Puppy training fun
Our little Jude is making amazing progress with his puppy training! And just look at how much he’s grown over the past 4 weeks! (Those legs!!!)
We have focused on his social skills (he’s now accepted as a regular down our local pub) and introduced many basic puppy training techniques. He has cracked pretty much everything we have asked of him so far. His puppy training progress is an absolute pleasure to follow.
Check out his sit, wait and come in this reel…
Cracking the sit
Luckily Jude is extremely food focused, which is great for rewarding his training with treats. To crack the sit we used Pet Munchies 100% natural dog treats. And, being super small they are easy to keep loose in your pocket or puppy training pouch.
Jude did a lot of excited ‘air pawing’ on starting ‘sit’ so we worked very patiently with lots of short sessions of just a minute or so. From a standing position we held the treat just above Jude’s nose to encourage him to lift his head, which in return begins the sit posture.
Repetition and consistency are key to a puppy learning, so as soon as his bum and front feet both touched the floor, even for only a nano second, we rewarded him.
It didn’t take long for Jude to work out that his pre-sit shenanigans merely delayed treat delivery. With sit mastered, next came the wait.
The wait
Wait is developing really well too. Once sitting, we started by holding his treat a little longer with a ‘wait’ command. Step by step we began to back away to increase the distance between us, returning to reward the sitting wait.
Jude seems really eager to please and can already wait whilst we disappear from his sight. It’s amazing to watch his concentration, his head raised, perfectly still, ears alert, waiting for his next instruction. So now we’ve begun the ‘come.’
The come
Recall is one of our most essential puppy training aims. Whilst we want Jude to enjoy lots of fun off lead, his safety is paramount. ‘Come’ is working really well with the treats, and he sits straight away eager for his titbit. He has even achieved coming from play, which amazes us at such an early stage.
Puppy training house rules – a work in progress
Whilst Jude’s love of food is proving great for his puppy training, it’s also presenting challenges. Setters are renowned for their ‘endearing’ acts of ‘naughtiness’… counter surfing, bin raiding and dishwasher bombardment being just a few. It can be really hard not to laugh, especially at this young age, as smiles and sounds of delight communicate praise. As any experienced family will know, a fully grown setter can wreak havoc, so we need to set the house rules in place now.
Adolescence is approaching
Alongside his growth spurt, Jude is discovering a whole new level of life to explore, especially as he is now officially able to walk, mix and mingle. We are in little doubt that his puppy training may take a few steps backwards as he begins adolescence, so it is important we continue to focus on consistency and repetition. Lead walking is next and Jude is getting used to wearing his new harness in preparation.
Watch this space for his next update.
