Giving your puppy obedience training at about eight weeks old is a good time to start shaping their behaviors. Waiting much longer will impact how your puppy learns and develops. Obedience training is an essential aspect of puppyhood. As a dog owner, make sure you start today!
Your Puppy Benefits From Immediate Obedience Training
You will most likely be overwhelmed when you bring a new puppy home. This is because you must make initial veterinary appointments, provide training, and buy supplies. Ensuring the right behaviors develop during puppyhood is essential, beginning with puppy obedience training.
Obedience training is given to a dog to obey basic commands, as well as for socialization and behavior. This training is vital for all puppies, primarily breeds with high energy requiring physical exercise and mental stimulation.
Obedience Training Can Happen Anywhere
You will enjoy some benefits from both group class training and at-home training. At-home training can be given by a private trainer, while other owners prefer to do this task themselves.
With at-home training, the focus will be on the relationship between you and your dog. For group training, your puppy will learn to concentrate and obey, even while other dogs are causing a distraction.
You may find yourself in rural or remote areas without a dog training school or group classes. In this case, you have no choice but to train your puppy at home. If so, be sure to rely on positive reinforcement. This involves associating a positive behavior with a reward, such as offering a treat when your dog listens to commands like “sit” or “stay.”
Choosing an Instructor for Your Dog’s Obedience Training
Most dog training schools allow pet parents to attend one or two classes to ensure their instruction style works with theirs.
Puppies learn properly via positive reinforcement, a form of operant conditioning. As noted, this involves giving rewards whenever your puppy makes the correct choice, and then ignoring your dog or withholding rewards when it makes a wrong choice.
While observing the class, watch the dogs, and see if they are excited, relaxed, or look happy. Also, watch the instructor to see if he encourages the dogs and their owners. Look around and see if the class is functioning effectively. If you are not comfortable with a particular dog training school, your puppy won’t be either. Keep searching for a training school you will be satisfied with; the best environment ensures success for you and your puppy.
The Obedience Training Timelines for Puppies Vary
Your puppy should learn basic cues at eight to nine weeks old, like come, stay, and sit. Once your puppy obeys, praise and give your puppy some treats. At this age, you can provide leash training.
At eight to 10 weeks old, he should undergo crate training. This ensures their crate is calm and safe. Give rewards anytime your puppy enters its crate. Feeding them inside the crate can also create a good positive environment.
At 10 to 12 weeks, they must learn not to bite your ankles or hands. When they bite at you, give them an appropriate object like a toy.
At 12 to 16 weeks, potty training is essential. Maintain a schedule by taking your puppy out at regular intervals every day. By so doing, they will develop bladder control.
6 Tips for Puppy Training
When training your dog, here are some things to know:
1. Be Consistent
Consistency and whether you use verbal or visual cues is critical. Use the same signal or word when teaching your puppy commands like stay, come, and sit.
2. Use Positive Reinforcement
As we said earlier, the use of positive reinforcement helps in training a dog. Positive reinforcement involves rewarding your dog to encourage a specific behavior you desire.
Please avoid using harsh corrections or dominance-based handling techniques, as they can cause anxiety and fear in your puppy. To use positive reinforcement, you must know what your dog likes. For instance, some puppies might want a piece of their regular kibble, while others might need something extra like a special treat.
Also, some puppies are different because they don’t get motivated by food. Such puppies are motivated by toys and touch.
3. Train Your Puppy in Different Environments
Training your dog in different environments is more than fun; it can build your dog’s confidence in unfamiliar situations. Some different training environments include secluded beaches or in your friends’ backyards. Avoid going to dog parks for training; there will be too many distractions! Also, puppies shouldn’t go to dog parks until they’re fully vaccinated.
4. Keep Training Sessions Short
Keep your puppy’s training sessions short because they won’t pay attention for too long. Each session should last no more than 15 minutes daily. Also, try to ensure you end the training on a positive note. You want your dog to look forward to training!
5. Be Patient
Patience is essential when training your puppy. Puppies are like young children who grow and learn. They will make mistakes, and sometimes, they may not understand you. But that’s normal, and it will get better.
6. Understand Some Breeds Take Longer to Learn
In his book “The Intelligence of Dogs,” author Dr. Stanley Coren explains that some dog breeds are more intelligent than others. Some of the smartest dog breeds (and quicker to learn basic commands) include Poodles, Border Collies, and Labrador Retrievers.
However, some breeds need more patience and time to learn. Afghan Hounds, for example, are one of the least intelligent dog breeds because of how long they take to understand simple commands. Don’t despair if you have a dog that needs some patience with new tricks! With proper motivation, they’ll catch on soon enough.
