Puppy Obedience Training: Some Essential Tips for Success

“Sit! Heel! Bring!”

…you utter the command, and yet after months in puppy obedience classes, your pup is still more interested in what it smells like “like this” in this bush – hahaha!

Okay, I’m being a little cruel, but yours is not an isolated case. I’ll tell you a secret (okay, maybe not so secret after all): don’t waste your money on obedience classes if you have a few free minutes a day. Take a look at my obedience training tips below and try them on your pup later today, and in fact, every time you do a training session. It’s fun and will bring you and your pup closer.

1. Learn to teach your puppy the 8 basic obedience commands. These are:

• TO COME
• SIT
• STAY
• SEARCH
• CALM
• okay
• NO
• HEEL

These are not only a great way to entertain your family and friends when they come over, but also very useful daily commands for your pup to learn.

Some of them you will be able to teach quite quickly (such as NO and OK), but others require a little more maturity and patience. However, it’s good to research what’s involved in each early on, because improper handling now will mean hard work for you later trying to undo what you thought was perfectly normal behavior.

For example, the COME command: In the early stages, your puppy is too young to learn, so as a preparation, you should only use this command when it is already approaching you. These are the first steps in forming an association between movement towards you and the command COME. When your puppy arrives you praise him, now you are forming the following association, if he is called to COME, and he does, he gets love, aaahh!

So take the time to research the 8 commands above – you’ll get the rewards later, I promise.

2. Learn the do’s and don’ts of puppy obedience training. Here are some of them:
Behind:

• Give him rewards in the form of treats, praise, or give him his favorite toy every time he follows your command. This method is called positive reinforcement: it teaches your pup that if he performs a certain behavior that you approve of, he will be rewarded for it. It is advisable to start by rewarding treats and affection first, and then reduce the treats and increase affection.
• Whenever you feed your puppy, ask him to sit. This reinforces the idea that you are the master and you are the one providing the food. By the way, don’t think that this teacher’s talk is cruel to your pup. It’s not: dogs are pack animals, and they take comfort and peace in knowing that there is a ‘pack’ structure and routine. He is simply telling you that food is provided for him, and you are in charge of that.
• Remove his food dish 20 minutes after feeding, whether or not there is food left. This is not depriving your pup of food; this action actually disciplines your dog and makes him aware that he has to depend on you for food, which in turn makes the puppy training process much faster.
• Reward only positive behavior. The reward can be in the form of food, attention (positive or negative), and playing with a favorite toy. Dogs learn best when you make them focus on the good stuff. What do I mean (other than the obvious, that you should reward him when he does the right thing)? If, for example, he keeps jumping on you to get your attention (which, by the way, can become a serious obedience problem later on), instead of telling him to get off of you (which means you’re paying attention to him ), get away. once and walk away from it – EVERY TIME until it stops. Let a minute go by without him jumping on you, then go up to him and tell him what a good boy he is.

NOT TO DO:

• Do not raise your voice when you are training your dog. Try to use a well-modulated voice: firm when referring to “business,” softer and more loving when praising. Yelling at your dog will only confuse him or cause him to associate your voice with fear, which will spell obedience training problems later on. Keep in mind that your dog does not know what the words mean: he recognizes the sound and associates it with the behavior that is expected of him. Therefore, it is important to use the same voice and word command each time you ask him to perform the same action.
• Do not physically punish him if he disobeys your orders. This will exacerbate the training process because your dog could learn to retaliate, i.e. bite you, or worse, learn that your voice means punishment, and who would listen to that?
• Do not tolerate and reward (attentively) your dog’s bad behaviors, such as whining in his crate. This will create a very demanding dog later on, a dog that will want to be by your side day and night and in your bed as well. Start all over by using his box to instill some good habits in him. If he whines, for example, wait for him to stop for at least a minute, before you go to him, take him out of his cage. In this way, he learns to respect that there are times when they are together and times when they are apart, but they all end in ‘happy days’.

3. Familiarize yourself with the basic puppy training techniques available and choose one that you think will suit you and your puppy. I personally advocate the Positive Reinforcement Method as it is ideal for all relationships between pet owners in domestic situations. But some other methods may be suitable for training a working dog, for example,

Here are the most popular methods you can research and try:

• positive reinforcement method
• Clicker Training Method
• dog whisper method
• ultrasonic whistle method

To round off here, remember that obedience training a puppy is like raising a child; it takes a lot of dedication, perseverance, patience and love. But once you learn how to do it, living with your dog will be one of the most satisfying experiences of your life. The love your dog will give you in return will far exceed the demands of obedience training.