Three essential things to teach your puppy straight away…
A lovely new puppy – soft, warm, cuddly, fun, they’ll make you laugh, get you outside, give you plenty to do and will become a much loved member of your family! They can be quite hard work with all the training, but they’re worth it.
Teach your puppy good manners and your chosen commands from day 1
Puppies need boundaries and discipline to know their place in your home, just as much as they need food, exercise and love. Get started as you mean to go on, try not to make a rod for your own back by letting them get away with too much because they’re so cute – it’ll be difficult to get them out of bad habits when they’re older.
We are not professional puppy trainers, but have been around our own and lots of other’s puppies enough to know three essential commands you should start teaching your puppy straight away, for it’s own safety. During puppy training, you can use puppy training treats as a reward, but lots of praise should be sufficient. Never scold a puppy for getting training wrong, they will learn from praise, not scolding. Remember – dogs want to please you.
Three essential things to teach your puppy straight away are:
- His name
- “No”
- “Stay”
1. Teaching your puppy his name for recall.
Obviously a puppy needs to know his name. You’ll probably find this is the first and fastest thing your puppy learns, just because you’ll use his name a lot when talking to him. What you need to make sure is that he knows his name and comes to you when he doesn’t have your attention, or is doing his own thing.
One puppy training technique we’ve used successfully over the years, is to wait till the puppy is busy doing his own thing, then call him by his name (repeat if needed), when he comes to you, praise him, then let him go off and do his own thing again and when he is, call him again and when he comes to you, praise him. Repeat this over and over till he understands that you calling his name means you expect him to come to you.
You may find a long lightweight training lead may assist in the training. Clip the lead onto his collar and let the lead drag behind him, but within your reach. If he ignores you when you call his name, pull him back to you gently using the lead, repeating his name and praise him when he gets to you, then let him go off again. The puppy needs to think he is not on a lead, so only use it to pull him back if you’re sure he is ignoring you and doesn’t come on his own accord.
Repeat this practice and always give praise, even if he has taken his time to come you to. Your puppy will soon learn his name and will always be happy to come back to you.
2. Teaching a puppy the command “No”.
Puppies get up to all sorts of mischief. Some things are just typical puppy behaviour that you have to let them go through, but when they are chewing something they shouldn’t be or showing unwanted behaviour, you will want them to stop.
A low toned, or firm “no”, should be used without shouting. Once you have their attention and they have stopped the un-wanted behaviour, make sure you praise them so they get to know that they are now being good. If they are around other dogs while misbehaving say their name first and then “no” i.e.: “Pippa, No” this will get their attention first, to then deliver the command.
Puppies quickly realise that it is not the same tone used when they are being good and will know that something is wrong, you may be surprised how quickly they learn the word.
3. Teaching a puppy the command “Stay”.
Another time you’ll want your puppy to listen to you is when you want them to stop and wait, esp around traffic, it could save their life one day.
Start by getting your puppy to stand or sit still, then raise your hand with your palm facing them and say “stay”, then take 1 step back and repeat “stay” with your hand raised. When you’re sure they have stayed, even for the slightest moment, lower your hand and call them to you and praise them. Then place them back in the same spot, do the same this time taking two steps away, then three, four etc.. continue to say stay, with your hand raised as you move away from them and put them back in the same place without talking, if they move towards to before being called.
It may take a little time for them to learn this command, as they think you’re playing and want to be with you, but it’s worth having patience and getting it right. Using a hand gesture as part of the command, may help at times when they cannot hear you, but you want them to stay.
Puppies are easy to train. Start training from day one and make it fun.
Your puppy sees you as his parent and relies on you to look after him. Get things right from the beginning with the training and boundaries, and you’ll have a loyal friend who’ll love you unconditionally and can be trusted.
You may find these links are also useful to help you with your new puppy.
The Kennel Club Toilet Training
Pedigree 10 Training Tips
Cesar Milan Starting your puppy off right