Last Updated on January 19, 2023 by Kunthida
Weimaraner Training: Becoming the Pack Leader
There are various factors known to impact Weimaraner training. Training a smart dog can be more fascinating but his stubborn temperament can interrupt desired results from occurring. The owner’s attitude affects the training progress too.
Apart from being determined and consistent, you must exhibit confidence in order to establish your role as leader of the pack he must respect and obey.
So what makes the pack order so essential when it comes to training? It is because dogs are social animals. Well before they were domesticated and became popular household pets, dogs in the wild have been thriving in groups.
They follow a chain of command, in which the alpha dog is the one controlling the behavior of other animals in the pack. The alpha enjoys more freedom than other members – gets to eat first, sleeps wherever he prefers and gives commands, and expects the members to obey.
However, domesticated dogs have been taken out of this natural order and learned to flourish with humans. Hence instead of being in a pack of four-legged canines, many have already learned to recognize their two-legged human companions as members of the pack too.
But how can an owner confirm his role as the pack leader? Simple but can be tricky at times for this does not happen naturally. You have to be confident and firm enough for your pet to see you as a capable leader who will not only control him but also provide protection to him if the need arises.
To display your authority over your dog, here are a few tips you might want to take into account:
Be the first on everything
Considering that the pack leader gets to eat first or walk ahead of the other members of the pack, it is just right that you follow such a routine.
Always go first when going through a doorway, walking, or going up and down the stairs. When you’re walking your dog outdoors, don’t let him walk ahead of you. He must be next to or behind you instead.
Call your dog to come to you
When it is time to walk or you have to attach his collar or leash, call him to come to you rather than going to him yourself. The same is true during mealtime, playtime, and in nearly every opportunity.
Allot time for everything.
There ought to be scheduled for feeding, toilet breaks, exercise, and even Weimaraner training.
Never tolerate his whims.
There will come a time when your Weimaraner would beg for food or bark to go out of the house. Never resign yourself to all his whims even if those puppy eyes melt your heart. You’re the leader so you are the one who decides when to eat or when and where to go.
Your Weimaraner ought to sleep in his bed, not in yours.
As stated, the alpha can sleep wherever he wants, more likely in the most comfortable area. You can let your dog on your bed but he should only stay at the bottom and not push you out of the way.
Six Weimaraner Training Tips For You
Weimaraner training isn’t just about training your dog to obey fundamental commands like sit, stay, and down. Additionally, training involves socialization that aims to develop the dog’s social relationship along with leadership, confidence, dedication, and consistency on your part.
There are lots of approaches reported to be effective in attaining every dog owner’s dream of a properly-mannered pet.
However, not all these are guaranteed to work on your pet considering that dogs vary from the other, sometimes even if they’re of the same breed. As an owner, it is, therefore, your responsibility to ascertain which particular strategy is best suited for your pet and the ones you must avoid.
1. Socialization is always the starting point. Before working on complex or even basic commands, socialize your dog first. Whether it’s a puppy or an adult dog you adopted from the animal shelter, every dog has to adjust to the new environment they are brought into.
If there are other pets in the house, introduce them on neutral ground and make the experience pleasant as much as possible in order to avoid territorial and aggression issues later on.
2. Check your pet’s condition. Your pet’s condition can greatly impact the Weimaraner training results. Although naturally energetic breed, you cannot expect an old Weimaraner to display the same vigor as a young Weimaraner does.
Old dogs tire very easily while young ones can become rowdy at times. Knowing your pet’s condition can therefore help you determine what training approach to use, the length of training each session, and the difficulty of each activity.
3. Basic commands to stop and eliminate behavior issues. Teaching obedience commands will not only make you a proud dog owner. More importantly, these commands can prevent and get rid of numerous behavior issues such as chewing, digging, jumping on and/or running after people, and biting.
Like for example if you are working on getting rid of your pet’s jumping issue, commanding him to sit and stay as soon as you see him can prevent him from actually jumping. By doing the process when the need occurs, he will eventually figure out what’s the right action to take.
4. Basic commands as the groundwork. You can’t just teach your furry friend the “rollover” command without teaching the command “down” or “stay”. So before you dream of having a dog that can perform impressive tricks, better focus on the fundamental commands first.
5. Motivate through recognition and rewards. Positive reinforcement generally works better than any other training tactic. By knowing your pet’s desirable behavior and rewarding him for it, he’ll be driven to repeat such behavior when the opportunity comes since he knows that he’ll be getting good things.
6. Penalty isn’t as necessary as a correction. The ideal time to alter your pet’s behavior is when you see him in the act of doing the mistake, like urinating on areas apart from which you specified as his toilet.
When this happens, take him to the designated area to finish. Punishment ought to be avoided at all costs for it will only bring more harm than good.
These tips may be very basic but when adhered to, can be very useful in achieving successful Weimaraner training.
Jan Gould has been writing articles regarding Weimaraner training. For more information concerning the breed, check out her site filled with Weimaraner training advice.
Weimaraner Training Mistake Every Owner Must Avoid
If you have been a Weimaraner owner for years, probably you are aware that providing Weimaraner training can be tough taking into account this breed’s temperament – energetic and has strong, instinctive prey drive.
But that does not make training impossible for there are numerous strategies an owner can utilize to have a well-mannered four-legged pooch.
One thing an owner ought to remember though is that not all tips claiming to work are indeed effective.
Thus it is very essential that you’re well aware of what works and what to avoid.
To help you figure out what are things to avoid, here are the most common mistakes some pet owners make:
1. Waiting before training
While it is possible to train old dogs with new tricks, training at an early age often leads to desirable results than training only when the dog has started to develop bad habits.
In other words, training must start as soon as your new pet arrives home. Training during your pet’s first few days at home may include socialization, potty training, and some obedience commands.
2. Not knowing your pet’s needs
The result of training is not only dependent on your skills regarding Weimaraner training. It is also essential to assess your pet’s needs and condition so that you’ll be able to discover what strategy would suit him best.
Like for example if your pet has hearing issues, using hand signals is more appropriate than using voice commands during training particularly when you and your pet are a few meters away from each other.
3. Failure to correct an improper behavior
You can’t just tell a dog that chewing is unacceptable and expect him to understand and obey you.
If you catch him in the act of doing the mistake, say chewing, call his attention immediately, provide him with his chew toy and get the object once he diverted his attention to the toy.
If he remains focused on the object he is not supposed to chew, avoid pulling it forcefully because he might assume that you’re playing with him. Moreover, correction ought to be done in a timely fashion, not five hours or even one hour after an undesirable deed is done.
4. Using punishment
While correction is essential to achieve successful Weimaraner training, it’s important to keep in mind that using punishment to correct your dog’s mistake is not the best way to have a properly-mannered Weimaraner.
Actually, it can do more harm than good since inflicting physical pain may result to fear and aggression.
5. Failure to recognize and reward good behavior
Since it’s not recommended to reprimand your pet, one way to encourage good behavior is to recognize it.
Like for example if your dog pees at the spot you designated, rewarding him, be it with treat or praise, can make him figure out that he gets good things for doing the deed thus will eventually help him establish proper potty habits.
6. Lack of confidence and consistency on the owner’s part
The owner’s attitude and knowledge play a great factor in attaining successful Weimaraner training. You ought to be confident enough to show your dog that you’re the leader of the pack hence he must obey whatever command you ask him to do.
Furthermore, consistency when it comes to training approaches prevents confusion on your precious pooch’s part.
Weimaraner Training: Dealing With Stubborn Dogs
The Weimaraner dog breed is famous for being a highly intelligent and athletic breed however, they still need to be provided with extensive exercise and good Weimaraner training to make sure that they act in ways acceptable by humans.
In addition, training can also prevent and treat a lot of dog problems including your pet’s stubborn behavior. Since this breed has a reputation of becoming very stubborn, it is best to know more about this issue to prepare yourself for whatever may happen as you go along.
Aside from inherent characteristics, a dog’s stubborn behavior may also come from the owners themselves – physical punishment, harsh treatment, and the owner’s incompetency in establishing himself as the pack leader to name a few.
The first step in dealing with this problem is to trace back circumstances in which your dog tends to be very stubborn.
Is he usually stubborn or the behavior only appears during a select few instances? If your dog obeys other commands you are giving but tends to disobey some, there might have some reasons behind this.
Like for instance if he will not go outside during potty breaks, it could be that he has an unpleasant experience in that area like having to stay there alone for a longer period of time. If that’s the case, the best thing to do is to work on the main cause of the issue.
So if he is reluctant of going outside by himself, accompany him and make his stay there an enjoyable experience. Quickly enough, he’ll get accustomed to being there on his own knowing that there is actually nothing to be scared of.
If he tends to be stubborn at all times, the reason could be that you have not effectively established dominance over your dog. Train your pet that you’re the alpha he must obey and respect by not giving in to all his whims and by being the first in doing everything like walking out of the door and eating.
When going out for walks, ensure that he’s situated beside or behind you, and given that you’re the leader, you’re the one who determines when and where to go. If he pulls on the leash while walking, yank the leash firmly and stop walking until he stops pulling.
Physical punishment is not recommended during Weimaraner training however, it’s very important to correct your dog should he made a mistake. But be careful when giving corrections for it must be executed on a timely approach, never two hours or even an hour after the deed is done.
Keep an eye on your dog and if you catch him in the act of doing the mistake, correct him right away. If you see him urinating in the living room, distract him at once and take him to the spot selected as his toilet and let him finish there.
By rewarding him each time scenarios like this occurs, he will eventually associate the urinating on that spot with rewards and fun experience thus motivating him to do it there next time.
Maintaining eye contact with your dog and giving commands in a firm, deep voice can also help you manage your stubborn dog.
Jan Gould enjoys sharing information concerning Weimaraner training. If you need to read more Weimaraner training tips, feel free to visit her site particularly focused on the breed.
Jan Gould, a longtime Weimaraner owner, has been helping owners with their Weimaraner training. Her website is filled with tips and important information for successful Weimaraner training.
Jan Gould is an avid dog fan who loves to write Weimaraner training articles. For more tips on Weimaraner training, feel free to check out her site particularly dedicated to the breed.
How To Begin Your Weimaraner Training Career
If you’re no stranger to Weimaraner, you would probably agree that Weimaraner training can be challenging at times. To get the picture, think about training a high-energy dog with the appearance that of a muscular, athletic dog that is high-strung and rambunctious especially when young.
Ain’t easy right? Weimaraner training can be hard but with the right techniques, achieving your goals isn’t impossible. And the reward is really worth all the effort – a well-behaved, athletic yet elegant dog you would surely love to take with you even when taking long walks on a sunny Saturday morning.
If training your own Weimaraner isn’t a no-sweat thing, becoming a professional trainer is more difficult. Aside from the need to be very good at it, you also have to be mindful of your reputation to gain your customer’s trust.
You can’t just jump into the matter without considering numerous factors. The most important factor you need to be really sure of is that if you are passionate about dogs and working with them. Do you enjoy being around dogs specifically Weimaraners?
Are you patient and determined enough to train them in the behaviors they have to learn?
Would you be content to have a career revolving around dogs? If you answered yes to these questions, then dog training is for you. It’s important that you’re truly passionate about dogs for if not, it will reflect on your performance hence affecting your reputation as a trainer.
While you have the choice to accommodate other dog breeds, concentrating on Weimaraner training will give you more time to completely enhance your knowledge and skills in dealing with this kind of breed.
You will be able to determine how an individual dog differs from the other and easily provide a solution to a certain issue.
To begin with, know as much as you can concerning the breed. Learning doesn’t necessarily mean reading a book or two, particularly about Weimaraners.
It is a must to have on-hand experience in training this breed nicknamed “the Grey Ghost”. It also helps if you have past experience in raising a Weimaraner puppy and have owned a Weimaraner for many years.
Apart from books, there are other sources in which you can turn to learn training strategies and approaches. There are classes or short courses on dog training, videos as well as forum sites.
You can also learn a lot by talking or hearing remarks from veterinarians, professional trainers, and even other Weimaraner owners. Indeed, there are several ways to learn however, don’t expect or force yourself to learn everything in a matter of days or weeks.
Becoming a professional dog trainer is a gradual procedure and you should be patient and determined to become a good one.
Jan Gould, a weimaraner owner for many years, has been writing articles about weimaraner dog training. To learn more tips, check out her site created also for weimaraner puppy training and weimaraner ownership in general.
Get great brain training for dogs with many dog brain games!
Click Here for a Great Dog Training Resource Online!
A Channel on Youtube about Positive Reinforcement Dog Training
