How To Prevent Your Dog Or Puppy From Embarassing You

     There are many ways you could learn How to prevent your dog or puppy from embarrassing you. The biggest way to help your puppy or dog is through some basic training and obedience classes.

If you have a puppy, beginning obedience training classes as soon as they are part of your family is recommended. The sooner they realize that you are the leader of the pack and that they need to listen to what you are saying and commanding them to do, the better it will be for both you and the puppy.

Just as children need love, attention and boundaries, so do puppies; they need to know they are loved and cared for as well as where their boundaries are. Training a puppy can be rewarding and frustrating at the same time but well worth the efforts when they begin to grow into well behaved dogs.

It is most embarrassing when people come to your house and a puppy or dog full of energy comes bounding around the corner and jumps up on the visitor. This is especially difficult when the person visiting does not like or care for dogs.

To prevent your puppy or dog from jumping on visitors, even family members like grandma, it is important to teach them a simple command like a sit stay or a down stay which you can put them in before answering the door. A dog that can master this basic command will stay in this position no matter what is going on around them.

Dog school is a great place for puppies and dogs to learn good manors and how to control their energy. It will depend on the breed of dog and the amount of time and effort put forth by the owner as to when a puppy or dog 'gets' the training right and learns the appropriate commands for sitting, staying and heeling next to the owner.

There is another command that is important to the control of a dog or puppy and that is the command 'leave it'. This tells the dog not to sniff, touch or go after something they want. For example if you and your dog are going for a walk and another individual with their puppy are approaching and are going to pass you and your dog, you would want to say leave it as you pass the other dog because your dog will want to sniff or investigate the other animal. This could be embarrassing if the dogs begin to sniff each other in the proper manor which is sniffing each others back side. Proper dog etiquette is to sniff the bottom, not the face because some dogs will bite or growl if approached in the face.

In puppy or dog classes, owners and their dogs will practice what is known as the 'meet and greet' in which the class splits up into to groups and walks towards each other. They stop about a foot apart and put their dogs on a sit stay next to them. Then they shake hands with the other person and sometimes the teacher will have them swing their arm out over the dog and pat each other on the arm or shoulder. This exercise shows the dog that it's okay for their 'parent' to interact with others while they sit by and watch. No jumping or barking is requires.

Learning How to prevent your dog or puppy from embarrassing you can be a fun and fulfilling exercise in patience for both the owner and animal. It takes time and a lot of practice but if you keep at it, you will have a well behaved dog that you will not be embarrassed to take out in public or have sit next to you when company comes to your house.