Learning About Dog Training

Puppies can be a bit of a handful. If not properly trained, they'll turn into a really big handful. You can enroll your puppy in a dog obedience training class, but you'll need to do some obedience at home, too. See below for helpful obedience training tips to help train your puppy. 

What You'll Need:

• Leash
• Small training treats
• Treat bag/pouch

​Before You Begin Training

• Use The Leash. Be sure to use a leash when training your puppy. You want your puppy to stay put when you begin training, and not run away from you.
• Positive Reinforcement. Use treats to help give your puppy positive reinforcement. When your puppy does something good, reward him with a treat. Be sure to use small training treats, as you will be giving a lot of treats when training.
• Limit Training Time. To keep your furry pet from getting bored (as puppies have short attention spans), be sure to limit training times. 

Sit

To help teach your puppy to sit, you'll need to do more than just say "sit". Your puppy doesn't know what this means, so you'll need to help him out by putting a hand on your puppy's behind and another hand on your puppy's chest to put him in a sitting position. Use the sit command when doing this, then give your puppy a treat and tell him good boy. After a few times, your puppy will sit on his own.

Lay Down

To teach your puppy to lay down, put your puppy in the sitting position, then take his front legs and gently help get him into a laying position. At the same time, you'll need to use the lay down command. Give your puppy a treat and tell him good boy. Then have him get up and repeat the process again. Your puppy will get this command after a few times as well.

Stay

The stay command is a little more difficult to master, as puppies aren't too keen on staying still. You'll need to have plenty of training treats when teaching this to your puppy. Get your puppy into the sitting position, then using the stay command and a hand up (so as to say stop), then slowly move backward away from your puppy. After a few steps, give your puppy a treat. Then repeat the process again, trying to get further and further away from your puppy.

These seem like simple commands, but they can sometimes take a little bit of practice for your puppy to get them down. Keep at it and your puppy will be listening and trained in no time at all. Be sure to be consistent in your commands, take your time and don't give up. Contact a local trainer, like Levenson Barb Dog Training Centers, for more help.