Basic Training Steps for Puppies

by Caroline · Published November 26, 2019 · Updated November 26, 2019

Dogs are a friendly companion and it is very easy to love them. From the start, it is good to teach your puppy basic training steps and good bahaviour, don’t brush off anything you do not like. Some of the worst habit the puppy can have include chewing, fear, loud barking, digging, jumping on people, urinating everywhere not in potty trained areas, running off to the park or road, stealing your food or kitchen leftovers and aggression, etc.

Basic Training Steps for Puppies

Contents

Additionally, they come with various benefits including health benefits mainly:

Companionship as he is a friend and will be there for you with unconditional love.
Useful for protection as watchdogs or in herding too.
Keep your active and fit through exercise.
Help you socialize as you are able to meet other dog owners when out and about.
Reduce stress as time spent with pet help you calm down by lowering anxiety.
Act as doctors, can detect when you are not fine health-wise.
Act as rescue dogs and are used by therapist, military, homeowners, firemen/women, etc

Once you decide to bring a puppy home you ensure you have bought all her supplies from the bed, tracker, id tag, crate, collar, leash, and food.

The next step is to see that she transition well and fit into the home environment with ease.

Why Training is Important?

Well-Mannered Puppy

Training is important and essential for the puppy to be well mannered. Behaviours like excessive barking, jumping on people, running all over can be exhibited by a puppy in a new home while trying to adjust.

Gives Guidance/Assurance

As the dog owner, your puppy will need guidance and assurance that the place is good for her/him. You can use treats/praise to reward obedience to commands and good behaviour. Do not shout at your puppy while training, positive reinforcement gives more positive results.

Produces Good Behaviour

You know how important socialization and good behaviour are for a family pet and it is accomplished with training. Your puppy needs to be a good listener and follow your guidance when you do the basic training.

Tell all family members not to encourage bad behaviour, for instance, if they leave food on their plate they should not feed the puppy the leftovers. Not only will this encourage overfeeding leading to obese but also lead to stealing food from your plate. One bad behaviour can make training hard for you and your puppy.

Puppy obedience training helps your puppy with socializing and is able to interact well with children, other pets and outsiders. Make you more confident when you are out with your puppy or have invited people to your home. You are sure your puppy will not embarrass you with bad behaviour and is comfortable in any social gathering.

Create a Strong Bond

With training, you are able to build a strong bond between the puppy and the family.

A puppy will learn good behaviour and avoid bad behavior through training. You have to be a good guide and the dog will follow for the outcome to be desirable. Make the training short, fun and consistent to avoid the puppy getting bored.

Build up Puppy Confidence

The training builds up your puppy confidence as they are able to interact with people in the home and also outside/strangers. Early socialization to different people, children other pets make them adapt easily to their environment and not shy away.

What will Training Do For Your Puppy?

Veterinarians and trainers advise you to start training as early as 7-8 weeks once the puppy is old enough to have all of their vaccines and boosters.

The early puppy training session will focus on socialization and playing to build your puppy confidence. If not the puppy will be fearful and shy away from the stranger and anyone they are not used to.

They are various training:

Obedience Training.

You want to be able to communicate with the puppy as soon as they get to your house. Being a new environment makes training short, consistent and fun for an easy transition. The first commands the puppy can learn are; sit, come, and heel, go, stay and lay down.

Remember success in teaching the basic command and getting positive obedience set the pace for future training.

The puppy needs a leader for guidance and is looking up to you, hence act as a good trainer.

Crate Training

Crate training your dog may take some time and effort but can be useful in a variety of situations. We have numerous benefits to crate training. Not only is it a safe place to transport your furry friend from one place to another but also a training spot before she learns house rules.

Training should be short and fun. Let your puppy associate the crate with pleasant memories. Crate training can take weeks or months depending on the puppy age, experiences and upbringing to name but a few.

We have several crates for training in the market and you can choose the best for your pup needs and preference.

Crate Training prevent dog from Tearing up Your Furniture

Put the crate in the family favourite area for the puppy to feel welcomed and accommodated. Use some treat and put inside the treat to lure the puppy in. keep the door wide open until the puppy gets used to the crate.

Make the crate comfortable and a good resting place by placing a blanket and her favourite toys and with time the puppy will get used staying inside there relaxing.

A puppy that have not learned house rule can stay in the crate when alone at home to prevent them from being destructive and limit access to your home.

Crate training, when done effectively, can be a helpful tool. Not only does it provide your new puppy with a sense of safety and stability but a clean home environment for the family.

Crate Training Helps in Potty Training

Furthermore, the crate can be used for potty training your puppy. Take your puppy out of their crate at reasonable intervals to use the restroom. Subsequently, this will prevent them from messing their crates and wait until the bathroom breaks.

Basic Commands Training

Sit Command

Dogs love sitting and this is the best command to start training with. Nonetheless, your puppy should learn other commands like lay down, stay, go, heel, and come.

When your dog is relaxed, patient and calm you will find them mostly sitting. It is a form of politeness and can wait.

Training Dog Sit Command

When teaching the sit command stand in front of your puppy and look straight in the eyes with a treat in your hand up her nose. Call your dog name and say sit, which will make her lift her head.

Rewards with a treat when the puppy obeys. The dog will associate obeying a command with a reward or praise and will do as you say.

With time the verbal commands can be substituted with hand signals. Importantly lay your flat hand on your dog head and say sit.

Be patient and consistent as this is not achieved with one training especially for a stubborn puppy.

This training will ensure your puppy wait when you are busy and stop being aggressive as you have asserted to her you are the leader.

Stay Command

One of the basic commands which can save the life of your furry friend in a dangerous situation is ‘stay’ command.

Once your puppy obeys the sit command you can proceed to the stay command. Your pup is used to protection from her mother and training the stay command becomes easy.

As the dog protector now the puppy views you as the mother. When your dog is sitting, stand to show you are the leader.

Simply hold at your pup collar while you say its name, do not touch her face your palm should face up and fingers pointing up. All this is achieved if the pup starts with a sit position first.

Repeat this as you move away and increase time length and give a treat as a reward until your puppy obeys.

Come Command

Indeed implement the come command after the puppy obeys. This releases her from the stay command.

Just as the other command starts the training with the sit command. Use both gesture and verbal command when training “come”.

Use a more encouraging tone for your pup to react well. Say your puppy’s name and place a treat on the floor in front of you as you say come while pointing to the treat. The pup will associate the gesture with the command and come.

For more effect results praise the pup and pat it on the head to show appreciation. Repeat this training in various locations and areas and praise your pup once it obeys.

Lay Down Command

A Puppy sleep 18 hours and despite being playful, they need to rest. A laydown command is great for an aggressive trainee.

This is a more effective command that follows the stay command to station your puppy to your desired spot/place. Most can say it is a controlling command as your pup stops what she was doing completely and lays down.

Lay Down Command Training

Start the pup in a sitting position by saying her name and hold your hand up while the other palm holds a treat towards the floor close to her body.

This will motion your puppy to a laying down position. Both the bum and elbows will touch the floor, say yes or okay and give the treat.

Be consistent do the training severally for the puppy to associate the command, action with the reward. By this, you are able to stop any unwanted behavior early when detected.

Heel Command

Thought to be the hardest but with constant training, the command can be learned by your pup. Place her on the place position next to your left leg. Ensure to put her on a lead and start with the sit command. Say her name and say heel for her to stop.

Heel Command

Start the heel command by moving forward with your left foot to signal to your dog it is time to move.

Use the lead to control the movement in case the puppy wants to pass you and make her keep at your side. Say no and dog name if you notice wrong behavior and to stop her say her name and say sit for the puppy to stop.

All these commands should be repeated severally for the desired outcome. Do not give up if your puppy is stubborn start all over and do it again until she obeys.

Remember to give affirmation of praise when puppy obeys.