How to Train Your Puppy Consistently

Lots of owners want to see their puppy doing high fives and rolling over straightaway. But you should always start with basic commands, such as 'sit' and 'stay' first. You’ll struggle to ensure consistency if you skip the basics and go straight to the advanced commands.

It’s just as important you finish training your puppy one trick before you move onto the next. It needs to be properly drilled into their brain before you move onto the next command. Otherwise you may simply confuse them.

Your puppy won’t be able to concentrate for a long period of time. So stick to short training sessions of just a few minutes each day. You will achieve consistency by opting for the short and frequent approach.

Make sure you use appealing rewards when you train. Puppies will learn best when there is the promise of food on the line. A delicious treat will help that training stick in their mind.

Unfortunately, too many owners resort to punishment to enforce consistent rules. Rather than achieving consistency, such techniques will only terrify your puppy, who then may develop a number of problematic issues for you to deal with.

You are in the best position to enforce consistent rules because your dog is just a puppy. Any habits you form now they may well stick to for the rest of their life. So the earlier you say 'no going on the furniture', for example, the sooner they will accept that as a rule for life.

There’s no use enforcing rules if everyone else in the house lets your puppy do what they want. So make sure they all react and stop them doing any habits you want to break.

Part of ensuring consistency is getting your puppy into a routine. One easy way to do that is to feed them their meals at the same time each day. This will help build a schedule they will get used to sticking to--not to mention it could reduce begging.

Leading on from feeding them at the same times, try only feeding them from their food bowl. Food is a major attraction in their life. So setting the rule early on of only eating from their bowl will help achieve consistency later on.

It’s also important to regularly take them out for toilet visits. Again this helps reinforce a consistent routine. You will find over time a food and toilet routine will help get your dog used to consistency, which will make sticking to training easier too.

If you want to consistently train your puppy, you need to make sure you don’t repeat commands. This will only teach the pup that they don’t have to follow your instructions until you’ve pestered a few times. So get in the habit of just giving a command once. This will ensure consistency in the long run.

Lots of owners master the 'sit' command, for example, in a quiet living room, but then never continue training with distractions around. If you want to ensure consistency, you need to train your puppy in a range of environments.

If you want consistent results in the long run, you don’t want to focus too much on treats. This will only make the dog fixated on food and then weaning them off it may prove challenging later down the line. So use high-pitched verbal praise and toys from the beginning too. You can then transition from treats to healthier rewards far easier.

Your puppy will look to you for consistency. So if one day you’re training while in a great mood and the next you are miserable, they will be confused and may not respond to training so well. So although it may be difficult, try to stay in a positive mood each time you train.

Dogs are pack animals. So if you want them to consistently follow your instructions and rules, then you need to show that you are always the pack leader. So don’t show weakness, be assertive, control when they eat and go out for a walk, and don’t give in to begging.