How to train a puppy - a beginners guide

Teaching your dog to listen to you is a core necessity for not only obedience, but safety. Training improves your relationship with your puppy, keeps them under control, wards off aggression, and allows them to be more involved with your life. To help you achieve this, we’ve put together some puppy training tips so you can maximize your time spent with your pooch. 

Create behaviors you know you can count on with these beginner’s steps to basic dog training. 

Ian Dunbar of Dunbar Academy Dog Training takes us through the first crucial steps of puppy socialization and training: 

During the first couple of days, set up an errorless housetraining and chewtoy-training schedule, that also decreases barking and prevents separation anxiety.

Over the first month, socialize the puppy with numerous unfamiliar people prior to 12 weeks of age, safely at home. The Open Paw Minimal Mental Health Requirements for Puppies suggests puppies meet 100 people during the first month at home. Bring the people to the puppy! Ask every guest to bring a friend or two to handle and train the pup. (Outdoor shoes must remain outside.)

Enroll in an off-leash puppy training class to bump-start your puppies play so they develop bite inhibition and learn social savvy around other dogs, and owners can have a hoot learning how to train their puppies off-leash within the play session.

STEP 1: ESTABLISH REWARD

The most important part of any kind of reward is understanding what your dog does and doesn’t like. This requires getting to know your pup well before training begins. 

Bonding with your pet is more than just spending time with them. It means listening to them, watching their behaviors and instincts, observing their responses to mealtime and treats, and understanding how they like to be active.

There are four components to reward behavior when training a dog. These include:

Vocal
Tactile
Reward
Indication

Vocal: Dogs need to hear dog-relevant words spoken in an enthusiastic voice in order to find communication relevant. Specifically, puppies are “more sensitive” to differences in “dog-directed speak” than adults. Using a higher inflection and brighter vowels to communicate a positive tone of voice is an essential part of feedback during training. 

Tactile: Reassurance goes beyond the voice. There are physical behaviors we perform with dogs that display our approval. Especially petting, which is known to trigger an oxytocin release. Try accompanying your reward experience with stroking the chest, ears, shoulders, under the chin, or neck of your dog. 

Important consideration, some dogs do not like to be touched, or need some warming up to. Certain breeds and dogs, Border Collie’s for instance, have a high work drive and may not see contact as a reward signal at all.

Reward: This is where knowing your dog comes into play. Experts recommend a variety of rewards, with the easiest perhaps being food. Have a smaller version of the reward and a “big reward,” which may especially come in handy with food (as not to overfeed). Another consideration when it comes to treat-based rewards is limiting the amount of human food you make an option. Too much human food will cause weight gains, behavioral problems, and severely picky eating (i.e. refusing to eat dog food). 

Indicator: The reason why clicker training is so widespread is because its immediate indication of reward helps dogs quickly identify which behaviors they do lead to approval. Studies show these “immediate” rewards yield up to 75% increase in learning rate for dogs. Clickers build focus and create a Pavlovian reaction from dogs. If used consistently in tandem with treats (and vocal and tactile stimulants), you can reinforce good behavior with just a clicker, which they associate with positive experiences.

The main tip when it comes to rewards is to not make your dog uncomfortable. Rewards should feel natural and well rewarding, not a forced interaction. If your dog is reluctant to feed back to touch, don’t pet or scratch them if they correctly answer a command. If high pitches put your dog on alert, be careful with the tone you apply to your praise. If your dog isn’t food motivated, reward them with toys or play time.

STEP 2: ESTABLISH DISCIPLINE

Myth bust: simply speaking sternly to your dog is often not an effective discipline. Sometimes, your dog translates verbal discipline as attention; you’re looking at them, focusing on them, and speaking to them. 

Instead, use body language or withholding.

Body language: Dogs know when you’re ignoring them, and they hate that. Dogs are great at reading facial expressions, and do not like when you divert attention to something else. Turn your back, stand away, and avoid eye contact. This will show your dog that you are unhappy.

Withholding: Refuse to click, give treats, and exhibit any kind of rewarding behavior when you want to express to your dog that you disapprove of their actions. This includes your attention. Don’t respond to them when they try various tactics, puppy dog eyes, whimpering, physical contact to win your approval back. Let them know through your refusal to give in that the only way they can see those reward signals from you is to obey your command. 

An important thing to remember here is to never tease your dog. Teasing “disrupts their social development and can cause long-term emotional harm,” not to mention it puts your dog in a negative mindset during a training session. Be straightforward when you’re going to give your reward and when you’re choosing to withhold it.

Physical actions: A turn away from your dog can signal quickly to your dog that their action was incorrect. Be careful with exactly what contact you’re making with your dog. Some puppies don’t respond at all to lead yanking, and some see contact as positive attention. Test corrections to see what your dog responds best to. Try remote discipline, such as a spray bottle or a loud noise.

Never punish your dog, hit them, or attempt to humiliate, scare, or seriously harm them. This is not only terrible pet ownership behavior, but it will only increase your puppy’s anxiety and overall misunderstanding during training time.

Timing is everything. Discipline should occur right after wrongdoing, and it should be abundantly clear to your dog why you’ve disciplined them. Animal body language we interpret as “guilt” (puppy dog eyes, cowering, whimpering) is often actually confusion. If you’re housebreaking your dog, your routine should begin in the morning when you want them to have their first bathroom break of the day. Consider practicing scent posting to guide your dog to the correct place to relieve themselves, not teaching through punishment.

STEP 3: PREPARE YOUR TRAINING SPACE

Your training environment should be:

Distraction free
Large enough for you and your dog to move comfortably in
Equipped with all training tools
Inclusive of a place to hide or store reward materials out of sight/accessibility

You may choose to use:

A leash – this will help you retain full control over your dog
A clicker - this will communicate immediate reward
Small, broken up treats – for rewarding simple actions without overfeeding
Larger rewards – meat, cheese, favorite toy, etc.
Doorway – threshold training
Dog bed – for stay and “place” commands

More specific training purposes may require additional materials.

STEP 4: PICK AN OBJECTIVE AND GO SLOW

When beginning basic dog training, don’t try to tackle too much at once. Pick one command you’d like per training session, and be prepared to repeat yourself and go slowly as your puppy begins to learn what you want from them.

For commands like sit, don’t force your dog into the position you want them in. Use their reward as a guiding force, much like you might use a crop with a horse. Use gentle contact, like a hand on their back, to help your dog translate that movement into a request they can respond to. Be prepared to walk away from your dog, signalling they got it wrong, and come back and reset. The more time you take, the more relaxed an environment you build for your dog. 

Keep training sessions short if you can help it. Mental and emotional exhaustion can dilute lessons, not to mention treat overload leading to messed up eating schedules. Try to schedule your training sessions before meal time and use treats sparingly. Chopped up veggies, pieces of dry food, or crumbled dog treats are great for this.

When housebreaking your dog, work in a schedule that responds to their bathroom needs. Use specific words that you want to embed into your dog’s lexicon during each trip, such as “hurry up” or “go potty?”. Make sure to do this frequently, as your young puppy may need to go outside often. Don’t punish them for accidents in the house. Instead, guide them outside and encourage them to go there.

Your puppy may be slow to the uptake when you start the training process. Start by rewarding small wins, like moving in the right direction, staying for a few seconds, and looking at you when you say their name. This will help “shape” their understanding of what you want them to do.

STEP 5: RINSE AND REPEAT

Keep at it, even when you or your dog get frustrated. It’s important to know when to break your sessions and how to come back another time or day with a fresh start. Avoiding negative emotions from both parties during sessions is paramount, even if it is difficult. Dogs can sense our emotions; they can even smell them. Cooperation from you and your dog will ease capacity for learning.

Don’t count your dog as a lost cause, especially if the behaviors they are exhibiting are aggressive, dangerous, or will begin lifelong bad habits. Try new approaches or begin looking for specialists if your experiences turn sour. It’s better to cede teaching efforts to a trainer than giving up on your puppy altogether. Youth is an important time for learning, so don’t let them continue harmful patterns!

If housebreaking is on your radar, be sure to cover all your bases. Your dog may leave burns or pee spots on your yard once they start going outside. Add our 100% plastic free, veterinarian-formulated Dog Rocks to your cart and set your lawn up for a future of housebroken successes.