Housebreaking 101

Remember that dog who just knew you didn't want her piddling in the house? Some dogs just need a slight sense of disapproval from you, and they virtually housebreak themselves.

But you dont have one of those dogsor you wouldnt be reading this!

So how do we house train the dog who just doesnt seem to get it? Believe it or not, its simple.

I have two key words for you:

Confine and Observe.

While there is a great deal to know about food and water scheduling, timing can vary from dog to dog. So well just concentrate here on the main concept which is to confine your dog to an appropriately sized crate when you cannot observe her.

A properly sized crate is large enough for your dog to stand up and turn around, but hardly bigger than that. If you have a puppy in a large crate, shell think shes got a bedroom with a bathroom built in. Shell wee in one corner and sleep in the other.

The correctly sized crate consists of bedroom only with no bathroom. So if your crate is too large, go to the pet store and purchase a crate divider so you can temporarily reduce the accessible area.

Fido should be in her crate unless you can observe her 100%. This means that when the dog is loose, she has your undivided attention. Consider attaching a 6 foot light cord to the collar so you can more easily locate the dog, and prevent her from leaving the room without you. Simply step on the cord to stop her.

At the first sign your dog needs to go, whisk her outside. Those signs include circling, sniffing, anxiousness, whining among other symptoms.

When youre not observing your dog with full attention, you confine her to the crate. That being said, you do need to ensure your dog has liberty periodically so shes not all day in the crate. By being diligent now, youll be able to give Fido years of liberty with no worries. So its well worth the investment in time at this stage.

Be sure you spend time playing with your dog, and also let her wander outside the crate. Avoid tossing her in the crate as punishment. Alleviate your guilt feelings by placing bones smeared with peanut butter in with her.

This method makes it impossible for your dog to have an accident. Youre either right there to take her out, or shes in the crate where she wont want to go. When youve had a month with no accidents, you can begin to let the dog earn a little more liberty, five or ten minutes at a time.

That means she can be out of your sight for a few moments at a time. But only a few. You want to build slowly on a record of success until your dog literally forgets that the house ever contained a bathroom.

For each week with no accident, you can give Fido a few more moments of liberty at a time. However, if there is an accident, go back a step, and reduce that liberty. One accident in the house erases progress made for the several previous days.

Confine and Observe your way to house breaking success. In the course of just two or three months, youll have a dog you can trust in the home. Its going to be worth the effort!

Marc Goldberg is a dog trainer specializing in the rehabilitation of difficult dogs and improving relationships. He is Vice President of the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP) and Editor of SafeHands Journal. The author also educates professional dog trainers in his techniques. Visit him on the web at http://www.chicagodogtrainer.com or http://www.dogtraininginchicago.com.

Manifesting & The 3 Requisites For Change

How do you manifest faster, get more of what you want and stop manifesting what you don't want?

The best way to speed up your manifesting ability is to raise your vibration. Now obviously you're manifesting all the time - we all are. Every single thought, spoken or written word is manifested.

So what you need to do is follow what we call the 3 requisites for change. First you need to clear up anything that's holding you back from having what you want. Get your mind in the right place, so the action you take doesn't conflict with your deepest desires (especially the ones you aren't even aware of). Secondly you need to take action towards what you want, rather than away from it and thirdly you need to maintain your focus on what you want.

The first requisite will help you raise your vibration and clear the filters you perceive the world through. So this involves clearing up all your past emotional baggage around that specific area. So if we take the example of money, do you feel angry towards others who have what you want? Are you afraid of being around very wealthy people? Do you feel guilty about having money when you have it? And so on. Well your unconscious mind doesn't want you to feel all these emotions, so it does what it can to stop that happening and protect you from this by stopping you making a lot of money. So the first step is to let these 'negative' emotions go so you're comfortable around it. The next step is to get rid of any limiting decisions and beliefs you have around it. For example that "you don't deserve to have money", or that "money isn't important to you" and so on. This then opens up the flow of energy (that we call money) towards you and allows you to have some.

The second requisite will help you take the action you need to take to get money. After all you can have the clearest filters around money, but if you're sitting on the sofa all day doing nothing, chances are you probably won't get any money coming your way. So you need to actually take action, towards what you want. Not just any action, but honed laser sharp focused action to get you what you want.

The third requisite is where you maintain your focus specifically on what you want, as opposed to what you don't want! One reason people don't "get" what they want is that they don't maintain their focus on what they want. They put a thought out there that they want it, then 30 seconds later they put a thought out there that they don't want it. Even if that second thought is unconscious, or "via the back door" and didn't count as far as you're consciously concerned, it still sends the energy out there that you've changed your mind and you don't want it anymore, so the universe complies.

Take for example someone wanting more money. Now money is just energy, nothing more, nothing less. So if that person says "I want to make more money", then the universe gets into gear to deliver you more money. However, what is "more"? Well 1 cent more than you currently have is more than you currently have, so chances are you'll be out walking over the next couple of days and you'll see a penny on the sidewalk - "there you go" the universe says, "here's more money!" So what do you do? Well if you're like a vast proportion of people you either firstly don't even notice it, or if you do you choose to ignore it, because it's just a penny. What this tells the universe is that you don't want more money, so it gets into gear to deliver that to you instead, since you've clearly changed your mind about wanting more money.

So firstly remove all the blockages to your complete success, take the action you need to take to get your result and finally maintain your focus on your desired outcomes.

I hope you enjoyed this article. Stay focused on what you actually want and start to become more conscious of your thoughts and actions in that area of your life. If that area for you is money, start picking up those pennies!

Karen Dimmick MHT is a Quantum Healer, NLP, Time EmpowermentTM Technique and Hypnosis trainer who teaches people to release the 'baggage' that is holding them back, focus their minds and get results. Certification training, seminars and one to one sessions are all available. For more information visit http://www.awakeninginsight.com or call 1-800-930-4073.

Training With Treats: Do It Right!

Hey even Im willing to learn new things if theres a broiled lobster in it for me.

When Im hungry that is.

If Im not hungry, or if Im so distracted that a lobster wont tempt me, then Ill blow you off to continue doing what I want, not what you want.

Thats pretty much how your dog sees the issue when you train with food. If hes hungry at the moment, and if theres nothing more compelling going on, food can be a great way to reinforce behaviors you teach your dog. On the other hand, if Fido isnt food motivated, or if hes got something better to do, he wont be interested.

Nonetheless, training with food has its benefits when used as a motivator and a reward. For those dogs who just arent normally interested in treats, you can substitute play with a toy if that motivates them.

The first thing you have to know about using food in training is how NOT to use it. The primary rule is not to use it to stop an unwanted behavior. Instead, use it to create a new behavior you want to teach.

With those rules in mind, you wont teach your dog to stop growling at other dogs by using food. But you may be able to teach him to sit more quickly if theres something tasty in it for him.

Before I tell how you to deliver food treats when training, let me tell you WHY you should not use food to try and stop an unwanted behavior. The answer is because you can accidentally reinforce the very behavior youre trying to stop.

For example, lets say Fido growls at other dogs on his walks. If you tell him to stop growling, and distract him with a treat, what has he really learned?

Heres what YOURE thinkinghe stopped growling so I rewarded him for that with a cookie. He wont growl again.

Heres what FIDO is thinkingthis is cool, I growl, then mom pops me a cookie. Lets see if this workslets growl more!

Think of food as a directional reward. How, when and where you deliver it all determine whether the treat teaches your dog what you intended, or something else altogether. For example, you tell Fido to sit, and you hold a treat six inches over his head, while pushing down on his butt.

Sound about right? Wrong! By holding that treat six inches over his head, youre really teaching Fido to sit then immediately break that position in favor of jumping up to get the cookie.

Instead, start Fido standing on a closely held leash. Show him you have a cookie, by holding it at nose levelonly an inch from his sniffer-- while hes standing up. Direct his attention, and nose, slightly higher by raising the cookie only enough so that he must tend toward a sit to view it. While hes focusing upward only a couple of inches over his nose, use your other hand to push his butt down, while your cookie hand keeps the treat only a couple of inches from his nose as it moves.

As soon as he is sitting, deliver the treat to him just slightly above nose level, and slightly toward his rear. This means that to collect the treat, Fido must actually lean back into the sit more to reach it.

Mission accomplished! Food hasnt been just randomly delivered to your dog, leaving him wondering why he got it. Instead, the food has clearly communicated how he can get this treat even faster next time, by sitting when you ask.

Anyone getting hungry?

Marc Goldberg is a dog trainer specializing in the rehabilitation of difficult dogs and improving relationships. He is Vice President of the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP) and Editor of SafeHands Journal. The author also educates professional dog trainers in his techniques. Visit him on the web at http://www.chicagodogtrainer.com or http://www.dogtraininginchicago.com.