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Puppy Training Tip Of The Day – Give The Command Once

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Have you ever seen someone training a dog and giving the same command over and over again? Something along the lines of Stetson Sit….Sit…..Stetson Sit…Sit…. I see it happen almost everyday. I constantly have to mentally remind myself not to give the same command more than one time.

Make no mistake, this is a difficult lesson to learn. I’ve been working to retrain myself not to say the same command more than one time for over 3 years and still I will catch myself repeating the same command during training.

Tip of the Day – Give the Command Once

Today I want to teach you one thing…get one thing in your head (and my head). When you give your dog a command only give it one time. The image below to the right is Stetson and Linus in a “Sit, Stay” on their bed (of course the command was only given once).

Stetson and LinusStetson…Sit” If your dog does not respond to the command then lead them into the position (the way you lead your dog into the “Sit” Position will vary depending on how you are training your dog). Don’t repeat the command. Let me repeat myself DON’T REPEAT THE COMMAND!

If you constantly repeat commands then your dog may think he’s supposed to respond to “Sit…Sit…Sit…Sit…” before he actually puts his butt to the ground. On the other hand, if you tell your dog “Sit” one time and then make sure he gets his butt to the ground then over time through repetition, consistency, and persistence your dog will learn as soon as he hears the word “Sit” his butt is to hit the ground.

When you train your dog do you only give the command once?

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2 Comments

  1. Congratulations on your new puppy! When we work with our dogs we first start as you did by working on basic commands at home. As your puppy gets more advanced you want to start introducing the 3 D’s (Distance, Duration, and Distraction), but only after they’ve mastered commands at home. You want to only introduce one D at a time and you’ll notice that as you progress your puppy may not respond to you. You need to take a step back with training and start as if he doesn’t know the commands. By changing locations you’ve introduced new Distractions. Introducing Distractions is usually the most difficult of the 3 D’s we usually start by working on Distance and Duration before moving to Distractions. Hopefully that helps. Good luck with your training!

  2. Hello!
    My puppy is 14 weeks old. When asking for a command like come, sit, or down in places differing from inside the house, sometimes she chooses not to listen. It seems to be because she is too tired, confused, or like todays snowy walk… too cold. But in the backyard sometimes I tell her to come, and she doesn’t. What do I do at that point? Are the other reasons only reasons she doesn’t listen? Should I just ignore it then?

    Side note: we are doing clicker training. Does a trick right she gets a click, treat, and a good girl.

    Thank you!

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