Teaching a Puppies first commands

I thought I should write down some more on the puppy being home now several weeks. By now, you should know your pups personality, and how she or he needs to be trained. He is comfortable with your home now, and is feeling comfortable enough to act up and be his self in your home.

You need to become more in tune with your dog as far as his temperament goes. Match your style of dog training to your dogs temperament. If he is a more mellow or easy going puppy or even shy, you must become upbeat and very animated in order to get and keep his attention. If he is excitable or higher drive, you will want to concentrate on being calm and transferring that calm to your dog in order to settle him down.

Now for the commands you will be using:

• Make sure that you use "Down" for laying down, "Off" for getting off of you or the couch. "Sit" will be for sit. "Heel" for being by your side when walking. "Easy" for when you want him to not heel but not to pull on the leash either. I also like a command to let the pup know that he can relax and be a pup or dog now. I like to use the word "OKAY!"

• It is very important to not repeat your commands ("Sit, Sit, Sit"), as he must learn that Sit, (or Down, or other command) is done on a one time command.

On your corrections, you first say "NO!" and give his leash a good pop to get his attention back onto you, then tell him what you want him to do. Remember that this correction is NOT A PUNISHMENT, but an attention getting device to stop what he is doing, and then since you tell him what you want, he will then do what you tell him. Always follow this with praise ("Good sit", "Good down", "Good off", etc).

Now we will teach your pup that you're the leader of the pack in a non violent way, so he will respect you with out an all out fight. Practice teaching him to sit, down, or stay on a regular basis. Every time you call him, have a juicy treat hanging from your mouth or a toy under your chin. I really like the tennis ball for this as it's easy to just let go at his face for him to catch. This will teach him to look at your face, which will be the starting point of his solid watch command, by always looking up at you. You can do this either by standing over him or sitting in a chair where he can look at you easily, while you are saying a happy "watch, watch", He will learn to look up at you, to see the treat or toy. Preferably, if you can have the food hanging from your mouth is better. We want him to learn, to look up at your face for all commands and exercises.

I do not like to do a whole lot of corrections with a puppy at this age. I prefer to get him to trust and look to us for all rewards or treats. I love a happy puppy, so be happy with your puppy. I want you to say his name as much as possible before you start any command. (Example is "Bruno, Watch", "Bruno, Sit", "Bruno, Down" etc.)

Talk a lot to him and use a happy tone, and by talk a lot, I mean a lot! If your neighbors don't think your crazy by talking to your pup, then you're not talking to him enough. Call his name and get his attention to you, because if he is looking up at you, he is not looking elsewhere and getting into trouble.

Also, do not be afraid to touch your pup to let him know that he is doing good! A good rub or petting is always welcomed and helps the pup feel more excited during the workout. Tell your pup to "watch watch" over and over as much as possible.

Puppies have real short attention spans so we use lots of juicy treats and a hungry puppy to work with. I like to use chicken, string cheese or hot dogs, anything they like that you can cut up into long pieces. Long, so they can hang from your mouth and be easily seen. Just be sure the pieces are thin, so their hunger isn't‘to sated too quickly and to help keep expense down. We also want them to be able to eat them fast and quick, so we can go on to the next lesson.

Let your puppy see you put a treat into your mouth. Make a big deal out of it. You may have to bend over to his level so he can see better, but be careful so he doesn't jump up and bite you in the face. Now tell your pup to "watch, watch", pointing to the treat. As soon as he looks right at the treat or your face, drop the treat into his face if possible, or onto the floor next to him. But make sure he saw the food fall. Make sure at the beginning of this exercise that he never sees your hands touch the treat. We want him to think face/ treat, not hand / treat.

By the end of the first week or so, after he has figured out that your face is a treat machine, every time you say "Bruno, Watch", he will be looking up at you. Now, try and have someone distract him so you can gently get him to redirect his focus back to you. I like to take the treat, put it up to his face, say "NO Bruno, Watch", and put it back into your mouth. You should practice this exercise at least ten repetitions every time you do it. By the end of ten days your pup will be looking at you every time you say "Watch".

Now for the sit command. Call your pups attention to you by calling his name. Have him on a leash so you can easily get his attention. You're going to do this: Call his name "Bruno!" He will look up at you and you say "Watch". Show him the food hanging from your mouth. Put the treat into your hand. Now he is going to be looking up at you, so move over his head towards his spine with the treat saying "Sit!". He can't look up while he is in the standing position, so he has to sit in order for him to see you. He will automatically go into a sit position. As soon as he does, you put the treat back into your mouth after telling him "Good sit! Good Sit!" . With tons of praise and treats falling from your mouth. Also, don't forget to touch or pet your puppy in praise.

Your timing must be really close to when he does sit, so that he is praised the second he sits for you. Timing is a really big deal when it comes to training dogs or puppies. You must praise the millisecond you see them do what you want to reinforce exactly what behavior is good and expected. Now as soon as you give him the treat you also give him tons of praise as well as good body rubbing or touching.

Now, on to the down. This is very simple, as you place the treat in your right hand and show the pup you have the treat in your hand. As always, call his name "Bruno!", then say "Down!", lowering your hand till it reaches the floor, just far out enough from him so he has to lay down to reach it. Again, give the treat while saying "Good down, Good down" with lots praise in your voice and physical touching to let him know what a great dog or pup he is.

If he is a little stubborn about this, (as it is a form of submission to him) you may have to grab his front legs and pull them towards you so he has to down.

After he gets this down really well, and knows what the "Down!" command is, you will then teach him to down faster and just as soon as you tell him do so. I call this the "Lever action", as you will place your foot on the leash close to the collar. You call his name, and tell him to down. He is going to be thinking about it, but is slowly going to the ground. You place your left foot onto the leash right next to his collar and pull on the leash, thus levering him to the floor or ground. You do not repeat the command, but if you have to, you may push him down with your left hand . Again, as soon as he downs you must reward with praise/treats/ voice/ touch.

Remember the Rules of Correction with both voice, "NO!" and a snap of the leash, then tell your pup what you want him to do with a command "Sit", "Down", "Stay", "Off". . Again, it is very important to tell him "Good Bruno", "Good sit", "Good down", "Good off". If your puppy is doing a sit or down he can not be jumping on people, or doing something you don't want him to do.

I have the found the major thing with pups and dogs is your voice. Talk to them on a regular basis, as it is a foundation to getting them to watch you at all times. Well, good luck with your first couple of weeks of training.