A ten-week-old puppy should not be expected to respond upon command like a pro, anymore than would a child being taught to add and subtract while attending preschool. A puppy has the ability to learn upon completion of the seventh week of his life. Since that ability is there, it is important that the things [...]

The next step in preschool puppy training begins at around 10 weeks of age. We are now going to introduce your pup to the “stay” command.

At this point during the beginning of preschool puppy training you should now have your puppy slowly conditioned to expect his daily 10 minute walk, while learning that praise and tasty treats go hand-in-hand.

While learning the fetch game, it is important that tasty treats be used in place of too much praise, as previously mentioned. The importance of praise hasn’t been firmly written on the chalkboard of his mind – so until it is, give your pup what is known to be a positive reward stimulus – food!

The first positive command that your puppy should learn is the command to sit. By making it the first command, it therefore becomes the first positive word which we will write on the puppy’s “chalkboard mind”. In other words, at this age his mind is like a chalkboard – and not too much has been [...]