Chihuahua Training
Training is an essential part of raising a puppy to become an ideal pet. Not all owners have the same idea of what an ideal pet is, and not all puppies require the same amount of training to become their owners' ideal pet. However, all puppies do require some degree of training, and the more training time you are willing to put in with your puppy, the better relationship you and your puppy will have. With this in mind, take a look at the fun facts about training (and puppies in general) below.
1. Though puppies learn a great deal about how to interact with the world from their mothers and their environments from birth, from 8 to 24 weeks of age is the most effective time to train your puppy. Since most puppies go home between 8 and 10 weeks of age, this means that New Owners should be prepared to begin training with their puppies immediately.
2. Leash training should start as early as 8 weeks of age, with basic obedience training immediately following, or in conjunction with leash training.
3. Obedience training helps to establish you as the leader of the pack, which is how your puppy should see you.
4. You don't have to be the Dog Whisperer to teach your puppy obedience. Most puppies do exceptionally well in group obedience classes, or you can use the tools we have provided here to train your puppy at home.
5. The key words for effective training are: positive, upbeat, fast-paced, confident, assertive.
6. Short training sessions are essential. Training sessions should be no more than 5 to 10 minutes per session, for no more than 2 or 3 sessions per day.
7. Consistent training methods provide better results. You should always have at least one training session with your puppy each day to reinforce what he has learned. Also following with this, be consistent with what you use to reinforce wanted behavior. We recommend finding a treat that your dog would do anything for, and using that treat only for training sessions.
8. Positive reinforcement is the way to go. Dogs and puppies do not process punishment. To them, punishment is not correction, but a threat to their safety, which typically reinforces the unwanted behavior. Clicker training is a very popular positive reinforcement method.
9. Training is a form of bonding. Owners who train their puppies naturally form a stronger bond with them.
10. Training enhances your puppy's social skills and helps in the socialization process.
11. We provide information on obedience training in our puppy kit, and we have added some links to videos below so you can see how it works.