It is very important to start training your new puppy as soon as possible, the best is to start when you bring him home. The puppy training can be done yourself or you can hire a professional trainer. Often you could find a local dog training classes. Ask your veterinarian or friends to recommend a trainer or you can have a look in your local newspaper for a dog trainer in your area.
The two main types of training are behavioral and obedience.
Behavioral training is used to prevent and correct bad habits that your puppy or dog have or learning right now. There are many habits like jumping, car chasing, begging, climbing on furniture, and chewing that you may want to prevent from your dog to do. The most important to remember is you should be consistent during the process. For example, don’t let your puppy climb on the couch, otherwise you will have a full grown dog siting on the couch with you. This will confuse the dog, what will cause more problems in the further. If you will put the time to learn the dog’s natural behavior and satisfying the dog’s natural instincts in addition to proper exercise will help you to communicate with your dog and this can make the difference between success and failure in training your dog.
On the other hand, obedience training is to train the dog to obey certain basic commands such as sit, stay, come and heel. This kind of training should be in short and frequent sessions to prevent your dog from becoming too bored; each sessions should be between ten to fifteen minute, and you should do it two or three times a day.
Tip: If you train your dog before meals it will associate the food with a reward, and of course they will be more interested in the treat you’re holding.
Before giving the command to your dog, say his name loud and clear to get his attention; then say the command. Probably you will need to repeat the command few times. Try not to use negative reinforcement. Don’t command your dog to come to get punish because this will teach your dog that when he comes he will get punish, what will make it much harder to train him to do so. Make sure you keep any frustration out of your tone of your voice. If you start feeling frustrated, just take a short break. The dog can sense that you are frustrated and will start to associate the training sessions with your frustration. You can’t hide that you are unhappy from your dog. Dogs are able to feel emotion, so try to be calm and relaxed, firm and confident.
Some of the basic puppy training commands are “sit,” “stay,” “come,” “down” and “heel”. When you say the commands, remember to say them loud and clear. The dog need to hear the commands as many times as possible, so he start to associate the word with what you want him to do. Remember to praise your dog when it responds correctly to the command. This will encourage your dog to response to the command correctly the next time you do it. At the beginning use treats but in the future you can use affection such as a belly rub, a pet on the head or verbal praise as the reward.
There are a lot of puppy training classes don’t teach the heel command in the basic classes and only in the advance ones. The heel command is very important and should you should teach the command from the first day. Once the dog follows you and know to “heel” all the other aspects of training will be much easy and the dog will learn to respect you as the pack leader.