3 Basic Puppy Training Tips Every Owner Should Know

This post may contain affiliate links. We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

I love puppies!  There cute, adorable, cuddly, and of course who can’t resist the famous puppy breath!  These things are all great, but once you get your new puppy home he will test your patience…seriously!

I like to preach that people need to be consistent, persistent and patient when it comes to training.  Today I have a few extra puppy training tips and hints that might help you when it comes time to train your puppy.

3 Puppy Training Tips

Here are a few hints that will help yo get started from my GDA puppy training manual:

As you start your puppy’s first lessons, remember the importance of being consistent, calm, and patient.  When your patience slips, call of the lesson for a while.

• A good trainer knows when to be firm or gentle, when to scold or praise.
• Dog training is built on reward and correction.
• Give commands firmly, but not angrily.  Anger will not make the dog learn any faster, and, in fact, will make him dislike his lessons.
• Give praise from the heart, keeping your voice calm and easy while stroking the puppy’s head lightly.  Your verbal and physical praise will not only be positive reinforcement, but will keep the dog’s attention on you, and calm manner will keep the pup from getting excited and thinking it’s playtime.

When giving commands or praise to your pup, look directly at him, not straight ahead or off in another direction.  Eye contact and a well directed voice are very effective elements of communication and control.  3 important points to remember while training your dog are:

1. Give a command only once.  I actually talked about this in my Puppy Training Tips of the Day.
2. Don’t give a command you are unable to enforce.  If you have something in your hands, or if you’re some distance away, there’s no way you can enforce what you are asking, so the puppy learns that a command is sometimes just empty talk.
3. Take one command at a time.  Learning will come along much quicker this way, rather than trying to teach all of the commands in a day.  Continue teaching one command, and review the one learned.

These 3 tips are great and something everyone should read through and brush up on as I’m sure we’ve all broken at least one of these rules with our dog within the last few days.

A few other things I’ve noticed since I started raising puppies:

• It definitely is very easy to lose your patients when trying to train a puppy.  Just take a step back and give yourself and your puppy a little break if you feel yourself losing your patience.
• Praise works great with puppies. Try to be as exciting as possible with your praise and your puppy will love it.  I’ve always heard that women make better puppy trainers because they have higher voices and can sound more exciting then their male counterparts…guys, is that true?
• Be consistent.  Be Persistent.  Be Patient. – when it comes to puppy training.

That’s it!  3 puppy training tips from the GDA handbook and 3 training tips from me.  Now why don’t you lay down your 3 favorite puppy training tips.  Drop us a line in the comment section below.

Top Picks For Our Puppies

1. BEST DOG CHEW
   We Like: Beef Collagen Sticks - All of our pups love to bite, nip, and chew. We love using Collagen Sticks to help divert these unwanted behaviors.
2. BEST PUPPY TOY
   We Like: Calmeroos Puppy Toy w/ Heartbeat and Heat Packs - Perfect for new puppies. Helps ease anxiety in their new home.
3. BEST DOG TREATS
   We Like: Crazy Dog Train-Me Treats - We use these as our high-value treats for our guide dog puppies.
4. BEST FRESH DOG FOOD
   We Like: The Farmer's Dog - A couple months ago we started feeding Raven fresh dog food and she loves it! Get 50% off your first order of The Farmer's Dog.

Check out more of our favorites on our New Puppy Checklist.