Dog training professionals encourage pet parents to begin socializing and develop obedience skills when a puppy is young. This conditions them to different environments, to be comfortable with people and children, and to interact with other animals.
An excellent introduction to socialization is by visiting dog parks. Those who live in Middle Tennessee have the luxury of many dog parks that vary in their setup. Some are a typical all-purpose exercise area for dogs to run and play.
Others are set up to resemble a child’s playground but for pups. And then there are walking trails. There’s sure to be a space where your dog will feel comfortable and confident interacting with other puppies, or he can visit all the spots to keep him engaged and constantly meeting new friends.
You’ll want to research to find parks nearby and learn if there are restrictions or criteria to visit. Some parks cater to small or large pups, while others allow both.
Most Important Training Tips to Start with Your Young Pup
While Tennessee offers many opportunities to socialize your young dog, many skills, such as obedience training, go hand-in-hand with developing positive behavioral habits.
A lot of new pet parents reach out to quality and qualified dog trainers, see website, to lay the foundation for the pup’s training and to teach the pet parent how to be consistent with the instruction at home. Training is vital for a happy, confident, and safe dog, offering them the best quality of life.
Here are tips experts use when approaching an initial training program with a new puppy.
Simple and straightforward commands
A puppy is gregarious and full of energy, which presents a challenge when you want him to focus on the skill or behavior you want him to achieve.
Similar principles apply when attempting to teach a child to walk or train a puppy to sit down. In each scenario, the priority is to keep the lesson simple and consistent until they grasp the idea.
You can move forward with more challenging tasks when the dog learns the basic obedience commands such as sit, lie down, come, and stay. You want to avoid going too fast to ensure the pup can fully accomplish the activity. Otherwise, the results won’t be sustainable.
When a dog achieves the desired command, they should be immediately praised and rewarded to recognize that this is the correct behavior.
Over time, a dog will become conditioned to sit on command even without a treat being presented for encouragement. Visit Maximizing Your Dog’s Potential: Tips For Effective Training – Doggijuana – for tips on effective training meant to maximize your dog’s true potential.
The leash
Wearing a leash should be a natural instinct for a pup; he should not find it intrusive or distracting. The way to establish a natural propensity to wear their leash is to start as soon as possible when the puppy comes home.
Leashes are not a means for a pet parent to gain control of a canine. The leash encourages a dog to follow their innate desire to respond to your commands, to please you by doing what you request of them, voluntary cooperation. It offers a way for you and your dog to communicate.
When on a walk, you want the dog to focus on you and your direction instead of being distracted by other people, traffic, and animals. Distractions can be dangerous f for you and the pup. The leash is your way to gently remind your dog to ignore the kids playing and continue to walk straight ahead.
When a dog gets wily or begins to jump excitedly, possibly pulling in front of you with the leash on, it’s important to stop moving until the dog resumes his position beside you. A puppy who desperately wants to keep walking will eventually catch on to what he needs to do to start walking again and will cooperate.
Interrupt episodes of poor behavior
Poor or undesirable behavioral patterns can lead to the potential for permanent habits unless they’re properly managed. Many pet parents don’t consider the behavior they deem inappropriate seems reasonable from the pup’s perspective.
This is the point of conditioning and training, so pups develop an understanding of what would be a positive behavior from those that won’t be accepted. A training program involves interrupting the inappropriate behavior as it’s happening and immediately encouraging the positive behavior you’re looking for.
Canines are incredibly intelligent animals. Their decisions result from reasoning a solution to a particular problem and putting it into action. They merely need you to introduce an alternative solution that’s safe and healthy for them and acceptable behavior for the household.
For instance, some dogs bark incessantly. It may start as an alert to an odd noise they perceive as a possible threat. However, when they receive responses to those barks, the dog decides to use the solution for other things, such as letting you know he’s hungry, and it progresses.
If you want a pup to stop barking, you can use the word “quiet” as a command and reward the behavior when the barking stops on command. Commands should be given once, calmly and firmly. Shouting or ranting the command repeated to a pup is the equivalent of barking, and they will join you.
Consistency and brief sessions
A dog is much easier to work with when he’s fresh, alert, and looking forward to the session. The best way to get this result is to keep the sessions consistent, so he knows what to expect and short so as not to overload him. The recommendation is roughly 15 minutes for an older dog and less for a puppy.
You can do a few sessions in a day with this format, but keep the exact times; dogs like to keep their schedule similar each day. The general rule is to practice focused training, devoting time to perfecting a single task, whether a command or a specific skill. Following this structure will set the dog up for successful results. View here for tips on setting your dog up for successful training.
Final Thought
A priority when working with your dog outside of the training sessions, such as socializing at the Tennessee dog parks, is to be exuberant and boisterous to show that you’re having the best time with him. This will teach him to excitedly anticipate each session.
