When To Start Your Puppy Training
Basic training starts the moment you bring young puppy home with the very first potty training exercises. Just try to remember young puppies will be a little confused about where they are and what happened to momma and their littermates.
Puppies can learn basic commands from as young as 8 weeks if they are comfortable with their new environment.
I say the basics which most people think of as the SIT, STAY, and DOWN commands but we must not forget the good puppy in between commands of NO BITE or NO NIPPING, and probably the first thing we need little Sparky to learn is where he is supposed to relieve himself, I use a “Do you need to GO POTTY” and then a simple GO POTTY command when outside.
Most obedience training schools and classes usually won’t take your pup until the age of about 6 months. If you wait for a formal class to start puppy training this could be a big mistake!
You may have a 6 month old pup or an adult dog with no basic training at all and these methods will work on them too. My point is that its best to start training when you get your puppy or adult dog home and not to wait for bad behavioral patterns to set in.
Very young puppies do have a short attention span. But with a rewarding with a treat you can keep their minds on the one thing all puppies respond to, food. Treats are my preferred choice but a squeaky type toy can work.
Initially your training sessions will be short but as little Sparky learns word or phrase into the action and then he gets a reward, your sessions can become longer with other commands all rolled into a session.
A training session may start with 5 or 10 minutes until puppy learns what he is expected to do. Then as each command is fully understood you will want to incorporate two or three commands into one complete session that may last 10 minutes up to 30 minutes.
Scott Nelson, Proud friend of my loyal companion "The Marley Dog"
www.DogDayShop.com
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