How to Train a Puppy at Home: Step-by-Step Beginner’s Guide
Training a puppy is not as challenging as one might think because the right training techniques will reward you.
Puppies are naturally curious and eager to learn which provides a wonderful opportunity to teach them good behaviours during the early days of training. In establishing a routine for the puppy you are going to have a much easier time teaching it your expectations and will also provide the puppy a sense of safety in its new home.
According to a number of experts from organizations like the American Kennel Club and others, the first step in training dogs is to instil positive behaviours into them when they are young.
Creating a Safe Training Environment
Use simple barriers, i.e. baby gates or create an area for your puppy to start training with you to help prevent injuries, such as through the use of crates, while still allowing access to other things/locations.
Safety and predictability are two big factors that keep your puppy’s space clean, which will then assist you in instilling good habits in your puppy.
Essential Training Tools
These tools help you help your puppy learn in a positive way. Some items needed for training will include a comfortable bed or crate, food and water dishes, teething toys, treats for corroborating your training/dog reinforcement.
Having these items will create a strong base to successfully train at home.
Understanding Puppy Behavior
Knowing how puppies behave/how their behavior relates to their thought processes will allow you to train your puppy more effectively. Puppies learn about the world around them through exploration, play, curiosity in things along with generally chewing and barking.
If you can recognize what is happening to your puppy before it happens you will be able to respond with the ability to help him/her get to his/her goal without punishing him/her for doing something that he/she did not know was not allowed. This way you are instilling trust with your puppy for guiding and learning.
Basic Training Principles
- Reinforce immediately following the right behaviour
- Keep the sessions short and positive
- Practice daily for better results
Good command training provides discipline and will make additional training easier.
Addressing Accidents Correctly
As important as it is to respond correctly to an accident, it is also just as important to guide your puppy in the right direction for becoming potty trained.
Potty Training Tips
- Redirect the puppy to the appropriate potty spot
- Be patient and consistent
Responding to an accident correctly will enable you to make consistent progress and will help your puppy learn quicker.
Socialization and Interaction
Encouraging Positive Interactions with Your Puppy. Reward calm behavior towards people.
If you are impatient with your puppy you will create mistakes that will cause you to need additional time to train your puppy.
Another common mistake when training dogs is the use of negative or punishing discipline methods; negative methods will create distrust and establish a fear-based relationship.
Training Tips to Follow
- Keep training sessions short
- Immediately reward
- Don’t over use commands
Why Routines are Important to Training
A consistent and defined daily routine is the basis for sound puppy training.
Training your pup by doing the same things day after day will give your dog a greater understanding of how they should respond to what you are asking them to do and teach your dog discipline through repeated actions.
A well defined set of predictable routines is one of the best ways to improve your pet’s overall welfare and behaviour. As a result, developing predictable routines is one of the most critical components of any initial training programme.
Creating a Daily Schedule
A very basic daily schedule will assist with your pup’s daily activities being well-organized. Thus, your pup can form good habits by having consistent times each day for feeding, bathroom breaks and training.
After your dog gains a good understanding of his/her daily schedule, he/she will become self-sufficient and demonstrate reduced incidence of unwanted behaviours, and increased efficiency of your training.
Long-Term Training and Advanced Skills
Once your pup has accomplished all of the introductory commands, you can move forward with long-term progress and advanced training. Ultimately all of that long-term training will help improve your dog’s discipline, responsiveness and performance level.
As suggested by the Association of Professional Dog Trainers and other reliable organizations, you should continue your training with your dog after the beginner’s level to maintain good behaviour as well as providing mental stimulation to your dog.
Expanding upon the skills and commands learned in advanced dog training is building on the basics while providing other challenges to your dog.
Advanced Training Tips
- Introduce one or two new commands at a time
- Use treat rewards as a form of maintaining interest
- Practice in various locations
- Keep each training session a positive and fun experience
Engaging in the above-mentioned training sessions will assist you with the continual advancement of your dog, which will support your dog remaining active, disciplined and responsive.
Conclusion
Teaching your puppy to behave well at home requires perseverance, consistency, and an understanding of what the puppy needs. Training consists of both basic and advanced commands to create an overall framework of puppy behaviour through each stage of your puppy’s behaviour.