Training Your New Lab Puppy

    • Training a young puppy is a tiresome task. Innocent and naïve, a puppy needs persistent effort to understand your command and learn to show obedience. Though the beginning is saddled with difficulties, your patience pays offs when you have a loyal and perfect life-long companion. Therefore, start your Labrador puppy training as soon as he arrives.The most important thing to focus on once your Labrador puppy is at home is your relationship with him. Petting your dog on his back, or behind his ears, or under his chin is an excellent way to get start building trust. Dogs thrive with affectionate human touch, and you can use this to bond with your pet. It not only builds your dog’s trust, but it is also a way to teach your Labrador puppy about dominance and submission.Tools you will need to start your basic puppies training.
      • Collar (I like a choke collar)
      • Leash
      • Treats are a very important tool to use while training your puppy.  I always carry some treats in my front pocket. Treats can be as simple as your puppy’s dry dog food. Use the treats as a reward for any obeyed command.  I still carry treats with me every day for my adult dogs.  Treats work!
      • A small plastic swimming pool.  Labs love the water.  Labs are bred for their keen water instincts. The puppy you brought home with you has already been introduced to the water.
      • A dog crate.  If the puppy is going to stay indoors with you, he needs to stay in his crate when you are not playing with him.  This is a good way to start potty training your puppy. A puppy will not pee where he sleeps.
      • A fetch item.  This should be something soft that he can’t swallow, and that you can toss 10 feet.  When he is big enough, a tennis ball works great for fetching because you can throw a tennis ball a long distance with a Chucker (tool for throwing a ball a long way).  Your puppy is a Labrador Retriever, a unique breed known for his retriever skills.  It is in his DNA. Use it to exercise your puppy.  An exercised dog is a happy dog.
        • 1. To begin training your puppy, do it at your home.  Do not take your puppy out in public until your puppy has all of its shots.  That is very important.  The canine parvovirus (CPV) infection is a highly contagious viral illness that affects dogs. The virus manifests itself in two different forms. The more common form is the intestinal form, which is characterized by vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss and lack of appetite (anorexia).  It is deadly and can show up any time an infected dog comes in contact with your new puppy, or even when your puppy comes in contact with an infected dog’s poop.

      2.  Teach your puppy to come to you first.  Make it a simple command. “Come, Lexi.”  That’s it. “Come, Lexi.”  When he comes to you, treat him immediately with a dog treat from your pocket.  Tell him, “Good boy” and make a big deal of it.  When he comes to you, push his hind end down and say, “Sit!”  Do this over, and over again until he understands.  “Come” and “Sit.”  This may take a couple of days, but if you stick with it, your puppy will come to you when you call him and sit for you when you say sit.  Praise and treat him every time he obeys your he obeys your command.  Be patient, and persistent.  It will pay off I promise!  I work with the puppies every day. All of the puppies have been worked with ever day.

    • 3. leash training your new  puppy.  This is quite easy, and can be accomplished in one training session.  I recommend a choke collar.  A smooth chain collar with two rings at either end. (Not the collar with spikes).  When you first attach the leash to the collar your puppy will resist the leash.  He will try to pull away from you. and turn his head, and not want any part of the leash.  Don’t freak out!!  Let go of the leash, and get down to eye level with your puppy. Tell him to come to you on your hands and knees if you have to get to his eye level (Preferable). If you trained him to come he will come to you.  Pick up the leash handle and crawl back the length of the leash and tell him to come gently pulling the leash towards you.  When he arrives give him a treat and praise him.  Good boy!!!  Do it again. Praise him.  Do it again.  Praise him.  Do it again. Praise him.  When your knees are too sore to continue stand up, and take your puppy for a walk.  It’s that easy I promise.
    • 4. Now your puppy is leash trained, and you have total control of your puppy. Now you can reinforce the sit command by gently pulling up on the leash and telling him to sit.  Once he will sit every time you gently pull up the leash and say sit you can move on to the stay command. This will take a while, but be persistent, and he will stay when told to stay.
    • 5. Training session should not last more than 20 minutes.
    • 6. It’s a good idea to purchase a small hard plastic swimming pool.  Fill the pool with fresh water and let your puppy cool off in the pool after a training session.  He will love the water.  Your puppy will be used to the pool because we have a number of pools at the kennel, and they have learned to play in the water.
    • 7. After your puppy has had all of his shots take him to the lake, or a park that has a small pond, and play fetch with him throwing a tennis ball in the water, and let him retrieve the ball, and bring back to you.  He will love it, and it is great exercise.

Teaching your puppy to sit, and Fetch