My dog is disobedient after training. How can I make him obedient?

Punishment is not recommended as a training method for dogs - because as you've seen, it's not very effective at changing behavior and only confuses and frightens your dog. There is never any reason to physically strike a dog during training, so please don't do this anymore. Instead, effective training is based on teaching your dog what you want him to do, then rewarding him when he gets it right. If you have no previous experience with dog training and are becoming frustrated with your dog, believe me when I say that it would be well worth the money to work with a good trainer in person for a few lessons to get you on the right track. You can search for a qualified trainer in your area here: www.ccpdt.org In the meantime, I would highly recommend the book "How To Behave So Your Dog Behaves" by Dr. Sophia Yin. It's great for beginners, and explains a lot about how fog training works including practical suggestions for dealing with common issues like jumping up.

I would recommend using treats to show Blessy what you want, and to reward her when she does what you ask. If there are specific behaviors that you aren't sure how to teach, feel free to post another question and ask - we would be happy to try and help :) For more general training information, I highly recommend the book "How To Behave So Your Dog Behaves" by Dr. Sophia Yin. It has lots of details on training dogs in general, as well as instructions for training specific commands like sit, down, come, etc.

Your best bet would be to enroll him in a good dog obedience class as soon as possible. I do not recommend books or videos, as there is no instructor present to give helpful advice and corrections. The kind of "perfect" obedience you describe is earned through hours and hours of practice (though no more than 10 minutes at a time for a dog that young!) You can go very far in obedience, even teaching jumping, retrieving, etc. The more you work with your dog, the more attentive to you he will be.

Reward-based training is a great way to build the bond between you and your dog - it's something fun that you can do together, and helps your dog understand how to "read" you better, which in turn fosters trust :) If you have any training classes like this in your area, I would suggest signing up for one to see if both of you like it. If not, I would highly recommend the book "How to Behave So Your Dog Behaves" by Dr. Sophia Yin. It does a great job of explaining how dogs learn and how our behavior influences them, and has lots of specific training suggestions that you can try.

Hi there. If you have access to a good puppy kindergarten class in your area, I would definitely recommend signing up - the instructor can show you how to start working with your pup to help her understand what you want and develop a good relationship with her. This normally involves using treats or other rewards your pup enjoys, and teaching her that good things happen for her when she pays attention to you. I also highly recommend the book "Perfect Puppy in 7 Days," by Dr. Sophia Yin. It's a great resource for more detailed information on raising a puppy.

What a great question and thought process! The key with training any behavior is that the dog has to be able to generalize the behavior in any situation. That's why some dogs will be wonderfully behaved in a training class, but then may not behave in any other situation. Training Zeus around another dog is a great start, but you will have to continue that trend with multiple other dogs (including ones that he doesn't know) and multiple people. The easiest way to do this will likely be to do your training while you are a distance away from other people or dogs, then slowly decrease that distance as Zeus becomes reliable with his training under those circumstances. Again, the key is to have him generalize his training so he responds under any circumstances. This is not as easy as it sounds and will require some time. If you find yourself getting frustrated, certainly consult with a trainer for additional suggestions. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Aggression towards other dogs is usually a result of not being comfortable around them - it can happen due to a lack of socialization as a puppy, a bad experience with another dog at a young age, or even a genetic predisposition to this problem. It usually starts to appear around social maturity, so if Max is about a year old, this would be a very common age to begin seeing this problem. Aggression issues are complex and difficult to address succinctly in this format, so I would really recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist if at all possible - he/she can evaluate Max in person and help you put together a treatment plan to work on this problem. In general, I can tell you that treatment will involve teaching him to associate good things with seeing other dogs and behaving calmly around them - we normally use food rewards and other types of positive reinforcement to achieve this. Punishment for this behavior is not recommended, since it tends to make the dog more fearful and worsen the problem over time.