Labrador training: how and when to start?

Labrador training: how and when to start?

The need for dog training appeared together with the dog itself, or rather with the first attempts to tame it. Therefore, if you are still in doubt whether it is worth training a Labrador or not, we answer you, it is worth training any dog. Yes, the Labrador is a special dog, they are very obedient, playful, affectionate and generally just great dogs, but they also need to be trained.

 

labrador training: how and when to start

But there are some corrections to the nature of the dog, for example, you need to remember that these dogs are very affectionate and absolutely not aggressive, so train a Labrador as a security guard or a bodyguard makes absolutely no sense. A Labrador will never attack a person, well, it’s not in his nature. These dogs, no matter how you train them, no matter how you teach them, they will never attack a person, they are happy to welcome everyone, even complete strangers, therefore, as a security guard and watchman, a Labrador is an absolutely useless dog.

But Labradors have repeatedly proved their usefulness in other aspects of life. After all, these dogs all over the world work as rescuers, guide dogs serve in the police. These dogs have just an amazing nose and thanks to this they are able to find
something that other dogs might not smell. That is why the training of a labrador has its own characteristics. To begin with, like
any other dog, a labrador should undergo a general training course.

You can train a Labrador at home or on special playgrounds or in schools where dogs are trained. a home training course can
be mastered from a video of Labrador training, which can be found without any problems on the Internet. Or you can buy the book
“Training a Labrador at home.”

At what age to start training

Many breeders believe that it is necessary to start training no earlier than six months, and this is one of the biggest mistakes that can be made during the training of a Labrador. Many experts will tell you that you need to train a Labrador from the first
day, as soon as his paw crossed the threshold of your house.

Usually puppies come to us at the age of one and a half to two months, it is from this age that you need to start training a Labrador puppy. What is the training of a Labrador puppy in 2 months? It is clear that at this age the puppy will not find weapons and drugs for you, but at this age he is already quite capable of remembering, and most importantly, executing some commands. After all, raising a Labrador puppy is alsoa kind of training.

 

To start training a two-month-old Labrador puppy, you need to study your puppy’s nickname and memorize such a simple command as “place”. Remember, we have said more than once that it is with these simple commands that the upbringing and
training of your puppy begins. And it is with these same commands that training begins a puppy. Now let’s talk about how your puppy can quickly remember these commands.

We learn the “place” and the nickname

So, first let’s figure out how to teach a Labrador puppy to his nickname. Nicknames for Labrador dogs and their meaning, we have already considered earlier. In fact, there is nothing complicated here, just repeat this nickname as often as possible, referring to the puppy. The nickname is best remembered when you call your toddler to eat. But you remember that at this age a puppy should
eat at least 5-6 times a day. In addition to the invitation to eat, the puppy needs to be called by name during games.

Since labradors have a very sharp mind, then in just a few days your puppy will begin to understand and respond to his nickname. The main thing is to choose the right nickname for the puppy. Sometimes there are cases when puppies choose a nickname for themselves. Remember the famous movie “Beethoven”, in which a St. Bernard puppy picked up a nickname for himself, about the
same stories happen in real life. Of course, this does not happen as in the movie, but there are also funny cases. We would like to tell you one of these stories

One dog breeder had two Labrador puppies in the house, they came up with nicknames for the puppies, but they did not decide who exactly to give the nicknames to. The puppies were simply called to eat at the same time, calling both nicknames. As a result, after a few days, the puppies chose their own nicknames – one the puppy began to respond to one nickname, the second to another.
After the puppy’s nickname is mastered, you can proceed to the study of other commands. And the next command that your pet must necessarily learn is the “place” command. This is a very important team, because it is needed not only for raising a puppy, but in the future it will serve as a base team for a combination of teams. But, we’ll talk about this a little later. So, how to teach a Labrador puppy to understand the command place. First of all, this is the place the puppy needs to be shown.

 

At first, you can train a puppy just to a place somewhere on the territory of the house. In order to do this, the puppy is a place in
first of all, he must see. An old pillow, a rug folded in several layers, or a house bought in a pet store can serve as a place for it. When
the puppy runs and plays enough and then falls asleep in the most unexpected place, it needs to be taken there, and every time you carry the puppy to his place, this command needs to be repeated.

After a few days of such training, the Labrador puppy will understand that this particular house, pillow or rug folded several times is his place. And when you say the command, the puppy will go to this place on its own. After after the puppy remembers where his place is, you can move on to the next step of training a Labrador puppy. Probably, it was necessary to place this team
in second place after the nickname.

But, as they say, what is done is done, in general, as they wrote, so it will remain. Some of you probably guessed that we are now going to talk about the most important team that can only be in communication between a person and a dog. This command your puppy must unquestioningly perform from a very young age, this command is “to me”. This is the main team not only for Labradors but also for dogs of any breed.

The command is very simple, but many are baffled by the question of how to teach a puppy this command, and how to make him understand that he must carry out this command without question. This will help you with a treat, which you will treat the puppy during training, encouraging him for the fact that he correctly executed the command. We will talk to you later about which delicacy is best to choose to encourage a Labrador puppy during training.

So, in order for the puppy to understand and unquestioningly execute the command “to me”, first you must pronounce his nickname, and after the nickname you must pronounce the command “to me”. The command must be pronounced clearly and loudly. If if the puppy didn’t run up to you, then repeat the command again until the puppy responds to it. After the puppy ran up to you, you should definitely praise him, pet him and give him a treat.

This should be repeated every time you call a puppy. After a while, he will realize that when he hears the command “to me”, he is waiting for praise from his beloved owner and a treat. This command should be repeated and taught longer than others until it reaches full automatism. The next very important team that is included in the mandatory course of home training of a labrador is the “fu” team. In order to teach a puppy to this team, you will need a piece of yummy and a rolled -up newspaper. If you have these two components, then you can start studying the command.

We put a yummy on the floor before a puppy. The puppy, of course, will want to eat this yummy, after he
reaches for the treat, you should say the command “fu” and lightly slap the pet with a newspaper on the nose. Why
is it recommended to use a newspaper for these purposes? The fact is that you can’t beat the dog, because you can just intimidate the animal, and the newspaper is scary to the puppy not by the blow itself, but by the rustle that the newspaper produces.

After several repetitions, the puppy will remember that after the command “fu” a terrible rustling thing flies to the head, and it will execute the command without a newspaper. It is necessary to train a Labrador puppy to this team, it may well be that this team will save your dog’s life. Then you definitely need to teach your puppy not to pick up anything from the floor and not
to take anything from the hands of strangers. To do this, ask someone of your friends, whom the dog does not know, to come to visit you and give the dog a favorite treat.

The delicacy before this needs to be processed with something not tasty. For example, you can rub with lemon, garlic, onion or
a small amount of pepper. Only pepper should be quite a bit. After trying this delicacy several times, your dog will never
take anything from the hands of a stranger or pick it up from the floor again in his life. Such a procedure must be done necessarily, because now the so-called doghunters are operating in large cities.

These creatures, and it is difficult to call them people, amuse themselves by poisoning dogs. Moreover, their poison is scattered just in those places where dog lovers most often gather. If your dog is not trained not to pick up anything from the floor, then it is quite impossible that she can become another victim of these inhumans.
The next command we’re going to talk about is the “sit” command. It is not difficult to teach a puppy this command. The puppy should stand, you need to approach him and, with one hand holding under the chest, with the other hand you need to press the dog on the pelvis, at the same time saying the command. After the puppy has sat down, praise and a treat should immediately follow. After repeating this procedure several times, you can try to simply pronounce the command without affecting the dog. If the puppy executes the command, then we can say that the job is done, after that you just need to fix the command.

The lie command is studied in much the same way. First, the puppy needs to be planted, then bring his hand to his nose
with a yummy in the palm of his hand, and pressing on the dog’s back, lower the palm with the treat to the floor. Simultaneously with these actions, you need to say the command after the puppy will lie down, he must get his treat. These commands should be repeated every day so that the puppy does not forget them. However, you do not need to be too zealous, for a 2-month-old Labrador puppy, 15 minutes of training per day is quite enough. If you train a puppy a labrador is longer, then there will be no benefit from such training. The training time can be slowly increased and gradually brought up to 40-60 minutes a day.

 

What goodies are needed

So,we have sorted out the commands that you can study at home with a Labrador puppy. During this conversation, we often thought about a treat for a dog, and what kind of treat should it be? There are several options here, in principle, anything can be a treat for a dog, the only thing to avoid is sweets. Giving dogs sweets, cookies and other cakes is strictly prohibited.

You can give crackers if the dog eats them, only crackers should be homemade. There should be no crunches, flints and other nonsense. But, in general, experts recommend as a treat for a dog during training use pieces of meat or lightly boiled liver. For such a treat, a dog will do anything for you.

What not to do during training

So, we figured out the commands and how to teach the dog to perform them. Now let’s say a few words about what
you should never do during training a labrador puppy at home. Firstly, in no case should the dog be beaten, otherwise you risk intimidating the dog to the point that it will be afraid of every rustle. This rule is especially important for those dogs
that belong to the category of service and guard dogs.

During the training of a Labrador puppy, in no case should you shout at him. If you want to scare the dog, you can slap a puppy with a folded newspaper or just scold him verbally, but without raising your voice. Dogs perfectly understand intonation and will not do so next time. Moreover, the Labrador is very fond of pleasing his master and if you just scold him, then this is the worst punishment for a dog of this breed.

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