Puppy Training
Training your puppy can be a very rewarding experience, both for you and your puppy. But you need to get it right. Read on to find out how…
Obedience training starts at a very early age, even before you receive your pup. This means that you will need to depend on the breeder to help you train your puppy, which is why it is so important to choose a respectable and knowledgeable breeder.
At three weeks old, the pup becomes aware of his environment and starts to interact with it. This is a crucial time, as any positive or negative experiences can influence your puppy's development and later life.
If you have access to your puppy before you take him home, start teaching him basic commands between 4-6 weeks of age.
The preliminary steps to commands like "stay" and "come" can be taught. For the "stay" command, take your pup out of the litter, hold him gently and softly repeat "stay". For the "come" command, it is best to call the whole litter, urging them to approach you in a friendly and excited voice.
Remember, we are trying to accomplish two things here. The most important part is to get your puppy accustomed to your voice and commands. Secondly, this gentle introduction to commands will help you train your puppy much faster when the real training starts!
Below are some tips that will help you train your puppy. IF you want a more comprehensive guide, why not train your puppy using the best, most effective, puppy training guide on the web.
Puppy Training Tips
Your puppy just left his mom and littermates. He is going to be very vulnerable for a few days. Don't flood the pup with loads of attention, but rather leave him to get used to his new environment. You can obviously still play with him, but keep it to a minimum for the first few days!
Rules and structure will help your puppy "fit in" much faster. If you allow him to do certain things now and change the rules later, it will only confuse him. Remember, although it might be hard because you have just received a cute new puppy, do not give in. Keep to the rules and routine. This really is in your puppy's best interest!
Never use punishment as a training aid. You want your puppy to be excited to follow your commands, not fear it. To teach him that something is wrong, use the word "no" and stop his actions (gently) with your hands. He will soon get the message!
Only conduct your puppy training under controlled circumstances. Your puppy needs to associate your commands with the correct actions. If he is busy with something else like eating or playing with a toy, don't try and teach him the "come" command. He will not listen! If you use the "come" command and he does not come to you (either by himself or by you gently pulling his leash), he will start associating that command with "don't do anything".
Whenever your puppy responds with the correct action to a command, praise him. He needs to associate the correct completion of a command with positive attention from you. Remember, you are the "alpha male" (or female!) of the pack and even in the wild members of the pack want to please the leader.
Always give your puppy enough time to follow a command. He needs to learn to think for himself. If you tell him to "come" and then immediately drag him on his leash, he will eventually just sit back and enjoy the ride. He needs to work for his reward. Let him!
Guiding a puppy with your hands is not a way of forcing him to do something, but rather a confidence building exercise for the pup. Gently guide him a few times when teaching him a new command. Then stop guiding him and only use your hands for gentle corrections every now and again. If not, your pup will realise that him not doing something will get you to touch him. So guess what? He will stop following commands!
Use a leash and always try to get the puppy to follow commands by just using the leash. If that does not work, use your hands, but as little as possible. During training, use your hands only as praise and your pup will soon realise that in order for you to touch him, he needs to complete your commands successfully.
Always work for short periods of time. A puppy has a very short attention span and let's face it - puppy training can be hard work for your pup! Work in two or three short bursts of 10 minutes each per day, rather that a long one. Make sure you have your puppy's full attention span and keep him excited.
Break more complicated exercises into smaller simpler ones. For instance, the "stay" command can be broken into "sit" and then "stay". Teach him to sit first, then teach him to stay seated while you move away.
As you can see, puppy training is about keeping your dog excited and letting him associate following your commands with getting positive attention from you. So stop trying to drill commands into him, military style. Relax and enjoy the interaction with your pup!