One of the most important things to remember when training your puppy is that he is still a puppy! They have a very short attention span and everything is a learning opportunity. When they are very young you might have their attention for about 30 seconds up to a couple of minutes. You shouldn’t work with them for more than about five minutes at a time. Even when they are older you should limit training sessions to 10-15 minutes at a time. You can do multiple sessions throughout the day.

Remember that your puppy doesn’t know anything unless you teach it to him. Use everything as a chance for him to learn. Take your pup everywhere with you. The more places he sees as a puppy the more he will be confident and comfortable in new situations as an adult. Comfort him when he is scared but also make sure that he gets out there and runs around on his own. He doesn’t need to learn to come crying back to you every time he is scared.

At this point anything that your pup does wrong is probably your fault. There should be no discipline implemented up to 4 months of age. Everything should be positive reinforcement, either as vocal praise or by giving them a treat. You should make an effort to ensure everything is fun to them. If you throw a toy around, only do it a couple of times. If the dog wants to retrieve the item, only let him repeat this 2-3 times before you quit. You want to leave your puppy wanting more. It is very easy to burn them out at this period, even if they don’t outwardly show it.

Never chase your puppy. They will view it as a game and develop a bad habit of running from you. When they are young, if they don’t come to you when called, run away from them. They should chase you with a little coaxing. If you make a sincere effort to never chase them at this young age, you will find that they won’t run away from you as they get older

To be continued…