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Training Tips For A Novice ?


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Our 4.5 month old lab has been great so far in learning basic commands/tricks and in Oct we'll start taking him to the local kennel club/obedience.

In the meantime, I am just looking for some tips on a daily training ideas for say 10-15 mins in the backyard. I am lucky to work at home so I can give him some play and training time a few times during the day. He goes on walks each day and during the walk I try to utilise some of the 'natural' distractions to help with his training. But I also like him to have 'doggy' time during the walk and allow him off leash occasionally as well (mix things up a bit).

I guess the question is, what would be a few training exercises to run through with him in 10 mins in the backyard ? This would be on top of play time/tug o war, fetches etc which I spend 5 minutes or so at a time doing through the day.

He can sit, drop, stay (and stay for extended periods) and do some 'novelty' tricks very nicely. His heel needs some work and general pulling on walks is a little bit of an issue. His recall is not bad at all for a pup but something I'd like to improve upon.

Does anyone have any thoughts ? Any tips/info much appreciated.

Edited by mrs tornsocks
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(1) Always be aware of attitude (especially for a sensitive dog).

(2) If responses are poor, look at training.

(3) We need to be consistent, hopefully consistent 24 hours per day, as dogs do not generalise well.

(4) A (positive) reinforcer is anything that, occurring in conjuction with any act, tends to increase the probability that the act will occur again.

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His heel needs some work and general pulling on walks is a little bit of an issue. His recall is not bad at all for a pup but something I'd like to improve upon.

That's what I'd work on then. Hard to say without knowing you or the dog or what you plan to do with him, but I think this is good advice:

http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/pulling-leash

The videos to the right show some of the techniques in action.

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