Is Training is All About Manners?

“Manners maketh man” (and dogs!) Just as we require our children to be well mannered at home as well as in public, so we should expect the same of our dog family members.

Manners for dogs – start with the very young dog. Commands only work if they are reinforced and food is very useful as a training aid, it is and excellent attention getter to focus your dog or puppy on what you want them to do! Puppies (like some people!) will do just about anything for a treat and which should always be accompanied by praise, "good boy"! spoken with enthusiasm! Some owners insist on not using food but in my experience, that it is a panacea for training puppies! The frustration of teaching the basic commands of “sit, down, come, heel, stand, etc” are lost with a little bit of food. One sniff of food and he or she is there! One article I read recently said:
“With food, there is no pushing or scooping the puppy into position and no irritation because the puppy bites at hands, wiggles away, or collapses into a pile of oozing protoplasm. With food, the action, the treat, and the praise are a package, and the puppy will respond to the praise as much as the treat as his bond with humans grows”

Some experts teach puppies to do all the basic commands without any manhandling. teaching puppies to sit, lie down, stand, and come without man-handling. For example one expert says that by holding food treat just slightly above the puppies head (this makes the puppy lookup and therefore sits) and when the dogs behind is “sat” he gives him a treat. He also touches his/her collar to get the puppy used to a hand coming to them while they are sat. This makes it easier to clip a leash onto the dog later on in training.

Further steps in the process involve holding the treat just above the puppies head, if the puppy jumps withhold the treat until the dog sits. If the puppy reverses his body back them into wall. Work with the dog so that you get the puppy to focus on whatever you want, to lie down get the treat low so that the dog has to lie down (some help may be necessary) withdraw the treat until the puppy obeys.

Once he learns down, combine the two commands by telling him to sit, go down, then sit again. Give the treat at the end of the sequence.
1. Sit
2. Lie
3. Sit – treat

Teach him/ her to stand on command by holding the treat in front of him while he’s sitting and saying “stand.” Move the treat forward so he has to stand to get it. Incorporate stand with sit and down in sequence and give the treat after he obeys a string of commands.

Puppies should always sit to be fed, get a treat, get petted, have leash attached to collar, go out of the door or get out of the crate or the car or any other time when they are told to sit. Let us know how you get on.