Puppy Training: Here’s What To Know Before You Begin

Puppy Training: Here’s What To Know Before You Begin

Did you know that almost 500 million dogs are kept as pets worldwide? Are you willing to accommodate a four-legged friend into your household and wish to become his best human friend? You might be wondering how on earth dog training works at this stage. Well, it is not as challenging as you perceive.

The core secret while training animals, especially dogs, is to establish a long-lasting connection between you and them. Dogs are curious animals who like to play and are interested in knowing what you expect them to do. Effective communication is the key to training a dog, on which this article is based.

Read more to learn some valuable tips and expert advice on puppy training that can be implemented by a beginner as well.

More About Puppy Training To Get Started

Dog obedience training is often magnified as being a difficult and tedious task. However, it is pretty simple if you follow a well-defined routine and set of objectives that need to be achieved. Even as a new dog owner, you can train your dog like a pro with our tips. There are a few essential cues a dog should be taught by its owner. These cues build overall the overall discipline in a dog.

Some of these essentials are to teach the dog to sit, stay, come, go to the crate, and go to potty outside. It is the best practice to start immediately once your canine makes its way into your life and a part of your household.

You should exercise positive reinforcement during dog training. It means that whenever the dog completes a task, it should get a reward for it, rather than getting punished when the dog fails to accomplish something. Healthy food such as chicken and kibble can be used as treats to encourage them while training. Toys can also be used as objects of rewards once a specific task is completed.

Avoid punishing the dog at all costs. Verbal or even physical abuse can have an adverse effect on your dog’s behavior and health. It can create confusion among them and can even make them stubborn. Treat your dog like you treat your kids. They need time to learn things and grow. Teach them specific actions step-by-step. Too much puppy obedience training at one go can make them annoyed, tired and overwhelming for both of you.

There are certain vital behaviors and cues you should try to inculcate in your canine friend. Here is what we will briefly cover in this article:

1. Puppy Obedience Training
2. Dog Crate Training
3. Dog Training Collar (Leash Training)
4. Puppy Potty Training

Some Additional Tips For Dog Training

We have briefly covered every possible aspect of puppy training tips in this section that can help you significantly get the best results out of your dog:

When To Start With Dog Training?

Primarily it should start the moment you bring your four-legged friend into your house. Considering a dog’s timeline, it should be about eight weeks old when you can begin some basic dog obedience training. These basics cover popular cues such as stay, sit, come, and lie down, which will be discussed later.

Keep Training Sessions Short And Fun

Dogs have shorter attention spans and tend to lose focus quickly. Hence, it is recommended that you keep shorter and more engaging sessions while training them. Too much dog training can leave them exhausted and overwhelmed. You should teach each exercise 5 minutes per setting, and 15 minutes per day should be allocated to dog obedience training.

Always Maintain Consistency

During puppy training, you should never forget to stay consistent in your actions and behaviors towards your dog. Keep your cues and signals the same every time. Do not change the way you interact with your dog under any circumstances. Doing this messes up their conditioning and can confuse them.

Treat Your Dog Wisely

Always show love and affection towards your canine. Give it a priority in certain things. For example, when your dog signals you for food, feed them immediately if it is their meal time, even if it is inconvenient. Reward them for small efforts they make. And lastly, as we discussed earlier, never use punishment to get specific actions done by your dog. Punishing them will decrease their morale and demotivate them.

Choose Variety

It is always better to conduct dog training in different environments such as a lawn, park, or an empty street that is safe. Variety can enhance the pleasure your dog attains from certain activities. You may also use different types of treats to reward them. This will keep them excited and waiting for just a new day.

Be Patient And Forgiving

Dogs are lovely creatures who become your loyal friends when you treat them the right way. However, the journey is lengthy and may become frustrating at points when your dog fails to comply with your given instructions. We urge you to forgive them for their mistakes and be patient during puppy obedience training. This will create an everlasting bond between you and the dog, which is a beautiful overall feeling.

Dog Obedience Training Basics (Come, Stay, Sit, And Lie)

Here are some basic behaviors you can start your puppy training with:

How To Teach A Dog To Come Towards You

The following steps can assist you clearly how you can call a dog toward you:

1. Choose a quiet place that is safe and enclosed.
2. Sit close to your puppy, and don’t forget to have some treats ready with you.
3. Call your dog with their name or a word to signal them to come towards you. You may use a word like “come” or “here.”
4. When calling them the first time, give them a treat. Note that currently, the dog is not supposed to do anything. Right now, focus on teaching it the cue.
5. Repeat the step several times and reward them with a treat after each time you call their name or any other word.
6. Level up this process by dropping the treat on the floor and then calling them.
7. Once they eat the treat and look at you, give them another treat to acknowledge their behavior.
8. Repeat this process a couple of times more.
9. To escalate the puppy training, take a few steps back and then call them to see if they respond.
10. Reward them every single time they come towards you.
11. Gradually increase the distance but keep the scope of training limited, so your dog does not get tired or stressed.

You may take a few quick steps backward to witness your four-legged friend chase you. Do not call your dog repeatedly by your name. Only call them when necessary. Unnecessary calling will result in your dog being unresponsive and eventually ignoring you. Make sure you do not move quickly toward your dog initially, as it can scare them off.

Do not grab them forcefully or yell at them. These actions can harm their confidence, and they might not continue their puppy training as planned. Always use positive reinforcements to stimulate their behavior. It’s a request not to get frustrated with them as they are only at the beginning stage. Just as a kid takes time to learn how to crawl and walk, so do dogs. Furthermore, dogs do not instantly understand what you say, giving them time to get used to your cues.

Keep the training sessions brief and enjoyable. Longer sessions can make them bored and might siphon the excitement out of them.

How To Teach A Dog To Stay

Those who play Minecraft can relate to what it means to put a dog in stay mode. A perfectly trained dog does not move an inch once his master has placed him in stay mode. This dog training avenue teaches discipline and restraint to your four-legged friend. In this exercise, the dog should eventually stay in one position until it is addressed by a specific word (often referred to as the release word).

Follow the below-listed steps to learn how your dog can master this technique:

1. Firstly, choose a release word that you will use to tell your dog to move from its current state of stay. You may select any word like (go, free).
2. Stand beside your dog and toss a treat on the ground.
3. Once they move towards the treat, say out your release word. As dog associates word with the actions they make, they will know what they are supposed to do when a particular term is said.
4. Repeat this several times so that your dog learns the release cue.
5. Now level up this dog obedience training session by saying the release word before you drop the treat. Make sure you drop the treat after your dog moves towards you upon listening to the word.
6. Repeat these steps several times until your dog becomes a perfectionist.
7. Give treats to the dog whenever it maintains its stay position.
8. Increase the distance between you and the dog gradually. Also, increase the time until your drop an additional treat.

This dog training exercise is a great way to make a good association with your fluffy friend. Note that the stay position can also become the dogs’ sit position which we will discuss next. Remember to keep rewarding your dog whenever he accomplishes a task, no matter how minimal it may be. Go slow while training and wait patiently for your dog to catch on to the new excitement.

If the dog fails to stay, do not scold or yell at it. Instead, reduce the distance and time between treats to make the dog feel more comfortable. Repeat this exercise twice or thrice a week.

How To Teach A Dog To Sit

This technique is also termed “luring.” Follow the below procedure to learn how it works:

1. Use the dog training treats as a lure.
2. Take the treat close to the dog’s nose and gradually lift it. This act will allow the dog to sit on its bottom and try to reach for the prize.
3. Once the dog completely sits on the floor, reward it with a treat.
4. Repeat this scenario a couple of times.
5. Now do not use a treat. Instead, use your finger to point above the dog’s nose and gradually raise your finger to signal it to sit.
6. Reward the dog once its bottom touches the ground, and they sit entirely.
7. Repeat this exercise with the hand until the dog understands the signal.
8. Later on, add a sitting cue before you give the hand signal. The sitting cue can be a word such as “sit.”
9. Repeat the process until the dog learns the cue.

This dog training exercise can take some time to perfect as dogs get pretty excited once they see you pointing a treat toward them. Once again, go slow with this exercise and give your dog the freedom to express its actions. Do not get angry if it snatches the treat midair or does not comply with your directions. Practice makes perfect, and soon, your dog will become used to it.

How To Teach A Dog To Lie Down

Once your dog learns how to sit on your cues, it is not a difficult task to make them lie down. There are two ways of teaching your dog to lie down. Here are a series of steps to understand each way:

Letting Them Lie On Their Own

1. Take your dog to a comfortable and safe place where they would like to like down.
2. Once they lie down, give them a treat as encouragement.
3. Your release word should act as a cue for them to get back up once they are lying.
4. Repeat the process and reward them with treats whenever the dog lies down.
5. Once they lie down quite often, they attach a lying down cue such as “lie” or “down” to their actions.

For this dog training exercise, you can also use a treat for the dog to stand back up after lying if it does not stand on its own.

Using A Lure

This technique is quite similar to the method we used when teaching the dog to sit:

1. Stand close to your dog and have a bag of treats ready.
2. Bring a treat close to the dog’s nose and gradually bring it towards the ground. This will encourage the dog to lean down and eventually lie down.
3. The elbows will contact the ground when you bring the treat close to the ground. Once this happens, reward them with a treat.
4. Repeat this a couple of times more.
5. Now remove the treat and make the same gesture with your fingers.
6. Reward them once they accomplish the task.
7. Eventually, attach a down cue when you point your fingers to the ground.
8. Repeat this for some time, so the dog understands the down cue properly.

Both methods work just fine. If your dog is quite hasty and jumpy, method two will work better for you. As we discussed above, do not use physical force to bring in the desired behavior in the dog.

Dog Crate Training

Advanced puppy training includes training your friendly hound to get into its original house. Prepare a cozy crate for your dog where it can peacefully sleep and rest. At the start, take them close to the crate for shorter periods (10 minutes or so). Once you are near the crate, the dog will peep inside and make its way in out of curiosity.

If your dog does not go inside the crate, cheer them up by throwing a treat inside it and allowing them to reach for it by themselves. You should reward your dog each time it enters the crate. It is advised to feed the dog inside the crate as this will allow them to associate the crate as their living place.

An essential part of dog training is to keep your canine pal motivated and excited to follow your directions. Repeat activities within a few days to keep your dog active and wanting to learn more.

Dog Training Collar (Leash Training)

We have seen dogs walk pretty often and have fun in the process. However, some dogs do not enjoy going out of the house and spend most of their time indoors. If you want your dog to walk at any one of your sides persistently, then follow the below steps:

1. First, choose where you would like your dog to walk. Either choose left or right but do not mix them.
2. Now fit a leash in your dog’s neck and ensure they are comfortable wearing them. At starting, the dog might not like the feeling a leash gives; it might even bite the leash to get rid of it. Reward it treats every time the dog keeps the leash on.
3. Now stand next to your puppy on whichever side you want them to walk.
4. Now start strolling and watch your dog watching next to you. Reward it with treats once it maintains a proper walking posture and rhythm.
5. It is common for the dog runs faster than you or stop during the dog training collar. If it runs ahead of you, just turn in the opposite direction yourself, and the dog will do the same.
6. Condition them to walk on any specific side you want them to walk. Give them treats every time they fulfill your tasks.
7. Keep repeating until the dog can walk at a handsome pace without pulling on the leash and losing direction.

Ensure you do not run or go extremely slow when walking with your dog. Try to maintain a fast-paced walk that your dog can easily associate with. The worst mistake owners make while dog training is pulling their leash when the dog starts to run. Instead, increase your pace and turn in the opposite direction to allow the dog to follow.

Pulling the leash forcefully can make the dog uncomfortable and likely confused. A crucial thing to remember is that you use the same cue every time you interact with your dog. Whether it be for staying, sitting, or coming towards you. Always use the same set of signals. This will create a dictionary in the mind of your fluffy friend and will help them know what you anticipate for each word. Using different words every time can leave them confused and irresponsive to your cues.

Puppy Potty Training

Potty training a puppy can become quite a nuisance if you do not work on it from day one. Keep fixed toilet timings for your four-legged friend when you take him out to the potty. Take them outside regularly during the decided timings. A dog should be taken outside for potty first thing in the morning, before sleeping, after naps, and after playing.

Give them treats when they go out for the potty. Puppy potty training is not so difficult after all. But be prepared for days when your innocent friend will use your house floor instead of going out to potty. Do not scold it for this. Instead, encourage him to go outside to potty and reward them with a treat.

This puppy obedience training takes time, but eventually, you will witness your dog following your commands and guides. Always have a fun and loving approach towards them and avoid punishing them at all costs.

Closing Notes

Whether dog crate training or potty training puppy, your dog will learn everything in due course. All it requires is consistency and care towards your fluffy friend.

Feel free to express your views and any queries regarding dog training in the comment section below. We would love to advise you with valuable information throughout your puppy training journey.