Positive Dog Training Blog

Puppy training is quite simple. Think about what behaviors you want your puppy to have when they are a year, and full grown and start the rules from day one.

Puppy training is all about reinforcing or rewarding what your dog does. Sometimes, a puppy will get reinforced without you even around. If your puppy jumps up on the table and eats a big piece of chicken – the puppy got a reward for jumping up. See how easy that is? The number one rule for puppy training is ALWAYS WATCH YOUR PUPPY. If you aren’t watching you can’t see what they are about to get into. I always tell my puppy training clients to put the puppy on leash and keep that baby with you 100% of the time. If you can’t watch the puppy, put him in his crate for a time with a stuffed kong in order to keep the puppy busy – or if you notice they are going to sleep, its often wise to let them have a nap in their little den.

If you always praised the dog or gave a piece of food ( cheerios are great for puppy training ) for the doing doing good things then the behaviors you liked would increase. Teach sit, loose leash walking and start on stays while your puppy is young. Here are some puppy training rules you have to decide on when starting puppy training.

1. Will you let your dog jump on people? If you have a small dog, it might not bother you to let your dog jump – thats a personal decision. If you dont want your dog to jump, puppy training should include never talking to, pushing, or making eye contact with a dog who is jumping.
2. Will you let your dog on the furniture? If not, dont let them up there during puppy training.
3. Do you want your dog to whine in their crate? If not, never open a crate for a whining puppy.
4. Will you let your puppy chew on your hands? If not, never let it happen during puppy training! Pull your hand away and ignore your puppy for 30 seconds.

You see, when you are puppy training, you have to evaluate each individual behavior and think – this is cute now, but will this be so cute in a year? When your puppy is full grown? They are only small for a very short time!

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