February is Dog Training Education Month, a continuation of January's Train Your Dog Month.

Training dogs in a fenced-in yard after 8 weeks old is necessary for proper growth and development. After 4-6 months, dogs should be fully-house trained; but some pups may take up to a year.

Well-trained puppies behave better and cause less trouble down the road. Training dogs becomes increasingly more important as the dog ages to help the dog stay sharp with senses and cognitive abilities.

Here are tips for training dogs:

• Allow dogs to run around the yard prior to training; so, they get a feel of their surroundings.
• Keep training sessions to a 45 minute maximum per session; so dogs do not wipe out or lose interest.
• Use healthy dog treats as positive reinforcement. However, don't overfeed dogs.
• Give your dog a job to test their sense of understanding (ask them to pick up a ball, for example).
• Do not yell at the dog for misunderstandings. Instead, patiently repeat the command until the dog processes it.

Blog post shared from EasyPetFence.com.