HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS FOR PUPPY TRAINING

Training is fun and very rewarding for both you and your puppy. Puppies have an amazing capacity to learn complex demands quickly.

1. Start training as soon as you obtain your puppy. Puppies learn very rapidly but their attention span may be short, so spend 10 - 15 minutes twice daily.

2. Training should be conducted when the puppy is not excited and when the home environment is quiet. Once the puppy has learned a response in one environment, move the training location to progressively more complex and more stimulating environment. That is, the puppy will have to be trained in each environment that you wish him to respond in.

3. Learning occurs more rapidly if one person trains the puppy first and then the other family members get involved. Train the puppy using one-word commands like "come", "sit down" and "heel". Try not to use the puppy's name in association with the command, as too much verbiage is confusing and slows the learning process.

4. Reward appropriate behaviour as soon as possible after giving the command (best within ½ second). Give valued rewards such as food, touch and praise every time the puppy responds to a command. You will quickly learn which reward is more valued by your puppy. Once the response is learned, give the rewards intermittently. This will result in rapid learning and make the response more permanent.

5. If the puppy fails at any level of training, stop, don't reward and start the training again at a simpler level. How consistently a puppy responds to a command is a function of the degree of training. If a puppy responds only when he feels like it or when the environment is quiet, start again and train more intensely.

6. Be patient, never punish. The opposite to reward is no reward, not punishment. A punishment causing pain or excitement does not work and generally causes problems. Punishment may also interfere with the owner/animal bond. If the puppy is doing something that is inappropriate, distract it or use a reward for responding to a command which is incompatible with the unwanted behaviour.

A TRAINED PUPPY IS A HAPPIER PUPPY AND A GREAT COMPANION!