The Modern Bark | Dog Training Tips

When Should You Start Teaching Your Puppy Obedience Commands? Wait Until Eight Weeks or Older to Bring Your Puppy Home Some of the most important lessons your puppy will learn are taught to them by their litter mates during their seventh week of life.  They are learning important social skills, including bite inhibition, dominance and submission as well as social rank. Litter mates will quickly let each other know when they are taking things too far or playing too roughly. Soft tempered puppies learn coping skills for dealing with dominant dogs. This can be a life saving skill for a puppy entering a home with an established, dominant dog already in residence. Only after they are 8 weeks old, are ready to leave the den and begin a new journey of bonding and learning the manners that will make them your indispensible, faithful companions. Your First Day Home With Your Puppy Prior to bringing your puppy home, your breeder will probably have already begun teaching them som...

America's favorite dog breed for twenty years running, is also one of America's toughest power chewers.  These five toys have been tested for durability, interest and safety.  Several of these toys float, making them ideal for retrieval training, as well as all round chew toys. Your Labrador Retriever puppy is guaranteed to love these toys for a long time to come! The GoughNuts Stick is Guaranteed for Life The GoughNuts Guaranteed Indestructible Dog Chew Toys Designed with maximum safety in mind, the GoughNuts Dog Toys are made from premium rubber that is not as plastic tasting as some of the competitor's toys.  The Original Toy comes in green with a red center. Their slogan is, "Green means Go! Red means Stop!" If your dog reaches the red center, it is time to take it away from him and send it in for a replacement.  You pay shipping and a small handling fee for the replacement. Here Black means Go, and Red means Stop! Lab owners rave about the d...

By Dirk Vorderstraße (Amola vom Frohlinder Berg) The Labrador Retriever, A Great Family Dog The Labrador Retriever is America's favorite dog breed for 25 years and running and with good reason!  Friendly, gentle and easy to train the labrador is eager to please and a loving family companion. A member of the Sporting Group, Labradors are considered gun dogs. These athletic and powerfully built dogs are designed for endurance; they are capable of retrieving waterfowl or upland game hours on end. Bred originally to haul nets and retrieve fish in heavy cold seas, the labrador has its origins working in close cooperation with man. That collaborative spirit is evident in their ability to learn quickly, just ten minutes a day of training, can  earn you a devoted, obedient gun dog. The hallmarks of their appearance include: a sturdy frame, athletic and not cloddish; dense, short, waterproof coat; the "otter" tail; a broad back skull with moderate stop and "kin...

Once puppy teething starts, it seems as though some object must constantly be in the puppy’s mouth. And if it’s not, your window sill, stair risers, or your shoes and socks will make equally delicious teething objects.  Save yourself some heartbreak and expense by starting your puppy off right with these durable and safe teething toys.  At all costs, avoid cute puppy toys that look like objects you don’t want chewed up; rubber squeaky shoes and cell phones are toys that teach your puppy to destroy valuable objects. Keep in mind that many of these toys are made for small, soft deciduous puppy teeth.  Some of these chew toys are not appropriate for a heavy chewer’s adult teeth. Watch for wear patterns on them, and remove or discard toys if look like they are getting worn to a point where they are likely to break or rupture. Note: We recently updated this article with the latest natural chew toy that is making in-the-know puppy owner's puppies content the wo...