The Importance of Puppy Obedience

Puppy obedience should start early on in the whelping box. The basics of puppy obedience training may be initiated by the breeder from whom you purchased or secured your puppy.

Puppies, according to studies, are not ready for any training until at least three weeks of age. Their entire world revolves around their mother, eating and sleeping. By the 21st to 28th day of a puppies life they begin to leave the blanket and search for somewhere to do their business. During this stage, puppies start becoming more conscious of their environment, and also become more sensitive to stimuli. Lessons that an animal learns at an early age will have a greater impact on their obedience training as a whole.

Getting Puppies Started with Encouragement

While training puppies to obey, you need not use punishment to induce their readiness to please and do the right thing. Positive reinforcement and treats work best of all. Negative stimuli should well be limited to saying ?no? and blocking any negative actions from your puppy with your hands. Hitting or hurting is unnecessary for a young puppy and it should really be avoided.

Puppies should be rewarded with praises and positive affection each time they respond correctly to a command. If not praised, puppies will lose enthusiasm and interest in obeying you. Alternatively, when given praise and caressed soon after a command is correctly executed, your pet will learn that following these things are fun and rewarding. Puppy obedience will also be developed as he learns that repeating proper actions will reap rewards. Positive reinforcement such as praises and treats strengthen the understanding and willingness of the pup to follow and respond to commands.

A Consistent and Proper Timed Approach

While puppy training, you should keep in mind that timing is everything. Your movements, actions, and corrections are related to the puppy?s ability to understand the lessons and trainings taught to him. It is imperative that pups learn to recognize that the corrections are given as a result of his untoward action and behavior and that it will not happen if only he did what was expected of him.

For instance, a puppy who chews on a toy in a different room may not respond to the command “come,” and unless it is reinforced, he will not learn to obey it. However, if the young dog is told to “come” under circumstances such as when on a leash, followed by a gentle pull towards the trainer, and subsequently followed by praising the dog, then he will find out that when hearing “come”, he should head towards the trainer, and that rewards will be waiting.

Puppy obedience training is best taught in easy exercises, one by one. It will be simpler concept for your puppy, instead of trying to teach all the exercise is a single session. Bring your patience with you when you are training and use positive reinforcement. Slowly your puppy will learn to obey.