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Brushing Up Your Dog's Domestic Skills

Owning a dog is hard work. Sure, you’ve got a cute little canine to run around your house and snuggle up on the sofa with you, but you’ve also got a demon on your hands who will rip up the newspaper and quite possibly pee all over your carpet when you’re not looking! And a lot of the time, this is because the dog hasn’t been house trained properly, or has forgotten the lessons you laid down as a puppy.

Whether you’ve got an aging puppy on your hands, or you just haven’t had the time to get your dog to perform any tricks or to enforce any discipline recently, now’s your chance to change this tune a little. There’s quite a few lessons out there you can teach a dog at any stage in their life, as long as you’ve got the treats to do so. Here’s a couple bad behaviours you’ll want to focus on first.


Time to brush up Fido’s skills, as well as his coat! (Source)

Barking at a Knock on the Door

First thing’s first, what do you currently do? Do you tell your dog to quieten down, maybe yell a little to get them to back off? Don’t worry, we’ve all been guilty of instances like this, but it’s a behavior we can quickly straighten out (for you and your dog!). Your dog probably gets stressed out by a knock at the door or from the doorbell ringing - a stranger is coming into their territory and they don’t know what to do about it!

Make sure you’re clearly happy and relaxed to open the door, and show your dog this. Also, try to ignore the barking - the more you react to a bark, the more your dog will bark, as they know it gets a response! You don’t necessarily need some dog training here, but it might be beneficial to try and reinforce good habits when it comes to dealing with external sources - you don’t know when someone’s coming round, and neither does your dog, so let’s get some professional help to deal with it.

Chewing Items They’re Not Supposed to

How many shoes have you lost to your puppy? Maybe one or two? Maybe 5 or more? Maybe every pair you own? Don’t worry, you can help to limit this kind of behavior as well, as long as you put some effort in.

There’s a good chance your dog needs more stimulation in their life, a.k.a., they need more playtime, or more park visits. And as the owner, this is up to you to foster - get some toys out, play tug of war, throw a bit of fetching in, and even head down to the park at least once or twice a week to let your dog really get their energy out.

Your dog doesn’t have to remain an indoors menace; there’s plenty you can do to teach them good habits. You’ll all have a much happier time at home this way.

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