How to Teach Your Dog to "Come" Distance and Distraction are the elements that you will need to train. Always start with short distances and very low distraction. 

1. Every day set up coming when called rehearsals. Be prepared  and take out 5 or 6 treats and have them ready!  Check the environment for "over his pay grade" distractions so you can avoid them. Repeat the rehearsal until your treats are gone and you're done! Short and Sweet!

2. Coming When Called is a "relationship" based response. Spend time with your dog/puppy playing, training with rewards and having fun. They need to trust you and think you are the center of their world.

3. Set Your Dog Up To Succeed
Until your dog will reliably come when called 95% of the time, they should be on a leash or a long line when in an unenclosed area. 

Don't allow your dog to rehearse ignoring you. If you allow them off leash in public before they are trained to come, you will be giving them one more opportunity to make the wrong choice.

On that same subject, when you are about to call your dog to you, look around. Ask yourself "What's my competition here?" If you think there's a pretty good chance your dog will not respond, simply walk up to your dog quietly and clip the leash on and walk away. Or, approach them and stand right next to the dog. In a very exciting voice, say their name and "come" start rewarding the dog immediately and then every few steps until you have them "hooked"!

Every time you call your dog to you, you have the opportunity to condition your dog to WANT to come to you. For the first 8 weeks of training, (whenever it starts) there should be a very valuable treat for your dog when they get to you. 

You're always training. Each day do several "drive-bys" where you call the dog to you when they are not focused on you. When they come, reward and then walk away. The dog will wonder why they don't get to do it again, and that's the best kind of training relationship. 

5. Play games with your dog that reinforce coming when called. Play "pass the puppy" calling him back and forth between two or more people. Each person has a wonderful food treat for the dog. They love this game. Gradually increase the distance. If the dog fails, you're too far away...for now. 

Play Hide and Seek. Have someone hold the dog while you hide. Call the dog in a happy tone...when they find you, Party!!!!! Roll on the ground with the dog and rejoice. They love this!

6. Never call your dog to you to yell at them, bathe them, or anything else that has a negative association to coming when called. 

 
This is a guideline. This helps you understand how much endurance a puppy has and also helps with keeping it slow as to not injure your pup.

8 to 12 weeks of age.
·  50-200 feet at a time.
·  Break up with sniffing in noodling around.
·  Formal heeling/leash walking training limited to 2 minutes.

12 to 16 weeks of age.
·  Gradually increase duration and length of walks probably going to be between 100 to 200 ft by the time the puppy is 16 weeks old.
·  Let the puppy volunteer to keep going and stop if he shows reluctance to go further.
·  Keep formal training under 2 minutes per session.

4-6 months of age.
·  Gradually increase duration in Lengths of walks probably going to be between 200 - 400 ft at a time by the time the puppy is 6 months old.
·  Let the puppy volunteer to keep going and stop if he shows reluctance to go further.
·  Keep formal training under 2 minutes per session.

6-12 months of age.
·  Walks on Pavement should be kept short but duration of walks on dirt or turf can be increased and more hiking type activities can be introduced.
·  Again, best to keep doing these walks as sniff and strolls but you can increase sustained walking to up to 20 to 30 minutes on a relatively level soft surface by the time the puppy is a year old if the puppy volunteers to go that far.

​    Dogs are context specific. Meaning if you only practice down in your kitchen that is the only place your puppy will go into a down. In order for your dog to generalize a command like down you must move the command. Once you have learned down in the kitchen you have to teach it in your living room, family room, bedroom, outside, etc. When you move the cue to different areas you pup will generalize so when you ask for a down he will know exactly what you mean. Once you generalize the command you must then start with using the commands during distractions like when someone is walking by or when a loud truck is rumbling down the road.  Training Tracker printable 

​Your puppy will grow out of the biting stage at around 4-5 months old. For now, understand that they will grab on to your clothes, hands, shoes...anything that moves if they are stimulated to do it. 

Anything that touches a puppy stimulates the puppy to play and puppies play with their mouths.

Your hands are targets. Don't play with your puppy without a toy in your hands that your puppy can bite.
Toss the toys away from your body to keep the dog play at a distance.

Keep the puppy away from you as you walk by tossing toys away from your body. Treats, too, should be tossed on the floor until you teach your puppy to take them gently.

Use a Tail Teaser to keep the dog engaged and playing several feet from your body! 
And speaking of toys, have plenty of chew items on hand. A chew item should be something that is more or less edible. Some puppies like nylabones and other non-edible chew items and others need the real thing. Do an internet search for puppy chews and stock up!

If your puppy grabs you with their teeth, do not pull your hands away quickly. The puppy's prey drive will motivate her to "catch" your hand. If you pull your hand across her teeth it will cause more damage to your skin. Freeze. See the next tip. 

Ask for an "incompatible behavior". This is any known skill that will give him something else to do, like "Sit". Do not reward him by petting him. You will start the whole cycle over again. If you have no access to a food treat (which you would toss on the floor), throw a toy or take you puppy outside for some good sniffing!

If you or anyone else wants to pet your puppy, keep their mouth busy by holding a treat or chew item in front of their mouth while the puppy is being petted. 

Use the "low and slow" technique for your body parts and your voice, when interacting with your puppy.  Keep those hands low and next to the body and move them slowly. Talk to your puppy in a low and slow voice to keep them calm. Fast and high will arouse the puppy and cause them to play bite. 

Whoever is wrestling or playing rough with the puppy is teaching them to bite, jump and to play aggressively. If he does grab your clothing or skin, freeze. The more you struggle and wrestle, the stronger his response to hold on will be. 

Interrupt Play often to everyone keep from going over the top!

Never slap your puppy. This will teach them to go after your hands more, not less. It will also cause aggression or extreme head shyness. 

Training with Children 
Supervise, supervise, supervise! Children are not "Pack Leaders". No matter what you've been told you can teach a puppy about your children with "alpha" exercises (silly concept to begin with) the rest of your child's behavior is child-like and puppy-like and your dog or puppy will see your children for what they are: Litter Mates. ​

   Socialization is the process of introducing a puppy to the world in a way that will help him be confident and unafraid of people, places, and things that he will encounter throughout his life. The most critical socialization window occurs before the age of 12 weeks, and that window is considered to be closing by 5 months. Generally, the younger the puppy is when he is socialized, the more quickly and easily he gains confidence. Waiting too long can result in a need for the more difficult process of rehabilitation instead of socialization. Most aggression issues are simply a result of inefficient socialization.socialization_checklist.pdf
Rules of socialization
Each socialization exposure must be fun for your puppy. If he is forced to confront fears, he is not ready to handle the process can backfire and create a fearful/aggressive response. Go at his pace and at a distance he feels safe. Your puppy should be the one to initiate each approach to something new and be allowed to retreat when needed to feel safe.
Socialization includes generalization. Though your puppy may be fine with the toddlers or dogs in your home, that does not mean he is fine with all children in dogs. Even if he is in a class, he will need to meet new and different dogs and people, and in different places, after his classmates and their owners become familiar to him. You need to continue to expose him to new things, places, and Contacts to best generalize his confidence with new things.
Pair treats with exposure to make good associations. If your puppy is worried about those children he sees running across the street, it can help if the sight of the children makes a treat suddenly appear.  Or if he does not like her paws touched, a brief touch followed by a lick of peanut butter with a spoon can make paw touches easier to handle. If he will not take food, that is a good indication that you need to back up and lower the intensity of the exposure with more distance or less pressure.
If your puppy seems to be fearful of certain things and doesn't gain confidence quickly please see a Positive Pup Training associate so we can help you with this.  Socialization checklist printable
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