Or better yet, attend a training session with Eileen and see for yourself how you and your dog can become better housemates and best friends!

CHAPTER SEVEN – Rules & Boundaries and House Manners.

If you have good manners you can go anywhere and be with anyone.  If you have good manners everyone likes you.  Let’s raise a well-mannered dog.  That’s what Angel Dogs is all about. – Eileen Tonick

RULES & BOUNDARIES

You must have the respect of your dogs when they live in your home.  Nothing is worse than an unruly, out of control dog.  The next series of chapters will cover rules and boundaries. 

The first thing my clients do is have a meeting with everyone in the house and make a rule and boundary list.  At our next meeting we go through the list and talk about it.

Rules & Boundaries:

• Humans are above the dogs in the house. 
• Let the dogs work out their pack order and respect it. 

• Write the rules down and post them on the refrigerator.
• Everyone must follow them.
• Don’t let the dogs run through the house or jump on the furniture.  They can hurt themselves or accidentally hurt a family member.
• Don’t let a dog jump on anyone.  It could cause an injury or in a dog’s mind it would mean they are your boss.
• No growling at family members or visitors.
• A dog is an animal not your baby.  Dogs need us to treat them like dogs so they don’t get confused.  If a dog is confused about who they are they will act out.
• Plan a dog’s daily schedule.  Include daily exercise like a walk on a leash around the neighborhood not just down to the mail box.  This will socialize your dog.
• Socializing is important.  The dog must learn how to behave properly around other dogs, people and kids on skateboards.
• Have a list of commands a dog needs to follow: sit, stay, come, heel, down, leave it etc.  Make sure each family member understands these commands and uses them.  Use the hand signals that go with the commands.  More about that in a later chapter.
• Give a task to each family member.  Colten has to walk his dog daily.  Hayden has to keep the dog’s water bowl full.
• Don’t ignore your dog he must follow the rules and your dog can’t boss around family members.

I often go to people’s homes where the dog has taken control and the family is unhappy.  Listed below are some simple rules so you can keep control and have a well-mannered dog.

Rules:

• When your dog is a puppy keep him on a leash whenever he’s out of his crate.  This way you can correct any bad behaviors instantly.  You can stop him when he jumps on people, tries to go pee in the house, or runs in the house.
• Limit his in door space.  Baby gates are helpful.
• If you adopt an older dog keep your dog on a leash for the first week to 30 days.
• When your dog is on leash do not let him wander off by himself.
• Do not let your dog run up and down the stairs, he could hurt himself or someone on the stairs.
• Teach your dog the sit/stay command immediately.
• Teach your dog to go to his bed, do a down/stay and not leave his bed until you say so.
• Crate train your dog and have him sleep in his crate at night.  See the crate as the dog’s bedroom instead of a prison.
• Go out the door first.  This simple rule tells your dog you are in charge.  Do not let your dog crowd or push you to get through the door first.
• When you answer your door have your dog do a sit/stay while you talk to the person at your door. 
• Do not let your dog become aggressive with anyone.
• Establish a dominance position with your dog.  That means you are the boss.
• Feed your dog after you eat, this reinforces a dominance position.
• Do not yell at or hit your dog.
• Learn how to redirect your dog’s bad behaviors into good behaviors.
• Always leave a training session on a good note.  Dogs remember how the session ended.