The following is presented by Dr. Ian Dunbar. You can find more information on his website, www.dogstardaily.com

Babies and children should never be left unsupervised with puppies or dogs. Learning to respect, understand, care for, and successfully control a dog gives a dramatic boost to any child’s self-esteem. But these benefits do not come by magic. Children and parents alike must realize that cartoon dogs are fantasy, and Lassie was several well-trained dogs. Both Lassie and Timmy were acting. In the domestic environment, both dogs and children must learn how to act around each other. All dogs must be taught how to act around children, and all children must be taught how to act around dogs.

Teaching Dogs How to Act Around Children
To improve children’s confidence and self-esteem, it is vital their puppy- and dog-training exploits succeed. Success depends upon adult planning, participation, and direction. First, adults must teach the puppy or dog how to act in a controlled manner, and second, adults must teach children how to control the now mannerly puppy or dog. Adults should use kibble to lure-reward train the puppy to come, sit, lie down, stand, and roll over. “Come,” “Sit,” and “Lie down” are the basic control commands, and “Stand” and “Roll over” are the best commands for examining the dog’s body. Additionally, adults should handfeed kibblewhile cuddling (restraining) the puppy and while stroking and fondling (examining) his muzzle, ears, paws, belly, and rear end. The puppy will soon learn to positively associate restraint and examination with food.

Provide children with tasty treats (in addition to kibble) and instruct them how to lure-reward train the now easily controlled puppy. The puppy will quickly learn that training is fun and being trained by children is especially fun. Families without children at home must invite children to meet, handfeed, and train the puppy during his first three months in his new home. Young puppies are impressionable, cute, and non-threatening. Invite family, friends, and neighbors with children, i.e. children the puppy is likely to meet as an adult.

Instruct the children how to use kibble and treats to lure-reward train the puppy or dog to come, sit, lie down and roll over. By approaching and sitting close, the dog voluntarily accepts and enjoys the child’s company. By sitting, lying down, and rolling over, the dog acknowledges and respects the child’s requests. In other words, the child asks and the dog agrees. Or we could say, the child commands and the dog willingly complies. Moreover, by rolling over on request, the dog shows voluntary and happy appeasement. Quite frankly, willing compliance and happy deference towards children is the only workable solution for pet dog training.

Additionally, as a major beneficial side effect of lure-reward training, the dog grows to like and respect his trainer: “Wow! Children are fun; they give lots of treats. Of course, you have to sit to receive them…but then that’s just common canine courtesy!” All owners should seek family puppy training classes, in which both puppies and children are allowed to interact off-leash.

New Baby
All dogs must be taught to thoroughly enjoy the presence and actions of babies. The solution is classical conditioning. From the outset, integrate your dog into all new baby moments and routines. When feeding the baby, sit down comfortably, and handfeed kibble to your dog at the same time. Pick up the baby whenever he cries and then call your dog and offer a treat as you cuddle and shush the baby. (You will find the baby calms down more quickly if you are slightly distracted by talking to the dog.) When changing the baby’s diapers, handfeed freeze-dried liver to the dog. (Keep a treat jar on the diaper-changing table.) In no time at all, your dog will form strong positive associations with the baby’s feeding, crying, cuddling, and diaper-changing. You may find your dog adopts her baby-minding role with great enthusiasm. Your dog may promptly alert you whenever your baby cries, or messes his diapers. Yes, you will have trained a Dirty Diaper Detection Dog.

Teaching Children How to Act Around Dogs
Learn how to teach your children how to teach a puppy or dog before you get a puppy or dog. Observe a puppy class so your children may learn training skills. Many class instructors will welcome children’s participation, since socializing puppies with unfamiliar children is a major reason for puppy classes. Additionally, observe an adolescent or adult dog class, so you can preview the predictable problems you are going to encounter (or better, prevent). And most important, make sure your children have ample opportunity to test-drive a variety of puppies and adult dogs. See if your local Humane Society has a volunteer program.

When selecting a puppy or dog, make sure all family members, especially including children, love the dog, feel completely at ease around the dog, and are able to easily control the dog before you decide to welcome him into your home. Teach children to train and control the dog using training techniques they can master—classical conditioning, lure-reward, and reward-training techniques. By using brain instead of brawn, even three- and four-year-olds can master these exercises.

Sit with your children, hold the pup’s bowl, and jointly handfeed her first few meals. Instruct your child to occasionally offer treats (tastier than the dog’s kibble). Your puppy will soon learn to love the presence and presents of children. Warn children never to approach any dog without supervision. Teach children how to train puppies to approach them. Instruct children to stand still, to always speak softly, and to keep one hand in their pocket while luring and rewarding the dog with the other hand. Any child who
cannot get a puppy to come, sit and lie down, should never be allowed to play with that pup unsupervised. A single child (or adult, for that matter) with no control can ruin a good puppy within minutes. Insist on training before playtime. And in no time, the child will be play-training the puppy.

Children feel great because they can control puppies with verbal commands and handsignals. Puppies are ecstatic because they have discovered that sitting is the secret command that trains children to stand still and deliver treats on cue. And adult owners feel relieved and deservedly proud to know that their soon-to-be adolescent dogs are congenial and compliant with children.

When first teaching your puppy to come, it is important to get the behavior first, reward it, and then add the command. You want your puppy to associate the word Come with coming to you. You need to start at ‘kindergarten’ level – to make easy for your puppy to be successful and learn.

Sit on the floor with your puppy on leash so he doesn’t go too far. Toss a toy and then call him back to you. Use kissy noises, clap your hands and act happy to get him to come. Praise him and give him a treat. Make this a fun game. Don’t say COME yet. You don’t want to call your puppy to come until you are sure he will do it. Otherwise he won’t associate the word with the correct behavior.

Now stand up near your puppy. Get his attention and walk backwards. He should start moving toward you and if he does, praise and give him a treat. Just back up a few steps for now. This is a very important behavior to teach at kindergarten level before you ever try at college level (outside with you far away).

Now stand away from your puppy a few feet. Get his attention and start moving backwards as before. We are building up difficulty slowly with distance. Starting out next to your puppy makes it easier for him. Starting farther away from your puppy makes it harder.

You can start saying COME once your puppy is easily moving towards you. You want to say your puppy’s name and make sure he’s looked at you first before saying COME. If he doesn’t turn his head toward you, he’s not going to come so get closer. If it is difficult to him to turn to you when you say his name, go back to Chapter 4 and practice!

Practice this inside and start adding distance and working in different rooms. Play hide and seek – make it easy at first. Always make coming to you the most rewarding and fun thing your puppy could ever do. Start adding distractions. Put a toy on the floor or have someone else pet your puppy and call him away from those things.

Rules:
• Always praise your puppy when he comes to you
• Teach your puppy that ‘Come’ means – run to me, there’s a party over here!
• Only call your puppy to come when you KNOW you have control over making it happen
• Always balance distance and distractions for level of difficulty – so work at a level where your puppy can be successful. If there are distractions, work at a short distance away. If there are no distractions, you can be a little further away
• Don’t call your puppy to ‘Come’ for anything she doesn’t like
• Never call your puppy in anger
• Call your puppy only once – and then make her come or walk away
• Always praise and reward your puppy for coming to you- make sure you reward and praise a lot!! (a full 20 seconds of petting for example)
• Never punish your puppy for coming to you – even if it takes awhile for him to get there.

Puppy biting is a normal puppy behavior and it is important that we give our puppies clear, consistent feedback to teach them that teeth on skin is not acceptable.

Puppies explore with their mouths just like babies explore with their hands. Puppies have sharp teeth and weak jaws – so this is the time to teach them to bite gently – and then not at all – before they develop the strong jaws of an adolescent dog. It is important to teach your puppy to reduce both the force and frequency of his biting.

To do this, play with your puppy. Sit on the floor and purposely put your hands near your puppy’s mouth. If you feel a hard bite, say Ouch! And stop playing. If your puppy stops biting, lure him into a sit and reward and start playing again. If your puppy ignores the ‘ouch’, and continues to bite, say OOOWWW and leave the room. Come back after a 20 second time out and do a little sit/down training before starting to play again.

An excellent way to practice this is to tether your puppy in an area where he can’t have any fun except with you. Sit on the floor and play with your puppy and when you feel hard bite, say Ouch! Then get up and leave the area for 20 seconds. Repeat this 10 times in a row twice a day. You should be able to play longer and longer between hard bites. Then start reacting to the softer bites as well. If you have children, each person should practice this exercise separately, starting with the adults.

Another way to teach your puppy to have a ‘gentle mouth’ is to hand feed him. Your puppy only gets the food when being gentle – and not grabby. If your puppy likes to bite and grab pant legs, stop moving immediately and interrupt him. Call his name and then ask him to do something else such as Sit.

Be aware that when your puppy is excited, he’ll be more mouthy and bitey. So first practice when he’s calm. When he is calm, you can do a lot of gentle petting and give him a nice belly rub. If he bites, then all petting stops for 20 seconds. Another consequence to biting is 30 second time out in his crate. Don’t do this in anger – it’s just a neutral consequence to his biting – “Oops – time out – in your crate.”

If you don’t see an improvement in reduced biting, consult a Certified Professional Dog Trainer in your area.

Observation
It’s up to you to make sure your puppy does not make mistakes indoors in the first place. The more that happens, the more he’ll think it’s OK. This means that good and constant observation on your part is essential to preventing indoor accidents. To help with supervision, loosely tie his leash to you or tether him where you can see him. (Do not leave him tethered while unsupervised!).

Restrict his Movements
Make sure you never leave your puppy loose and unsupervised during the housetraining period. This means that 100% of time you are either watching him, or he is in his crate or X-pen.

Feeding Times
It is important that you regulate your dog’s food and water intake. Pay closer attention to your dog for the hour or so after feeding so you can be ready to take him out. Most puppies will want to relieve themselves 15 minutes after eating. Leave food out for 20 minutes, then remove it, whether your dog has finished or not. Don’t worry if he doesn’t finish – he won’t starve himself.

Reward
Reward your dog every time he eliminates outside. Be there to praise while he’s going (low key praise so you don’t interrupt him) and treat immediately afterwards. You may want to save his very favorite treats for these rewards and use these treats only for housetraining rewards for now. Use going for a walk as an additional reward. If puppy does not eliminate, bring him back inside, and try again in 10 minutes. Then go for your walk – the walk is a reward for going outside, not a bribe to entice him to go.

Go With Him
Make sure you go with your puppy every time so you are present to praise and reward. Also, this way you know for sure whether or not he has eliminated. Also, you don’t want him to learn that it is OK to go when you’re not there (as in indoors when he’s unsupervised!). Go to the same spot or area every time so your puppy associates this as his potty area.

Adding a Cue
When you see your dog about to relieve himself you can add a cue such as ‘good pee’ or ‘hurry up’ or ‘do your business’. Make sure to say this only when you know he is about to go. After a while, you can use this cue to get him to go right away (very handy for the 11 pm and bad weather potty trips).

He’s Just a Puppy
A general rule of thumb is that a puppy can ‘hold it’ about 1 hour for every month of age. So a 4 month old puppy can hold it for 4 hours. This is breed dependent and smaller dogs will need to go more often. Plan your training schedule accordingly.

Eliminate Odors
Make you thoroughly clean and deodorize any indoor accidents. Any remaining scent will entice your puppy to go in the same spot. You can try feeding on accident areas – puppies do not like to eliminate where they eat – which is why the crate is effective.

Record Keeping
Keep a chart on your refrigerator of you puppy’s elimination schedule so you can start to detect patterns and take him out based on those patterns.

Persistence
It will take time for your puppy to fully understand that he is not allowed to go inside. Your dog may have an occasional accident when he is 6-12 months old. Be diligent and patient.

Using a crate for your puppy will help you with housetraining and general management when you don’t have time to supervise him. It also provides a place for your puppy to relax, nap, get away from the kids or keep out of trouble when you leave home.

In order that your puppy associate his/her crate with comfort, security and enjoyment, please follow these guidelines:

1. Occasionally throughout the day, drop small pieces of kibble or dog biscuits in the crate. While investigating his new crate, the pup will discover edible treasures, thereby reinforcing his positive associations with the crate. You may also feed him in the crate to create the same effect. If the dog hesitates, it often works to feed him in front of the crate, then right inside the doorway and then, finally, in the back of the crate.

2. In the beginning, praise and pet your pup when he enters. Do not try to push, pull or force the puppy into the crate. At this early stage of introduction only inducive methods are suggested. Overnight exception: You may need to place your pup in his crate and shut the door upon retiring. (In most cases, the crate should be placed next to your bed overnight. If this is not possible, the crate can be placed in the kitchen, bathroom or living room.)

3. You may also play this enjoyable and educational game with your pup or dog: without alerting your puppy, drop a small dog biscuit into the crate. Then call your puppy and say to him, “Where’s the biscuit? It’s in your room.” Using only a friendly, encouraging voice, direct your pup toward his crate. When the puppy discovers the treat, give enthusiastic praise. The biscuit will automatically serve as a primary reward. Your pup should be free to leave its crate at all times during this game. Later on, your puppy’s toy or ball can be substituted for the treat.

4. It is advisable first to crate your pup for short periods of time while you are home with him. In fact, crate training is best accomplished while you are in the room with your dog. Getting him used to your absence from the room in which he is crated is a good first step. This prevents an association being made with the crate and your leaving him/her alone.

5. Leave the room for short periods of time when he is in the crate. Come back and praise for quiet, calm behavior. Leave for longer periods of time – then vary the times – so he’ll get used to being alone in the crate first while you are home.

To help your shy/fearful/reactive dog to relax and accept visitors, begin your training routine with only one person. After your dog will relax with that person, you can invite another and then two more and so on until your dog can be comfortable with a group.

Make sure that your dog is somewhat hungry and invite your helper over to train at a time when you can do this without other distractions going on. Have two bags of treats ready (one for you and one for your helper) which should be something special that your dog really loves such as bits of cooked chicken, thinly sliced hot dogs, etc. A variety of treats is even better. If you think your dog will try to jump up and grab the treat bag or bowl, keep the treats in a handy pouch/fanny pack.

If your dog behaves aggressively at the door: When the door bell rings, confine your dog in another room until your visitor is settled. Then, if your dog is able to attend to your direction, bring him out on leash. (Otherwise, allow your dog time to calm down, then run him through a few Sits and Downs behind the closed door before bringing him out on leash). Choose a seat several feet away from your guest. Place your dog in a Down-stay by your side. Your guest should ignore the dog and both of you should maintain a low key manner. If your dog begins to bark or growl or show other signs of distress or tension, calmly but quickly take him back to his crate or safe room. If your dog behaves well and remains calm and quiet on his Down-stay, praise him and feed him some treats. When he seems relaxed, allow him to approach (while you loosely hold the leash) to within 3 feet of the visitor, who should avoid staring and NOT try to pet him. Ask your visitor to tell your dog to Sit, and if your dog complies, you and your visitor can praise him and toss him a treat. Then return him to his resting spot.

Now drop the leash and allow your dog to freely wander around the room. Meanwhile you and helper should talk to one another and pay little attention to the dog as you drop treats on the floor. If the dog only takes your treats and not your helper’s, slow down your treat delivery and ignore his attempts to solicit your attention.

If your dog begins to eat your helper’s treats, she/he should continue to ignore the dog. If the dog seems to be getting more comfortable with your helper, then the helper may try offering a treat from her hand without making any attempt to touch or pet the dog.

If your dog seems relaxed, call your dog back to your side and have your visitor stand up. Allow your dog to approach your standing visitor for tossed treats. If this goes well, your standing visitor may offer treats from her hand. Before your visitor turns to walk away and leave, call your dog back to your side and pick up his leash. If your dog shows any signs of arousal, put him away before escorting your visitor to the door.

If you have a fearful dog that shows aggressive behavior towards strangers or other dogs, you should seek professional help. Here are some tips in the meantime:

What To Do: You should remain calm, upbeat, and pleasant when your dog is around unfamiliar people since they will feed off of your body language- good or bad. You need to help your dog to focus on you and try to prevent them from reaching an extreme state of anxiety or reactivity around their triggers. When working with your dog be upbeat and confident (or pretend to the best of your abilities).

Your dog is trying to drive people away with their aggressive displays. They will be much more comfortable when they can learn that with distance and you being their advocate by keeping them safe and providing distance from the person they fear, nothing is going to hurt them. When you are with your dog around people that make them anxious be their advocate and set them up for success.

Reward your dog with treats, petting, and praise for non-reactive and calm behavior around people. People can toss them treats from a distance so they have a good association with them. If your dog is accepting of a person they would normally react to or is indifferent, make sure to reward them! Besides letting your dog know what is not acceptable you need to teach them what you would like them to do.

The treats you use for training your dog calm and non-reactive behavior around people should be their very favorite and only given when unfamiliar people are around or when you have guests over. Favorite treats include hot dogs, lunchmeat, cheese, and freeze-dried liver. I highly recommend using the clicker training method to teach your dog calm and non-reactive behavior around people. Clicker training is the best training method for getting anxious dogs to focus and learn in stressful situations. Owners I see who rely on using a Gentle Leader head collar alone and don’t use clicker training never reach the same level of success with this issue as owners who utilize both methods.

What Not To Do: Some people may advise “socializing” your fear aggressive dog to people they fear and surrounding them with people or going to public places. This is bad advice. The sensitive period for socialization in dogs is 3-12 weeks of age. After this if fear aggression develops, slowly desensitizing your dog one at a time to people they fear is the best approach. Forcing your dog to be surrounded by what they fear will only reinforce their fear making them uncomfortable and also more likely to use aggression to drive the scary people away. Don’t let strangers approach or pet your dog unless they are comfortable. Just tell them that they are in training and need some space. Watch out for “All Dogs Love Me” people. Assure them that your dog doesn’t love them and head for the hills if they keep insisting.

Never punish your dog for showing fear aggression. Punishment includes the use of aversive corrections (jerk corrections on lead, prong collars, shock collars, spraying with water, yelling, holding your dog by the muzzle, putting your dog into a submissive position, staring at your dog, scolding, and choke collars). Punishment or severe corrections will only make fear aggression worse as pain and fear will be associated with someone that already makes your dog fearful and uncomfortable. Punishment will increase your dog’s anxiety and it will also undermine your relationship with your dog. It is best to reward your dog for calm and appropriate behavior around people so they know what to do. If you create a positive relationship with your dog they will want to please you.

On the flip side of things, if you soothe your dog with baby talk, reassurance, or petting when they are being reactive around people you could be feeding into their anxiety and inadvertently rewarding them for aggressive behavior. You should be upbeat, calm, and relaxed when people are around. Show your dog through your behavior that they have nothing to be anxious about.

Avoid Triggers for Your Dog’s Aggression Towards People: Do not push your dog into situations in which they are bound to be uncomfortable, such as in crowds or in close proximity to strangers. You need to be their advocate and keep the people away from them that they show fear aggression to.

Teach people how to behave around your dog. It is best for them to ignore your dog, to not initiate contact with your dog, to turn away from your dog while sitting, and to avoid direct eye contact with your dog to keep your dog more comfortable in their presence. Behaviors such as hugging, petting over the head, staring at, grabbing by the collar, and looming/standing over a dog are considered threats or dominance behaviors in the dog world and may make your dog more likely to behave aggressively. If you don’t trust that a person can follow your instructions or they really set your dog off, put your dog in a crate or another room with some fun things to do (food puzzles, toys, etc.- as long as they won’t guard them). Your dog doesn’t have to interact with everybody and you may find that everyone, including your dog, is more comfortable this way.

Fear aggressive dogs may be triggered when a person speaks excitedly, uses hand gestures, or moves suddenly. Let people know to be conscious of their body language. Make a point to hold your dog on leash when people get up or walk away (fear aggressive dogs will often lunge at a person as they get up to leave or turn away). Your dog should be wearing their Gentle Leader with a leash or drag line attached when you have new people over the house.

Learn to interpret your dog’s body language when they are showing anxiety or reactivity to people. Some signs that a dog is frightened (besides cowering, shaking, and freezing) include: ears back and to the side or flattened, lowered head, paw lifting, tail down or tucked, whites of eyes showing, cowering, shaking, freezing, tense drawn back lips, panting with spoon-shaped tongue, squatting rear legs, looking away or avoiding eye contact, squinting eyes, braced front legs, rigidity, pressing into wall, leaning, hiding, rounded back, lowered body position, submissive urination, sweating through footpads, turning away, forming a C shape with the body, and drooling excessively. A very fearful dog won’t accept food and they may drink excessively.

Signs that a dog may be aggressive include: stiffness, staring, forward center of gravity, lips C-shaped, teeth bared, lunging, sharp barking, freezing, and stillness. Make sure to keep in mind that dogs wag their tail when they are excited about something, not always because they are happy about it.

Some dogs may also show displacement behaviors (sometimes referred to as “calming signals”) when they are conflicted such as licking their lips, tongue-flicking, scratching themselves¸ sniffing the ground, shaking (like a wet dog shake), or frequent yawning.

If you notice your dog freezing or becoming very still around a person, be careful, as this could mean they are going to bite them. Do your best to remain calm and redirect your dog if possible. Try using a “Watch Me” command (reward your dog for direct eye contact) or “Check In” command (reward your dog for touching their nose to your closed hand).

Provide a Safe Place: Your dog needs a safe place to retreat to in your home so they can get away from people if they want to. If you have a crate I recommend putting a sheet over the sides and back of it (leave the front uncovered) to make it more den-like. Many people also opt to use a room in the house. Give your dog a bed, toys, and a water dish there. When your dog is in their safe space they should not be approached by anyone they are reactive to. Provide your dog with special toys and long-lasting treats to enjoy in their safe space while you have people over. You may find that both your guest and your dog are more comfortable. This is a good option when you don’t want to actively train and supervise your dog around guests and it will prevent your dog from honing in on their aggressive skills.

Accept Reaching Hands and Touching

This exercise will help hand shy dogs become more comfortable with being touched. It is important to begin practicing with familiar and accepted adults first. Again, keep in mind that your objective is not for the dog to merely tolerate, but rather to remain relaxed and enjoy the process, and that an inexperienced helper can get bitten if you proceed too quickly without making sure that the dog is truly accepting rather than merely tolerating the touching.

Goal 1: Relaxed Dog will accept face touch from owner and/or helper.
1. Reach toward dog, stop 6 in. from side of dog’s face, treat from other hand.
2. Repeat reach toward dog, stopping 3 inches from face, treat from other hand.
3. Repeat reach, stopping 2 inches from face, then repeat stopping 1 inch from face.
4. Lightly touch the side of dog’s face.
5. Repeat toward chin.

GO SLOWLY THROUGH THESE STEPS – ONLY MOVE ON TO CLOSER OR FASTER TOUCHING WHEN DOG IS HAPPY AND RELAXED.
SAY ‘GOTCHA’ AS YOU REACH TOWARD DOG TO MAKE IT FUN

Goal 2: Relaxed dog will accept collar and body touch from owner and/or helper.
1. As you feed the treat with one hand, touch the dog’s head with the other.
2. As you feed the treat with one hand, touch the dog under the ear and on the ear.
3. As you feed the treat with one hand, touch the side of the dog’s neck.
4. As you feed the dog with one hand, touch the collar.
5. As you feed with one hand, touch the dog’s chest, front legs, back, lower back, belly, down the back legs, the tail, and finally the paws.
6. Progress to touching from different positions and at different speeds.

Many dogs and cats get along very well, especially if they’ve grown up with each other or have prior experience living with the other species. But dogs who have never lived with cats are more likely to treat cats like other dogs and try to play with them—or like prey animals and try to chase and possibly kill them. Similarly, cats who have never lived with dogs will likely view them as predators and will run away or become defensively aggressive. Keep in mind that a dog can kill a cat very easily, even in play. But if your dog is gentle and friendly, and he’s not a squirrel-chasing predatory type, he may be a good candidate for successfully living with a cat. And in general, kittens and laid-back cats are good candidates for successfully living with a dog.

Two exercises that are important for your dog to do well when asked are a recall (coming when called) and a “leave it” exercise. These skills will help you control your dog if he gets overexcited around your cat

At first, confine your new cat in a room with her food, water and litter box. You can start to introduce your cat and your dog by the doorway to that room. Fill your pockets with treats that your dog loves, like bite-sized pieces of chicken or cheese, and treats that your cat will love as well, such as bits of meat or tuna. Keep the door open but block it with a baby gate. Walk your dog slowly by the doorway several times each day for a couple of days. Praise and treat him for calm behavior, and then toss the cat a treat as well. This way, your cat will associate your dog with delicious treats. If your dog overreacts to the cat, distract him and get his attention focused on you. Avoid accomplishing this by using leash corrections. Instead, get your dog’s attention by asking him to do basic obedience skills, like Sit and Down. Use delicious treats to reward him for his obedience in the presence of something as tempting and distracting as your new cat! Your cat should be free to approach the baby gate to get closer to the dog or to retreat if she wants to. Reward her any time she approaches the baby gate by tossing her treats.

Let your new cat set the pace. If she chooses to run and hide under the furniture when you and your dog walk by, let her. It simply means your introductions will take longer—maybe weeks longer. Taking things slow will help to avoid a bad first impression. Keep in mind that cats can take months to form relationships with other animals. Never attempt to force any interactions by holding your cat, putting her into a crate or carrier or restricting her movement in any way.

If your cat doesn’t seem afraid of your dog as you pass by the doorway of her room, or if she even tries to jump over the gate, you can introduce them in your living room or other large room. Make sure your cat can get away from your dog during the introduction. She should have the freedom and room to retreat, run and hide, slip beneath a piece of furniture where the dog can’t follow or jump up on something higher than the dog.

Keep your dog with you on-leash during these introductions in the living room and for the first couple of weeks. Allow the leash to be loose, but hold onto it in case your dog decides to try to chase your cat. Use your recall and “leave it” exercises if your dog starts nosing or following your cat and she seems perturbed. When you ask your dog to come to you or leave your cat alone and he responds, be sure to give him a very special treat.

When you’re not present or can’t directly supervise, keep your cat and dog confined in separate areas of the house.
Interrupt any chasing, barking or agitated behavior from your dog by using a leash to move him away from your cat. Redirect his attention to another activity or ask him to do some easy obedience skills for food rewards. Avoid scolding, yelling or jerking on your dog’s leash. A positive approach is crucial because you want your dog and cat to learn a pleasant association with each other’s presence. You don’t want them to learn that everyone gets tense and angry and bad things happen when the cat or dog is around. Dogs are more likely to engage in chase or prey behavior when they’re tense or aroused.

Most cats will accept a young dog and correct him when necessary. Be sure your cat’s nails are trimmed before bringing her home so that she doesn’t hurt your dog if she corrects him.

Your dog shouldn’t have access to your cat’s litter box. If he does, it will be highly stressful to your cat, and your dog may
eat the feces and litter.

To prevent your dog from eating your cat’s food, consider feeding your cat on a high surface, like a window sill, dresser, shelf or cat tree furniture.

• Plan ahead. Know which exercise you’ll be training and be prepared to promptly and effectively deliver that reward when your dog produces the desired behavior. You miss a learning opportunity and your dog’s focus is dissembled when you send changing body signals to your dog by rooting around in your pockets for a food reward, or trying to untangle a something from your belt.
• Orchestrate success. Introduce early focus-building exercises in a quiet environment without distractions. As your dog develops its focus skills, incrementally transition the exercises to more stimulating environments. Key the training environment to your dog’s focus skill level with an appropriate progression over time from a distraction-free environment to a highly stimulating one. Prematurely expecting or demanding too much of the dog will set the scene for failure for the dog, for you, and for the overall training.
• If you are using a ball/toy/tug reward in your training, identify the one that is most favored by your dog and reserve it for training purposes only. Don’t allow your dog to have access to this favored item during idle moments, in the crate, for puppy teething/chewing, etc.
• Avoid displaying the reward visibly in your hand, and inadvertently making it the primary object of your dog’s focus. A tug can be tucked into your waistband, a ball in your pocket, or food kept out of sight in a pouch at your side, until needed for reward purposes.
• Keep it up close and personal. Use a leash length that keeps the dog in close physical proximity to you. When using a toy reward in the training, keep it close to your body. A ball on a short leather lead, or a tug with handle, will provide an outstanding reward while keeping the dog physically close to, interacting with, and focused on, you.
• Make your dog’s play time fun and exciting one-on-one interaction with you. Allowing your dog to spend all of its recreational time with other dogs or other people will diminish your position as the most interesting, rewarding, and desired prize in the universe. Allowing your dog to regularly run freely with other dogs, either at home or at an off-leash park, is squandering time, energy, and focus better spent with you in constructive play in training.
• Familiarize yourself with the basics of Operant Conditioning and develop your own method of precisely marking desired behaviors (e.g. clicker, vocalization) and rewarding appropriately (e.g. food, toy, praise, release). Build the intensity and duration of your dog’s focused obedience by incrementally extending the period of time between (a) marking the correct response to your command, and (b) rewarding it.
• Maintain consistency in your total body language, hand signals, and verbal commands. The more precise and unambiguous your communications, the less unwanted distractions to potentially diminish your dog’s sensory awareness of and focus on you.

• Deliver a clear and consistent command to mark the end of a focused obedience exercise. “Okay”, “Break”, “Release”, and “Free” or “Free Dog” are examples of unique release commands. The release command builds anticipation and focus by signaling the completion of a required behavior and releasing the dog physically and psychologically from the stressors of training. The release command can be supplemented with a reward, or it can be a reward in and of itself.
• Crate-train your dog and utilize its time in the crate for resting periods between training and play interaction. Allowing your dog to idle around the yard or house 24/7, especially in your absence, creates boredom and encourages the dog to identify alternate sources of stimulus and pleasure.
• Utilize moments of interaction with your dog as spontaneous training opportunities. Create the environment where your dog is earning each desired activity. For example, require a sit before allowing your dog access to his food bowl; a wait before going through the door into the house; a quiet before being allowed out of the crate or kennel; a teeth, ears, or toes command and examination before petting. Vary the required behaviors to maintain spontaneity and keep your dog alert and focused on you to hear, see, or feel your command.
• Create an attitude of purpose and direction in your daily walks. A purposeful, energetic walk with many turns and changes of pace and terrain will build the dog’s focus on you and secure its confidence in your leadership. A slow, lazy walk in a straight line will allow your dog to sniff and smell whatever strikes its fancy and encourage a head-down, indiscriminately scenting dog intent on ‘reading the newspaper.
• Employ the powerful effects of touch. Regular grooming and massage sessions with your canine partner are superb opportunities for bonding. The stronger the bond between you and your partner, the better the focus. Spending quiet, one-on-one time in close physical contact is relaxing and healthful for both you and your dog, and is the surest way to closely examine your dog from nose to tail tip to identify and treat minor health issues before they become major.
• Shape your dog’s behavior to await your explicit permission to sniff and greet other people or animals. Withhold that permission far more often than you grant it.
• Take control of the learning curve. Proactively create opportunities for your dog to successfully learn and develop desired behaviors and skills. When this is done correctly, you should be generating 500 opportunities to praise your dog for every one time you correct your dog.
• Less is more. A five-minute training session with an energetic, enthusiastic, highly focused dog and handler that concludes with a celebration of success will always be more productive than a 60-minute training session with progressively diminishing mental and physical resources that concludes in frustration and failure.
• At the end of every training or play session, leave your dog wanting more, more, more and enthusiastically looking to you to provide it!