Basic puppy training

It’s always best to get a new puppy when he’s been fully vaccinated, this will be after twelve weeks old.  Alright, a puppy can survive the separation from mom earlier than this but bear in mind that the immunity passed on from her loses it’s effectiveness around eight weeks, so this is an especially vulnerable time.   He will have to develop his own immune system and undergoing stressful changes such as removing him from his mommy and brothers and sisters plus the exposure to new bacterial challenges, it’s quite stressful for him.   At twelve weeks and over the vaccinations, he will be able to cope better.

Some people rush into training but we advise a steady and gentle approach.   The basis needs to be positive rewards, puppies have a short attention span, so train a bit at a time.  It’s best if he’s learning as he goes along, your puppy will want to please you, especially if there’s a tasty treat coming next.    Make sure your puppy understands what you want him to do.   When teaching ‘sit’ push the hind quarters gently to the floor, saying the word at the same time, loads of praise and a titbit when he gets it right.   As you progress, you’ll find that you don’t always have to reward with food, the verbal praise will be enough.   It’s still nice to give a treat occasionally though.

We train for very short periods only – no more than a few minutes at a time, but this can be repeated several times during the day.   Be consistent with words – it doesn’t matter what they are so long as they stay the same – and use training whenever the opportunity arises.   Are you going out for a walk?    Ask him to ‘sit’ before you open the door.    Is it dinner time?    Teach him to ‘sit’ before he tucks in.   Putting the lead on – ‘sit’ first.     Training is part of daily life.

If you want to have a well trained and happy adult dog, you need to keep up the training for the first year of your puppy’s life.   It’s importantto teach him also what he mustn’t do.    Jump up on the sofa?   Say ‘No’ in a shocked and growly voice.   Chewing?   Definitely not – ‘No’ -the tone of voice tells him how disapproving you are.  Puppies soon learn what they can and cannot do.

We’ll deal with toilet training in our next puppy article –  don’t yell at your puppy for making a mess in the wrong place.  He won’t associate this with going to the toilet, you’ll just have taught him to be afraid of you.   Don’t make your puppies life a misery with too much training too soon.   Puppies need to be happy and have fun.    You need to be laid back and have lots of patience, your young dog might be a little rascal for a while but he’ll easily learn new things and how to behave well as he grows up.

Take it easy –