Dog-Training Quick Tricks for Your Furry Friend’s First Holiday

Those who say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks clearly haven’t been watching “The Dog Whisperer” like I have. I’ve picked up quite a few dog training tricks just from watching Cesar Millan, but only those which you’d perhaps want to teach your dog quickly before you take him along on his very first holiday with you.

Our long-time companion, unfortunately, died of old age a few months ago and although old age is perhaps one of the better causes of death to accept, we still miss her sorely, but life goes on and we have a new addition to the family who’ll soon be joining us for his first family holiday tag-along, we’ll be going to Sussex in a few weeks after booking accommodation through iKnow UK. I have to say I’m rather proud of the progress I’ve made with regards to how the training has been going and he’s been responding rather well. I suppose it helps that he’s still somewhat of a pup, but I’ve come to learn that even older dogs can still learn how to correct their behaviour to fall in line with the different environments they’ll be exposed to, such as perhaps when they’ve come along with you on holiday and the likes of as beach joggers, other dogs and nearby skaters who are engaged in some high-energy activities on the beachfront.

Adjust your attitude first

Okay, so this may come across as a bit clichéd, but it really is the ultimate secret to success in training your dog. You need to be calm and project very little energy off of which your dog can feed. So you first need to practice being calm, which starts with how you react to your dog’s high energy provocations and their own reactions. When feeding your canine, wait for him to be calm first — perhaps wait for him to sit down before filling up his food bowl. He must learn to wait for you to finish filling the food bowl up before approaching it to eat.

Teach him to stop jumping up on people

Dogs love this and it’s perhaps nothing more than a show of some friendship and affection, but it can be a problem if your canine grows big or if their advances aren’t appreciated by other fellow holidaymakers. Whenever he jumps up onto you, just knee him in the ribs very gently to create a bit of discomfort and not hurt him, just so that the act of jumping up onto people gets associated with some discomfort. Get some of the other family members in on it too so that he knows that the discomfort associated with jumping up onto people is universal.

Teach him not to get carried away by high-energy activities

This takes a bit of practice, but if you don’t want your canine to go chasing after skaters at the beachfront or running after other active beachgoers, you need to practice in similar situations. Treats work best alongside your calm attitude and so you simply proceed to try and divert attention away from the high action activities by offering him dog treats at the same time. Eventually just remaining calm yourself while the high action activities are going on will do the trick, but it takes a lot of practice with leash in hand of course.