Training Resources

Much material is available on-line that can help you understand how to train your dog.  These resources vary from on-line classes to downloadable reading materials.  There are also numerous excellent books that are perfect for training the well-behaved companion dog.  Fenzi Dog Sports Academy has produced an e-book for new puppy owners that is chock-full of great articles and advice that you can access HERE.  Download additional FREE guides from Ian Dunbar and Avidog by clicking the buttons below.

TRAINING AND SOCIALIZING YOUR PUPPY

Many people think "socialization" means getting your dog to interact with lots of other dogs in a sort of kindergarten kind of way.  Dogs really don't care if they have lots of doggie friends and this is not what puppy classes were designed for -- they were designed to teach you how to be interesting enough to your puppy that your puppy would pay attention to you in the presence of really alluring distractions (other puppies!).  They were designed to teach FOCUS, which is literally the basis for all training behaviors and your relationship with your dog.  So socialization really means exposing your puppy to new environments, new sounds, new locations, and new people so that your puppy is confident in many different situations and can actually focus on your and your instructions--a fearful puppy cannot focus on anything other than fear and trying to find a way out of that situation, so cannot listen to or hear you.  You do not need a class to socialize your puppy, but you do need classes to help you learn the best and most effective ways to teach your puppy the things you want it to know.

If you cannot get your puppy into a puppy class within the first 3 weeks of having it at your home, you can enroll in one of these classes to bridge the gap while you wait to begin a group class:

Jane Killion  - With Open Arms and a Level Head:  How to Bring a Puppy into Your Life
Pupford Training with Zak George - 30 day free Perfect Pup training course
Good Owners Online Educational Program  - goodowners.dog

We recommend two puppy classes (6 weeks each) shortly after you get your puppy and then returning to a Basic Manners or Basic Obedience class when your dog reaches adolescence (8-10 months of age) and decides that many other things are more interesting than you (i.e., becomes a terrible teenager).  In between those two periods, there are many online resources that can help you address specific behaviors or types of purposeful trainings like scentwork or agility, etc.
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Online Resources

  1. Dr. Sophia Yin, DVM: A veterinary behaviorist. Her website has a blog with excellent articles on training tricks and she has a number of other resources that you can purchase that will teach you to train your dog or puppy.
  2. Dr. Ian Dunbar, DVM: An animal behaviorist and veterinarian. His website has a section of useful articles for training dogs and eliminating problem behaviors and his blog has a number of articles that provide useful tips for training problem behaviors.
  3. Karen Pryor: An animal behaviorist who trained dolphins for the navy in the late 1960’s and then stunned the dog training world with her seminal book, Don’t Shoot the Dog. She created clicker training for shaping dog behaviors. Her blog is loaded with numerous articles on dog training and her dog training section has training videos that accompany articles.
  4. Susan Ailsby: A long time dog trainer and PWD owner; her “training levels” are a must read. She has other writings on things that are aggravations to owners and offers some free training books.​
  5. Pamela Dennison: A long time dog trainer. She offers many online courses on recalls, managing a multi-dog household, and dog training for dummies. See her website for more information.​​

Online Courses

  1. Fenzi Dog Sports Academy: A long time dog trainer, Denise Fenzi believes in creating a strong relationship with your dog via games so that the relationship becomes the foundation for obedience training. Her online academy offers people a way to take obedience courses in the comfort of their own home with comments on uploaded videos. Other instructors in the academy offer courses on agility, rally, nosework and tracking, and health and fitness.  For those who can't commit to 6 weeks of courses, Fenzi now offers highly targeted 1 week workshops as well as 1-2 hour long webinars on specific problematic issues.  The academy also offers a lineup of courses for the pet owner who just wants to have a cooperative, well-mannered, nicely socialized dog.
  2. Tom Mitchell, DVM and Lauren Langman's Absolute Dogs online training program and Naughty-but-Nice DVD.  The online classes are chocked full of games and demo videos to show you how to train for impulse control, recalls, and calm behavior.  The DVD is designed to deal with dogs that have behaviors that could later prove difficult and help you nip those behaviors in the bud while training alternate behaviors.
  3. Ian Dunbar's Academy offers online courses to train the perfect home companion dog.​
  4. George Zak's 30 days to a Perfect Pup -- this course is offered free through Pupford and has a number of useful articles to aid in training.
  5. Good Owners Guide to Dogs -- online knowledge resource to help guide companion dog owners and an interactive online educational program to introduce foundational concepts.

​“A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things-a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty.”
― John Grogan, Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog