Educating or training your dog, so that limits are drawn has got to be one of the most difficult things to accomplish. I’ve had a few dogs and what I can tell you about this is that each dog is different. There are some dogs that learn ‘human manners’ very fast. I remember training my Labrador. In my opinion, this breed has got to be the easiest one to train.
Labradors are recommended breeds for people who don’t have that much experience with dogs in the first place. These dogs have a long history with men and specialize in retrieving prey, or pretty much anything you want them to. One of the first things you can teach them is to play fetch. Throw the ball and ask them to get it, you will see that almost instinctively, they will bring it back to you.
They are also very good at frisbee. No matter how far you throw it, they will catch it in the air most of the times. This is also great exercise for them. If you play frisbee with them about 3 times per week, you will get a very agile dog who will be prepared for more difficult tasks such as hunting with you. Remember that these dogs are also great swimmers.
Educating them to respect your things at home is another issue. They are very curious and love the way everything smells, especially your clothes and shoes. The first thing you should start with is potty training. After that, the kitchen should be the place you teach your dog to stay away from. If you don’t do this while the dog is young, it will be almost impossible to do later.
A good place to start is your kitchen counter. Let him know that anything on your counter belongs to you. If you ever see him trying to reach for something, go to him and immediately correct that behavior. If you don’t let your dog know that the counter is your domain, then the dog will think that it’s up for grabs, and he will want to be the first one on line for it.
Take the following dog for example. The mother has reason to believe that he’s the one responsible for eating some stuff off the counter. She decides to confront him to see if he gives any signs of admitting to the wrongdoing. She even gets her cell phone to record the whole incident. When she asks her dog about it, the dog has the sweetest admission of responsibility I have ever seen!