Sorry if this is an obvious question, but I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with everything a puppy needs to know. I work best with lists, so if I could get a checklist of the basics, it would help me stay on track.
So far, we’ve worked on ‘sit,’ ‘leave it,’ and ‘look at me.’ Right now, I’m trying to teach him how to ring a bell when he needs to go potty.
Thanks in advance for the help!
The first things to teach a puppy should be: sit, down, come, up, stay, leave it, heel, and off. We also taught our dog ‘settle,’ which helped a lot for calming him down quickly.
Lovedog said:
The first things to teach a puppy should be: sit, down, come, up, stay, leave it, heel, and off. We also taught our dog ‘settle,’ which helped a lot for calming him down quickly.
The first things to teach a puppy should be… heel…
I didn’t have too much trouble getting the pup to remember commands for debuffs in games, but how do you train them to keep up with the tank in the game?
Lovedog said:
@Jordanmatter
I’m not sure what you mean.
He’s making a joke, saying your dog is a healer in a game, because of how you spelled ‘heel.’
Lovedog said:
@Jordanmatter
I’m not sure what you mean.
He’s making a joke, saying your dog is a healer in a game, because of how you spelled ‘heel.’
Ha, I didn’t even realize.
I’d recommend teaching the life-saving tricks early and focusing on repetition to make sure the behaviors stick. ‘Leave it’ is super important if your puppy picks up something they shouldn’t. You could try teaching ‘touch’ or ‘target,’ where the dog bumps their nose into your hand for a reward. It’s a recall command that’s really helpful, especially if your dog has a strong prey drive. You want your pup to come running back to you because they know they’ll get a big reward. Another one to try is ‘wait.’ My friend’s dog knows to stop and wait at curbs (even if they’re not on a leash) and only crosses when she says ‘okay.’ Teaching loose leash walking and ‘heel’ will make walks much easier too.
Bell training is a great idea if your puppy responds to it, and if you haven’t already, I’d suggest looking into crate training. ‘Settle’ can be used to get your dog to go in the crate and lie down (start with ‘go to kennel,’ then ‘lie down in kennel,’ and finally ‘stay’—it’s a bit of a process).