How to start training a puppy
You have acquired a four-legged friend, and a natural question arises: where to start training a puppy? After all, the correct start of training a puppy is one of the components of success in this field.
Photo: German Shepherd puppy. Photo: www.pxfuel.com
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Puppy training: where to start?
When thinking about where to start training a puppy, you need to remember what training is in general. Training is more than just learning skills. This is teaching a dog to understand a person, to distinguish between censure and praise, to learn body language and voice commands, the ability to form affection.
So, the beginning of training is, first of all, the training of the owner himself. Read books on ethology and animal psychology, watch educational videos – but it is important to choose those that are based on a competent approach, supported by scientific facts.
Remember that prohibitions and punishments do not shape the dog’s behavior. And even if in this way, not the most effective, by the way, you scare the puppy and force him to abandon some behavior, he will never learn how to behave in this or that difficult situation. And it is important to teach this. This is where positive reinforcement comes in.
In a puppy under the age of 12 weeks, play behavior is formed. And if the game is not developed during this period, then it will be quite difficult to play a pet later. And the game is the basis of training! All puppy training is built exclusively in the form of a game.
With these puppy training basics in mind, you can teach your puppy anything!
What commands should be taught to a puppy at the beginning of training?
Beginning puppy training may include:
- Nickname training.
- Switching attention from toy to toy.
- Teaching the “Give” command.
- Getting to know the targets (for example, learning to touch your palm with your nose or put your front or back paws on the target). This skill will make learning many teams much easier in the future.
- Sit command.
- Stop command.
- “Down” command.
- Search team.
- Exposure basics.
- Simple tricks (for example, Yula, Spinning Top or Snake).
- “Place” command.
- Command “Come to me”.
If you’re not sure you can get your puppy off to the right start, you can contact a positive reinforcement professional or use our humane dog training video courses.
