When we adopt a dog from an animal shelter or dog rescue group, we take a tremendous chance. Most likely, an adopted adult dog is going to need a lot of training for two important reasons: (1) it's already grown and set in its habits and personality, and (2) it probably never received the quality training that it needed and deserved. You might be surprised in fact, at what an adopted adult dog doesn't know or can't do.

For whatever reasons, an adopted adult dog may not know how to respond to its name, how to eliminate outside of the house, how to stop begging, how to stop inappropriate aggressive behavior, or how to stop chewing everything in sight. You might find a trained adult dog from a private recue group, but local animal shelters just don’t have time for training adult dogs. This is a job you have to do. But don't worry. This article shows you how.

It’s very important that your pet respond to its name and the come command. Yes, life threatening circumstances may necessitate such obedience, but an additional perk of this obedience is some off-leash time (provided that the dog is in a safe area).

Strategy 1: Call the dog's name and give it the command, "come" or "come here" and then start to run away from him. This will trigger your dog’s natural tendency to chase whatever is running from it. Stop running and when the dog finally reaches you, give it a treat or lavish it with plenty of praise. Your dog should fully understand and respond to the command after about a month of daily practice without you having to run.

Strategy 2: Have your family members sit in a circle and hold a treat. Let everyone take turns calling the dog’s name and then treating the dog when it runs to the person who called it.

Strategy 3: Put the dog on a long 6 foot leash, calmly walk a short distance away, and wait for the dog to get distracted with something. Call its name and then hold out a treat or toy for the dog to retrieve. If necessary, you may have to reel the dog toward you. When the dog meets up with you, give it a reward and lots of praise. Do this daily for about a week and then try it outside in an enclosed area until it responds automatically. If the dog doesn't respond off leash, retrain it on leash and try the off-leash technique at a later time.

There are some ways to call your dog without using the dog come command. For whatever reason, many dogs run toward the person who calls its name and then claps, snaps, makes a kissing sound, whistles, shakes the cars keys, or slaps the thighs.

Use the above tactics everyday and your dog will eventually respond to its name when you call it.

Dog crate training is an essential tool in keeping your dog in line. A lot of people equate crates to cages, and thus regard them as inhumane. The truth is that dog crates are a necessity for a variety of reasons, whether they’re used as a time-out area or on a plane during travel. You might be surprised to learn that dogs actually crave small spaces all of their own because they satisfy their instincts to sleep in the same type of environment in nature. Small spaces are cozy. All dogs retrieve to a small quite place when they’re tired or nervous, so a crate can provide the security that dogs need from time to time.

Getting a dog to use a crate it isn’t always easy however. Most of the time, dogs prefer to claim a space all on their own, such as under the bed or under the backyard bench. You can acclimate your dog toward the crate environment by doing the following:

1. Buy a size-appropriate plastic crate for "down time." The crate should be tall enough so that it can comfortably stand inside of it, and it should be wide enough that it can comfortably lie inside of it. It should also be long enough so that if the dog eliminates inside of the crate, it has plenty of room to move or lay about without getting soiled. Be aware that metal wire mesh crates aren’t allowed on airplanes.

2. Lure the dog inside the crate with food and toys. When your dog is ready to nap, place him into a crate so he will designate this area as his ‘safe place.’  You can even place a ticking clock or warm water bottle in the crate as well since the heat and ticking will emulate that of the close family that he left behind.

The toys placed inside the crate should be machine washable, appropriate for children over the age of three, and soft without holes or squeakers. Hard chew toys are fine as long as they aren’t breakable. All of this is of course, an effort to make its new residence a little less frightening.

3. Put the crate into your bedroom or in an area that gives the dog a view of the family. The close proximity between you and your dog will comfort a crying or fearful dog and avoid feelings of neglect or abandonment. And watch the time that the dog stays in its crate. Try not to leave a dog in a crate longer than four hours (except during the night) to again, avoid feelings of neglect or abandonment.

4. Train the dog to enter the crate with a special command. Whenever the dog enters the crate, give it a command so that the dog will associate the word(s) with the crate and appropriately respond when the command is given. This command could be, "go to bed" or "crate time" or "time out."

5. Don’t let an exited or whining dog out of the crate. Only let the dog out of a crate when it’s behaving itself. If you do otherwise, you’ll send the message that temper tantrums are appropriate ways to ask for things.

After bringing your dog home, one of your first tasks is to potty train it. And depending on the breeds, house training dogs can be a fairly easy task, or it can be an extremely difficult and long task. Success requires your patience and persistence.

1. Think about crate training. The idea behind restricting a dog to a crate takes advantage of the animal's refusal to eliminate in the area that it sleeps. As long as the dog is in the area in which it sleeps, it won't urinate or defecate. This is in essence, a sneaky way to teach the dog to hold its wastes. Before you take the dog out of the crate and into the backyard to relieve itself, use the "go potty" command. Repeating this command every time the dog is let out of the crate straight into the backyard will reinforce the statement with the act.

2. Older dogs won't need to eliminate that often, however to help facilitate your housetraining efforts, you're well advised to keep a close eye on the dog, look for obvious signs that the dog needs to potty, and then take the dog outside.

While you're outside with the dog, take it to an area that the dog already used. The dog will more than likely relieve itself in the same area. When the dog is finished, praise him for a job well done.

3. We don't swat dogs with a rolled up newspaper anymore after accidents, nor do we rub their noses in a puddle of urine or pile of poop. That’s the old method and it while it may work, it's inhumane. If you find a mistake in the home, pick it up (if you can) with several sheets of newspaper. Make sure your dog is with you when you do this and then take both the dog and the poop outside to an area where poop already exists. This should help the dog understand where elimination is supposed to be.

4. If you find that your dog eliminates in the home on a frequent basis, you need to figure out what's wrong. Does the dog have a health problem? Try to rule that out first. Do you take the dog outside after it eats and drinks and do you keep him there long enough to eliminate? If you work all day and can't come home to give your dog access to the dog during the lunch hour, you'll need to think about crating the dog, keeping the dog in a gated room, or hiring a dog sitter.

5. Don't forget to thoroughly remove all traces of elimination in the home since all dogs interpret the smell of urine as a designated potty area. Regular soap and water may not be sufficient since dog urine is pretty strong. Opt to use a commercial product that's especially made for removing dog urine instead. Such a product uses enzymes that neutralize urine and fecal odor. If you still detect an odor after cleaning, use a black light to see the odor causing stains you missed.

6. Once the damage is reversed, keep the dog away from the area and cover it with a heavy object like a bookcase or a lazy boy chair if the dog insists on doing its business there.

Many adopted adult dogs need strong socialization training. You can ease your dog's nervousness by introducing it to friendly and calm people a little at a time. With a handful of treats, reward the dog for good behavior and be sure to calm it down by petting it or backing off of a situation when the dog starts to act nervous. If the dog gets aggressive, start thinking about getting professional help.