Teaching a puppy your language

This one is very important in the pup’s behavioral training: only use his name in conjunction with a command term when you want action from the pup. An example is “Teddy come”. You are calling him by name along with what you want him to do. If you want the pup to perform an inactive behavior such as ceasing to chew on your favorite pair of shoes simply say no, without using his name.

It is easy to confuse a pup if the same command word is used for several different behaviors you expect. When you instruct him with the “down” command word, the behavior you want is for the pup to lie down. Now, if he is jumping on the bed, couch, in your lap, etc- and you use the down command he is going to assume you want him to lay down on the couch or bed. The command word for keeping him off furniture needs to be a different word such as “off”.

One last pointer: under no circumstances should you strike the dog physically while teaching a puppy your language. This is only going to frighten him and possibly turn him vicious at some point in the future, and is never to be done.