Howtotrainadog.com is a free library of step-by-step dog training guides for everyday owners. Whether you just brought home an eight-week-old puppy or adopted an adult dog who never learned the basics, our goal is the same: clear, kind instructions you can follow in your living room today.
Who We Are
Howtotrainadog.com .com is run by Jay Newman, a Toronto-based dog enthusiast and a Labrador Retriever dad. Every guide uses reward-based methods only: food, toys, play, and praise.
Why We Built This Site
Most dog training advice online falls into two camps. Some of it is so vague that you finish reading and still don’t know what to do with your hands. The rest leans on corrections, shock collars, or “being the alpha,” ideas that modern training research has moved well past. We wanted a site that sits in neither camp: specific enough to follow step by step, and kind enough that your dog enjoys the process.
The site is also personal. My own dog is a nine-year-old Labrador Retriever I’ve trained since he was a puppy. A lot of what you’ll read here, from keeping sessions short to using the right treats on walks, comes from years of practicing these skills at home with a real, food-obsessed, easily distracted dog.
Our Training Approach
Every guide on this site follows the same principles.
- Reward what you want. Dogs repeat behavior that pays off, so we teach you to mark the right moment and reward it.
- Keep sessions short. Most practice happens in sessions of two to five minutes, a few times a day.
- Build one skill at a time. Our skill ladder moves from Foundations to Everyday Manners to Tricks, and each skill builds on the one before it.
- Never use pain or fear. We don’t recommend shock, prong, or choke collars, or physical punishment of any kind.
- Know when to get help. Fear, aggression, and anxiety deserve hands-on support, so we point you to certified professionals and your veterinarian when a problem goes beyond everyday training.
How Our Guides Are Made
Each guide starts with a single question an owner actually asks, such as how to teach a dog to sit or how to stop a puppy from pulling on the leash. We answer it in the first few lines, then break the skill into numbered steps, with timing, common mistakes, and what to teach next.
Breed guides draw on information from the American Kennel Club, the official breed clubs, and veterinary sources such as VCA Animal Hospitals. Where a short video helps you see the timing, we embed one from a reward-based trainer on YouTube and credit the trainer by name. We plan to add videos of our own as the site grows.
We review and update our guides over time. The date at the top of each article shows when it was last updated.
What This Site Is Not
Our guides are general training information, not veterinary advice and not a replacement for working with a professional who can see your dog. If your dog’s behavior changes suddenly, or if you are dealing with biting, serious fear, or anxiety, start with your veterinarian and a certified trainer or behavior consultant.
How We Keep the Site Free
Howtotrainadog.com is free to read. Some articles recommend training gear and include affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Our recommendations are based on what helps with training, not on which products pay the most. You can read the details on our affiliate disclosure page.