Ok so you have a dog or puppy, they are adorable and very much loved.  Now that the novelty of having a new pet begins to wear off, how in the world do you ensure that your pet will grow up being a well-mannered and behaved pet?

This can be accomplished easier than you may think.  Nevertheless, before we ever begin to touch upon that information we must first examine the reasons why dog training is important so that you fully understand the task ahead of you.

First, you need to make sure your dog is socialized.  What is socialization?  That simply means that your dog is trained how to behave with different people, different situations, and sounds.  To have a well-socialized dog means that they will generally not growl at new people unless they feel threatened for a very good reason.  A well-socialized puppy will be a great member of the family, who is very friendly.  Even dogs that are for the purpose of being a guard dog should be well socialized.  The socialization is also important when you consider that the dog needs to know how to interact with others for purposes such as medical care and check ups, and grooming. 

Your puppy also needs to be trained with some basic commands such as sit, stay, come, leave it, go, and any other basic phrases that will be needed based upon your lifestyle.  For example, if you plan on your dog taking a lot of car rides, you should teach them the command car, so that when you tell your dog car, they go to the car and wait patiently for you to open the car for them to go for a ride.  The additional commands are based upon your personal preference, and what you feel is needed to be trained.  Everyone is different, some may wish their dog to learn the command beg, while others may wish for roll over.  The choice on additional commands past sit, stay, come, leave it, and go are pretty much up to you and your family to decide. 

In the process of dealing with a teenage dog, or even an adult dog have you ever felt as if the dog was walking you?  If so this is yet another reason why training is so important.  Your dog must know and understand who is in charge as well as how to properly walk on a leash.  There are many places where dogs are welcome when they are leashed, and it makes it vitally important that the dog know how to behave properly on the leash in order to be allowed to go out and experience these things.  You must not encourage your dog to walk you, but rather discourage those behaviors and encourage you taking your dog for a walk.

Once your dog has some good training under their little collar you can try out for the ubber training.  This is the Canine Good Citizen, which is a part of the AKC, or American Kennel Club.  The Canine Good Citizen is an award given to dogs that have shown exceptional training and have shown that they are well mannered and know how to follow commands with no problems.  Having this award opens many doors for dogs that would other wise be closed.  There are many apartments and other housing places that will allow a CGC (Canine Good Citizen) dog that will not normally allow pets.

As you can see, there are several reasons that call for training your pet, even beyond the hassle that an untrained pet can cause.  While training your beloved dog or puppy can be a handful, it does not have to all be in vain.  There are several methods and styles of training that you can explore until you find what works best for you, so that you and your family are all happy with the energetic family member who fits into almost all situations.