‘Puppy Training’ Category
There is one command that your puppy needs to learn for his own protection, and that is the safety command of “Leave it.” You are out for a walk and puppy comes upon a roadkill or carelessly discarded garbage. For the sake of his health, you command, “Leave it!” and you will need to enforce it with a gentle snap-and-release of the leash. If he does not hear (or understand) the “Leave it” command, get his attention followed by “Leave it.”
This one is so important that at four to six months of age you can even use an entrapment as a teaching tool. When the puppy cannot see you do it, plant a piece of trash, maybe an empty cereal box, on the floor and stick around until the pup goes to investigate. As he goes to sniff it, shout “Leave it!” and as he retreats at the force…
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Teaching a young puppy to come when called starts off perfectly. The puppy learns his name and that people use it when they want to give him something fabulous like dinner or a new toy, so he comes running. Well, he soon learns it is not a perfect world. He may hear his name called to come in from outdoors just when he is having fun or while enjoying a nap.
The biggest, the number one mistake people make with this command is to say “Come!” when there is no possible way to enforce it. The puppy only has to disobey a few times when he hears “Come!” and you have taught him (and he has learned) that he has an option. He can come, or not.
Never give him that choice. Only call “Come” if the puppy is on his way into your outstretched arms, or on leash so you can…
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In teaching your puppy the “Come” command, position yourself several feet away from him. Kneel or bend down, say his name and then come, at the same time you are clapping your hands. Repeat this several times if necessary to get the puppy to come to you. As the puppy begins to understand this exercise, and as you begin to get his attention more easily, move back a few feet farther.
Do not make the mistake of calling him from a distance of twenty-five or thirty yards when he is not paying attention to you. If you do that and he ignores you, you are teaching him that it is okay to ignore you. You are defeating the purpose of puppy pre-training, which is to pattern him to pay attention to you and to do what you ask of him.
Another great activity is the “Fetch” command. Even if you…
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When you give a dog any command, you have automatically assumed a dominant role and put the dog into a submissive one. Standing is a somewhat dominant canine posture, whereas the Sit and the Down are submissive canine positions, so it is sometimes difficult to teach a naturally submissive puppy to Stand when told. Given the command “Stand,” many dogs will obey, but quickly lower their tails, ears and head – all submissive body language. Be gentle and patient. A perfect puppy Stand has four feet on the ground (that’s the hard part), but it’s also nice to see the head up and the tail wagging. Don’t worry if at first your puppy would rather be a clown than stand still. Eventually they all grow up.
Let’s say your puppy Rufus is learning the word “Stay” which (fortunately in this case) sounds a little like “Stand.” Whenever you catch him standing…
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As far as command position, “Down” is as low as you can get, and it is difficult for some puppies to accept. What is called the “dominant down”, a forced positioning of the puppy on his side with your hand on his neck/shoulder area; is restraint, not teaching.
If your puppy is off-the-wall rambunctious and you are losing control, the dominant down is one method of regaining it – but never in anger, always firmly but gently. The drawback is you can get yourself into a struggling wrestling match – and come out the loser. Placing your hands on the puppy’s shoulders and calmly saying “Settle” is a preferable, less combative method. Remember the rule to let a dog perform the desired action by himself.
With your puppy doing a Sit-Stay, hold a treat in the fingers of your right hand (let him sniff it or see it), run that hand in…
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There are six standard commands: Heel, Come, Sit, Stand, Stay, and Down. With a new puppy, it does not matter too much where you begin. The important thing is to practice any old time everyday and never to be in any hurry to go to the next lesson. You do not set the pace for learning, you puppy does.
Training sessions should last only two to five minutes, which is approximately the length of your pup’s attention span. If you push him longer than that, he will stop paying attention to you. This is FUN stuff! (You may also need to repeat that ten times to remind yourself occasionally.) End every session with a near-perfect performance. That could be one two-second sit, or three little “heeling” steps next to you. Tell him how “perfect” it was. Lay it on him! Really let him know how pleased you are he got it…
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