Training Your Pet

Whether it is excessive barking, jumping, chewing or not being good with children, pet owners all over New England are struggling to make their dogs a well-behaved part of the family. In fact, the number one reason dog owners surrender their dog is because of behavior problems.

Training classes at the NHSPCA are designed to help you develop the skills needed to make living with your dog pleasurable and much easier. (Click here for our most recent class schedule.)

Our method
The NHSPCA uses a method of training known, to many, as Positive Reinforcement. This method is based on scientific theory that states; if an animal is reinforced for a behavior it is likely that that behavior will be repeated.

Reinforcement comes in many forms, but for dogs it generally fits into one, or all, of the following categories.
1. Food
2. Attention
3. Toys

We begin training with small pieces of food that motivate your dog to pay attention and realize that there are benefits to listening. Food is a wonderful motivator and helps get you and your dog on the right track for fast, fun, eager learning. Later we lessen the treats and add other types of reinforcement, such as praise and play time.

Training with food
Many people have questions or reservations about training with food; they are concerned with dogs becoming fat or begging at the table. This won't be a problem as the size of the food treat is very small and the treats are used for training only.

In our classes we will use hotdogs or cheese mixed with small size, dry, dog food kibble. You can do the same at home by mixing your dogs dry kibble with the treats you have cut for the next day. By morning the kibble will be softer and take on some of the taste and smell of the hotdog, therefore making it just as scrumptious to the dog. If you bring this same mixture of treat and food to class you can use the class time to feed your dog half or all of its dinner.

Good Manners
When you think of a dog that is pleasant to live with, you think mostly, of the following things:

When these things do not happen we get frustrated, upset and think the dog is well…. stupid. But lets take another look at that list and consider what a dog actually is and how it behaves normally.

A dog is an animal that chases, bites, digs things up, runs around and is often territorial. All things that do not fit very well in our human lifestyle. Yet we demand that our dogs do not do these things…we demand the unnatural. When you look at it that way it doesn't really seem fair to the dog does it!

If we take a different approach in training and first realize where dogs are coming from, then, let them know that we understand them and finally, teach them what we would like them to do in order to fit into our lives, everything will be easier. For you, for them and of course for your lives, together.

Good behaviors, dealing with life and living with humans must be taught to a pet (all types). Dogs do not come ready to own. There is work involved, work that will take some effort on our part to teach to our dogs and continue for a lifetime.

Current Articles Available

Cat Advice:

• Declawing Cats: Making a Humane Decision
• Solving Litterbox Issues
• Biting and scratching
• Introducing a new cat

Dog Advice:

• All About Crate Training
• Preventing Excessive Barking
• Bite Proof Your Child and Your Dog
• Dealing with Jumping
• Chewing and Destructive Behavior
• The Elusive "Come" command
• All About Leadership
• No Reaction is the Best Reaction
• House Training
• Excessive Barking

Watch for articles addressing these other pet issues in the coming months:

• Dealing with the escape artist dog
• Reptile care
• Bunny care
• and more....

Have an issue you want addressed on this site? Send an E-mail to behavior@nhspca.org and bookmark this page to see if your question is answered.