Teach your puppy these 5 basic cues

The chosen reward should be highly motivating so that the puppy focuses entirely on the trainer and the reward. Although a small food treat generally works best, a favorite toy or a special dog treat might be more appealing. It might also be helpful to train the puppy just before a scheduled mealtime when it is at its hungriest. For difficult or headstrong puppies, the best way to ensure that the puppy will perform the desired behavior and respond appropriately to the command is to leave a leash attached and to use a head collar for additional control. In this way, you can prompt the puppy into the correct response if it does not immediately obey, and the pressure can be released as soon as the desired response is achieved. At first training begin in designated sessions throughout the day, with a variety of family members. Over time however, you should begin to ask your puppy to perform the tasks at other times.

Motivational training has its roots in captive animal training, where compulsion and corrections are both difficult and dangerous, and ignoring bad behavior is not problematic as the animal lives under controlled conditions. As a dog training strategy, purely positive training is feasible, Puppy Obedience and Safety Training but difficult, as it requires time and patience to control the rewards the dog receives for behavior. In the 1950s blanche saunders was a staunch advocate of pet-dog training, travelling throughout the u.S. To promote obedience classes. After wwii, the increasing complexities of suburban living demanded that for a pet dog's own protection and its owner's convenience, the dog should be obedient. In 1962 koehler published the koehler method of dog training, in which he is highly critical of what he calls "Tid-bit training techniques" based in "The prattle of 'dog psychologists'". Amongst the training innovations attributed to koehler is the use of a long line in conjunction with a complete absence of oral communication as a way of instilling attentiveness prior to any leash training. Despite the controversy, his basic method forms the core of many contemporary training systems.

When you’re teaching your dog something new, remember that they have the attention span and intelligence of a two-year-old. Focus on one task or behavior so that they do not become confused. If you're wondering how to train a dog with a specific behavior, one of the most effective methods is to give them treats, praise, or affection. Most importantly, the best reward to give them is the one that they want the most.

Using multiple training sessions, we can gradually increase the “sit and stay” duration from fractions of a second to multiple minutes. When a dog has gone through this process for multiple behaviors, we can start playing games with the dog, asking for multiple behaviors in the same session, so the dog sharpens their understanding of verbal commands. For example, we can rotate between asking for “sit”, “down”, and “recall”. When training is started at 7 to 8 weeks of age, use methods that rely on positive reinforcement and gentle teaching.

Over time, the words “good dog” and the affectionate pat become secondary reinforcers. Because they have been paired with food in the past, they take on more meaning and become reinforcement in themselves. It is important to use secondary reinforcement because you will not always have food with you when you need your pet to obey. In addition, if you rely on food to get your puppy to comply, you will have a puppy that will only do the task when you have a treat.