From there, McMillan explains his playful, careful, and kind approach to training the 7 Common Commands he teaches every dog: SIT, STAY, DOWN, COME, OFF, HEEL, and NO.
The three most common, and most necessary training techniques are teaching your dog to sit, stay and come. Teaching your dog to sit is simple and it is also the basis for other commands, so it is a good one to start with.
Basic Cues (Sit, Stay, Come)
You can start with basic cues as early as 7 weeks old: Say a cue such as “sit” once. Use a treat to position your dog into a sitting position. Once sitting, give your puppy the treat and some praise.
According to Ray, the basic commands that every dog should learn (in this order) are heel, sit, stay, and come.
1. Sit: The “sit” command is one of the easiest tricks your dog can learn and serves as the basis for many other simple tricks like “shake” and “stay.” To teach this trick, keep your foot on your dog's leash, allowing them only a little room to move but not enough to jump up.
Good training requires paying attention to four simple rules, otherwise known as the four D's of dog training: distance, distraction, duration and difficulty.
You need an incentive to encourage your dog to come back - a really tasty treat or a fun game with a toy. Show your dog the toy or food. Run away a couple of paces then call your dog's name and say "come" in a friendly, exciting tone - getting down low can also encourage them to come back.
The ideal time to begin training is around 7 to 8 weeks for most puppies, and the most effective training involves positive reinforcement and gentle commands. This is also the age to begin socializing your puppy to new people and new species, allowing them to explore and have new experiences.
Unlike teaching your pup to stay down, “sit” is the easiest command to teach your furry friend. To teach your puppy this trick, make sure to follow the next steps carefully: Kneel in front of your puppy with a treat in your hand. Move your hand with the treat so your puppy follows it.
The three Ds are duration, distance, and distraction, and they affect almost any behavior. Dogs don't generalize well, meaning if they learn to sit in front of you, they don't automatically know that “sit” means the same thing when you're on the other side of the room.
You can train them on more than one command in a day but try to stick to just one for each session. An exception might be if the session is not going well and you want to get your dog to do something it knows so that the session will end on a positive note.
Act like the alpha of the back and show him who is boss. Look him/her in the eye: When you give a command, look straight at your pet. Make sure he can see that you mean business and that it is not a command to be disobeyed. Always hold eye contact with your pet, no matter how big or small he or she is.
While a pooch performing a sit or a down out of context likely will not cause any problems, certain tricks, like jumping vertically in the air, spinning in circles, high fives or hugs and kisses, can create issues for you and your dog.
“Sit pretty”
Similar to “beg,” sitting pretty can involve your dog sitting up on their haunches with their front paws in their air. It can also be your dog spinning a little as they get into a sitting position. Either way, this is not a good trick for your growing puppy to learn.
The Best Time to Start Training
Most start around twelve weeks, but the truth is that you should begin at about eight weeks instead. As soon as they open their eyes, puppies start to learn about their new world and how to navigate it.
Sit. Teaching your dog to sit is one of the most basic dog commands to teach your pup, thus making it a great one to start with. A dog who knows the “Sit” command will be much calmer and easier to control than dogs who aren't taught this simple command.
Sit, stay, and come are the three most common commands taught in beginner classes and are the foundation for further skills training and behavior modification programs. By teaching your dog to sit and stay, their minds become engaged and they learn deference to the human at the end of the leash.
Because the more distinctive a language is, the easier it'll be for your doggo to recognize different words. That's also why so many folks in the working dog community prefer teaching their canines commands in French, Dutch, or German. It makes life easier for you and your pooch.
When it comes to where dog's get their daily calories, we recommend following the 90/10 rule: 90% of calories from a complete and balanced diet, 10% from treats! Treats can be considered the splurge, but more often, the actual act of giving a treat means more to the dog than the actual treat itself.
The 80/20 Rule states that 80% of results come from only 20% of the efforts. This is widely proven across many fields and industries. As a professional dog trainer who has helped hundreds of dogs and owners, I know this principle is directly applicable to raising a dog.