You can quickly fall in love with a new puppy—it rarely takes more than an hour or two of adorable playtime. However, it’s easy to play with other people’s dogs; it’s a whole other story when you’re supposed to raise and train the doggie yourself.
In that case, you should learn everything you can about dog training and successfully put it into practice — and long before you’ve found Mini Dachshund Puppies for sale at a reputable breeder.
Don’t worry—while training a new puppy yourself may seem daunting, you can find plenty of information online, from books to entire YouTube channels dedicated to helping you give your dog the training they deserve.
With that in mind, we’ll dip a toe in the pond of dog training advice by giving you a few quick but valuable tips!
Teaching A Puppy Their Name
Naturally, every dog should learn to respond to its name. As you’ll soon see, the time it’ll take your specific doggo to recognize their name varies greatly. Some dogs pick it up after a couple of weeks; for others, it’s months and, in some cases, even years.
However, one thing’s certain—the sooner you start teaching them and the more time you devote to the process, the quicker they’ll learn. There are many exercises and methods, but you can start with the simplest one; getting your pup to respond to its name by looking at you on cue.
If they turn to you after being called by their name, it’s safe to give the doggo a small reward. Ideally, you want to play this basic name game a few times a day. If you notice that it’s become easy for them, and they’re responding correctly every time—it’s time to ramp up the difficulty.
Start taking them to places they’ve never been and calling them in different environments. After they master that, think of other distractions to throw into the mix. And when you’re certain that the puppy will reliably respond to its name in the future, you can stop rewarding them and move on to other activities.
Total Recall (All Pun Intended)
Recall training is an essential skill for all new doggos to learn—unfortunately, it’s also not easy to perfect, and it’ll take a lot of time, energy, and patience on your part. Don’t expect the little rascal to respond to recalls right away reliably, though some dogs master the lesson faster than others.
Remember that teaching your dog to come to you is a vital safety tool; the command might get them out of harm’s way one day. Of course, they’ll need to master recognizing their name first for this to work.
They’ll need these brand-new recognition skills. To start this part of the training, call the dog by its name and call it over; you can also use gestures to clarify the command, though that doesn’t always work.
If the puppy moves towards you in the slightest after you’ve called it over, give it plenty of verbal praise. This will encourage the pup to continue, and it’ll know it’s on the right track.
On the other hand, your doggo might be hesitant. That’s perfectly normal, especially at first. If that happens, slowly walk over, re-attach its leash, and lead it back to its starting spot. If the puppy has made progress on the previous try, reward it with a treat and some praise before starting over.
Teaching The “Sit” Command
The following command we’ll cover is easier to teach: the famous “Sit.” Young puppies usually pick it up easily; if a dog has learned just one command, it tends to be this one.
So, how do you get your little canine bundle of joy to sit calmly? For starters, put a doggie treat on your palm and place it in front of your puppy.
Their eyes will immediately zero in on the tasty prize—as they do, start raising your hands. When they’ve gone above the dog’s head, simply tell them to “sit.”
They’ll instinctively sit up to better follow the doggy treat with their eyes. And when they’ve sat fully upright, praise them and let them have the snack. That’s all you need to do; just repeat this simple exercise until the puppy obeys the command, even when there’s no treat in sight.
As you may have concluded, almost every dog training exercise works similarly. You use a treat, energetic verbal praise, or both to show your puppy what it should do after specific commands or in certain situations.
When you feel the doggy may listen to you without a reward, try to remove it and see if they’ve developed the appropriate reflex.
Just remember to avoid getting frustrated with your puppy and punishing it when it fails—as it frequently will. Like people, dogs respond to positive reinforcement a lot more!