Working a bit off simple off leash obedience on the trail. This little man is earning his off-leash freedom one step at a time.
Don't wait to start your training. Boundaries can be set immediately when your puppy comes home. Don't let the "they are just a puppy" idea cause you to hold off in establishing your relationship. Your pup should quickly be looking at you for guidance and direction because they know all good things come through you. The place command and thresholds are a great way to start because they establish the idea that the behavior is expected to continue until they are released from the command. Banyan started this at about 2.5 months when he got here. It was done with a lot of hand feeding. (Once and a while we let him use the food bowl).
This boy is a bit of a jumper, so how are we going to deal with that? A bit of perch work will really help. I would generally start lower than this, but I knew he would be fine with it. This is the first time we have worked with this behavior. I say "two feet" because I think it's funny, but you could say "pizza" as long as it's consistent and you start to shape the behavior of the dog placing their front two paws on whatever you are pointing to. We can then put jumping up (because honestly sometimes I like it) on command. That way the behavior is ONLY acceptable when it's on command.
Reactivity is reactivity whether it sounds like barking and lunging or just over excitement. Working with this sweet pup and his dedicated owner on maintaining calm in the face of his biggest source of over excitement ...other dogs. Working outside the dog park and they are doing a great job.
Teaching people to start to play with their dogs in a structured way is one of my favorite things to teach. Often we unintentionally reward the wrong behaviors in play rather than building engagement. This pup's loose leash walking improved a ton after increasing engagement and having an outlet some drive through play. #trainyourdog #alwaystraining #leadwithlove #dogtraining
