Puppy Training – Guidelines

Know and understand your puppy.

• Your puppy’s temperament will determine what rewards and which corrections will be most effective.
• Take into consideration how your puppy reacts to his senses.
• Don’t forget that your puppy is a DOG, and that certain behaviors are part of his DNA and to be expected.
• Dogs and puppies are motivated by pleasure, pain, fear, and also by their assessment of their place in the family or pack.
• Dogs and puppies have a strong need for leadership. If you do not take the role of leader, your puppy will.

Teach one thing at a time.

• Too many different things at once can be confusing.
• Divide complicated tasks into simple steps.

Take it one small step at a time.

• Make steady improvement easy for your puppy.
• Do not expect too much too soon.

Don’t rush the training.

• You have to walk before you can run.
• Patience and repetition are important words to remember.

Temporarily ease up on everything else when introducing something new.

• The key word here is TEMPORARY.
• Do correct mistakes, but gently and with patience.
• Expect mistakes whenever something new is introduced, or when working with your puppy in a new place.

Plan ahead.

• Know in advance the desired result.
• If your puppy suddenly catches on to what it is you want, this will give you a good opportunity to make quick progress.

If what you are doing isn’t working…

• If what you are doing isn’t working, and you’ve put in the time, the repetition, and the patience – rethink your strategy.
• Trust your intuition.
• Be open to new ideas.

Timing is very important.

• Everything that happens to a puppy happens right now.
• Praise and correction must be handed out during or immediately following the behavior or yhour puppy will not get the message.

When working with your puppy, stay focused.

• Don’t stop in the middle of a session to talk on the phone, smoke a cigarette, or etc.
• Remember, training is a form of communication.
• Removal of attention can be a negative reinforcement.

Positive and negative reinforcements, how to use them:

• The reward for good behavior must outweigh the pleasure gained from the bad behavior.
• The correction must override but not overwhelm the will of the puppy to continue with the bad behavior.
• Use lots of positive reinforcement.
• Be sparing but effective with the negative reinforcements.

If your puppy suddenly “forgets”…

• If your puppy suddenly “forgets” what he has learned, go back to the basics.
• Sometimes a quick refresher is what is needed.
• A relapse midway into training is common and usually means you are about to make a major breakthrough – so don’t get discouraged and quit.

Quit while you are ahead.

• Make progress in each training session
• End each session on a high note.
• Too much pressure or too many repetitions can ruin a training session. Three times in a row is usually suficient.
• If necessary, end the training session on something easy.

A successful outcome depends on these factors:

• Patience and persistence
• Consistency and repetition.
• Whether or not you took the time to follow through.

Written by: Shirley Janner

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