Basic Obedience

When you get your puppy home, the first thing you want to happen is to let your dog acclimate to his new living environment. Lots of love and affection, simple games to occupy his attention and energy.

Eventually you will need to get started on obedience. Two of the most important things we can emphasize about obedience are: (1) keep commands simple; (2) use treats as a reward system for compliance to commands. How simple? Single works such as:

SIT

DOWN

HERE

STAY

HEAL

OVER

LEFT

RIGHT

BACK

HOLD (a force fetch command)

OUT (a force fetch command)

Obedience commands are a repetitive process - give the command, show the dog what it means, and reward with praise and a small treat (we use two pieces of kibble). For the "sit" command we will gently push the puppy's hips back and down while also pushing on the chest back and down - this facilitates an easier sit without placing undue pressure on the dog's hips. 3-4 times each session, and a few sessions each day with a food reward will have puppy complying on command by himself. Eventually we include a hand signal (upturned hand) and a single whistle blast, and eventually we'll alternate between each individual command. Why a hand signal? We use hand signals because we occasionally sneak hunt waterfowl and need to control dogs behind us without making any noise.

There are many good training books on the market that provide additional information on how to train your puppy. The most important thing is DON'T WAIT ... start early and you will be pleased with the results. Eventually obedience will have to be down "rock solid" in order to have absolute compliance in hunting and hunt test/field trial conditions. Commonly known as force training, rock solid usually requires the use of an e-collar to give corrections for non-compliance, especially when the dog knows the command and is simply choosing to not execute it.

In future blog posts we will discuss h ow to approach training for other commands listed above.