Simple obedience commands such as sit, stay, down and come will prove to be useful in maintaining a well-behaved puppy into adulthood. So the lesson here, start your training right away!
According to Ray, the basic commands that every dog should learn (in this order) are: heel, sit, stay, and come. Heel – With the dog at knee level on your left side and the leash in your hand, start walking with your left foot first as you give the "Heel" command, using the dog's name.
More specifically, a well-behaved pup should respond to seven directions in order to become a good canine citizen: Sit, Down, Stay, Come, Heel, Off, and No.
Fetch. Fetch is another one of the absolute easiest tricks to teach your pup because, odds are, you play fetch already. It can't even really be classed as training as dogs seem to naturally know how to play fetch. This is probably due to their natural inclination to chase, and their willingness to please you!
Arguably the most important command to teach your dog, “stay” will come in handy daily. For their safety and the safety of others, “stay” needs to be taught at an early age. To teach it, have your dog start by sitting. Then slowly back away from your dog.
When you set aside time for a training session, plan on working on just one command. The quick, intense lessons will help your dog learn, and sticking with just one command or behavior will help the dog stay focused. You can train them on more than one command in a day but try to stick to just one for each session.
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.
Essentially, your dog wants your approval. So, rather than yelling or constantly saying “No”, quicker progress can be made by teaching your dog a 'no' signal – one that tells him to stop whatever he is doing whenever he hears it. A suitable command can be “Leave”.
It's imperative to keep in mind the four stages of learning: acquisition, fluency, generalization and maintenance. First, the dog has to begin to acquire the skill of focusing on you (the behavior). Then, you continue to practice so that the behavior is fluent and occurring regularly.
puppy sit. SIT!” If you begin your training by repeating a command, your puppy will quickly realize that when you first say a command, you don't expect her to respond immediately. And she'll carry that on to adulthood.
10-12 Weeks Old
At this point, you will begin to expand on your pup's commands, socialization, and impulse control. Introduce more basic obedience commands such as Place, Down, and Heel inside the home, still using food rewards.
Teach your puppy basic commands like sit, stay, and down. Train the recall cue as soon as possible. You will also need to teach manners, like not to jump up, not to bark excessively, and not to bite (many puppies are especially mouthy between 12 to 16 weeks old).
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.
Almost all vets agree that positive reinforcement training is the most effective method of dog training. Positive reinforcement training essentially focuses on rewarding your pet for good behavior, rather than punishing bad behavior.
Six Weeks to a Well-Trained Dog: Using this schedule as a guide, you can teach your dog the basics in about six weeks. Positive Reinforcement: There are many different ways to train a dog, but most dog professionals agree that the positive way is the best for both the dog and trainer.
Keep your training sessions short.
Five minutes per session is more than enough. Anything longer, and you risk having your dog become bored or frustrated. If you keep things fun and stop before your dog loses interest, it will help build enthusiasm for future training sessions.
That said, for a general guideline, dogs should get a minimum of two hours of dedicated social time with humans or other dogs on a daily basis, which can be broken up into chunks of time over the course of the day.
In dog training, a good phrase to remember is “one thing at a time.” This means that every behavior you teach should be practiced by itself, not following or preceding any other behavior.