-dog social protocol, and so on).

Obviously, these tips aren’t intended as a substitute for that quality and quantity of time together that your dog lives for – and that makes life as a dog-owner so rewarding and fun, too. Your dog still needs to spend active, focused time with you, in training, playtime, general cuddling/manhandling, and exercise. But with a little forethought and effort, you can go a long way towards ensuring her emotional and psychological welfare without adding too much to your own workload.

For more information on responsible dog ownership, including detailed advice for handling and preventing problem behaviors, step-by-step how-to’s for obedience work and tricks, and an in-depth look at canine psychology and communication, check out Secrets to Dog Training. It’s the ultimate resource for dog owners! Visit the site by clicking on the link below: