Training Guidelines
Do’s
1. Encourage
2. Reward good behavior
3. Train in short bursts
4. Speak in your normal voice
5. Be Patient
6. Make it fun
7. Be in control
8. Keep Calm
9. Be Firm
10. Take them out a walk before you start.
Don’ts
1. Scald mistakes
2. Hit your dog
3. Wake your dog to train
4. Shout
5. Over feed treats
6. Train in a busy room
7. Speak “down” to your dog
8. Over excite
9. Mix playing, this will cause confusion
10. Try to accomplish too much too soon
Papillons as a rule are clever and respond very well to training.
I must admit however, my 4 years old did tend to ignore the majority of my commands when he was younger. It is now that he is mature that he follows orders more often that not.
If you remember one thing and one thing only, let it be this, Train your Papillon, before it trains you.
Although they are hardly prim and proper dogs, enjoying running, playing and getting dirty like most other breeds, they do tend to play on any weakness shown by there owners. Take for example on long walks, they will jump up when tired, wanting to be carried, if you start this, they come to expect it. If you return home from “walkies” because it is raining, they will never become accustomed to being out in the rain. If you let them take the lead and “walk” you, they will never heal or follow commands on walks.
They may seem very simple rules to follow, but if you have a Papillon, you will know that saying no to them is hard work.
I would never claim to be an expert at training dogs, however the little things that my Papillon is trained to do were achieved by the following and using the Do’s and Don’ts opposite.
- Sit - Seems simple enough?
Take a small treat and hold this close to their nose for them to become interested. Take the treat and place it closely to the top of there head, making sure the dog sees the treat moving behind them. They will instinctively place their head back, lowering to a sitting position, enabling them to see and be at the level to reach the treat.
- Paw - This can be the most frustrating!
Place the treat once again in your hand allowing the dog to catch the scent. Cup your hand and allow the dog to see the treat, then close your fingers to make a fist. The dog will most probably use its nose in the first instance to try to bury its way into the fist, do NOT let him receive the treat for this. After a few failed attempts, he will start to use his paw to break apart your fingers, this is when the treat should be released.
- Lie Down - NOT Down
Make sure this command is used in full at all times, as down will be used for another command completely. To get your dog to lie down, take a treat and from the sitting position, do not try this from standing, take the treat from your dogs nose and pull it slowly to towards the floor. The dogs nose will follow this, if he has done so, take the treat in the direction away from the dog, still remaining close to the floor. Once the dog is in complete contact with the floor repeat the words “lie down” and give the dog the reward.
- Down - Just Down!
If your dog is excitable, like most papillons are, they will jump up on furniture, other animals and most of all you! If you don’t want this welcome and ornament sitting on your table, bed or sofa, then make sure your dog knows and follows the Down command. To achieve this it is a case of patience and trial and error. For me, I must admit, I don’t use this command with my Papillon This is for a few reason, mainly I like him greeting me as I walk through the door, I enjoy him sitting on the sofa with me and lying on the pillows at night. However, he is aware of the command, which was taught by correcting him in a stern, but not shouting voice. When they jump simply say “down” and if needs must usher them from the area and reward them.
- Beg
Firstly this must be down again from the sitting position. Take the treat in hand and hold once again above your dogs nose and pull in an upwards motion slowly. The dog may stand, in which case correct him and follow the sit rule once again. They will eventually raise their front paws and then you may reward them.
- Stand on rear legs
Very similar to beg, however raise the treat higher and try from a standing start. My Papillon does this and has always down so of his own accord. Doing so, more often that not to see onto a table or reach a counter top with something tasty perched onto it.
- Hi-5
I don’t think you will find this in many training manuals, but my Papillon does this very well. Just like giving a paw, I achieved this by holding my hand straight in an almost stop like position and placed a treat between my finger tips. The dog will try to “pat” this out and there you have a hi-5
This entry was posted on Sunday, September 7th, 2008 at 6:02 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
