Training my puppy in the first 3 weeks

Training Puppy to take food

The first thing I taught my new puppy Flash was to find food and take it from my hand.

This was a new experience and he got the idea very quickly.

This is a basic requirement for any training which includes luring and for rewarding by hand.

Training Puppy to follow food

Once Flash understood about the food, I was able to tech him to follow food in my hand.

For such a young puppy, following food was done calmly, I didn’t want to over excite him and I also wanted to avoid him losing his footing and slipping.

Soon, I was able to lure him around my legs into the Middle Position.

This kind of game teaches him that it’s fun to stay close to me and later on will help with loose lead walking and recall.  

Training Puppy to search for food

We played some very simple games searching for food in packaging such as egg boxes and packets.

I love this kind of game for building confidence and drive.

It is easy to vary the set up and keep it interesting.

Training Puppy to work for food

We made meal times more fun by filling a Puppy Kong with his kibble.

Flash quickly got the idea that he could release the kibble from the Kong by flicking it with his paw.

We mixed it up a bit by boiling and mashing some vegetables and putting it in a Kong.

He found this more challenging because he had to work harder to get the food out.

We will continue to practice this as it will build his ability to stick to a task.

Training Puppy to stay close

Young puppies like to stay close and I used this to have him follow me around the garden, this is the very beginning of walking on a loose lead and recall.

He was rewarded for staying close with verbal praise, cuddles and puppy treats.

Training Puppy to sit

Teaching sit by holding a piece of food above his head and slowly lowering it until he is sitting.

He does not get the food if he is jumping up.

Once the behaviour is reliable, I will add the cue.

We did some training with the Place board, teaching Flash that the board is a good place to be by feeding him on the board.

He was rewarded for staying on the board.

Place board training is really useful for teaching basic gun dog skills.