Teach Your Kids to Love Pets 3 - Get Them Involved

Teach Your Kids to Love Pets # 3 – Get the Kids Involved in Training Your Pets

Training your pet means teaching him the skills he needs to be a valued member of our family. That includes potty training, learning not to jump on people, sleeping in their own bed, (crate training is highly recommended), obedience and manners (come, down, sit and stay on command; walk correctly on a leash) and lastly, but as they say not least, a couple simple tricks. High five-ing and shaking hands delights children no end and are easy to teach a dog. It gives kids pride in their dog and a way to “show off” their dog to their friends.

Most of us were not born knowing how to train a dog, so read, ask questions, get help.  Most dogs need an adult to take control and assume the Alpha role for dog training. Take your kids with you to the dog trainer so they can watch and learn while you do.

Check with the shelter or breeder where you got your dog to see if they have a trainer to recommend, or ask the local pet store. Most pet stores have dog training on site or are associated with or can recommend a local dog trainer.There are also dog boot camps for hard to train dogs. You send them off to camp to be trained. Then at the end of their session, you go to camp to be trained too. There are also several National Associations of dog trainers that can help you locate a dog trainer when you need one:

• Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT): www.apdt.com
• International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP): www.canineprofessionals.com  
• Alumna of the www.AnimalBehaviorCollege.com
• National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors, Inc (NADOI): www.nadoi.org 

An interesting informational site is the Animal Behavior Society (ABS) www.AnimalBehaviorSociety.org  which promotes the study of animal behavior and publishes interesting articles in their newsletter.

Teach Your Kids to Love Pets 2 - Be An Example

Teach Your Kids to Love Pets #2  Be An Example

No matter what we say to our children, it’s what we DO that they remember. For children to learn to care for a pet, they need to see someone else take care of it. They need to listen to the way we talk to our pets and observe how we train our pets. If we want our children to grow up loving, caring for and living with pets, we have to show them how. 

We should demonstrate that brushing and grooming the dog, isn’t a “chore.” We need to tell them we bathe and take care of the dog for the same reasons we brush their hair and give them a bath. Dogs may not love a bath, although most of them don’t mind at all, but they love to feel clean! It will be very obvious to your child that a dog feels good after his bath. Be sure to tell them Rover feels frisky and full of energy after his bath because he feels good being clean.

We need to learn what to expect from puppy behavior. Puppies, in particular, can cause a lot of damage to the home by chewing. It’s a natural thing for puppies who are cutting teeth, just like babies, to chew everything. Give them appropriate things to chew. Put away things that aren’t appropriate. Above all, we don’t want to lose our temper when they do chew up a shoe that’s been left out, or the leg of a chair when they've been left alone. We can explain how unhappy we are, but we shouldn't blame the puppy. Chewing is another good reason to learn about crate training. 

No one should adopt a pet because they want their children to learn responsibility. We should adopt a pet because We want a pet to be a member of our family. When we feed and water the dog, we can use language that will impress upon children the importance of caring for the pet. Example: “Yes, we will make cinnamon toast this morning, but first we have to give Rover his breakfast. He’s as hungry as we are and he needs a drink of fresh water. After that he has to go outside again to go to the bathroom.”

Don’t delegate the care of the pet to children, model the things we do to care for our pets so our children will learn what’s necessary and eventually want to help. If they hear us praise the dog when he accomplishes a task we're teaching him, it's a positive message to them too. Let them hear us speak firmly to the dog when we tell him “down.” When we've shown that taking care of Rover is the natural thing for us to do the kids will eventually want to help.Gradually “let” them help with the care of the dog.

Kids love to give dogs treats. When the dog “sits” when we tell him to, we can let the kids give him a treat. Show them how to praise the dog and pet him when they give him a reward. Talk about a time in the future when they may be old enough to care for him. When that transition comes, remember we can ask them if we can still help out once in awhile!

The saddest thing that can happen to pets, kids - and the whole family, is to adopt a pet and then expect children to magically be able to assume responsibility for their care. They have to be old enough to understand and they have to be taught. We have to be a good example.

Pets Need Manners Too - Dog Training Is The Key

As children watch us train our pets to have "manners": Not to jump, to sit and wait, to follow on a leash - basic obedience - they learn that good behavior is expected from everyone in the family. Pets need to learn manners just like they do - and when pets behave well the whole family is happy. Bad behavior is the #1 reason pets are taken to shelters. As parent's we may not know how to teach pets good manners, so it's up to us to take a class in dog training, buy a video series to teach us on our own timetable, or hire a dog trainer to teach both the dog and the family how to have good manners.  Picture of dog trainer from AnimalBehaviorCollege.com