enjoy great tips and some free starter courses
1.Use your pup’s food for training!
Your puppy’s food is a phenomenal resource and one of the best tools you can use to train your puppy! In those early puppyhood months, having your puppy work for their food is a super easy way to get and hold their attention on you, rewards them for doing so, and creates a positive association with looking to you for direction!
At The Puppy Academy, we have our students bring their own lunch to school with the food they eat at home, and we use that meal for their training sessions. It’s also part of the foundation for our Online Training School. In both programs, you’ll often hear us recommending our pup parents keep a treat pouch on or near them at all times in the beginning weeks with their new pup at home. (Don’t worry, you can and will wean off as they get older!) Having access to your pup’s food comes in so handy for redirecting them away from something they’re doing that you don’t want them to do, getting them to come to you, having them focus on you to build that guidance-based relationship, and reward them for their good behaviors to encourage them to do it again!
2. Be Patient and Consistent!
It’s easy to become frustrated with the puppy training process. Puppies are young and still figuring out the world, so they will make mistakes, get distracted, and lose focus easily. It takes time to establish communication between yourself and your puppy, so don’t expect them to get it on the first try!
To get them on track faster, maintain a consistent schedule for your puppy. We recommend all our students use a daily puppy schedule that includes potty breaks, feeding and playtimes, puppy training sessions, and nap times! This will help your puppy learn to understand the daily household routine, feel confident and secure, provide structure, and promote good behavior.
3. Practice, Practice, Practice!
That saying “practice makes perfect” is totally true when it comes to puppy training! You’ll want to schedule a few short training sessions each day to teach and practice their commands. With young puppies, you may only be able to hold their attention for 5-10 minutes at a time, and about 10-15 minutes with older puppies. A great time to train is at your puppy’s mealtime, as you have them work to earn their breakfast, lunch, or dinner!
Keep these training sessions short, fun, and motivating for your pup so they can’t wait to do them again and again! Once your puppy has received their vaccinations, start practicing their training routines in different outdoor locations. This will help solidify their commands, and encourage the same good behaviors wherever you bring your puppy!
Now that we covered these three key topics, it’s time to start your puppy’s training schedule! We’ve created a basic puppy training schedule that starts from two months (8 weeks) of age that you can use as your puppy grows through their first year! If your puppy is older and hasn’t learned everything outlined here yet, go back to fill in some of those missing areas if needed.
It’s important to keep in mind that each pup learns at a different speed, so some may need longer at certain stages, while others will be able to move on to more advanced training quicker. Go at your pup’s speed, and don’t rush them if they’re not quite ready yet to move onto the next just yet!
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