erl
Posted : 10/26/2006 2:44:33 PM
Since your gone about 8 hours a day you probably shouldn't get a puppy. Unless you are willing to hire someone to take them outside and play with them while your gone or take them to doggie daycare. That can get pricey. Perhaps, since Bulldogs are really common you can get in contact with a rescue and they may have a dog that's already housetrained you could adopt.
Onto training.
I clicker train, and the clicker basically marks the instant the dog has done something correct. You start out by charging it. Click, treat, click, treat, etc. until you get to the point where the dog is looking for the treat after the click, and will come from another room for a treat after hearing the click. Timing is extremely important for clicker training and there are several games you can play to work on yours. What I've done is toss a ball into the air and the instant it touches the ground, click. Have someone watch you so they can tell you how you're doing.
Now back to the dog. To train sit, get a treat and put it next to your dog's nose and slowly put it over their head and say sit. The will naturally sit in order to see the treat and try to get it. When they sit, click and treat. Once you get to the point where the dog is sitting when you say sit (without luring) you can quick clicking but continue to treat. Eventually you'll fade the treat by giving treats every 2 sits, 4 sits, 7 sits, etc. It also helps if you keep treats in your pocket and out of view of the dog so they never know if they'll get a treat or not. Keep training sessions short 20 minutes maximum. The dog has a short attention span and going longer can really bore a dog and they'll try to find something else to do.
Never hit a dog, this will only teach them that you cannot control yourself and aren't a very good leader. Some dogs will also end up biting you.
As soon as you get your dog enroll them into an obedience class with a trainer that uses positive reinforcement methods. They're really fun and even if you know how to train a dog you can always learn something else in the class.