How many commands should you teach a puppy at one time. I'm doing 'sit' with Alfie at the moment (lots of 5 minute sessions throughout the day) and it's going ok but I still don't think he's really making the association with what he's doing and me saying "sit". Should I wait until he's really mastered this before I progress to 'down' or 'stay', or should I be doing two or three commands at the same time? Is there a logical order to teach the commands that makes it easier for them to understand? Also, should a different hand signal accompany every command? Thanks.

I'd stick with one at a time for the moment - once he gets the 'lightbulb' moment and understands what you are trying to do you can start to add other commands..... Just one thought - are you doing the training in the same place? Dogs don't generalise and if you do it in several different places before he's mastered it in one place, he may not realise that what you want him to do in the living room when you do 'X' is the same as in the kitchen, garden on the road etc..... Re what order - Sit is normally first, although some dogs are better at 'down' (make sure you don't use the same word when you want him off the furniture ;-)). Once they are going well you can start with 'stay'...... And yes, you should use a different hand command for each command - what it is will depend on you - but it will usually 'grow' out of the lure technique you use - for 'sit' I use a forefinger pointed up, for down a sweeping movement down with the plam of my hand towards me, for 'stay' I use the flat of my hand shown to the dog.

HTH

Hi,

I started with sit, stay, and down. Then we done shake hands. Now were attempting rollover and stand which are proving to be difficult but hes starting a puppy training class next week and i can get some help. I think its ok to do a couple of commands at a time as dogs are very clever and if you vary the 5 minute training sessions with a number a commands you will start to notice that he is getting the hang of them, some more than others, and you will know what needs to be concentrated on more. I point my finger at the floor for sit, hold my hand out, palm to him, for stay, and lay my palm flat for down. To make him shake hands i nudge his leg and then hold my hand out ready to recieve his paw and i shake it once hes given it to me (gently!!!!!!!) as i give him a treat. Rollover and stand i havnt done much of. I think hand positions definatly help as the dog will learn to recognise both voice and hand command and it will make the command more obvious. Always teach sit before down. When teaching stay, start increasing the time he has to stay for, slowly, up to 10 seconds. Then, to make it harder, when you walk away start turning your back on him. Im not experienced with dogs as ive only just got my 1st, but time flys and you learn along the way. Ive found i know quite alot already, so im sure your training with you dog will continue to progress, and joining a puppy class a week after his 2nd injections in a brilliant idea, get him socialised, etc.
Good luck.

You say you are doing lots of 5 minute sessions each day - if your pup is very young 5 minutes is a long time.
Teaching the sit can be easily done without 'formal' lessons.
Just get single sits throughout the day with the aid of treats plus a signal and lots of praise. For example, get your pup to sit for a stroke, to get the collar and lead put on, before opening a door to let him out, before presenting the food bowl, while he is just pottering around go to him and get a sit and reward when he does it.
There are heaps of opportunities to incorporate training into everyday activities.
It should not take him long to cotton on to what you want (and what brings praise and reward) and then you can progress to the drop using the same methods.