With our new pup imminent and my desire to train him well I have been reading quite a few books on dog behaviour and training and really enjoying what I have been learning.

One thing that I can't quite grasp is how you enforce verbal correction though. For instance, if the puppy is doing something he shouldn't, obviously the first thing you do is is the correctional word in a low stern voice. But what happens if the puppy continues? It's fine if he is jumping up or chewing your hand as you just ignore him or transfer his attentions to a toy. But what about if he doesn't come back when recalled or won't leave something alone?Do you just take him away from the offending area/item and then what??

I am not prepared to smack a puppy at all - so how should I re-enforce that correctional word to make the puppy understand that it's current behaviour is unnaceptable?

Thanks

The best way is to show the puppy there are other things he can do which are MUCH more rewarding instead.......

Yep, that and prevent him from doing the unwanted things in the first place.

For instance biting - leave the room, shutting the dog in for a few seconds.

Chewing your shoes -- put them away.

Its quite simple really, prevent, reward for something something ELSE (sitting instead of jumping up).

We ALL respond far better to 'here do this' than we do to 'dont do that'.

Em

The recall thing will develop over time and, very often, even a well trained pup will go through an adolescent stage and not recall sometimes.

If this happens it's best to go back to basics and simply, don't give an opportunity to let the dog practice this, however you must understand all the "rules"  such as doing lots of recalls and holding collar, rewarding and then letting go again so the dog doesn't associate being recalled with the end of his/her fun ;)

It may be necessary to put the dog on  a long line for a while.

Another one is to not call if he/she is playing with other dogs. Wait until it seems the dog is naturally tiring and about to come anyway, then call away and huge rewards. Gradually over time, the owner will be able to recall from other dogs if necessary by slowly calling a little bit earlier, each time, and sometimes allowing full play, and sometimes not allowing play at all by keeping the dog with you (watch out for dogs on leads and non-friendly dogs).

Hth
Lindsay
x

Thanks for that guys - makes sense

James