How to Stop Unwanted Behaviors: Common Dog Training Challenges and Solutions

dog training

Training your dog early and often is key to eliminating unwanted behaviors like excessive barking, digging, chewing, and potty accidents. At Ruff House Pet Resort, we believe that focusing on obedience and reinforcing positive behaviors through consistent training is the foundation for a well-behaved dog. Our training is designed to give you the tools and techniques you need to address these common training challenges while ensuring your dog is happy, healthy, and well-socialized.

Common Training Challenges and Solutions

  1. Excessive Barking: Dogs communicate by barking. Barking comes naturally to them. However excessive barking can become a nuisance. The key is to teach your dog to be quiet on command using the “quiet” cue. Reinforce this with positive rewards like treats or praise when your dog listens.
  2. Excessive Digging: Dogs often dig due to boredom or anxiety. To prevent this, offer plenty of physical and mental stimulation. Our Puppy Daycare includes fun activities that keep your dog occupied and reduces the temptation and urge to dig.
  3. Excessive Chewing: Puppies naturally chew to explore their environment and relieve teething discomfort. Redirect chewing to appropriate toys and reinforce this behavior with positive praise. Our Puppy Bootcamp covers techniques to handle mouthing and chewing, helping puppies understand what is and isn’t okay to chew.
  4. Potty Accidents: Consistency is key when it comes to potty training. Reinforce potty breaks with a command such as “go potty,” rewarding your dog immediately after they relieve themselves outside. In our Private Lessons, we emphasize patience and consistency, teaching pet owners how to establish a reliable potty routine.

The Importance of Obedience Training

Obedience training is essential for building a foundation, stopping unwanted behaviors and creating a well-mannered dog. At Ruff House Pet Resort, we take training to the next level by introducing advanced techniques and incorporating distraction, distance, and duration into training sessions. Here’s how we do it:

  • Distraction: We train your dog how to obey commands even when there are distractions like other dogs, people, or noises. This ensures that your dog remains focused, whether at home or in a public setting.
  • Distance: Teaching your dog how to follow commands at a distance is critical for safety and control. Commands like “stay” and “come” are reinforced, so your dog responds even when far from you.
  • Duration: Holding commands for longer periods helps solidify obedience. Your dog will learn to sit or stay for extended durations, even with distractions.

Basic commands such as sit, down, off, stay, leave it, and heel are taught using both verbal cues and hand signals. These commands lay the foundation for more advanced training in our intermediate and advanced classes.

Socialization and Basic Manners

Proper socialization is just as important as obedience when it comes to raising a well-behaved dog. Introducing your dog to new surfaces, sights, sounds, and surroundings helps them adapt to new experiences without fear. Our classes incorporate socialization with dogs and people to ensure your dog feels confident in various environments.

Our Puppy Board and Train introduces puppies to basic handling skills, new textures, and environments while teaching them how to behave politely around other dogs and people. Through fun and games, we keep puppies busy and out of trouble, providing a great foundation for early socialization.


Boot Camp at Ruff House Pet Resort: A Daycare and Train Program for Dogs 4+ Months Old

Our Boot Camp program is the ideal solution for dog owners looking to refocus on obedience training, manners, and socialization. Designed for dogs 4 months and older, this Daycare and Train program offers a structured routine, helping your dog develop the skills needed to become well-mannered and obedient. Over 3 consecutive weeks, your dog will attend training 4 days per week, where we focus on essential obedience commands like leash walking, waiting at doors, no jumping, and commands such as “down,” “stay,” “off,” “leave it” and “wait.”

Throughout the program, your dog’s progress is closely monitored, and you will receive weekly progress reports. At the end of each week, you’ll also have a personalized lesson with one of our trainers to reinforce what your dog has learned. The program concludes with a final checkout lesson to ensure your dog is ready to show off their new skills.

How to Get Started

Getting started with Boot Camp at Ruff House Pet Resort is easy. Simply contact us to schedule an evaluation, where we will assess your dog’s current behavior and create a tailored training plan. Our team will walk you through the details of the program and help you prepare for your dog’s Boot Camp experience. Don’t wait—give your dog the gift of better behavior today! Our Bootcamp for puppies and dogs has a rolling admission.