Training tips
Training your puppy is a great way to bond with your pooch and keep them mentally stimulated. On a rainy day or a day you can’t get out for whatever reason, doing some training exercises are a brilliant way to stop the boredom.
These simple training techniques will them new tricks like sit, down, leave etc. Once you have the basics, you can try some more complex tricks like, roll over, high five, round the legs through the arms retrieve, and much more.
A well trained puppy is a happy puppy. A dog that is well behaved can take part in family life and is welcome in more places.
Dogs learn by association, so if your dog does something and is rewarded in time (within one second), the action is much more likely to be repeated.
It has to be fun, they will learn quicker. Keep these games short 2 or 3 minutes is enough. Try the same games in different places so they don’t associate a certain game to a certain place. Remember rewards can be treats or a lot of praise.
Remember you need to repeat these exercises a few times a day, every day, until your dog is trained. Once trained, you can maintain your dog’s response by occasionally going back to basics and rewarding the behaviour you want.
Here are a couple of examples of how to teach your puppy tricks.
1 Getting them to know their name;
Hold the reward between your and your dog’s eyeline, say your dog’s name and as soon as your dog looks at you, give the reward.
2 Come when called.
Show your puppy their toy or food, move away a few paces, call your puppy’s name. Praise with food or play when they come. Gradually increase the distance. Remember only call your puppy when you are going to praise them, not if you are going to tell them off.