Positive Reinforcement
Strive to deliver positive reinforcement 99 times out of 100.
Every training failure is extremely bad. It knocks out 100 good trainings. Strive to be vigilant and never allow the dog to behave inappropriately. We can’t ever reach 100% success, but try to keep the failures to an absolute minimum.
The first command to teach a new dog is ‘look at me’. A dog’s instinct is to not provide eye contact as that is a sign of aggression in the wild. For a domesticated dog eye contact creates a bond with the handler. When you are looking at each other your dog can ‘read’ you and comprehend what you want or need. For example, when you are at the park and a possibly aggressive dog is nearby, the ‘look at me’ command will communicate to the dog that possible danger is nearby. But the best effect of the ‘look at me’ command is the delivery of positive reinforcement. Every successful ‘look at me’ is rewarded with a ‘good dog’ and helps in delivering those 99 positives per 1 negative.
Stay away from negative commands such as ‘no biting’. Much more effective is to stop what you are doing and practice the lick command. Be prepared when you come home for the puppy to be over excited and know that it will be an opportunity to train. Be prepared to spend the time to do this positively.
Always keep in mind
Un-training behaviors is extremely difficult.
Do not encourage your dog to become excited unless it is play time. Leaving the house to go to the park, human coming home, and meal time are not exciting times but should be done in a calm matter of fact manner.
Do not reward by smiling, laughing, or gentle words when a puppy does something cute that will not be cute when they become an adult (even if it is cute as heck. remember to ask yourself, do I want to live with this behavior for the entirety of the dog’s life?)
When a dog does something negative, stop what you are doing and take the time to train the dog in a positive manner.
Check out posts and other pages for detailed descriptions for the commands listed below. Some are the focus of entire training exercises.
Commands noted as High Priority mean they should done quickly and flawlessly by the dog. Others can be considered more casual for their responsiveness.