New Puppy?

Bringing home a new puppy can be exciting, but it is also alot of work. Where do you start?

You should let your puppy get used to it's new surroundings for the first 24 hours. In that time, you should observe your puppy, play if your puppy seems to want to, and make sure he's eating, drinking and eliminating. After your puppy is settled, you can start training!

Sit, down and roll over are basics and most people jump right in to training these. I suggest starting with some training that will help later on. These are the first things I train my new puppy:

1: Crate Training
2: Potty Training (I'm writing a post exclusively for all the different ways to potty train)
3: Their name

Crate training is important - it sets the stage for potty training. You want to make the crate an AWESOME place to be. If your puppy is happy in his crate, it will be easier to leave him alone.

*Sit in front of the open crate with your puppy and some awesome treats.
*Toss a treat into the kennel. When the puppy goes into the kennel to get the treat, click.
*Another way, is to lure them with a piece of treat. Remember to only use the actual food for 3-5 repititions, then use only your hand. You can turn this into a hand signal very easily (I can point at my puppy's kennel and she hops right in).
*Click and treat for your puppy choosing to stay in the kennel
*Release your puppy, more often at first then after longer and longer periods in the kennel. Remember to ALWAYS release your puppy. I use the release word 'OK!' while relaxing my body language as a visual signal.
*After your puppy chooses to stay in the kennel reliably, you can start closing the door a little bit and clicking and treating.
*When you can close the door and latch it completely, you start making small movements away from the kennel and also clicking and treating. Continue this until you are walking out of sight of your puppy, then clicking and coming back to treat.
*Your puppy should not be whining or jumping or barking - if they are, you've moved too fast and need to go back to a step that your puppy is ok with.
*Work on this occasionally to reinforce it. Also, work on this in different situations - like at other people's homes, at the vet, in the car, etc.

Teaching your puppy their name, or an interrupter noise (like the kissy-kissy sound) is very convenient. You can use their name, but only if you promise not to devalue it by over using it. An interrupter noise is very usefull for calling your dog away from things it shouldn't be in.

*Have your puppy in front of you. He should be interested in the treats you have.
*Say your puppy's name, or make the kissy sound, and then click and treat as he looks at you. He can look at any part of you, your leg, your shoe, your hand. You don't have to ask for eye contact at this point.
*Once he is looking at your body consistently, you can ask for direct eye contact, then click and treat.
*Practice this without any distractions at first, then slowly add in distractions. Once your puppy is consistent with each distraction you add you can move on to another.
*Make sure to practice this outside as well. This is a good foundation for off leash recall. If you can get your puppy to look up at you with all the sounds, sights and smells that surround him outside, you've done a great job.

You can teach these all at the same time. Use several short training sessions throughout the day, working on only one of these during a session.