Right now, I have a four-month-old puppy in addition to the four-month-old kitten, and two-year-old daughter. My eight-year-old cat and pre-teen son are much more manageable, but probably should be included in the things that need to be cared for. Should I include my husband in that list?

Anyway, today we’re talking about puppies! My boy is one of two from his litter. We have him and my best friend has the sister. They weren’t a planned litter, so not 100% sure of the parentage. We got DNA tests, but the brother and sister had about five breeds between them that the other didn’t share. Interesting, right?

Cass, the pupper, is finally starting to lose his baby teeth… does that mean he’s leaving the T-Rex stage? Probably not. He still likes to chew on everything. Hopefully soon.

We’re working on training him to be the best boy possible. It would probably be smarter if we took him to formal puppy training, but between all of our schedules, we just don’t have time. So, we’re working on doing it ourselves.

So far, Cass has learned both hand gestures and verbal commands for: sit, lay down, drop it, heel, load into the car or on a platform, and stay.  When walking, he’s learned to auto-sit when we stop. He also is aware that there’s a difference between heel and heel close. When he’s heeling, he can walk at the end of the leash without pulling. When he’s close, he’s right by our side almost at the hip.

He’s a puppy, so obviously he isn’t perfect on any of these commands. But when he’s focused on us, he gets it every time. No distractions? That’s the world we live in, right? We can stop now! Kidding.

We’re still working on him learning to successfully do every command, every time regardless of the presence of distractions… he’s better with some than others.

Cass has developed this thing where when he sees a friend that he really wants to meet, he’ll stop, sit down… and then when they’re close, he lays down and crawls. It’s super cute, and very polite (to me). I’m trying to encourage him to continue to do that. If we can just get him to calm down once they actually reach instead of jumping around like a crazy pupper, we’d be set on that.

Some things that I’ve found out that really helps us with training him: No jerking or punishment when he messes up. He does better with positive reinforcement. If he’s pulling, we stop until he sits. Once he’s relaxed enough that he’s not pulling anymore, we start walking again. If he starts pulling, stop. I also give him treats when he’s doing it right. He’s gonna get fat off those because he’s the best boy.

Sit: When teaching him to sit, his head goes back enough when he’s looking at a treat, that he automatically sits without having to press on his behind. We say sit and do the hand gesture… and then give him the treat. He learned how to sit on command within five minutes.

Lay down: with this one, we did the opposite of sit. We pointed to the ground (the hand command) with our finger almost touching it… while holding a treat and saying “down”. He laid down to smell what the treat was, got the treat, repeats of the command, and rubs because he’s the best boy. He also learned this one in a couple minutes.

Both of these commands were learned the same day and I can give him verbal command or visual command (or both) and he does it every time if he’s focused on me. When he’s not focused, he does it almost every time when I give him the verbal command.. and it redirects his attention back to me.  

Heel versus heel close: Cass has learned to heel simply from how I explained above. Walking and being patient. Lots of treats. I’ve also found that a harness and good leash as opposed to a collar does waaay better on him for pulling and allowing me to have control. I personally like this one from Amazon and have personally purchased two of them because my boy is growing so fast. #affiliatelink

Heel close, however, is a newer one that we’re still working on daily. I talk to him the whole time giving him the command and when he starts to range further away, we stop and sit. I tell him he’s a good boy, get his attention refocused on me, and just be patient. A lot of the time, I’ll have a treat in the hand that I want him walking next to and will give him them periodically as he’s walking with me. As I feed him the treat, I give him the command and remind him how good of a boy he is.

I’m making it more complicated by not picking a single side for him to walk on at all times. I am showing him which side by using that hand for his focus. I walk along a road most of the time and want him walking on the side that’s away from traffic, and we can’t always walk on the proper side of the road.

All of his training is a work in progress and I suspect it’s something we’ll need to work on his whole life. But he’s doing well and I’m pretty proud of how smart he is. Perhaps we should take him to a professional trainer in order to provide the best and most efficient puppy training, but I really enjoy working with him myself and figuring it out.

I’ll keep you updated on his progress periodically.