Beginner Obedience

The first thing your puppy needs to know before you start to teach basic obedience is his/her name.  Not only does your pup need to know his/her name, but they also need for have a positive association with their name. I ask you do not use your dogs name for corrections. Only say your pups name when you are giving a command, or affection. This is important because we are gonna use your pups name as a verbal cue for focus. Let's start by reinforcing your pups name.

 

MAKE CONTACT

NOTE: You could also use this exercise to load the clicker if you are planning on doing clicker training later.

I like to let my pup smell the treat before I start. Then I take the treat from the pups nose to my eye. As soon as the pup makes eye contact I say the pups name, and immediately give them the treat. I like to do this in sets of 8-10 times in a row, and from different rooms in the house. Once the pup starts to catch on you can make delay the treat to lengthen the time of your eye contact.  Soon you will start to see immediate eye contact every time you say his/her name.  Now remember not to use their name when you fuss at them, or you will give them a negative association with their name, and undo what you have just done.

SIT

The hand signal for sit is your palm open and facing upward. To teach sit, I use the hand signal as well as lure baiting technique.  I like to hold the treat between my thumb and pointer finger, and have the rest of my fingers flat, with my palm facing up. Put your hand and treat just above the pups head. The goal is to make them look up at the treat. Usually they will sit so they can look up. Once they sit give them the treat. If your puppy is backing up to see the treat trying practicing in a hallway or against a wall. Once your puppy understands the hand signal and is repeatedly sitting you can begin to give the verbal command SIT.  When your pup has mastered the motion of sit, delay the treat to lengthen the time they are sitting. I like to get them to sit for about 1 minute before I move onto the next challenge.

When you teach sit, is also the time to teach for how long to sit. You want to give your pup a release word that tells them when the sit is over. I like to use UP.  Make sure you say your release word before your dog releases his/her self.  I usually start to use my release word when I begin to lengthen the sit.

Down

The hand signal for down is your palm open facing the floor. To teach down you have to start at the floor level. Put your pup in a sit position. Using the hand signal and the treat as a lure place your hand on the floor. When your pup follows the treat to the floor he/she should slide into a down position. I give the treat as soon as their down. Down is not easy for all pups, you may have to practice with the position of the lure. Most of the time I find starting with the treat infront of the front paws and slowly sliding the treat away from them most helpful. If you move the treat to fast, they will usually break the sit to go after the treat. This is why it is important to make sure your pup has a FIRM grasp of sit before starting down. When you can get your pup to repeatedly down you can start to add the verbal command DOWN. Remember to use a release word to allow your pup to get up.  When you are sure your pup understands what Down means you can begin to slowly raise your hand off the floor a few inches at a time. Eventually you will be able to give the DOWN command and hand signal from a fully erect standing position. Once you have accomplished DOWN from a standing position start to delay the treat to increase the time your pup holds his/her down. Don't walk away from your pup while in a down, that will be covered under STAY. When you practice make sure to mix up the commands SIT and DOWN, and that sit doesn't always preceed down otherwise they begin to think SIT is part of DOWN. Then when you ask them to sit they will down. They need to understand that this is two completely different commands. Remember to use your release word consistently. If you don't release your pup, then your pup is releasing his/her self.