Now we are getting into the basics of being able to teach your dog ANYTHING.  The only way to teach a dog of any age is to be able to get their attention. Puppies have what I like to call “Puppy A.D.D,” or in other words, a short attention span.  So how can you grab a puppy’s attention long enough to teach them commands like, come, sit, place and down?  There are many things to try, but one way guaranteed to work is by using “marker” training.

There are many ways to get your dog to pay attention to you. Some of them are treats, toys, martingale collars, prong collars, choke collars, and remote training collars to name a few. By using these various tools you will be “marking” a certain behavior.  This is called marker training.

Below are tips on how to grab your dog’s attention. We will be going over several of these to help you learn how to communicate with your puppy.

Make Training Positive

You always want to get the dog to WANT to pay attention to you.  By using toys, treats or praise you can get them think training is fun.  Rewarding to behave well is a way to get a puppy to always look to you for some positive bonding time. Be sure to do the following when rewarding:

  • Speak in a higher pitched voice when praising the dog.
    • The higher pitch (yes, even guys need to do this) will help the dog understand that what they just accomplished is AWESOME. Every time they learn something new it truly is AWESOME.
  • Have high enough reward of a treat for the different tasks you’re teaching your dog.
  • If your dog gets the same treat for all levels of distraction it will lose its value quickly and therefore lose the dog’s attention. I use several types of treats. Sometimes, I even give them people food (Gasp!).
  • Use a toy! I personally have several different toys, along with treats and my praise to reward my dog.  They never know what’s coming!
  • Some working breeds can be taught to have a higher drive with toys. (Some non-working breeds too!)

Make Sure You Give the Puppy Plenty of Breaks

  • Expecting a 10 week old puppy to pay attention for 20min at a time is unrealistic. Just like mentioned before, you want to keep training fun.  Giving them short little 30 second breaks will keep the puppy from wearing out too fast and enable them to focus better when they are paying attention.
  • Use the SAME release word when giving them a break.
    • Some words used are, break, Okay, free, release or anything else you want as long as it stays the same.

Make Sure the Puppy is Set Up for Success

If your puppy is doing well with 15second intervals of awesome attention, you don’t want to turn around and go for 5minutes.  If your puppy is struggling, look for the smallest success and be super excited, give him a break, then go back and do it again. Increase in 5 second intervals, increase the distractions, change the location you are training in, but be sure you keep the puppy from failing. You always want to end on a positive and successful note.