Train your Puppy with Dr. Dalton’s Premium Treats

Disclosure: I received a bag of Dr. Dalton’s treats free for my dog. All opinions are mine.

Dr. Dalton’s Premium Treats

As a pet owner, you want to give your pets the best. When your dog wants a tasty treat, You don’t want it to have a bunch of fillers or empty calories. Dr. Dalton’s has the perfect treats for your dog. They are made with only one ingredient. Meat! They’re available in Simply Beef, Simply Chicken or Meat Medley.

Dr. Dalton’s treats are made from quality cuts of chicken, beef, and pork. They are a high-quality, low-fat all meat treat that gives your dog some healthy protein.

Duke loves these treats. They’re his favorites. I can’t say I blame him. Not that I’ve tried them, but I’m sure they’re similar to jerky, only crunchier. Dr. Dalton’s premium treats make the perfect training treat too!

Dr. Susan Dalton

Dr. Susan Dalton began training dogs after she rescued Cassie, a 10-week old Border Collie who had been rescued from under a car. Cassie was traumatized, fearful and aggressive. Since the experts labeled the puppy a hopeless case, Dr. Dalton read everything she could about dog training and developed her own program based on positive reinforcement. She has trained hundreds of dogs using her method, and she specializes in frightened, aggressive and traumatized animals.

Using healthy treats is the cornerstone of Dr. Dalton’s program. She wasn’t satisfied with the options available, so she started making her own in 2012. Her clients convinced her to make them available for purchase, so she did.

She’s also sharing some of her tips on how to train your puppy.

The Top 5 Things You Should Know to Effectively Train Your Puppy

Puppy Proof Your House.

Puppy proofing your house means that you go through the house, room by room, and remove or secure anything you don’t want your new puppy chewing on. This includes exposed wires and cords, your children’s toys, laundry, furniture, shoes, baseboards, and anything else within your puppy’s reach that you do not want destroyed. It is useful to remember that puppies don’t have hands so they explore and play with their mouths. One way to lessen the destruction and reinforce positive behaviors is to keep your puppy’s teeth occupied is to have plenty of chew toys present. Teach your puppy to bite, chew, and play with these toys, and use them for play with your puppy. Keep these readily available and use them to distract your puppy from biting things they should not.

Crate Train.

Sometimes first time owners equate dog crates with unkind caging, but this just isn’t so. You should be able to create a crated space that will become a nice, quiet safe place where your dog can rest and sleep. Crate training is actually one of the most important components of dog training (it also helps with potty training). Place a treat inside the crate and allow your dog to walk into the crate on their own to reinforce the space as a positive place to be.

Basic Obedience.

Teach your dog the basics – to sit and stay – using treats as a reward. This one seems like a no-brainer, but is often done incorrectly. People usually teach their dogs to stay by rewarding them once the position is released, which according to the philosophies of positive reinforcement actually reinforces the wrong behavior. Instead, try telling your dog to sit and stay, then take a few steps back and reward the dog while they are still in the act of staying. You can slowly build toward creating more and more distance between you and the dog while they are staying.

Leash Walking.

This important step in training a new puppy is often overlooked. From the beginning owners tend to follow their puppy around the house, which teaches them that they are in charge and can go anywhere they want and their owner will follow. A well-behaved puppy should actually be following their owner. To teach your puppy (the younger, the better) to follow you, take them out to a large field (where there is no threat of them getting away) and simply to walk away from your puppy. Whenever the puppy approaches you, give them a treat. This reinforces that you, the owner, are in charge and your puppy should be following you.

Rewards.

Treats are a critical component of training effectively with positive reinforcement. Some people will reward dogs by scratching their heads and rubbing their ears, but this actually breaks their concentration. Using high quality treats to reward your dog will get —and keep — your dog’s attention. Treats can first be used to lure the puppy into doing the desired behavior e.g. holding a treat above their head will push their butt down into a sitting position. Once they have the behavior figured out, the puppy should be rewarded with treats when they behave well.