Puppy Prep

Puppy Prep
Common Language for Training

Words that your puppy is familiar with:

KENNEL UP:  Go into the crate/kennel/playpen
GO POTTY:  Go to the bathroom
COME:  Come to person
SIT: Bottom on the floor
YES:  Their reward word and encouragement to keep trying difficult things.

Next level commands for your puppy:

OFF: Take paws or body off of something
DOWN: Lay down on the floor
WHOA:  Slow down
WAIT:  Hold position until released
STAY:  Remain in sit/down position until released

The use of common language for all members of your household is essential for your puppy to learn and advance.  Command words should be simple and clear.  Never use more than one command word for the same action.  For instance, if one family member is training the puppy to “Down” (lay down) while another family member is commanding them “Down” (get off the couch) the puppy will easily become confused.  If you have a large family, as we do, family meetings are often necessary to orient everyone to the command words that the puppy is currently learning.

We also train all of our dogs and highly recommend training to both voice and hand commands.  Below are a  few examples:

SIT:  Index finger straight up into the air
DOWN: Fist held upright
COME:  Sweeping motion with open hand from side to chest
STAY:  Open hand held upright like a stop sign

We recommend starting all puppies with both hand and voice command, as they grow you can use them interchangeably.  Training to hand commands once saved my dogs life.  You never know when your training will pay off more than you ever expected!

REMEMBER:  Training should always be fun!  Every interaction you have with your puppy, they are learning.  Be cautious of what bad habits you may unintentionally be enforcing as well as being consistent with the good habits, like waiting to go through a doorway after you.  Taking just five minutes once or twice a day to actively train with your new puppy will pay off in dividends later in life.  As your puppy grows the training times can become longer, but we rarely work even our most seasoned dogs for more than 15 minutes in a session.

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