part0017

On the first day of school, you know the drill: Number 2 pencils, lined paper, a notebook, an eraser, and maybe a bottle of water. This is your training gear. Your puppy needs their own special collection to set them up for success. Here is a list of the basic supplies and what each one is used for.

COLLAR AND TAG: This is a collar, with an ID tag attached. It will feel weird to your puppy at first, but they’ll get used to it quickly. The collar should be loose enough that you can slip a couple of fingers in between the collar and your puppy’s neck, but not so loose that it can slip off.

LEASH: A good leash for your puppy is six feet long. Any leash with a comfortable handle is fine. But avoid all retractable leashes (the kind that roll up automatically)—they give a false sense of control and often cause serious injuries.

Leashes are important not only to keep your puppy close, but also to help your puppy pay attention to whatever you are doing. Without a leash, a puppy’s natural curiosity will have them constantly wandering off to explore the universe.

FRONT-CLIP HARNESS: Here’s our old friend, the front-clip harness (here ). It should fit pretty snugly. They have adjustable straps. But they can only be adjusted so far. If you have a medium or large breed of dog, they will keep growing and will likely need at least one larger harness as they get older.

TRAINING TREATS: Positive training requires a lot of treats, but not all treats are the same. The best treats are entirely or mostly made out of meat. Almost any kind of meat is fine, like chicken, beef, and also “exotic” ones like alligator, bison, kangaroo, duck, lamb, and goat. Your puppy will enjoy a variety!

Treats need to be small, so that means either buying treats that come in tiny pieces or ones that can be easily torn into small pieces.

The kind of treat you don’t want to use for training is dog biscuits. Biscuits are hard, crunchy, and crumbly. Timing matters when you're training, and biscuits take too long to chew and leave distracting crumbs on the ground.

TREAT POUCH: A treat pouch, also called a bait bag, is a container that you can clip to your pants or belt or wear across your body with a strap. It holds all your treats so that you’re always ready to train and reward. If you don’t have one, you can make one with a little bag and some sort of clip to attach it to your hip. A good treat pouch makes it easy to very quickly grab a treat without having to search around in your pocket.

CRATE: Your puppy’s home-within-home is a cozy private fort called a crate (see here ). Your puppy should be able to turn completely around inside and stretch out to lie down, but nothing bigger than that. Most crates are made out of metal or plastic. You don’t want a fabric crate, because your puppy will chew it up.

PUPPY PEN: A pen is a foldable fence. Until your puppy is fully trained, a pen is a great way to limit your puppy’s play space. It is perfectly okay for anyone to go inside the pen to play with puppy, unlike the crate.

Because pens fold, they are great to bring over to someone else’s home. For example, imagine you are having Thanksgiving dinner at the home of a family member. By bringing the pen and setting it up, you can hang out with your family while your puppy roams around their pen.

If you are going to leave your puppy in the pen for a little while and you are worried they might have an accident, you can put pee pads on the floor.

PEE PADS: Pee pads are just like baby diapers, except they aren’t worn—they lie flat on the floor. Like diapers, they can absorb a lot of liquid. Since puppies like to pee where they smell pee, many pads come with an attractive odor. The pads won’t smell like anything to you, but your puppy will notice!

After your puppy uses a pad, it should be thrown in the trash right away and the area needs to be cleaned.

POOP BAG: Take one with you whenever puppy goes outside to go potty. They help keep your neighborhood clean. Picking up after your puppy is an important first step in being a responsible pet owner.

If you’re concerned about the environment, there are lots of biodegradable and compostable poop bags you can buy.

CLICKER: This is a small device that you push with your thumb to make a clicking noise. Clickers are used in puppy training to let a puppy know they just did the right thing.

In this book, we are going to use the spoken word YES! instead of having you use a clicker. At the Zoom Room, we have seen a lot of kids play with the clicker and click it too much. Clicking all the time or at the wrong time can really confuse your puppy and make it harder for them to learn.

If you do have a clicker in your home, please do not play with it. If your grown-up is using a clicker to train your puppy, that is great. It won’t matter at all if they are using a clicker and you are using YES!

Now that you are ready to start training your puppy, you are going to be giving them lots of instructions. Training commands may be given to your puppy with hand gestures and words. When you teach your puppy, you will teach them both the gesture and the command word or phrase. Your puppy will learn the gesture first and the word second.

Training your puppy means keeping calm. Losing your patience will slow down puppy training. Worse, think of the fear phases. Your puppy could develop some behavior problems if they are afraid.

TIP No one is perfect. If you find yourself losing your cool, the best thing you can do is ask a grown-up to help you out.

The type of training you’re learning in this book is called positive reward or positive reinforcement . It is all about teaching your puppy that while you may be the boss, you are really their kind and generous leader.

When your puppy does something you love that they’re supposed to do, say YES! and clap, laugh, and smile. Think of your voice and positivity as having the power to show your puppy what you want. In dog training, this is called shaping . The positive feedback increases the closer your puppy gets to performing the exact behavior desired.

A puppy's brain can only connect a reward to an action if they get the reward within two seconds of the action. Imagine you tell your puppy to sit and they sit. You dig around in your treat bag, get a treat, and take it over to your puppy. Your puppy has already seen you digging for goodies and hopped back to their feet, wagging their tail. Then you give your puppy their reward. About five seconds have passed since your puppy sat.

At the moment you give the treat, what is your puppy doing? Standing and wagging their tail. You have just taught your puppy how to stand and wag their tail, not to sit.

That won’t work. What you really need is some kind of bridge that connects the correct behavior to the treat that will come a few seconds later.

Our bridge is the happily exclaimed word YES! When your puppy sits, you say YES! right away to praise their behavior. Then you can give the treat, even if it’s a few seconds later.

You are using YES! as your bridge. It is what we call a verbal marker . It is a spoken response.

YES! is a powerful word in puppy training. It lets your puppy know they have done the exact right thing to make you happy. And it takes only a fraction of a second for you to say it.

Now we are going to teach your puppy what the word YES! means. Your puppy doesn’t speak your language yet, so we need to teach them a simple definition:

YES! = Reward (Treat)

We are not asking your puppy to perform any kind of trick or behavior. We are rewarding them for doing nothing.

This is language class. We are Loading the Yes . This means we are teaching your puppy to connect YES! with the deliciousness of tasty treats.

This is a powerful association for your puppy. Now, whenever you say YES! your puppy knows they did something wonderful because they have learned that a treat is sure to follow.

Puppies are puppies, and they don’t always do what you want. So what is the opposite of YES ?

In puppy training, the opposite of YES is actually nothing . It is silence.

Training your puppy means that when they do what you want, you quickly give a verbal marker (YES! ) and then a reward and positive praise. And when your puppy does something you don’t like, you ignore them.

By ignoring the thing you don’t want your puppy to do, you will eventually extinguish that behavior. We usually say extinguish when we mean putting out a fire. You put out a fire by taking away its oxygen. Your happy feedback and praise is the oxygen your puppy wants. When you don’t reward your puppy for something, your puppy will stop doing it.

Never say “No” or “Bad dog.” Never punish or scold.

You might be wondering about that command we had you use earlier: AH AH . You used it when your puppy didn’t perform the behavior quite the way you wanted. Isn’t AH AH just another way to say “No”?

It is actually much different. It is what we call a nonresponse marker. You say it in a calm voice. It is simply a very short way to say, “Okay, I see that you’re trying, but that is not exactly the answer I was looking for. Try again?”

We believe there is a big difference between “Not quite” and “No!”

Let’s see if you can tell when to use the nonresponse marker AH AH with your puppy and when you should do nothing.

If your puppy is struggling with a task, once they finally nail it, give them three or four treats instead of one. When you give your puppy a bigger reward than they were expecting, that’s called a jackpot .

Getting a jackpot is a really big deal to your puppy. A puppy who finally sits correctly and then gets a jackpot thinks, “Wow. This is amazing. I'd better pay attention and do this same exact thing the next time the kid asks me.”

Jackpots are also a terrific way to end a training session. Puppies learn that training is fun and enjoyable when training ends with lots of treats.

You want your puppy to know that saying SIT means sit anytime and anywhere that anyone says it. But if you taught your puppy to sit when you were in the living room and there was the sound of a truck coming from outside, your puppy possibly learned to sit when you said SIT in the living room with the sound of a truck nearby.

The next time you train, the truck isn’t there, but your puppy still thinks SIT has something to do with you and with the living room. The truck lost its importance by going away. We need to do the same thing with the place (living room) and the trainer (you).

In dog training this is called proofing . Proofing means teaching a dog the same behavior in different situations, like outdoors instead of inside.

Proofing happens naturally over time. Soon, different family members will work on SIT , and they will happen to be in different places in and around your home.

Do not rush proofing. Before you are ready to proof the SIT , your puppy must be a total rock star at sitting every time you say SIT .

Once your puppy is getting it every time, the next time you work on SIT , try it in another room, outside, or with different distractions. And take turns with your family members so that other people are acting as the trainer.

Move your hand slowly when you lure. Keep your hand close enough to your puppy’s nose so that they can lick your hand. And keep your fist closed around the goody so they can smell it but won’t be able to take it from your hand.

Always remember that luring is positive, rewarding, and force free. You aren’t touching your puppy. Never use your hands to try to push them into a sit or any other position. If you do that, your puppy won’t learn and may start to avoid your hands.

Puppies have very, very short attention spans. Most of the games we have played so far have only been two or three minutes long. That’s plenty for a puppy. They are easily distracted.

Can your puppy really learn in just a few minutes? Yes and no. Yes, your puppy absolutely can learn, but only if you are training several times a day. If you only do a few minutes each day, that is not enough. Many very short training sessions are much better than one long one.

Unless you are proofing something or we told you to use some distractions, your puppy will always learn best when there are no distractions.

What counts as a distraction to your puppy? Someone talking on the phone in another room. Sounds of cooking in the kitchen. People walking or running by. Other animals. These are all distractions.

Believe it or not, a television show or video game is not distracting to your puppy. Your puppy blocks those sounds out. So if someone is watching TV in another room, that is fine.

Let’s put together everything we have learned about puppy training and teach your puppy one of the most important commands: SIT .

Before we jump in, do you know why we teach SIT ? SIT isn’t really about the sitting. Saying SIT really means to take a moment, be still, and pay attention.

1 . Find a spot inside that is nice and quiet with no distractions. Get a bag of treats and ask a grown-up to supervise.

2 . Take one treat in your hand and close your fist around it. Hold your hand in front of your puppy’s nose. Make sure not to hold your hand too high or your puppy might try to jump up.

3 . Say SIT as you move your hand slowly over your puppy’s head in a straight line toward their tail. Remember to say SIT only once. It is important to move your hand slowly so that your puppy is trying to lick at the treat the entire time.

5 . If your puppy sits, exclaim YES! right away and let them have the treat. Then give them lots of praise and affection. Be sure to reward your puppy even if they do what we call the “puppy sit,” a goofy looking move that young puppies do with their legs sort of swung out to the side. For a puppy, this still counts as a good sit.

6 . Most puppies will be so excited by the treat and the praise that they will stop the sit, which means they will stand up. If that happens, you are all set to repeat the above steps. But if your puppy is still sitting, take a few steps back and clap your hands as you call your puppy. Once they hop up and walk over to you, you have succeeded in resetting and are ready to repeat the steps. Keep practicing for about three minutes.

1 . If your puppy jumps up for the treat or even raises their front paws off the ground, calmly say AH AH and bring your treat hand back to your side. Once your puppy has all four paws on the floor, go back to step 2.

2 . If your puppy backs up instead of sitting, say AH AH , take back the treat, and go back to step 2. If your puppy is backing up, you may be moving your treat hand too quickly. Move more slowly next time.

3 . The first time your puppy learns something new is always the hardest. Because there is extra difficulty, you will want to give your puppy a bigger reward. If your puppy has struggled with SIT , then finally gets it, instead of giving them one treat, give them three or four treats. Remember: This is called a jackpot. Training SIT is going to get a whole lot easier now.

4 . Once your puppy has really mastered this, the next time you work on SIT , do it in a different room or with some distractions. Remember: This is called proofing.

Positive reinforcement puppy training, also called positive reward training, is as simple as rewarding your puppy when they do what you want them to do. But just what does your puppy find rewarding? Do you always have to give your puppy a treat?

Not at all. Sometimes a kind word is plenty. Other times simply getting to do what they want is the reward.

If you are not actually doing a training exercise to teach a new command or activity, but your puppy is doing something that makes you happy, be sure to praise them.

There is no magic word here. “Good girl” or “Good boy” is great. So is “I love you.” Your puppy notices the tone of your voice and the delight in your face more than anything else.

Imagine that you are having dinner and your puppy is just lying on the floor quietly and not begging at the table. Tell your puppy they are doing a great job. Your puppy is learning that hanging out peacefully is a desired behavior, or something you want them to do.

If you get up from the table and give your puppy a treat, there is a good chance your puppy will stop sitting there nicely and will instead get up and follow you back to the table. Sometimes positive praise works much better than a treat!

A lot of times, your puppy will ask you for something, and if you let them have it, that is their reward. If you are playing fetch and your puppy is sitting politely waiting for you to toss the ball instead of trying to grab it from your hand, this is good behavior. Why give a treat or even kind words? What your puppy wants is for you to toss the ball. Go ahead and toss it!

It is the same thing if your puppy waits at the door for you to open it so they can go outside and play or go potty. They are doing the right thing. Reward them by opening the door.

It sounds simple, but sometimes you can accidentally teach your dog to do the behavior you don’t like. Imagine that you are sitting and reading a book when you hear your puppy scratch at the door because they want to go play. You are so focused on your book that you ignore your puppy. Then your puppy barks a little and then some more. Eventually, you get so distracted that you get up and let your puppy out. But here’s what you actually just did: Your puppy just learned to bark and scratch loudly to go out and play. That is not what you were trying to teach them!

Here is a better way to teach your puppy the desired behavior. As you get to know them better, you may see your puppy is looking at the door and sitting quietly nearby. Go let your puppy out. You are rewarding your puppy for being quiet.

If you do not reward your puppy fast enough and they start barking, remember to stop their behavior by ignoring it. Sit calmly in the chair, but listen closely to your puppy.

At some point, your puppy will stop barking. As soon as they are quiet, jump up from the chair and take them out.

Once this happens a few times, your puppy will learn that sitting quietly by the door gets them what they want, and that barking does not.

We really like treat pouches because they remind us that training opportunities happen throughout the day, every day, and often when we don’t expect them. By wearing your treats, they are always handy.

Treats are used whenever you are trying to help your puppy to learn something new. Learning new things is hard, and treats give your puppy tons of extra motivation. If you ask your puppy to do something especially hard, a jackpot of treats to reward them will really help your puppy learn.

Besides training sessions, you should give your puppy a treat anytime and every time they do something special and unexpected that took some real effort. Let’s say that you are out on a nice walk and there’s a chunk of old cheeseburger on the sidewalk. If your puppy walks right by it instead of stopping to drool over it, that was not easy for them to do. Exclaim YES! and then give your puppy a treat.

TIP It is also great for friends and even strangers to give treats to help with socializing your puppy, so your puppy learns that the world is a warm, friendly place.

You want to give your puppy lots of treats during training sessions and when they learn something very difficult. But giving your puppy too many treats can be unhealthy for them. Most of the time, positive praise or letting your puppy have what they waited patiently for is enough of a reward. If you are using teeny tiny meaty treats, not overfeeding, going on lots of little walks, and using lots of positive praise, you are doing everything right to help your puppy be healthy and happy.

Back when you learned Fetch (here ), we asked you to take time to learn something about your puppy. Is your puppy a Fetch fanatic? Do they go bonkers for tennis balls? If so, you just stepped up your training game. Instead of reaching for a treat to reward your puppy, you can grab a ball and toss it.

What else might your puppy like? Some puppies are crazy about stuffed animals. At the Zoom Room, one of our most popular classes is agility training in which the dog (or puppy) runs through an obstacle course, weaving between poles, diving through a tire, jumping over hurdles, and traveling through winding tunnels.

Many people will use treats to lure their dog through the course. But over the years, we have seen lots of people use their dog’s favorite stuffed animal and hold it in their hand, using the toy to motivate their dog.

Spend your first few weeks with your puppy learning what things they love. Here are some of the things and activities we have seen light up the faces of puppies:

That last one I added for my own dog, Clyde. He is unusual because he does not have much of a prey drive. That means he does not like any toys or playing Fetch, and he is not even all that crazy about treats or food. But my son and I noticed that if we act silly, roar with laughter, and dance around like goofballs, Clyde lights right up and displays all the play gestures and signs of canine happiness. So we have actually used silliness as a motivator to train him.

Every puppy is unique, and you are now setting off on the great adventure of discovering what your own puppy loves the most.

For this exercise, all you have to do is make a wish list. Now that you know there are learning and training opportunities all around you all the time, think about the behaviors you want from your puppy.

What would you like your puppy to do? How might you reward your puppy when they do these things?

Make your wish list. Read it over a few times. That’s it.

Now, the next time you see your puppy doing something on your list, you will know how important it is to jump right in with a joyous YES! and a reward. Depending on what it is, maybe you will use positive praise, maybe a treat, maybe your puppy will get the thing they want, or some other special thing that will delight them and help them understand how happy you are with what they're doing.