New to Dog Advisor Pro? This page explains how the site works, what kind of training we recommend and why, and where to go first for the problem you’re dealing with right now.
Pick the problem you want to solve first
Trying to fix everything at once is the fastest way to get overwhelmed. Choose the one behavior that causes the most stress in your home and start there.
Puppy biting and mouthing
Why puppies bite, how long it usually lasts, and how to teach a softer mouth.
Excessive barking
Alert, demand, boredom and fear barking each need a different plan.
Leash pulling
Why pulling works for your dog, and how to make a loose leash work better.
Boredom and restlessness
Sniffing, foraging and chewing games that tire the brain, not just the legs.
Beginner obedience
Name, sit, down, stay and come, taught in short sessions that fit a busy day.
How we approach training
Every guide on this site uses reward-based training. That means we teach dogs what to do by making the right choice pay off, usually with food, play or access to something they want, and we prevent the wrong choice from paying off. We don’t recommend shock, prong or choke collars, leash “pops,” or physical punishment.
This isn’t just a preference. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) recommends that only reward-based methods be used for training dogs, and says aversive methods can harm welfare and the human–dog relationship (AVSAB position statement on humane dog training, 2021). A 2020 study that compared companion dogs from reward-based and aversive-based training schools found more stress-related behaviors during training, and larger increases in cortisol, in dogs trained with aversive methods (Vieira de Castro et al., PLOS ONE, 2020).
The four ideas behind every guide
- Understand the why. Behavior has a function. A dog jumping up is usually trying to get close to your face; a dog barking at the door may be alerting, excited or worried. The cause decides the plan.
- Reward what you want. Catch your dog doing the right thing and pay for it. Small, frequent rewards beat occasional big ones while a skill is new.
- Prevent the practice. Every time a problem behavior works, it gets stronger. Gates, leashes, chews and routines stop the rehearsal while training does its job.
- Know when to get help. Some problems aren’t training problems at all. Pain, illness and fear can all look like “bad behavior.”
What you’ll need
- Small, soft treats your dog really likes, cut pea-sized so you can use lots of them. Part of your dog’s daily food allowance works for easy tasks at home.
- A treat pouch or pocket so rewards arrive within a second or two.
- A standard flat collar or a well-fitted harness and a 4–6 ft leash. We explain harness choices in our leash-walking guides.
- Three to five minutes, a few times a day. Short sessions that end while your dog is still keen are more productive than one long session.
How to read our guides
Most guides follow the same pattern: why the behavior happens, what to manage straight away, a step-by-step training plan, how to tell if it’s working, and common mistakes. Where a problem can have a medical or emotional cause, we say so near the top rather than burying it at the end.
About recommendations and affiliate links
Dog Advisor Pro is free to read. In time we plan to review training courses and gear, and some of those reviews will contain affiliate links. We’ll always label them, and we only recommend things that meet the standards described on our Training Resources page. You can read the details in our Affiliate Disclosure.