learning basic commands

C

Candysmom

Forums Novice
I have read in my Sheltie book that this is the best time to be training Candy. It said they are like little sponges. She picked up sit so easily. It is the others like down, stay, and come that she is not getting. I am feeling a little defeated by this. Is there any where out there that might have a different technique for teaching these? Is there anything else I should teach her? Thanks
 
You should try clicker training. The dogs pick up the commands faster.
Also for down, I could not get Chase to do it when he was younger because he was an energetic booger that would just go go go! What I did to make him lay down was sit on the floor and bend my knees up. I would feed him the treat when he layed under my knees and then introduced the command.
 
I don't have any tips specific to your commands, but I think the key to working on obedience commands with a puppy is to keep training sessions short, fun, and rewarding. Always end on something good, even if it's not exactly what you set out to do.
 
a great book is called The Puppy Whisperer: A Compassionate, Nonviolent Guide to Early Training and Care, By Paul Owens(the original dog whisperer). If you want to do marker training(clicker training) leerburg kennel sells some really good training DVDs
 
Today Maggie turns 6 months old. By 4 months she mastered sit, stay, down, fetch, bring, come, crawl, rollover and of course potty training. It took tons of constant repetition and I used treats as rewards but she's one smart cookie. The beauty of having a sheltie is their incredible little brain makes it a lot easier. Keep trying, I used quick mini-sessions off and on throughout the day.
 
Candysmom said:
I have read in my Sheltie book that this is the best time to be training Candy. It said they are like little sponges. She picked up sit so easily. It is the others like down, stay, and come that she is not getting. I am feeling a little defeated by this. Is there any where out there that might have a different technique for teaching these? Is there anything else I should teach her? Thanks
Click to expand...
I first taught sit, stay, and then come. Teach sit-stay first, if pup gets up and walks off, keep patiently taking her to the original place to sit-stay, over and over. And over again!! LOL! Praise, and use treats. Once your pup sit-stays, have her come to you- have a long leash on her while she is in the sit-stay, then tell her to come to you- if she doesn't, a slight, gentle tug on the leash while telling her to come, along with a treat she can see, should work. I did this over and over so many times, even when my sheltie got it, which was quickly, I wanted it reinforced. Now it is automatic, and I believe the come command is the most important one. Good luck, it will work.
 
Well Storm is doing sit on command now at 9 weeks, down with some coaxing, but stay is not in the vocabulary yet, LOL .
although with 2 additional full size trainers to help she caught on real fast, especially when the treats came out and she realised she wasn't getting any till her butt was on the floor. this weeks lesson is give me MY SPACE, so that she is not jumping up on your leg initially at feeding or treat time, or getting accidently stepped on or kicked from getting under foot when excited.

Any training you can accomplish at this age is one less thing to try & teach later
and as young pups they catch on fast, and you don't have as many bad habits to try and correct later.
I like to do down as soon as possible because if you can get them to go down reliably you can prevent a lot possible accident or hazardous situations just by getting them to stop & drop like right NOW. and Come, Here, IS right behind that.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top