Train Early, Train Right
Raising a well-mannered Pup is easy if you start young

When you look at that fluffy puppy peacefully sleeping in its crate in the corner, it’s hard to imagine that in just a few months it’ll be a bounding 50 to 100 pounds.  Behaviors that seem cute now – “Awwww, look, he puts his paws on my chest” – will be less adorable when your pup knocks you flat on your back and plants its muddy paws on your suit lapels.  It’s easier, and more fun for you both, if you start teaching your puppy manners now, before it learns all the wrong stuff. 

Years ago, when punishment-based training methods were in vogue, dog trainers required puppy clients to be 6 months or older, partly due to the vigorous physical corrections used at that time.  But by the time an untrained adolescent dog reaches 6 months of age, it drags its owner at the end of the leash, jumps up to get attention, and knows that if it ignores the yelling it generally gets what it wants. 

In the last two decades the training profession has embraced more dog-friendly methods.  Trainers now accept 8-to-12 week-old puppies into puppy kindergarten and socialization classes.  Young pups learn to walk politely on leash, sit, lie down, stay and come when they’re called – plus a host of other entertaining and useful behaviors, such as polite greetings and skills, such as relax, take it, give it and leave it.  You should learn to practice your pup’s basic commands in a variety of settings so it learns to behave no matter where it is. 

Teaching desired behaviors can be done by the luring and reward method: 

Sit:

1. Hold a treat at the end of your pup’s nose.
2. Move the treat over its head.
3. When it sits, say, “Yes!”
4. Feed the treat.  Notice that you haven’t given the command “Sit” at this point.

Down:

1. Have your pup sit.
2. Hold the treat in front or your dog’s nose.  Move it down slowly, straight toward the floor (towards its toes).  If it follows all the way down, give the pup the treat.
3. If it gets stuck, move the treat more slowly.  Treat for small movements downward – moving its head a bit lower or inching one paw forward.  Keep treating until it is all the way down. 
4. If your pup stands as you move the treat toward the floor, have it sit, and move the treat more slowly downward, shaping with treats for small movements down as long as the dog is sitting.  If your pup jumps up instead of sitting, you’re holding the treat too high.  If it backs up, let it back into a corner or solid object and wait until it sits.  If it takes your dog some time, be patient.  When your dog offers sits easily, start saying “Sit” just before it offers one, so it can make the association between the word and the behavior.  With positive training, you don’t add the vocal cue until after you know you can get the behavior. 

In addition to the benefits of teaching your pup good manners, puppy training provides opportunities for socialization – a critically important, often overlooked element of a pup’s education. 
Socialization is the process of giving your pup positive exposures to the world while it’s young enough to still be forming an impression of its environment.  Ongoing socialization is important throughout a dog’s life, but the most important period is from the age of 4 weeks to 4 months.  After that, the window of opportunity starts to close. 

You may have heard the term “Positive Reinforcement” but don’t really understand what it means.  Positive trainers use “Cues” instead of “Commands,” because the term “Command” implies “You better do it or else…,” but a “Cue” is simply a request for a behavior.  We no longer “make” dogs sit, we “ask” them to sit.  Instead of jerking on the leash, you can hold a tasty tidbit to its nose and lure it into a sit.  Several repetitions of this and your pup eagerly offers sits in anticipation of the next treat.
This is the secret to positive training.  Instead of controlling your dog like a sergeant-at-arms, you teach it to control itself and actively offer good behaviors in order to make good stuff happen. 

Dogs learn through repetition.  The more quickly you get to the next trial, the more quickly it learns.  Food is intrinsically reinforcing to dogs, making it an extremely effective lure and reward concept.

Keep posted for future articles where I give you tips on what you should do for issues your dog has (Jumping, Chewing, Pulling on the leash, and how to properly hold a leash).  I will also talk about aggression in dogs (both dog to dog and dog to human).  This has been a hot topic and one where I’ve gotten a number of calls.  I purposely will not give tips in this area simply because it is not something that should be handled by a dog owner