respect/basics

Question
Hi, I would like to teach my dogs some basic commands...sit, come the firt time I call and down....also other things like get off the bed when I ask ect. ect. I was wondering how to begin? my dogs are 4 1/2, 3 1/2 and 2 years old and never were trained, How to I teach them to respect me? I have a jack russell terrier he is the 3 1/2 year old and he is domaniering and wont listen to anything I say..... all my dogs are spayed/neutered) I can get my dogs to sit/down with treatrs but without a treat/lure they wont go into a sit or a down... I want to teach them to do things without treats the reward being verbal praise/head rubs. please help.

Answer
Its a good idea. Its best to start when the dogs have begun to develop their cognitive memory, around 8-14 weeks, but its never too late. Enroll all of them in basic obedience classes and stick with it. They have all learned that you are the bottom of the pack and they are boss. You have to reverse that and become the pack leader.

Any professional obedience training class will work, the better ones teach you to teach the dog. or as we say, obedience training is 90% teaching the owner and 10% teaching the dog.

Obedience training is offered by many YMCA's, municipal park districts, professional trainers, retail stores and you can get books and videos to do it yourself. Get some references before you choose a trainer. At the very least, visit a book store and browse the dog training section.

Regards,

Henry Ruhwiedel
Westwind Kennels LLC
www.dogkennel.org