Guides
A cue in the living room is not the same as a cue next to another dog. These guides show how to build skills step by step, from recall and loose-leash walking to staying home alone, and why it pays to make each step easy before you make it harder.
For the evidence in depth, written for professionals, see our research library.
Many dogs sleep in their people’s beds. What studies show about sleep quality, hygiene and the dominance myth, and when a dog in the bed works well and when it doesn’t.
Does winning at tug make your dog dominant? What studies actually show, how tug becomes a reward in training, and which rules keep the game safe.
Is your dog chewing furniture or shredding cushions? How to tell whether teething, boredom, frustration, problems with being alone or pain is behind it, and what helps in each case.
Does your dog chase joggers, cyclists or cars? Why movement is such a strong trigger, what the risks are, and how to respond with distance, management and training.
Many dogs can do a lot, except switch off. Why rest matters for learning and behavior, how to build mat training step by step, and what a relaxation cue can do.
An open crate your dog chooses is a retreat; a closed door is confinement. What the research shows, where welfare limits lie, and how to build a crate your dog actually wants.
Jumping up is usually a greeting that has paid off. Why ignoring alone often fails, why the knee is no solution, and how to build an alternative behavior instead.
Lying on the couch doesn’t make a dog dominant. The idea comes from a model that research has discarded—and whose own originator later retracted his conclusions.
A dog can know a cue perfectly and still not perform it—not because he won’t, but because stress makes it much harder for him. That is one of the biggest misconceptions in training.
Do you sometimes have to show your dog who is in charge? Almost every owner asks this. Why professional organizations answer more clearly than the debate suggests.
The first two weeks with a new puppy are not about commands. They are about orientation, safety and bonding—your goal is a puppy who settles in with you.
Your puppy is getting bolder, more curious, and more energetic. This is the phase when first rules take shape—and when two mistakes are especially easy to make.
Many problems don’t start later but at the very beginning. When a six-month-old dog doesn’t listen, the causes are often things hardly anyone recognizes as mistakes.
Your puppy bites hands, pant legs, everything. Usually not an aggression problem but how it explores the world – and learns to moderate its bite. What helps and what doesn’t.
Winter isn’t a break from training—it’s a chance to train differently. Shorter, darker days change routines, and many dogs react before their people notice.
A reliable recall isn’t built through volume or strictness. It is one of the few cues where even individual mistakes can set your progress back by weeks.
Training starts on day one—not with commands, but in every everyday situation. And relationship comes before obedience, which in practice means the opposite of what many people do.
“No treats” doesn’t mean “no reward”—and that is what the whole debate hinges on. Behavior is shaped by its consequences; the only question is which ones.
Be the pack leader, go through the door first, no dogs on the couch: many of these rules were shaped by misinterpreted observations of captive wolves.
If your dog can’t settle despite long walks, mental work may be missing—or something else. Why it works differently from exercise, and why more of it isn’t automatically better.
Dogs don’t understand language the way we do – but words are more than noise to them. What research on word meaning, gestures and gaze shows, and where misunderstandings start.
Not every dog suits every person—an honest look at that can prevent many later problems. And at the start, your dog mostly needs something few people expect.
Your dog follows the individual scent of one specific person – and decides for himself where to go. That is exactly what makes mantrailing so demanding and so valuable.
Does playing fetch turn a dog into a hunter? The most common claims don’t hold up to a sober look. The real risk lies elsewhere — and has little to do with the ball itself.
Tightening harnesses work through discomfort—and your dog does learn something. Just rarely what you wanted. What he picks up instead and what works better.
Tricks are often seen as a gimmick. In fact, they are mental work: understanding, coordinating, watching for subtle cues. That challenges dogs differently than exercise and complements walks.
Why does your dog work with intense focus one day and not at all the next? Motivation is a state, not a character trait – and what tips it over has little to do with the treat.
Your dog never learns through consequences alone—emotional appraisal is always part of it. That's why the same training can end differently with two dogs.
No dog is born walking on a loose leash. And very few pull out of stubbornness – usually it’s overload or tension. Here’s what that means for your training.
A dog that has only ever ridden to the vet may have learned that car rides end badly. Riding calmly is not a given but learned – and it can be relearned.
These leashes work through pressure on sensitive areas, not through training. The dog learns not what to do, only what avoids pain. And both contact points sit in vulnerable places.
Being alone doesn’t come naturally to dogs – it’s a skill that has to be built. And the most important rule isn’t about pace at all, but about something else.
One criterion you can verify instead of guessing: the permit commercial dog training may require. What it means – and why one observed session tells you more than any website.
Puppy class falls into a period when young dogs are especially receptive to new experiences. That is exactly why quality matters more here than in any later class—in both directions.
The click is not a reward but a promise: every click is followed by one, even if you clicked by mistake. Why that is where most beginners go wrong.
The difference from throwing a ball starts with waiting: the dog only goes on cue. That practices calm where throwing builds arousal. And the work is done with the nose.
House-training is a mix of physical maturation and learning: voluntary bladder control is still developing, and your puppy has to learn where to go.
The best time to start is now—not the day before the vet visit. A dog who first meets a muzzle in an emergency may link it with stress or pain.
Socialization isn’t about ticking off as many dogs, people, and places as possible. It means deliberately collecting good experiences—quantity is more of a risk than a goal.
Many dogs eat whatever they find on walks. How to get scavenging under control with management, trading and a reward-based “leave it,” and why punishment solves little here.
Want the full evidence? The unterHUNDs research library reviews the studies behind these guides in depth, written for trainers, vets and behavior professionals.