These puppy training tips go along with the other puppy training pages you can find from the menu…

Get everyone in the family involved in puppy training, with one person more or less overseeing what is going on. If you live alone, see if you can get a neighbor (especially a child) to help out, so the puppy learns to respond to people besides you.

If your puppy bites or even just nips at you, carry on like you have been badly hurt. This will convince the puppy that you are fragile and need to be treated more carefully. (This is how puppies learn from playing with their littermates that they must moderate their bites.) You will have to do this a number of times.

You can do a lot of puppy training in ways that don’t take up a lot of your time, just in daily life… But also do make time for specific puppy training sessions. At first they may only be five minutes or less, followed by another five minutes of play and attention. Gradually you can make them a bit longer. Working a couple of puppy training sessions into your schedule now makes it easier to develop a habit that will last.

Don’t let your puppy run free in areas that are unfenced or insecure. Even if he usually comes, there’s quite a time gap between being pretty good about coming and being truly reliable.

Make it fun for everyone!

Experiment with clicker training for fast results.(See the menu for pages on this.)

One of my happiest memories of Teddy Bear, our Australian Shepherd who died of old age a few years ago, came when he was a puppy and he and I were at a puppy training class. The students and dogs were running around the large room together with loose leashes. As Teddy and I ran, there was a moment when our eyes connected in deep joy.

Excuse me while I dry my eyes… How much these seemingly insignificant moments can mean!