Joplin Humane Society

Never allow Beans to eat scraps of food he may find in the street. Such garbage can be poisonous or it can contain dangerous bone splinters. The trick is to watch him all the time when you have him out. The instant you see him pick up a bit of food, yell “No1″ in a loud voice. Pry his jaws apart and take the food out of his mouth before he has time to swallow it. Scold him crossly while you do this, saying “Bad dog! No!” Then make him walk right next to you for a while.

Beans should also be taught never to accept food from a stranger without your permission. This is not only to prevent him from overeating, but also to prevent him from possible poisoning. The way to teach him this lesson is fairly simple: When you feed Beans his meals or offer him a reward, you should always give him the food with your left t hand. Now offer him some food in the palm of your right hand, with your fingers held straight out. When he starts to take it, say “No!” in a firm voice and push his nose hard with your outstretched fingers at the same time. Then give him the same food with your left hand, let him eat it, saying “Good Beans. O.K., Beans,” while you pat his head with your right hand. Keep offering him food first in the right hand, then in the left, until he refuses to take it from your right hand.

The reason behind this method of training is that since most people are right-handed, the chances are that anyone who offers food to Beans will offer it in his right hand. If Beans is taught to eat only from a left hand, he will not eat the food from a stranger. Aside from being a sensible thing to teach Beans, this is a trick that will amaze your friends.

To heel means for Beans to walk at your left side with his nose near your knee. Whether you want to enter Beans in a dog show or just take a pleasant walk with him, he must learn to heel. Nothing is more irritating to you and to other people on the street than a dog that pulls on his leash or zigzags from one side of the sidewalk to the other.

You should start to teach Beans to heel in the house, where it is quiet. Put him on his leash and hold it short until he is standing in the correct position by your left leg. Start to walk slowly, saying “Heel.” When he pulls ahead of you, pull him back to position, repeating “Heel.” Pat his head or give him a bit of food if he walks there a short while. If he lags behind you, pull him up to position, saying “Heel” every time. Don’t let him walk ahead or behind you for a single minute.

Keep him in the heeling position as you continue to walk. When you gradually walk faster, or circle around chairs and tables, Beans should keep up with you at your side. When you stop, say “Sit:” Beans should sit immediately at your side, facing forward. When you start to walk again, say “Heel” and keep him there. If he does this of his own free will, without tugging at the leash, give him a reward of food. When he has learned to heel all the time on the leash, try taking off the leash and teaching him to walk at heel with you. This is called “heeling free:” Heeling is not easy to teach. If you find that Beans doesn’t learn after several patient lessons, you might try one of two things:

(1) Tie a rope around his stomach. Run the end of this rope up through his collar to your hand, so you hold it like a leash. Teach the same way as if he were on a regular leash. Pull him back firmly every time he goes ahead of you, or pull him ahead every time he falls back. The rope will tighten around his stomach. Pat his head when he heels without pulling on the rope. He will learn that pulling means some pain, while heeling means a pat on the head or a bit of food.

(2) Or you may hold a light switch in your right hand as you hold the leash in your left. When Beans pulls ahead, touch his front legs with the switch until he moves back into the correct position. If he falls behind when you walk, touch his back legs with the switch until he moves up into heel position.

Once Beans heels fairly well in the house, try teaching him the same way out of doors on his leash. This will be harder, because there are so many more interesting things for him to smell and investigate. But with patience and firmness . . , never letting him run or pull ahead of you or lag behind you . . . you can teach him to heel. It is a pretty sight to see a well-trained dog walking by his master’s side in this way.

You should teach Beans to heel outdoors without a leash only in a secluded place away from traffic, and only after you are sure he heels well on the leash and will come the instant you call him.

The time to begin to teach Beans to stop needless barking is when he’s still a pup of three or four months. If he thinks he hears a noise in the bedroom, and begins to bark, don’t scold him. Carry him into the bedroom and show him there’s nothing wrong. Talk to him calmly. Don’t jump yourself every time the doorbell or the phone rings. The dog learns from your reactions that this sound is exciting. Say a firm “No!” if he persists in barking.

By the time he is full-grown, Beans will have the idea that you don’t want him to bark. If he keeps on for no reason, in spite of scoldings, he is probably a very nervous dog and there isn’t anything you can do about it.

If Beans barks or whines when he’s left alone, the cure is to get him used to being alone while he’s still a puppy. Give him a bone to chew and close the door, leaving him alone for a short time at first, then for longer times. If he still barks or whines, try this trick: Put on your coat and hat, as if you were going outdoors. Put Beans in his pen alone, say good-by, and close the door. Now open, then loudly close, the outer door, as if you had left the house. But really, you stand quietly by the door to Beans’s room. As soon as he barks or whines, bang on that door roughly, and say “No! Stop barkingl” in your angriest voice. He will be startled. Believing you had gone out, he will now think that you can see him wherever you are and punish him for whatever he does, even if he can’t see you.

A word of warning about barking: once Beans is trained not to bark unnecessarily, let him bark a few times when the doorbell rings, then tell him to stop. He is obeying his natural watchdog instinct, which you do not want to stifle entirely. Also, pay attention if he should bark a long time at strange hours. He may be trying to tell you that there is a burglar in your house, or a fire, or gas leaking from the stove. Many families owe their lives to such warnings from alert, loyal dogs.