As soon as you get the puppy !
Here are some great tips I've written as part of my Knowledge Bank and remember I offer an at home PUPPY AMBASSADOR visit before your puppy is vaccinated as well as 121 and group training sessions as soon as your puppy is fully vaccinated.
You cannot walk your puppy very far (or at all if they are not vaccinated) so you start the training NOW to build your partnership. Training even when they are vaccinated is more beneficial and more tiring than walking them………they are not allowed to be walked far so it is far better to build your bond with movement and fun and forget about any formal training for a while.
The first thing you should be doing from the very start is getting them used to a collar and lead. Start slowly and don’t expect them to accept either immediately……..and certainly never force them into their collar otherwise they will start to avoid it. If your puppy pulls you want to take the pressure off the neck and you WILL need a harness. My recommendation is the Halti Front Control harness but if your puppy is too small then any harness is better than a collar.
Start by teaching them that their name results in a yummy treat. Say their name when they are close to you and when they look give them a treat. Progress very slowly to saying their name when they aren’t looking at you, when they are a bit further away, when they are busy. You are teaching them to respond to their name and look at you.
Teach an automatic check in. Teaching a check in and reinforcing desirable behaviours starts indoors. Set yourself a challenge. Put twenty treats in a pot on the kitchen side and every time your puppy looks at you (not when you ask her to) give her a treat. Count the treats left at the end of the day. Next day try and beat your record. Then take it to the garden. Lower your expectations for this. And of course then eventually out and about.
Be fun to be with. When you go out into the garden and eventually when you go to the field/park start tossing treats for your puppy to catch, get a tug toy from your pocket and have a game for ten – twenty seconds, then run about and have her chase you, More treats, more play, drop the lead, pick up the lead, unclip the lead, put the lead back on all whilst feeding and playing. Do this for a minute or two and finish with lead off, longline on, putting toy and treats back in your pocket and tell her “off you go”.
Whichever way she goes, you go the other way. Give her some sniff time, then start cheering and whooping and running again, get the toy and treats out again and play where you are, then leave her to sniff and go in the opposite direction and start again.
Collar Touch. Simply take hold of your dog's collar gently, palm towards the side of his neck, every single time before you do all of the following : give him a treat, open the door to let him out, throw him a toy, put his lead on, take his lead off, give him his dinner and everything else that is a pleasurable experience for him. Before you know it he will be pushing his neck into your palm in anticipation of the reward. Add a verbal cue and you have a great recall trick.
Retrieve. If a dog is bringing a toy back to you then you've got a recall. If your dog enjoys a game of tug then use a rope ball with a handle so he can chase, fetch and then enjoy a tug game with you. You can keep the game interesting by throwing the toy into long grass and sending him to find it with lots of whooping and cheering when he finds it and returns to you. DO NOT FLING OR THROW BALLS………..you want a toy that drops and stops when you throw it.
Chase the kibble. Send him away by tossing a treat for him to find and more cheering when he finds it and a really yummy treat for coming back to you ready to go again. Stage 2 of this is to change position each time he goes away so that part of the fun is turning around and looking for you.
All of these games can be done at home, indoors, in the garden and out and about. On a long line or off lead where it is safe to do so.
Make sure you use a variety of treats……kibble for the very easy stuff but occasionally drop in a tasty treat even with these simple tasks as that keeps them motivated. Use a higher value treat for the more difficult things. Treats need to be very small.
It is important to remember that puppies who are allowed to play with all dogs they meet will have set a pattern of behaviour that means they could get themselves into trouble. Not all dogs are friendly. Plus puppies are naturally jumpy and boisterous and lots of older dogs just won’t tolerate it. What you should be doing is teaching your puppy to focus on you when there are other people and dogs around………..this is what you will be relying on all through their life – that focussing on you and responding to you result in fun/reward and that listening and responding is all important.
Only let your puppy play with dogs that you are certain are well balanced and have extremely good listening skills to their owner too. You don’t want to be stepping in to retrieve your puppy and you don’t want to be “working” alongside an owner and dog who have no basic skills and that shout and scream or grab or chase their own dog. You cannot expect your puppy to have any skill at all in the early months so don’t let them practice what you don’t want them to learn !
Here are some great tips I've written as part of my Knowledge Bank and remember I offer an at home PUPPY AMBASSADOR visit before your puppy is vaccinated as well as 121 and group training sessions as soon as your puppy is fully vaccinated.
You cannot walk your puppy very far (or at all if they are not vaccinated) so you start the training NOW to build your partnership. Training even when they are vaccinated is more beneficial and more tiring than walking them………they are not allowed to be walked far so it is far better to build your bond with movement and fun and forget about any formal training for a while.
The first thing you should be doing from the very start is getting them used to a collar and lead. Start slowly and don’t expect them to accept either immediately……..and certainly never force them into their collar otherwise they will start to avoid it. If your puppy pulls you want to take the pressure off the neck and you WILL need a harness. My recommendation is the Halti Front Control harness but if your puppy is too small then any harness is better than a collar.
Start by teaching them that their name results in a yummy treat. Say their name when they are close to you and when they look give them a treat. Progress very slowly to saying their name when they aren’t looking at you, when they are a bit further away, when they are busy. You are teaching them to respond to their name and look at you.
Teach an automatic check in. Teaching a check in and reinforcing desirable behaviours starts indoors. Set yourself a challenge. Put twenty treats in a pot on the kitchen side and every time your puppy looks at you (not when you ask her to) give her a treat. Count the treats left at the end of the day. Next day try and beat your record. Then take it to the garden. Lower your expectations for this. And of course then eventually out and about.
Be fun to be with. When you go out into the garden and eventually when you go to the field/park start tossing treats for your puppy to catch, get a tug toy from your pocket and have a game for ten – twenty seconds, then run about and have her chase you, More treats, more play, drop the lead, pick up the lead, unclip the lead, put the lead back on all whilst feeding and playing. Do this for a minute or two and finish with lead off, longline on, putting toy and treats back in your pocket and tell her “off you go”.
Whichever way she goes, you go the other way. Give her some sniff time, then start cheering and whooping and running again, get the toy and treats out again and play where you are, then leave her to sniff and go in the opposite direction and start again.
Collar Touch. Simply take hold of your dog's collar gently, palm towards the side of his neck, every single time before you do all of the following : give him a treat, open the door to let him out, throw him a toy, put his lead on, take his lead off, give him his dinner and everything else that is a pleasurable experience for him. Before you know it he will be pushing his neck into your palm in anticipation of the reward. Add a verbal cue and you have a great recall trick.
Retrieve. If a dog is bringing a toy back to you then you've got a recall. If your dog enjoys a game of tug then use a rope ball with a handle so he can chase, fetch and then enjoy a tug game with you. You can keep the game interesting by throwing the toy into long grass and sending him to find it with lots of whooping and cheering when he finds it and returns to you. DO NOT FLING OR THROW BALLS………..you want a toy that drops and stops when you throw it.
Chase the kibble. Send him away by tossing a treat for him to find and more cheering when he finds it and a really yummy treat for coming back to you ready to go again. Stage 2 of this is to change position each time he goes away so that part of the fun is turning around and looking for you.
All of these games can be done at home, indoors, in the garden and out and about. On a long line or off lead where it is safe to do so.
Make sure you use a variety of treats……kibble for the very easy stuff but occasionally drop in a tasty treat even with these simple tasks as that keeps them motivated. Use a higher value treat for the more difficult things. Treats need to be very small.
It is important to remember that puppies who are allowed to play with all dogs they meet will have set a pattern of behaviour that means they could get themselves into trouble. Not all dogs are friendly. Plus puppies are naturally jumpy and boisterous and lots of older dogs just won’t tolerate it. What you should be doing is teaching your puppy to focus on you when there are other people and dogs around………..this is what you will be relying on all through their life – that focussing on you and responding to you result in fun/reward and that listening and responding is all important.
Only let your puppy play with dogs that you are certain are well balanced and have extremely good listening skills to their owner too. You don’t want to be stepping in to retrieve your puppy and you don’t want to be “working” alongside an owner and dog who have no basic skills and that shout and scream or grab or chase their own dog. You cannot expect your puppy to have any skill at all in the early months so don’t let them practice what you don’t want them to learn !