Intelligent dogs need extra mental stimulation or they will find things to do (usually unacceptable to us humans).  Training and tricks are great for this.    Fifteen minutes of training is as tiring to a dog as an hour of physical exercise!

Similar to leadership, training our dogs can be counter-intuitive too.   For example, other than house training, nothing frustrates us more than a dog that doesn't come when called.  If you are trying to catch a dog that is not coming to you, your natural impulse (after you have repeated the command several times in a loud, angry voice) is to run after the dog.  Resist this impulse! Why? You have just rewarded the dog for running off. They love getting chased, they are in the lead!

You come upon a soiled carpet ...again.  Ugh.   Resist the impulse to scold your pup (scold yourself instead because you left pup unsupervised)!    Tapping him on the rump will cause him to distrust you and will will resist doing his business in front of you outdoors too. We can teach your pup or adult dog the propter potty area and can even teach your dog to ring a bell to go outside.

Let me help you understand how your dogs think, Dog Psychology 101 and help you learn to motivate your dog to succeed in our human world.