When to start obedience training with puppy
FIRST BASIC OBEDIENCE TRAINING SESSION FOR A PUPPY
I'm gonna start off going over my golden
rules with you my golden rules really
focused on setting the dog up to be a
very well-behaved dog I always aim for
like well-behaved before well trained
meaning who cares if you have a dog that
like shakes rolls over does every trick
in the book if you can't get your dog to
listen to you you know when you're out
places that's pulling on you you know
this kind of adds more stress what I
always aim to do is like get your dog to
listen to you the first time every
single time
what I always say is that if you were to
teach your dog one thing it should be
focused if you always have your dogs
focus you could get your dog to do
anything and you can prevent your dog
from doing anything and that's something
that I see is just so lacking you know
focus is basically what I do for my
service dog training you know if you see
service dog all they're doing is
focusing up on their handler right and
and if we work on that focused piece
obviously it doesn't have to be as
strict you know with every dog it just
goes so so far so that's really what I
aim to do and it's break the
stubbornness and just you know get you
and your dog on the same page so my
number one rule is to only ever say her
name positively so if you do have to
tell her no don't use her name with it
ah sure one because it's going to be a
lot more effective if you're trying to
get her attention when you want to say
her name negatively like when she's
getting excited outside about the dog
you know a lot of owners that just are
natural and it seems to be like truffle
no don't do that
no what's more motivating that dog that
has her attention are you telling her no
screw you you know why should I look at
you it's a number one thing that I saw
with like dogs who bark constantly at
the door with like people or dogs walk
by and I
what I end up seeing at every single
session is like naturally you know
wheats just saying no don't do that
truffle no don't do that she's not going
to respond to that at all just making
that simple switch to truffle she's
gonna make oh something better over
there it goes so far so I use the name
as a command to focus basically so
truffle we focus up here yes and
obviously she's going to be a lot more
likely to do that with a positive tone
hi dick
yes down yes yes these are puppy
push-ups she's going down usually takes
a while to click and from going from
down to up yes that's not natural she's
probably never had to do that but she
got it instantly you are still Simard
good girl you could set the record for
push-ups I think oh good
down you're outside you have to be more
motivating than anything out there
that's very hard to do the only way that
you have a chance of doing that is if
her name is always positive so basically
it's the same kind of thing for recall
down the road if like she's off leash
somewhere there's another dog a squirrel
something you don't want her getting at
and if you say truffle come if sometimes
her name is a negative thing like she's
in trouble she's gonna look at you like
am I in trouble or is it a good thing
not gonna chance it I'm gonna go and get
that squirrel I'm gonna go and chase
that dog so you want her name to
basically you don't want to give her any
room to think about like am I in trouble
it's like Oh truffle I can treat over
here it's positive always so that she's
always going to respond
to it I doubt that you say her name
negatively very often at all that
doesn't make a lot of sense yeah yeah
and it's never like for my dogs everyone
always asked how I have them so good at
recall there and any situation they'll
come no matter what
instantly honestly I never did any kind
of recoil exercises with either of them
there's a lot you can do it just started
with their name was positive from day
one and now it's like when they hear
their name they're like oh instantly and
just adding that come on to its same
kind of concept so it goes so far with
everything down so my next rule is that
if you do have to tell her no because
positive reinforcement isn't all
sunshine and rainbows you do have to
tell a dog when they're doing the wrong
thing but you have to redirect her to
what's right so redirection is key to
shaping behavior and with redirection
it's not so much for that instance that
you are you know sort of scolding her
for it's for the next time so what I
mean by that is let's say she's chewing
on this um with every single bad
behavior you have to think about why
she's doing it so she's chewing on that
because she has a need to chew so that
knee doesn't go away you know and that's
what people were just very quick to say
no don't do that well it's telling her
no she still is gonna have that need so
the next time you know she's probably
gonna stop if you just tell her no
because you can she can tell you're
upset
the next time she has that knee to chew
however she's gonna go right back to
that so that's where the redirection
comes into play no you don't you and
that you can't say no don't use her name
with it and then give her what is
appropriate to chew on and I'm sure you
did a lot of that was like you know when
she was a puppy it should be good about
not getting into things anymore yeah
pretty much whenever the only thing that
I have a problem with this show like
kind of like investigating like the
trash can or like my bathroom when I'm
gone at work but I feel like that's just
cuz she's bored and yes it always when
you're gone yeah so it's like she knows
now it just knows when she can get away
with it yeah yeah does she have access
to come inside or is the trash out so
it's just in the bathroom like that oh
okay so she'll get like really like
tissues or whatever okay so when you're
gone at work does she have access in the
whole place yeah
oh okay and you'll just leave the patio
open as well exactly yes if she needs
have like a little party path back squat
it Ohio sushi and that's really all that
she gets into yeah that's really good
yeah yeah even if that I'm just starting
to shut the door now yeah just don't
give her the opportunity to do it
yeah things like that less exactly
that's exactly what you have to do is
just take away the opportunity
because you know really to correct
things you have to catch her in the act
of it even if you come home you're
scolding her you know she's gonna be
upset or he's just gonna no it's gonna
seem like she knows what she did but um
she cannot dogs are not that intelligent
to actually connect the two in their
brain like oh I'm getting yelled at for
what do you do for a treat
over here
you can do it good much just like
there's a fire there there's that what
do I do
yes good girl
so even things like that even though I
think like if you are sitting down at
their level you're kind of inviting them
but if you didn't want her jumping up
you know instead of just like no get off
you get what you want because she gets
off but you want to tell her what to do
the next time she wants to do that sit
in front of me for my attention ladies
dead shuffle is there anything else
Oh jumping when people come in right she
was a jumper a little bit a little bit
yeah
same with whenever she's out and about
walking on the leash she'll do that too
she'll jump up on people or another
thing that I've noticed is that every
time we come back from a long walk in
this stretch once we're in the parking
lot she'll bite the leash and start
pulling it's always in the same spot so
it's like oh hey like I don't want to go
back yet but really you know yeah but
it's all always in this like home
stretch right here the parking lot chill
got the leash and then she'll start
pulling got it it's kind of weird
yeah yeah and there's you know other
times she does it too but mostly that's
like okay got it we'll work on that too
um so with with that we can teach her
like a drop in command as well as what I
would do is when she is chewing on it
stop direct her to sit and refocus on
you huge thing was like focusing on the
walk is what I find like dogs who are
chewing once we just do a little bit
with like leash training we chuckle and
work on the focus so if you get to that
spot and you're like okay I know she's
gonna want to let's redirect her to
focus and just try to keep her focus you
got an itch
hey hey and have her focusing that whole
time like this even if it's on the treat
in the beginning this will make more
sense when we do like leash training
she's not if she's focusing on you she
can't multitask so she can't be like
fighting at the leisure so that's
something that I would try to do and
that's one thing that I say to you know
a second you go out the door most dogs
naturally have 0% focus on their owners
so just trying to get her to like check
in and make that eye contact solves
majority of problems on the leash um off
so there's that sit yes so what do you
usually do when she jumps up just tell
her off
yeah or what I'll do is I'll just stop
and I won't walk and I kind of just like
sitting you know stay in there for a
little bit till she kind of shows that a
little bit okay okay yeah jumping or
which is biting about music but either
or like jumping up or pulling on the
leash yeah so I just stop and then I
just don't walk until she women once I
keep one side you know start walking and
she'll be the same thing okay
and that's where what I would say is
like okay she stopped aimed to have her
focus hi drop foot up here focus on me
this is your only job on the walk yes oh
yes good um in this huge jumper like if
you have something that she wants okay
yeah um so we'd be jumping yeah what you
want to do is turn redirect her to sit
yes give her the treat when she's
sitting I can already tell you now she's
gonna be us try to be a step ahead of us
and know that jumping up leads to being
told set which leads to treat the really
intelligent dog that clicks with them
and I can already tell you it's gonna
meet her so what you can start doing you
know when you first get home definitely
redirect her off and sit because she's
jumping up you know
you have to think about why she wants
your attention she wants what's in my
hand how do you get that instead you sit
and she already redirected herself so
she already knows so with that um so
when you're just you know when you're
working with her like this
I'm really gonna tell you like the trick
to be a step ahead of her with that thin
is going to be much yeah she already did
it man
you've never redirected her to sit after
the jumping right that's amazing how
quick she just picked that up truffle so
right there is the time when dogs are
digging in a bag that a lot of times
owners are like truffle and that's where
you move a truffle over here it's better
over here it's like what's more
motivating that bag of treats are you
saying truffle she's not gonna pay
attention to you um so with the jumping
up when you're getting home and it's
more just like an excitement thing
that's when like you do want to redirect
to tell her to sit praise her give her
attention when she's sitting she wants
your attention see you want to tell her
jumping up isn't how you get my
attention but truffle
over here
yes but sitting is so don't even say hi
to her um you know when she's jumping up
don't pat her cuz that's reinforcing
that behavior so make sure that you get
her to sit and what I would try to do is
when you walk in like as you see her
coming try to direct her to a sit
immediately it's gonna be hard and
that's something that takes a little
while but um with everything you just
have to be consistent with that and a
redirection gets really repetitive it's
like what is it gonna click how you get
my attention is just sitting immediately
but it will the other exercise you can
do yeah um is hold something like that
so I'm gonna set her up to to want to
jump on me hi no you know ignore you off
sit yes and I'll get to that yes in a
second but yes is my clicker word so yes
you still want to praise her for what
she did right off sit yes try again
I'll give her the yes only if I have to
redirect her if she goes straight to
this sitting I'll give her a treat Oh
sit yes
hi truffle ah sit yes try again hi yes
now she gets both so it's just
motivation to have the full self-control
immediately because what ends up
happening is if she gets the treat no
matter if she sits first and has full
self-control off sit yes or she gets the
treat for jumping up and then sitting
why should she control herself fully
this is something you can do if she
likes to do that encounters or anything
like that to trouble yes good I just
practice that I like to do this hi he's
tuned up
I have to get her standing up to see
what she's gonna actually do she was
like honesty sitting good girl you are
sitting yes so I'll give it to you
so then as far as yeah we're jumping up
practice a for sure because that will go
really far with the jumping but always
redirect is there anything else she does
that you're wondering how do I redirect
her what do I redirect her to things
will probably come up yeah that's that
yes very good good girl
um so my next rule is to not overlook
when she is behaving and it sounds you
know positive reinforcement sounds
simple you praise them for what you want
them to repeat what you like but a lot
of times the good behaviors are often
overlooked for instance you know as a
puppy if she's chewing on that we're
very quick to tell her no if she does
just going to chew her antler it's like
oh thank god that's what she's cheering
on I have like five minutes to not hover
over her you know and worry about what
she's doing so you want to make sure
that you're feeding into like yes that's
what I want you to chew on dogs forever
want to be praised for what they're
doing right intelligent dogs and I don't
think she has this personality so to
speak as to like be stubborn but
intelligent dogs tend to know what
they're getting negative attention for
and they go and do that because
attention is attention oh this is my
next rule yes down is to never repeat a
command have you heard this before
okay so this is super important because
on average I would say 99% of owners
repeat a command three to five times
before the dog actually does that does
what you're asking him to do so what I
mean by that is down of course you do it
right away
so let's say let's do this
sit right here they would say it sit sit
sit how many times I say that four so
and that's you know it's just human
nature to keep repeating it until she
does it so what that tells her is if I
tell her to sit yes four times the next
time that I command her to sit she's
gonna think I don't have to sit until
I'm told four times or let's see how
many times she'll say it before she just
gives up so you want your dog to think
I'm gonna say this once and I mean it
I'm gonna follow through with that and
you need to do it after one time um so
what this does it just makes her sit at
she's like after the first time every
single time and that's what you want you
want to tell your dog calm once and she
comes you know you don't want to have to
sit there and play that game like oh how
many times are you gonna say it so dogs
have the mindset of thinking the longer
that I push this down are you gonna fly
and then the more likely they are to
give up and they're 100% right most the
time if you say sit sit 20 times and she
doesn't it's like forget it
I didn't want me to sit anyways so you
have to switch that mindset to let her
know okay I was coming in to do
something once I know I'm gonna have to
do it so the faster that I do this the
faster I can get back to whatever I want
to do so along with saying something
once is that you have to follow through
with what you ask her to do and that is
super huge and especially when we go
outside like the focus aspect and asking
her to do things she's not going to want
to because she's gonna want to get
distracted by things you know so falling
through a super-huge
and so what the command once if you
still have her focus all it takes is
patience and reinforcing the hand
gesture down
Trussell so if you lose her focus you
can repeat her name or any kind of sound
to refocus her so he was a perfect
example truffle so I'm going to redirect
her back over here like like that over
here I'm still not gonna repeat that
command yes good so there naturally
someone would probably say it I mean at
least a few times you know so that's
what's really important is like I said
it even if you get distracted by the fly
you still have to do it um so that's
that's what's gonna go very far down yes
good and when I deal with the down what
you can start doing now sit it's kind of
weaned off yes
the luring so what I'll do is try it up
here down give it a few seconds to let
it click
if it's not clicking I'll go a little
lower
yes she's like I know there's a treat
there yes good girl and I am all for
treats treats treats in the beginning
stage of training get her to think her
name means it's rate down means a treat
con means a tree everything means a
treat especially outside to shift her
natural focus from being distracted to
up here shoots are amazing but you have
to wean off of the treats in the right
way so that that same focus is ingrained
no matter if you're holding a tree or
not and so many people down yes good job
so many people um used treats treats
treats and then they're like okay you
got all of this I'm not going to use
treats at all anymore and quit the
treats cold turkey and I always say it's
just like if your boss where to tell you
I'm not gonna pay you for your job
anymore
one day like what motivation would you
have to do anything she's like no thank
you
truffle down
to see if she'll do it without it hand
gesture no go back to that
yes good to see when you're weaning off
of like the luring you just try the
hardest thing first let it click give
her a few seconds to try to let it click
if it doesn't then you can slowly go
more and more so often like when I find
people that dogs know how to lay down
it's like oh I've never tried that I
always just you know touch the floor I
didn't even know that it would click
from doing it up here or just saying it
verbally and the dog knows down
and this is gonna be really good just
like brain work for her you know I'm
gonna see what I say
yes good girl I bet you'll get it oh
you'll get it by today you're so smart
so what I used to write clicker word is
yes you've probably heard me say it um
so it's just very specific you know to
the training and you don't usually just
say like yes by itself a lot so she
knows
so right now pair it with the treat the
other thing that I love the clicker word
for is teaching and prolonging focus so
so many people will ask me like how do
you get dogs focus my dog has an
attention span of a fish like nothing so
a dog is never going to just be like oh
I'm gonna focus on my owner you know
he's there there's so many better things
to do like we have to teach her that she
has the focus she doesn't know so
eventually what I like this for is
truffle with every single command that
we'll do we'll teach her to hold
positions because another issue is like
okay my dog does it but then goes right
back to you know whatever she wants so
I'm gonna tell her sit yes
seven giver it at seven because you want
to try to catch her before she totally
loses it but you want to try to push it
every single time so now this time I'm
gonna try for eight saying that clicker
word immediately is really important
because if you don't people try to do
this and make the dogs wait from the
trees it's like once she said she's like
hello I sat right you know so you have
to tell her that yes you did it but you
gotta wait
Wow good does that make sense with the
focus and all that the clicker word okay
cool that will be good for you so now
we'll do is teach her oh wait do you
wake her wheat at the door at all no
okay so for weight this is gonna be
really really good for self-control um
what it's also really good for is just
before you go outside setting it up for
this focus because like I said typically
once even the leash goes on a dog
mentally is out the door there's gonna
be birds out there she's like already
thinking about it so you want to keep
that focus here what I always say is a
dog is that full self control physically
and mentally right here so she's at the
bottom of the scale this is what you
always want to aim for is that focus and
when she's seeing a bird or a dog for
instance what a lot of people see is
like oh she was totally fine on the walk
and then the dog came along and she lost
control when you see this though I see a
buildup so even just outside if you
think there's no distractions out here
it's very distracting yes there you go
um so she once she goes up the door it's
like what's this smell what's this oh
there's a bird there's a squirrel
so that's rising the more and that's
excitement is rising and also just
mentally the longer she's zoning out
away from you the further she is from me
mentally so that's building building
building the more excited she is and the
more that she's zoning out with
everything the further she is from self
control and the further she is from you
mentally so if she's looking at all the
birds smelling things and is up here
when a dog comes along she's this far
from self control so it's gonna be hard
for her to control herself
if yes you're being a good girl
you're very good girl truffle um if you
consistently bring her back down here
before that happens it's not gonna say
she's not gonna get super excited about
that job but it's gonna be a lot easier
for her to control herself
yeah wait
okay very good
so usually that takes a lot longer to
learn that's amazing and how she's
checking in with you first so it's
important with her is to make her get
that eye contact up at you before
because if she's looking out the door
again
she's mentally out there see you want it
here I mean how do you do it with her
now and you only want to say wait once
this is the hand gesture for wait
truffle shuffle we're outside let's go
and keep that hand gesture up the whole
time and make eye contact with her the
whole time sit wait wait hopefully once
I'm sorry yeah
come okay and you said okay okay yeah
okay so couple things
so one you want to if you're going to be
opening the door with this hand I know
it gets kind of confusing put the
gesture up the whole time so what this
does with these like longer exercises
people are more prone to say wait wait
wait because you want her to keep
waiting so if you have this up that's
what you're telling her the entire time
so that when she checks back in it's
like yes wait um any time while you're
opening the door her focus is like that
on the door kind of pause where you are
say truffle or
to refocus air up here remember what
we're doing because if she zoned out the
door the more you open it the more she's
going out the door so you want to try to
get her back to you mentally first again
she is like this is something like
self-control why's that she doesn't even
really need that much because she
willingly like sits there and waits
where most puppies are like pulling out
the door pawing at the door to go but
it's just a matter of keeping her with
us mentally like from the start
traps will come here the other thing so
I always try to aim for the whole time
if you think about try to keep her focus
on you the whole time so I'm gonna tell
her oh wait
any time she looks out that way I'm
gonna stop redirect her and see how I
kind of like bend over a little like or
put your hand there remember what we're
doing look at me before I say it okay
now though does that make sense okay
awesome I'd do it again yeah I can do it
and they know we're making it harder
we're out here
so just so wait with the left hand we're
gonna open it yeah keep your that
truffle and just keep redirecting her to
that as you go through the door not open
that's good that's good yep okay
I mean she's getting comfortable waiting
play only state one
get redirected up to you there we've got
a now keep going gotcha perfect
ah so start all over now if she doesn't
do it any triple
shuffle
the first thing it nothing okay good her
not even knowing what she's supposed to
be waiting for she's doing literally
amazing cuz it's like she's never had
weight yeah wait for what
you know the door to open you to go out
and she's not even trying to go out when
you step out so that's a really really
good girl see that's what you can do
before going out for sure hidden you
want to smell everything don't you and
the other things you can use wait for
does she get excited for eating not
really she's like you know good like
crazy about treatment sometimes with
their food okay yeah it's just like all
laid down and sometimes she'll be super
excited and then there's other times
when she'll just like care less funny
yeah yeah it's really strange truffle
for treats to is do this I like to use
wait wait ah if she goes for it I'm just
gonna pull it back
ah
ah
okay good girl so it's on your command
like even if there's food in front of
your face on your command and you
obviously don't mean to do that every
time you give her a treat you know but
it helps her to associate what she's
waiting parts you like when we used at
other places but just really good for
teaching her to some self-control even
like if there's a pizza sitting here
that she's like okay I have to wait till
I'm come in not that she wouldn't go for
it but it just keeps her from like
thinking just gives her some more
self-control around you know food items
wait okay good so when she stops going
for it then you'll tell her okay what
you can do with the food bowl isn't like
the time she's super excited to eat as
you can tell her let's see I'm fully up
the food bowl this is it truffle wait
have the finger up lower the bowl
oh so what we're doing is trying to ship
the focus off of the bowl to here to my
finger or to me
so she gets up we started again truffle
I know we have you hooked confuse know
cuz you're on the lease week to take her
off at least truffle look here
and you would Eddie and so when you do
start over again you can say that wait
again but again only once travel wait
ah so you're here catching yourself a
little bit really good wait
and each time so get a little bit more
and more weight
so and it's super important that if she
starts to go a lot of people are like oh
okay and not on her watch you know she
starts to go even if you're just about
to say okay
start it over cuz you have to let make
her know that's whenever you say you see
Zach you see me Dad good girl truffle
said yes truffle wait
okay okay yes that's your magic were
just thank you my laughs good girl
travel that was really good
[Music]
