Training a new puppy is no easy task. It is something that requires a lot of patience and perseverance, and understanding your pet. However, it is certainly achievable if you stick to it properly and find techniques that work for you and your puppy. Here at Pets we have highly experienced animal behaviourists and trainers to help get things kickstarted when we have new puppies on site.
As this is an area we have a lot of knowledge and experience in, we wanted to share with you some of our top tips on how to train your new puppy!
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Patience is key!
You simply cannot train a new puppy without patience. Teaching brand new commands is sometimes a long process, and certainly one that requires a lot of perseverance. Puppies have bundles of energy and are very excitable, so attempting to train a puppy is more difficult than an adult dog, as they don’t exhibit the same behaviours. It’s important to work at a pace that is practical and allows time for your puppy to understand what is being asked, as well as provide a realistic path to follow. You must persevere in training your puppy and understand the pace that is suitable to them.
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Don’t overcomplicate commands
Learning new commands is difficult for puppies, so it is important that you keep things simple and don’t over complicate your commands. It can be confusing to them if you are teaching multiple commands at once, so the best way to keep it clear and concise it to stick to one-word commands. For example, when asking your dog to sit, you should just use the word “sit” as opposed to “sit down”, as this will overcomplicate things if you are using the word “down” to ask your dog to lie down. If you say “sit down”, this can be very unclear and confusing as you are essentially telling them to do two commands at once.
If your commands are confusing and complicated, it may slow down the progress of learning and make it harder for your puppy to understand the training. In addition to this, when asking them to do any command, you should stick to only saying the command word once. Again, this prevents any confusion, and also teaches your puppy that they should perform the command the first time they are asked to.
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Don’t exhaust them
When teaching your puppy any commands, we recommend training them in short bursts. If you spend too long trying to teach them one command, they will become distracted and restless. You should spend short periods of time training and then come back to it later. That way, your puppy will stay engaged and more likely to absorb and understand the command.
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Establish house rules early on
When you bring a new puppy into your home, you should establish early on what they can and can’t do, so that you can teach them this from an early age and get them used to the rules. For example, perhaps you don’t want them to get on any furniture, or you don’t want them to jump up when you have visitors, or bark when someone knocks at the door. It is important to know yourself what the house rules are as soon as you bring a new puppy into your home, and teach them from the off.
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Always reward good behaviour
Rewards are essential in puppy training. Rewarding good behaviour helps your puppy to understand when they have done a command correctly. As well as this, it also encourages them to do as they are told, as they will get used to the premise of being rewarded when they follow commands. Praise is very important and it also keeps your puppy engaged.
