Remember to only practice each new behaviour 3-4 times a training session.

A training session should not exceed a few minutes and if you practice 3-4 sessions a day you will be building a fantastic bond with your puppy and providing great opportunities for mental stimulation.

Try to change the way you feed your puppy. Make them work for their food.

We recommend using a marker of some kind. If you're not considering a clicker, it can be words like Yes, Good or Nice.

Charge the Marker

A marker is your feedback word that you can use to tell your dog “great job, I like this behaviour”. Take four pieces of food, say your marker word, then give your dog one piece of food. To begin with, keep the food delivery within ½ second of your marker word. Repeat three more times. 

Your dog will begin to realise that the sound of your marker word means reinforcement is on its way. Words like Yes, Good, Nice work best. Good Dog, Good Boy, Good Girl should be saved for reinforcement/ payment.

‍Observation ‍

Observing your puppy’s normal behaviour in a variety of different situations. Getting to know their normal body language.

‍Please take a moment to watch this short YouTube clip on body language

Breed ‍

Look up your puppy’s breed to learn about what they were originally bred for. This will help you understand what drives and motivates them.

Calm on cue

Capture your puppy’s calm behaviour by joining them while they are calm. Keep your breathing slow, give them long slow stroking pats and talk in a low slow calm voice. Label this behaviour with a word, it might be "calm", "hush", "chill" whatever feels natural to you.

Clear consistent boundaries are required. Be mindful that punishment can cause fear and confusion rather than teach what behaviours are preferred.

A key component of training is tone of voice, posture, body position and your focus. Stand up tall. Remembering that high pitched tones are inviting, and low tones are growly tones are warnings and inhibiting.

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Relax and have fun with your puppy!