Puppy Training At Home: 3 Things To Teach Your Puppy
Hello first time puppy owners! First off, I am so excited for you. Welcoming a new puppy into the family is so much fun and if I’m being honest, I’m a little jealous, ha! Fun fact about me, my family used to breed Labradors when I was younger, and my mom has done everything from obedience to field trials, so I’ve grown up around a ton of cool dog training opportunities!
One question I get a lot from first time puppy owners, is what age is best to start training a puppy? The best time to train a puppy is now! Starting when they’re younger is so beneficial, because you’re able to build a foundation that you can apply to a variety of different dog activities (i.e. dog sports, K9 fitness, etc.).
In this post, I’ll be sharing how to teach your dog 3 basic obedience puppy training commands such as:
- How to teach a puppy to sit
- How to teach a puppy to lay down
- How to teach a puppy to shake
I’ll also be sharing one of our favorite grain free dog training treats from one of our favorite dog treat brands, Charlee Bear! You should definitely make sure to check them out, as they are my mom’s puppy River’s (a.k.a. the puppy obedience superstar in this post) absolute favorite!
P.S. If you’re wondering, what the heck should I even get my new puppy? I can help! Check out my entire Puppy 101 section for tons of posts on what to get, and check out my New Puppy Checklist in my Amazon Storefront for my tried and true must-have items!
Charlee Bear Grain Free Crunch Dog Treats
When starting your basic puppy training, the most important thing you will need is a treat! Having a reward for when your puppy does things right is incredibly valuable, especially since many dogs are food motivated.
One of our all-time favorite dog treat brands is Charlee Bear! I am SO picky when it comes to what I feed my dogs because I only want them to have the highest quality ingredients, like fruits, veggies and proteins – and Charlee Bear does just that! Plus, these healthy dog treats are made in the USA, which is even better.
Featured here are Charlee Bear’s Grain Free Crunch dog treats. We’re super excited to share that they just launched TWO new delicious flavors: Beef & Cheese and P.B. & Banana.
These treats are Pocket Perfect, meaning you can keep a handful in your pocket and not have to worry about crumbling, smells or stains. This makes them perfect for training, plus, I truly think the dogs love the crunch (or as dogs call it “cronch” ha!).
How To Teach A Puppy To Sit
Now that we’ve got our puppy training treats ready, let’s begin with one of the first things to teach a puppy: how to teach a puppy to sit.
Step 1: Grab a treat and hold it near your puppy’s nose while they’re standing.
Step 2: Raise the treat above their head and slightly back. This will shift their butt to the ground.
Step 3: Once your puppy sits, immediately give them a treat!
Pro Tip: When your puppy does it correctly, you can also incorporate puppy clicker training by pushing your training clicker once they move to the sit position, reward them with a yes and give them a treat. The only thing I want to note here is some dogs don’t like the clicker. We did puppy clicker training with Diesel, but Annie was quite afraid of it. Gauge their reaction and know if it’s worth using!
Step 4: Back up a few steps so your puppy stands back up and then repeat Steps 1-3 a few times to start building the basic puppy command.
Next Steps:
Step 5: Once your puppy has started understanding the basic command, you can then start adding in hand cues and the word “sit”. For my hand signal, I keep my arm at a 90 degree angle with my hand flat, palm facing up (like I’m carrying a tray) and I lift my hand towards my body.
Pro Tip: With all of these puppy basic commands, make sure to practice only 5-10 minutes each day. This keeps training short, sweet and positive which is extra important in the beginning stages!
How To Teach A Puppy To Lay Down
Now let’s move on to the next basic puppy command, how to teach a puppy to lay down. This basic puppy training command is very valuable to learn and can aid your puppy in many situations, such as keeping them calm, keeping them in an area of your home that’s safe for them and more. Here’s how to teach a puppy to lay down.
Note: I recommend teaching your puppy to sit first, since that is step one of teaching your puppy to lay down!
Step 1: Ask your puppy to sit and reward them for doing so.
Step 2: Grab another treat and start bringing the treat down towards their feet.
Step 3: Once between their feet, bring the treat farther out in front of them, inviting them to slide forward.
Step 4: As soon as your puppy lies down, reward them with a treat, praise and utilize the optional clicker.
Step 5: From here you can reset to practice again a few different ways:
Back into a sit by raising a treat above their head while asking them to sit
Backing up a few steps and encouraging your puppy to follow
Next Steps:
Step 6: Once you’ve practiced a few times, start adding a hand signal and the word “down”. For my hand signal, I keep a flat hand and press it towards the ground to indicate the down signal.
How To Teach A Puppy To Shake
Now that we’ve learned two of the basic puppy obedience training commands, how about we learn a fun one! There are many tricks to teach your puppy, but one that already builds off the first basic puppy training command we learned today is how to teach your puppy to shake. Let’s get started!
Step 1: Place your puppy in a sit position.
Note: This not only practices one basic puppy training command, but also introduces another.
Step 2: Hold out your hand for your puppy.
Note: Your puppy is probably going to be a bit confused at first! They’ll most likely sniff you, lick you and be curious as to what you want.
Step 3: Wait for your puppy to paw at your hand, and as soon as they do reward immediately with a treat, praise, and utilize the optional clicker.
Step 4: Repeat this a few more times until your puppy is consistently pawing at your hand.
Step 5: Now, the next time you do it, wait until your dog has rested its’ paw in your hand before rewarding the treat. This starts to teach them that their paw has to stay in your hand before getting the treat.
Step 6: Practice this a few more times and then start adding in the word command of your choice such as “paw” or “shake”.
Step 7: Once your dog understands the command and knows the word, you can then reach your hand out like you did in the beginning, adding in your word as the way to initiate the trick!
Pro Tip: Your dog can be ambidextrous too! Diesel and Annie know how to give me both of their paws. For this, I ask for their paw, and immediately reward. Then, I reach towards the other paw and say “Other Paw” and wait until they give it to me before I reward. It’s super fun to see how smart they are and that they can give me both!
I hope you’re feeling much more confident and excited to start these basic puppy obedience training commands! In addition to this, I highly recommend enrolling your puppy in obedience classes for puppies. I personally am a big fan of group training because it allows you to train your dog with distractions, and it’s a great socializing opportunity for you and your dog (the more dog parent friends the merrier!)!
Want to see even more puppy tips from my puppy blog? Check out some of my most helpful and popular tips for how to train and raise a puppy like crate training 101, puppy teething stages and more tips for new puppy owners like:
- 10 Items To Buy For Your New Puppy
- 3 Stages Of Puppy Teething
- How To Potty Train Your Puppy in 4 Easy Steps
- How To Crate Train A Puppy
- How To Puppy Proof Your Home And Yard
- Suitical Recovery Suit For Dogs: The Alternative To Dog Cones (This is a game changer for post spay/neuter care!)
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Photography: Kate Kelley Collection
Thank you so much Charlee Bear dog treats for sponsoring this post! We truly love these treats and all opinions shared are our own!