All animals, including pups, learn from their mothers. But when you bring your puppy home, it’s up to you to be their leader and teach them everything they need to know to grow up to be well-rounded adult dogs!
It is the image that every one of us who owns puppies has fantasized about. A dog comfortably rests at your feet at an outdoor café or gently wanders beside you. To get there, however, there are a few things you need to do to make sure your dog is trained correctly.
That ideal puppy will first experience growing pains, like nipping, chewing, accidents, barking, and more. Your dog is rapidly growing and changing. Your puppy should be familiar with the fundamentals of a daily schedule after a few weeks at a new home, and working on obedience first training and picking up simple instructions.
When Should I Train my Puppy
Training your pet is never too early. Your dog has been studying ever since his birth. He learns life lessons from his mother and his littermates that he will carry with him for the rest of his days.
It’s not about teaching your dog to sit or stay or to be obedient. After your dog is around 16 weeks old, you will have longer periods of time to practice its obedience instructions.
Please do not put off house training your pet… begin right away, the moment you bring them home.
By acting consistently, you are teaching your dog new behaviors to avoid unwanted behavior or bad behavior. Keep in mind that at this young age, obedience is not required. Considering this
You are teaching your dog that leaping short attention span if you pat him as he leaps on you with joy. You are teaching your puppy that if he barks, you will pat him and tell him it’s acceptable.
Your puppy is intelligent; from the time of his birth, he begins to learn from his mother. Until you take the pups home, the old dog will continue to train them. You will teach your puppy etiquette from the moment you bring them home. You can hire a puppy trainer for your puppy if you don’t know how to train your puppy.
Use Your Puppy Food for Training
One of the finest resources you can utilize to instruct your puppy is the food that it eats! Making your puppy work for its food in those early puppyhood months is a super-simple approach to attracting and keeping their attention on you, rewarding them for it, and developing a good link with turning to you for guidance. We like to use positive reinforcement to help any furry friend build good habits. Training is important to start early on, but remember that new behavior can be learned by an adult dog, but it may just take more time and patience!
Our pupils at The Puppy Academy must bring their lunches to class, and we utilize those meals for training sessions. Additionally, it forms the basis of our online training school. You’ll often hear us in both shows advising our pet parents to always have a reward pouch on them or close by during the first few weeks after bringing their new puppy home. (Don’t worry, you can and will wean off when they become older.) Having access to your dog’s food helps guide them away from actions you don’t want them to do, getting them to come to you, focusing on you to develop a connection based on guidance, and rewarding them for positive reinforcements to get them to repeat them.
Check out the Online Puppy School if you’re prepared to begin your puppy’s training!
Have Patience and Be Consistent
It’s simple to become discouraged throughout the puppy-training procedure. Young puppies will make errors since they are still learning about the world and are young. Don’t expect your puppy to understand what you’re saying the first time around since communication takes time to develop between you two.
Please keep your dog on a routine to get them back on track more quickly. Consider putting together a daily plan for your puppy that includes mealtimes, playtimes, potty breaks, and sleep periods. This will give your puppy structure, make them feel comfortable and confident, teach them about home routines, and encourage good behavior.
Practice
The adage “practice makes perfect” is very accurate regarding teaching a puppy! You should plan a few quick training sessions each day to go over their orders and put them to practice. You may only be able to keep a young puppy’s attention for 5–10 minutes at a time, while an adult puppy’s attention span is closer to 10-15 minutes. When your dog is eating, it is an ideal time to do this because you can make them earn their breakfast, lunch, or supper! Your dog will like these training sessions more if you keep them brief, entertaining, and encouraging. Start practicing your puppy’s training routines in various areas after they have finished the necessary vaccinations! Anywhere you go your puppy, will reinforce the same right actions and help them remember their directions.
After discussing these three most important things, it’s time to plan your puppy’s training regimen. You may utilize the basic puppy training timetable given below, which begins at two months old (8 weeks) as your puppy matures. If your puppy is older and hasn’t mastered everything described here, you may need to go back and fill up some of the gaps. Every puppy learns at a different rate, so some may require more time at particular levels, and others may be able to proceed to more advanced training more quickly. Follow your dog’s pace, and don’t push them if they aren’t ready to go on to the next thing.
8-10 Weeks Old
Many new pet owners or dog owners bring their new dog home at this time. Your dog should learn the fundamentals at this stage of their development, including their name, appropriate behavior at home, the beginnings of some basic commands, and some early socializing.
- Frist thing is to establish a puppy training schedule for your puppy, including meals, drink breaks, play and training sessions, toilet breaks, and sleep periods.
- Starting potty training your dog as soon as they get home is a good idea! The best way to begin potty training your dog is to include a toilet schedule to teach them where to relieve themselves and how to hold it. As a general rule, divide the months your puppy has been alive by half to calculate how long they may go between pee breaks when planning your dog’s toilet training program. Visit our blog article on toilet training your dog for more details!
- One of the best tools for teaching puppies and for puppy parents is crate training! We have discovered that it greatly facilitates the housebreaking process, fosters independence in the puppy, and lessens separation anxiety. Visit our crate training blog article for additional details on crate training your puppy. Additionally, while starting to educate your puppy to exit the dog crate via the door, have him wait patiently first. As they age, this will assist in establishing expectations for different door thresholds and introducing them to learning impulse control and setting limits.
- introduce the fundamental obedience commands, “Sit & Come.” These two commands will be among your arsenal’s most helpful ones, and you’ll probably use them daily for the remainder of your dog’s life. It would help if you started teaching these directions at meals. Start by holding some of the food for your dog in your hand, letting them smell it, and then move away from them while calling out to them with your hand outstretched. Reward them with a “Good!” and some food when they approach you. The next step is to teach them how to sit by extending your hand with their food in it over their snout and beyond the top of their head while saying “Sit,” and when their butt reaches the ground, repeat the phrase “Good!” and give them the food once again. When your dog follows you to their water and food bowls, say, “Come.” One of our favorite daily routines and a great way relationship-building exercise pen is the straightforward “Come” and “Sit” exercises utilizing a food incentive.
- The first place to start socializing is with your family and furry friends. Your dog will meet new people throughout its lifetime, so acclimating early on can help them form good associations with those relationships.
- Name recognition is the one skill you’ll undoubtedly utilize for the remainder of your dog’s life, which is crucial. Say your dog’s name to them as you engage with them throughout the day, focusing their attention on you as you do so. We like doing this with food! Reward them with joy and food each time they approach or glance at you! Bring a portion of their food up to your eyes to stimulate eye contact, and give them a treat when they do. Want a fun method to name-train your puppy? The naming game is fun!
10-12 Week
You will now start to develop your dog’s obedience training, socializing skills, and self-control.
- Continue to use food incentives as you introduce other fundamental obedience commands like Place, Down, and Heel within the house.
- If you haven’t already, about 8–10 weeks, introduce your puppy to the leash training and harness. When your dog is out and about with you, these will be the two things they use the most. Wearing their collar and leash about the home while you keep an eye on them can help your dog become acclimated to them.
- After vaccines, continue socializing your puppy by exposing him to new people and allowing him to interact with calm dogs. Putting your dog in a playpen next to the other dog so they may watch and engage with the barrier is a safe method. Play recordings you discover on YouTube videos to start acclimating them to sounds they regularly hear, such as traffic, construction, trash trucks, etc.
- Start the threshold training process by instructing your puppy to sit at thresholds, open doors, crosswalks, etc., and then calmly pass through them. This makes your stroll more peaceful and will prevent your puppy from lunging and tugging whenever they encounter an open doorway leading to another area, also known as a new adventure to explore.
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