Helpful hints on training your puppy
With the arrival of a new dog here at Turtle Towers, Lilly the Labrador, and the recent launch of our Kennel Club Collection, our thoughts have turned to puppy training – so we’ve put together a guide of our training tips for you and your dog:
- Consistency and assertiveness is key when training your new dog. It’s important that all members of the family use the same commands and calls as well as tone of voice so that your puppy does not get confused about what you are trying to achieve. Make sure only one person is giving the command at one time so that again it’s clear to your pup what the message is
- Persistence is important and training should occur in regular sessions but keep the sessions short, sticking to one command only and don’t try to train your dog when they are tired, as their attention spans will be shorter
- Make training fun – there are some wonderful toys out there to make learning fun for you and your dog. Swell Pets offer a great selection of training aids from whistles, treat dispensers, treats and training leads to help you on your way
- Talking of treats, reward good behaviour at random and don’t always rely on treats otherwise your dog will only behave when there is food offered or may act up if it’s not forthcoming. Remember a reward could be a play or a cuddle
- Expose your puppy to lots of sights and sounds in small doses early on, so they know what to expect and are comfortable in social situations; whether that be familiarising themselves with the postman, children, other dogs or in the case of ‘turtle’ dog Tilly the dreaded grooming brush!
- Research – make use of all the wonderful resources at your fingertips online, via your vet and through friends with dogs who will have experienced it all before and will have some handy techniques
- Finally, relax, be confident and enjoy training, as it’s a wonderful opportunity for you to bond with your four legged friend
For further information on training your puppy, our partner The Kennel Club has a number of useful training guides.
