- Overusing their puppy's name
is just one of the mistakes that people make
when they're trying to train their puppy to know their name.
And it really slows down their learning process.
- [Woman] Ken.
- Yeah?
- [Woman] Ken.
- Yes?
- [Woman] Ken.
- Yes?
- [Woman] Ken!
(gentle rock music)
Ken.
- In this video, I'm gonna show you
the fastest way to teach your puppy their name.
I'm also gonna show you some tricks
that dog trainers use to help their puppies
to be more successful with this exercise.
I'm Ken Steepe, this is Biggie Smalls,
the 12-week old papillon puppy.
Welcome back to McCann Dogs.
(gentle music) (dog yapping)
So, first let's talk about one of the tricks
that we were, that I alluded to in the opening.
Now, a great opportunity to train your puppy
are some of the natural training opportunities that you get.
So, with Biggie, every time he gets a meal
I would start off by just saying his name
and then feeding him.
We really wanna build value for that name.
So, I will say,
Biggie.
Good boy.
Biggie.
Just as a hit and I'm gonna hand feed him
his breakfast essentially.
Biggie.
And reward.
That way he really starts to understand that
that, every time he hears that word
there's a lot of value associated with it.
Now, we need to make sure that when we are
rewarding and luring Biggie that he follows the food.
So the first thing that I'm going to do
is just naturally lure him around.
I'm just going to make sure that he's
following food, and we've done lots of luring
exercises in some of our other videos,
and I'll link one of those above.
But it's really important that Biggie does
understand that when he follows the food
that there will be a payout,
especially when we're starting to
make this a little bit more challenging
as we're teaching him his name.
When you start to teach your puppy their name,
it's really important that you payout
each and every time.
So we're going to call our puppy's name.
We're gonna say Biggie's name
and then we're gonna automatically lure him
for the first several repetitions of this exercise.
So, I'm gonna do something,
I'm gonna let him get naturally distracted,
which doesn't seem to be that tough with an adorable
little puppy like this,
but I'm gonna call his name and then lure him.
So I'm gonna get him distracted.
Maybe I'll just show him something over there.
Biggie!
And then bring him around.
Yes! Good boy, nice job buddy!
We'll let him get distracted again.
Fake him out a little bit.
Biggie!
Show him that food, bring him in.
Yes, good job pal, way to go!
When you reward your puppy, try to make sure
you're rewarding them almost so they're touching
your legs, that way they'll see lots of value
for coming in really close.
Now we're gonna make it a little bit
more challenging for Biggie by using a little
bit more motion, but when we do that
we want to use our house line, and we posted
a video about that not that long ago.
Just so that Biggie doesn't leave me as we're working
on this exercise, I'm gonna use,
I'm gonna put a leash on him
or I'm gonna use his house line,
and I'll link that video above.
Just so that he doesn't, he can't have
an opportunity to be totally gratified by
something that's not me.
But, I wanna show you how we can really
build some motivation for his name, by using
a little bit of motion and some exciting language,
or some exciting voice sounds.
So I'm just gonna let him get a little bit distracted.
Biggie!
Yay!
Good boy, way to go buddy!
And I'm going to move away from him to
really reinforce the fact that him
hearing his name and coming to me is lots of fun.
So I'm gonna let him get distracted again.
Biggie!
Yeah!
That a boy, very nice, way to go pal!
And I'm gonna use that motion, I'm gonna use
that exciting sounding language,
Biggie!
Yay!
To really reinforce that hearing his name
is lots and lots of fun.
Do you want to build even more motivation
into your response to name?
Try having someone hold your puppy
as you sneak away with an exciting toy.
Then call their name and release them.
Biggie!
That a boy!
Good boy, buddy!
So Biggie's really starting to know that
there's lots of value in hearing that word
and I've made it lots of fun by moving away
and using some, you know, bubbly voice
to really make it fun for him to respond
to that name.
So now we need to challenge him a little bit.
We need to make it a little bit tougher,
so we're going to use something like
a distraction, and I'm gonna recall
him off that name.
Now, at this point, I'm not gonna test him,
I'm going to make sure that he can be
right every single time by using that food lure
while I'm using that distraction.
So I'll just set this tape down.
Then I'll call his name.
Biggie!
Yes, good boy!
Now, I've also opted to use some high value
food, because, you know, having something
new like this distraction may prove to be
a bit of a challenge.
So, when I call Biggie off of that distraction,
I'm going to use something like some chicken,
or something that he really finds valuable.
So, an important step in using the McCann method
is letting your dog make a choice, and an
important step in teaching your dog their name
is the testing phase.
Now, I've reduced the amount of distraction,
I've taken that tape roll away,
but this time I'm not gonna automatically show Biggie
the food, I'm just gonna call his name,
and see what happens.
What's that thing over there?
Biggie!
Yes, good boy!
Very nice!
Now, I'm still gonna use that exciting language
and I'm still gonna use a little bit
of motion, but I'm not gonna automatically
put the treats in front of his face.
So let's test him again.
Get him over here a little bit.
I'm gonna stay nice and close though.
What's that thing over there?
That thing over there?
Biggie!
Yes, good job buddy!
And you can see how excited he is to
respond to his name and how much fun
he's having, that's really important
as we're training our puppies, that they're
loving every minute of the training.
Now, as we increase the challenge, it's
really important that we mark the moment
that our puppy's making a great choice.
So, when there's that distraction,
whether it's a piece of tape on the ground,
or maybe it's, you know, some motion in the environment.
We mark that moment that he makes that great choice,
and that's with the yes.
I use the yes to mark the moment that
Biggie's making a really good choice.
What if our puppies aren't responding right away?
What if there's some distraction
that they don't respond the first time
every time to their name?
Well, we're gonna help them to be right.
We're gonna use something like a little
touch on their side
to break their focus,
to get their attention back on us,
and I'll show you what I mean.
So we're gonna help Biggie to get used to
being touched, so we're gonna do something
really, really simple like a little touch.
Good boy!
Touch.
Yes, good!
So that he's really comfortable with that action.
Biggie!
Yes, good boy buddy!
By following these steps, you'll have an excited
and happy and reliable response to name
in no time.
Now, if this is your first time on the channel
and you wanna have a well-behaved
four-legged family member,
then make sure you hit that subscribe button.
If you're looking for more puppy training videos,
check out the video beside me.
On that note, I'm Ken, this is Biggie Smalls.
Happy training!
(soft rock music)