Many dog owners aim to raise a well-behaved and calm pooch while maintaining the dogs personality, but that doesn't always go to plan.
Some dogs, such as huskies, beagles and lurchers, can be tricky to train, while other pups may just be naturally stubborn - whatever the breed. Owners may get to the point where they feel they've tried everything, but a dog training specialist has advised owners what to do before they get to this point.
Wendy Kruger, dog behaviour and training specialist at Woodgreen Pets Charity, where Channel 4's The Dog House is filmed, says owners should seek help as soon as they notice a problem with the dog.
Wendy, who has been with the charity for more than 30 years, says that not getting help early enough is the biggest problem she sees with owners trying to train their dogs. Speaking to the Mirror, she said: "I think if owners sought help as soon as they had a niggling, little irritating problem, the advice would be quite small and relatively easy to fix, and it wouldn’t take months of work.
"That's what people tend to get wrong. Because it isn't a big thing at that point and therefore isn't their priority."
She added: "Get help. As soon as you notice that there might be a problem, ask for help."
Wendy warns that going down the punishment route can make the problem worse. She said: "Sometimes, unfortunately, some people go down the punishment route. It can be very frustrating when your dog is lunging and barking at another dog as an owner.
"Therefore that owner tells their dog off verbally or whatever, and that actually only makes the dog's reaction to the thing even worse, because now the dog is a bit frightened of the owner when it comes across that thing. So punishment actually exacerbates the problem, instead of reduces it.
"Sometimes it reduces it in the short term, but it definitely doesn't reduce it in the long term. People do sometimes go down the route of telling their dog off, and they see short term results, but actually pretty quickly they learn that it didn't work, and the dog is actually worse and their relationship is a little bit broken and that doesn't help, that's when they call us."
Wendy works mostly internally with training dogs on-site by developing training plans and resolving problems but she also hosts weekly webinars aimed at educating the public. She explained: "The wider population doesn't really understand what's involved in dog ownership.
"So that webinar goes through the good, the bad and the ugly. So, how much exercise a dog needs, what their breed characteristics are, how to understand body language, managing dogs and children and how dogs communicate with us, and how to keep dogs happy, how to keep them happy."
The webinars run on Monday and Wednesday nights on seven different topics, including how to live with dogs successfully and adolescence and dogs.
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