Training a puppy tricks! I just brought home my puppy Howie on Saturday March 22 2014. He is super smart and I have been working on training him tricks. He has the command sit pretty good so long as he can smell the treat I have in my hand. Now that he can sit I have been working on the command Down as in lay down but I only say down as I pull the treat to the floor. He is doing great now and lays down really well.....He was raising his rump after he would lower his front lol was so cute but he is getting it....my question is how long do I have to lead him to the down position with the treat before he will preform on his own....He does sit really well with me not having to do the motions to lead him to the sit postion.. He is doing great I just want to know if I am training correctly? :animal36 |
Congratulations on your new puppy! Sounds like you're doing good so far. All pups are different and learn at different rates, so as long as you are satisfied with the results I'd continue on. Are you using verbal commands along with hand signals? |
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Yes, and they also have the attention span of a gnat! So interest in food is a good thing! He'll get it. |
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I use Cheerios cereal for training. They can eat a lot of them without filling up too much, as long as there's no grain allergies. |
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I've been told by a trainer that it's best to remove the food as a lure as soon as the dog can do the trick without it. Sooner the better. You still use it as a reward but if it's a lure the dog will learn not to perform unless you have a treat in your hand. It's good to do a hand signal along with the command, even when you don't have a treat in your hand. Every dog's different but that's what I was taught. From my experience with the one dog that I have, he learns the sign language faster than the audible command. |
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Good luck :) |
I continue to use the lure until the dog is doing the trick on his own 4 out of 6 times or the majority of the time. Then don't hesitate to continue to use treats for rewards for getting the trick right and don't forget a smile and happy praise. Make him want to please you with your upbeat attitude and he will work hard to figure out what you want for the great reward he knows will be forthcoming and most of all he'll work to please you after he's been at it a while and learns that all that positive reinforcement from you is waiting for him upon doing his job well. To me, there is nothing cuter than a dog doing his tricks and knowing he's your star! |
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How old is Howie? I really wouldn't worry about him doing the tricks without treats at this point (I believe he's very young). One thing though is to change his trick routine...ie: don't do the tricks in the same order every time. Also watch for natural behaviors and incorporate those into your training. Like when he has his butt in the air, try teaching him to 'take a bow' and/or crawl... Also teach him the important things, like 'leave it' so when he does pick up an inappropriate object, you can get it away from him. Last but not least, I'd do a quick sweep of the floor before letting him out. Eggshells can be very dangerous for dogs and can tear their insides up. People have been going round and round for decades about using treats or not for training. I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. |
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He's just a baby so his brain isn't capable to retaining much training for long right now so cut him a little slack and just keep up the daily very, very short sessions - say 3 minutes x3 daily or so - and he'll come along nicely as his brain grows and develops and learns how to learn. One day soon, you'll be surprised as you get your payoff when you see him starting to make sense of it all and going through his tricks. With a very, very young dog a lure of a treat or favorite toy is just about a necessity but I frankly used treats all along as to a dog it's a form of love to share food with them and offer it as an enticement to work hard. We're that same way - we want something we like in order to work hard and dogs are just the same. Later on, after you two are a real team and have bonded, he'll do tricks mainly just because you want him to and in order to please you and get all that positive feedback and reinforcement from you. But treats are like words of love and nurture to a dog and frankly, in their world, giving a necessity of survival - food - to them is one of the greatest things you can do for them in their eyes. They see you are willing to share resources with them in training and want badly to work with you after that to keep pleasing you so they can participate in the resource sharing of your little pack. I never hesitate to train small dogs with their smaller brains with treats, especially early on in the first months of training. It just excites them and gets them working hard - just as we work for our paychecks. I use my dog's own dog kibble as treats so it's just part of his daily diet and doesn't add fat to him. But for especially difficult trick training or behavior modification, I use warm, freshly boiled chicken or turkey hot dogs in a healthy dog with no GI problems in its history but I would not do that with a young puppy like yours - only with an older dog whom I knew didn't have GI/liver/pancreatic issues. For a young puppy, I'd just use my own dog's food as the "treat" so as not to upset his tummy or give him diarrhea. Keep on working with your young baby and he'll get there when he's a little older and you'll be so proud of him - and never hesitate to tell him how proud you are of him when he gets it right. They just glow when you do that. |
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