This is what a lot of people do wrong,
is they wait to teach some of these things.
Or what they do is they, without realizing it,
they expect the puppies to figure it out just through like trial and error.
Mm-hmm. rather than showing the puppy uh, what to do.
Getting a new puppy is so overwhelming because there is so many things that you
need to teach them,
but the most important thing that you need to do is to teach them how to learn.
So today I'm gonna sit down with Adam and his brand new puppy Benu,
to share with him three things that I do with my puppies to help get their
training started. So how old is is Binoo right now?
He's going to be 12 weeks.
Tomorrow. Um, okay. Well this is really,
this is really actually quite a fun age.
I think this is one of my favorite ages because they are old enough that they
are really ready to like start learning things.
And so you can really like get going with your training and also old enough that
they've been home for a couple weeks,
they're starting to develop a bit of a relationship with you and you know,
you can kind of start, start things. Um, at this age it is really,
really important to get going with some of your like basic obedience skills
because it um, does a couple of things.
Obviously makes the puppy easier to deal with,
but it also really works on strengthening your bond and teaching him to listen.
Um, but uh, along with the obedience skills,
a couple of the other things I would really recommend that you start off with
is, um, any type of trick training would be really good. What we've learned from
training tricks with puppies that are this small is,
and this is gonna sound really weird,
but it really does a great job of teaching puppies how to learn and how to
problem solve.
So the next thing that I want you to really start focusing on is some like, um,
behaviors like sit, down, um, go and lie on the bed, um,
to responding to his name.
The other thing you can start to do is like handling exercises to prepare him
for grooming or vets or things like that so you can, you know,
do some like reinforcement with the food.
But what's most important at this stage,
and this is what a lot of people do wrong,
is they wait to teach some of these things.
Or what they do is they, without realizing it,
they expect the puppies to figure it out. Just through like trial and error.
Mm-hmm. rather than showing the puppy uh, what to do. Actually,
this might be a good time to actually show you. Um, we can talk about sit,
because you said you sort of started to try that.
What a lot of people end up doing is they end up saying like, sit, sit, sit, oh,
look at you. Very good. So that was pretty good.
But what I did there is I said sit three times and then rewarded him when he sat
on the third. Okay.
And what we wanna teach you is to have really high expectations.
So what I would do when I've,
when I'm first teaching a puppy is I would do this,
I would say sit once and then use a bit of food to help the puppy to do it on
the first try. Okay. Or I would do stand
yes. And then yes and reward.
So even though it takes a second or two to get him in position,
I might even try down. Although it's harder when you have a small dog down.
So this is the word, this is what I want you to do when you hear the word.
So see how the down's a little harder when you have Yeah. So.
The short little legs. Yes.
Good boy. Yes. Good down, good boy.
But what I don't wanna do is say Down, down, down, down, down.
And then cuz he doesn't, it's like if I was to talk to.
You and I was, it's gonna be a broken record.
Yeah.
Or if I was to say something to you and I would speak in like French or Finnish
or something and you're like, I have no idea what you're saying.
Just keep repeating it. You're not gonna understand it any better.
Yet. Exactly. So when I'm first teaching something new, I say the command.
Or I could even start off by saying no command and just teach him to respond to
my hand gesture and then add the command in there. Um, yes.
That's a cute little sit.
The other thing that I like to do is what we call capturing.
So see how he just sat without me asking? Mm-hmm. ,
I love that I would Yes.
And reward when the puppy offers to do something because that puppy,
he could be running around this room, he could be biting the couch,
he could be doing anything, but he's choosing to sit and say, Hey,
how about do you like this ?
That's something that I wanna reward because that shows me that he's trying to
please me. He's trying to say, Hey, you might like this. And I'm gonna say,
yeah,
I sure do and I'm gonna reward. Now I wanted to give you a little tip on the
down with this small dog . You know you like this cheese, uh,
because it's quite challenging when you're luring. This is called luring.
When you take the food and you sort of move it around and the puppy follows
that. We call that luring. Uh, yes. Good boy. So if I wanna get the down,
what I'm gonna do is lure from the nose to the floor,
but I'm gonna kind of push my hand back towards his chest. Okay.
So my hand went like this and then in towards his chest and then I can reward
from there. That was awesome buddy. Good reward. Sort.
Of brings his body down to the.
Floor. Yeah. You wanna try? Yeah, sure. Here's some gross cheese for you.
Put it right down his nose.
And I always start when I'm first beginning I start with the puppy sitting first
when before I do it down. Yes. Nice. He can reward that first if you want to.
Mm-hmm. . Good. And then go right from nose to toes.
, you got a little too excited.
That's okay. Sit.
So just what you can do is lure 'em back away from you with the food. Yeah.
And then just start from the beginning again.
Sit.
Yes.
Good boy.
Good. And then down. Yeah. Now push it towards his chest. Slowly.
Down, down. Good.
And then just watch that you're not repeating the word.
So when the puppy's problem solving you can say the the word once and then you
don't actually need to worry about saying it again.
Just sort of let him follow your hand and Okay. And figure it out.
It's really hard not to say it though because we think that we're helping.
But again, you're speaking Chinese to him right now. So ,
he doesn't know what it means quite yet. He will. Okay.
Right on his nose so he can't, yeah. There we go.
Now from nose to toes and then just sort of let him sniff and nibble.
Good. And slowly into his.
Chest. Yeah. And then slowly back towards his chest. Oh, that's okay. Try again.
. Good.
Boy. So nice and slow. Oh, there you go. That's better there. Oh,
okay. Let me show you again so you can see one more time. It's very hard.
I've also done hundreds of times. Come here buddy.
Cause I'm gonna pull him over here just a little bit more.
So I'm gonna go see i's moving it very slowly.
So he is almost in a crouching position. Yeah. Okay. And then push it back.
So a little bit further away from him and then in towards him. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
One thing you can also do is if you start with a puppy in a stand and you lure
back like this.
Oh my god. With the legs back. Those legs, that is too much. Good boy.
Okay. Okay. So in a stand,
I go nose back towards the chest and then when the bum pops down you
can reward.
I think that way will be really good for him to go ahead and try that.
So start in the stand,
keep your hand really low and then push it towards his chest. There we go.
Bingo. Good boy. Yay. Keep practicing the other way too.
Cause I think it's just really how you're moving your hand. Yeah. Um,
but what's interesting to see is it that really goes to show you like how much
practice it takes. Yeah. Because he sort of was thinking about, okay,
however you're moving the hand that makes sense.
And then he wasn't really quite sure with you. Um, but he'll figure it out.
But what I love that he wants to do is he wants to try,
which is awesome. Good boy. Um,
but these are the types of things that you wanna do with him.
Just really get him thinking about it. There's tricks you can do. Yes. Good boy.
I also really love just working on getting the puppy to hold the sit and pay
attention. So if I hold the foodie,
I'm holding it in a way that he kind of has to look up at me,
then yes I can reward from there, uh, to reinforce that.
So we wanna try to make sure that whenever we're rewarding the dog,
because we're trying to build like, um, you know, relationship,
we're trying to build focus. Yes. Good boy. I'm gonna try and yes.
And feed while I'm getting this attention.
Now he might get frustrated and go to jump.
I'm just gonna withhold the food when that happens. Okay.
And when he sits back down and looks at me. Yes. Good boy. I can then Yes.
And reward again.
So just see if you can get him to work on just sitting in front of you,
holding that sit while paying attention.
So put it right on his nose just to help him sit Now hold the food above him a
little bit more. Yes. And reward. He looks good.
Yep. Yes. Good, good boy. And then when he looks up at you,
if you mark it with the word Yes. Perfect. Yes. Yay. Good.
So super simple but these types of things and will help him to default into
those behaviors when you're working on other things.
Another really easy trick that you can work on, which I love doing with puppies,
it's also really good for their bodies,
is teaching the dog to spin left or right. Super simple.
You just put the food on the nose and literally lure them in a circle. Yay.
Good. You work both directions. It's a cute little trick,
but I also just like it. Come here.
I also just like it cuz it's good for their body. Come here.
Yes. Good boy. Actually, do you see how he keeps defaulting into a sit? Yeah.
I love that because what puppies will end up doing, I said this before,
is they repeat what they find rewarding.
So we've just rewarded him how many times here? Like 15,
20 times already for sitting. And so smart little guy says,
but how can I spin if you want me to sit because you like when I sit? Yeah.
So that's really good. And sometimes he's trying to do both. Yeah, exactly.
And that shows you that that's a puppy that's trying to do the right thing.
And so even though it's not exactly what we're looking for,
his heart's in the right place. Yeah.
So we just have to kind of help him out a little bit.
And if you want a training plan to follow with your puppy,
make sure you watch that video right there on that note. I'm Kale,
this is Adam and Binoo. Happy Training!