Puppy Training Orange County
Why Dog Owners Should Get Puppy Training
- You want to ensure your pup is on the right path to becoming a well-behaved dog.
- You’re already seeing troubling signs of disobedience in the first 20 weeks.
- It’s a great way to set a foundation for future training programs.
When Should I Start Dog Training?
Essentially, dog owners should be training as soon as they bring their new best friend home. Puppies begin learning from as soon as they are born, and a good breeder will have exposed the puppy to handling and socializing, helping eliminate any later behavioral problems. Some training can begin immediately, like potty training, but for best results, you can start teaching the basics like “sit,” “down,” and “stay” from as young as seven to eight weeks of age. Traditionally, formal training is delayed until around six months of age, but in reality, this training approach means that your puppy misses out on the formative weeks when they are learning how to behave. During this age, the puppy begins to learn adult behavioral patterns and advances through the fear stages.
Puppy Training Classes for Dog Lovers in Southern California
Private Lessons
Our Sit Means Sit professional trainer will do a one-on-one lesson with you and your dog to jump-start the transition. During private lessons, dog owners have the luxury of a dog training session without other dogs. After each lesson, a certified trainer will demonstrate detailed homework to work on during the week before the following lesson. After a few lessons and successful home assignments, you’ll be off and running. This package offers a continuation through group class when the trainer signs off.
Group Class
Training your furry friend doesn’t have to be a pain in your butt! Our fun and exciting group classes give you the best access to achieving advanced behavior goals and correcting deep habits while training around other dogs. However, group sessions are only offered for clients who have passed one of our packages and are interested in advanced, hands-on learning with their furry friend. Our group classes are designed to build on the basics and allow your pet to deepen its skills. Our trainers will elect to move those interested into advanced and specialty classes with fine-tuned methods. This is where we really test your pet (and you) on what we can do in the real world. Let’s continue to move forward together and eliminate our bad habits!
Puppy Training
Our puppy program is designed to have your puppy hit the ground running. A professional trainer will give you the tools you need to keep you on the road to success for a well-rounded and confident canine in the future. Talk to us about the concerns you are having with your puppy. The chewing, pulling on the leash, and other bad habits can be stopped early in the relationship, giving you a lifetime pet who is a reliable family member. We want your friends and family to go “wow” when they see your young dog. The best part of our puppy socialization and obedience course is the financial commitment, which can be applied toward a more advanced package in the future. Start your puppy young, and the sky is the limit!
Why Choose Sit Means Sit?
At Sit Means Sit Dog Training South Orange County, our passion is to develop the relationship between dogs and their families, to allow the most freedom and safety for the dogs and the most peace of mind for the people. We specialize in behavioral challenges such as aggressive dogs, separation anxiety, fear and submission issues, leash reactivity, and high-energy puppies. Our lifetime warranty gives you the certainty that we will meet your dog training goals, and our training is guaranteed for your pup’s life!
Free Tips for Training Your New Puppy
1. Use positive reinforcement techniques
Almost all vets agree that positive reinforcement training is the most effective method of dog training. Dog owners using positive reinforcement training essentially focus on rewarding their pets for good behavior, rather than punishing bad behavior. Whenever your dog demonstrates good behavior and responds positively to your commands, reward them! By rewarding good behavior, you’re reinforcing the association between good behavior and good things. It’s also important to make sure you’re not inadvertently rewarding unwanted behavior. For example, if your dog barks at you to play or jumps up on a new person to say hello, don’t acknowledge it or give in, as this just reinforces the bad behavior. Instead, wait until they’re calmer before giving them attention. Helping dogs through positive reinforcement is one of the main goals of our dog training program!
2. Find the right reward.
Some dogs are food-motivated and will respond very enthusiastically to any sort of edible treat as a reward. Others are pickier: often, soft, chewy treats are preferred to hard, crunchy ones. Some dogs, however, just aren’t that interested in food at all. If this is the case with your pup, try experimenting with other rewards, like a quick play session with a favorite toy, or even just plenty of affection. Experiment finding your puppy’s favorite reward with unstructured shaping during your first free session of play.
3. Consistency is key.
Being consistent in your training is incredibly important. This includes consistency in how you’re training your dog—for example, always using the same word, and even the same kind of intonation, when asking them to do something. Equally important is for everyone in your household to be on the same page. Dogs need consistency to learn new habits, so if you never let the dog on the couch, but your partner does, your pup will just end up confused.
Ready to Get Started?
Through our free consultation, Sit Means Sit Dog Training South Orange County will design a program to fit each dog and owner’s goals. Our programs vary both in structure and layout as well as in cost and duration. Each of our training programs is custom-tailored to your specific needs.
Fill out the form on this page or call us at (949) 373-5357 today!