Lesson 1: Initial Training
You have a little puppy, who enjoys life, studies the world and expresses his love and gratitude to you. But, in addition to good nutrition and walks, each child needs a competent upbringing.
Very good, if you have already thought about training a puppy. But it happens that breeders or friends who already have a dog, are surprised at your questions about when to start training, and advise not to hurry up and give the baby a little enjoyment of childhood. Are they right? If we talk about training as the development of complex skills in the dog and a clear reaction to the commands of the owner - they are, no doubt, right.
Puppy at the age of 2-4 months is very difficult to concentrate on one action for a long time. The kid very quickly gets tired and switches to any stimuli that appear in his field of vision.
We will consider training and training dogs in various ways as an option for a joint game. If, with the help of simple and interesting activities, explain to the puppy that communicating with you is pleasant, and, most importantly, not scary, then in return you get excellent contact with your dog. This will help lay the foundation for future normal relationships between the owner and the pet.
The initial lessons are designed for a puppy between the ages of 1 and 4 months.
It's no secret that the main mistake and the reason for many troubles in the relationship between the owner and the dog is our desire to "humanize" the dog. Very often, the owners allow their pets everything, justifying this behavior with the phrase: "He is a member of our family, and we love him." As a result, they receive an uncontrolled tyrant who maximally uses permissiveness for their own purposes.
So who is the leader?
The other side of the coin is the position of the so-called "alfalider", which is occupied by the owners who heeded the advice of a coach or an "experienced" doggirl. Sometimes this attitude to the dog is formed by reading mediocre books on training, which recommend setting strict control over the dog and demonstrating its superiority on a daily basis. Dogs that grow up in such families are under constant stress and fear the owner, which is often the reason for family members' biting and uncontrolled aggression against other people or animals.
In order to avoid irreparable mistakes in training dogs in different ways and to build normal, full-fledged relationships with my dog, I recommend that you adhere to the following rules. The dog perceives the family as a flock, and any attempts to "humanize" it without trying to "think like a dog" even slightly, lead to conflicts. Dogs are social creatures for which concepts such as the structure of the pack, the leader and the dominance are vitally important. However, these definitions are more multifaceted than, it seems at first glance. Do not succumb to the "alpha syndrome" and remember that dominance is more about respect for the leader than with fear, and is rarely expressed with the help of physical strength. The structure of the flock can not be represented as a simple hierarchical ladder. In the course of our training we will try to help the owner become an authority for the puppy, which will be demanding, fair and respectful.
Important terms
To better understand the scheme by which we will build our lessons, let's look at two terms that are so close in their sound and are sometimes associated with us as similar. But their fundamental difference is so significant that it will allow you to look differently at the relationship with your puppy.
Authoritative - enjoying authority, deserving unconditional confidence.
Authoritarian - based on unquestioning obedience, power, dictatorship.
I hope that now at all stages of training and training your pet the basis of your relationships will be unconditional trust, understanding and respect.
Delicious
Before you begin, take a look at some important points.
You will definitely need a treat that must be prepared in advance.
Delicacy are small tasty slices of food that the puppy likes very much, but he does not eat them regularly. For this cheese, boiled or raw meat (chicken breast, beef, liver) will do. The size of the delicacy depends on the breed of the dog (the smaller the puppy, the smaller the pieces), but not more than 1-1.5 cm (photo 1). The main thing is that the puppy does not waste time on chewing, thus distracting from the lesson.
The lesson time at the initial stage of training should not exceed 5-6 repetitions. In the future, it is necessary to increase the duration of studies to 5-10 minutes. Some puppies can only withstand short lessons. For such puppies, you need to spend 5-minute sessions 3 times a day.
The most important thing is that after classes the puppy does not feel tired. To finish the lesson or pause between exercises, you can in the form of a joint game, the importance of which we'll talk about a little later.
Patience and consistency are two key points that you must constantly monitor. If you are tired after work - transfer the lesson. Every correct action of a puppy should be genuinely encouraged by voice, since intonation along with delicacy is one of the most important tools for successful learning. If the puppy can not perform the task assigned to him, most likely, the reason is not in his character or stupidity. You can not complicate the exercise until a stable result is obtained at the initial stage. It is necessary to divide any complex team into simple components and work them out separately.
Nickname
Regardless of the age of the puppy and whether he is walking on the street or not yet, "start classes better at home. If the kid lives in the cage, you can study with him in the yard. It is desirable to start working out the commands shortly before feeding.