For those of you who are having trouble teaching your puppies training tricks and are thinking of spending hundreds of dollars on a good obedience school, rest easy! There’s no need. The 19th century Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov discovered the effectiveness of conditional dog training with the experiment he conducted on his dog. The experiment that Ivan Pavlov performed with his dog was to see if the dog would come ringing a bell with the expectation of a reward. When Pavlov rang his bell, he gave his dog a piece of meat when he arrived. Pavlov later discovered that the dog would come upon hearing the sound of the bell because he associated the sound of the bell with getting a piece of meat.
Ivan Pavlov’s Dog Experiment and Puppy Obedience Training they basically have the same thing in common. Basically, most obedience training is based on Pavlov’s findings. The only difference is that Pavlov’s bell sound has been replaced by a command, but the principle remains the same. The pup hears the command “COME” and comes because it has been trained to expect a treat when it hears that command. It’s that simple, so why spend hundreds of dollars on expensive obedience schools when obedience training is so simple you can do it yourself? Just go to the pet aisle of your local store and buy some dog treats and give your pup one every time you come when you say “COME!”
This puppy conditional training doesn’t just work with training your dog to come. You can also use Pavlov conditional training to teach your dog other commands. For example, teaching your dog to sit works the same way. On the “SIT” command, give your dog a treat each time he sits. You may have to gently push his butt down to get him to sit, so he knows he’s supposed to sit when he hears “SIT!”
How about training your dog with some entertaining tricks? You probably doubt that Pavlovian conditional learning tactics to train your pup won’t work, right? Incorrect. Pavlovian tactics also work great for puppy training tricks. The important thing is that you get your puppy to understand the action to perform when he hears a certain word and give him a treat when he performs the appropriate action upon hearing that word. It works as a thousand wonders. So how do you get your pup to understand the actions to take based on commands? Well, that depends on the trick you want him to learn. Some tricks are below.
Training your puppy to shake is probably one of the most common tricks that people like to teach their dogs. This is also one of my favorite tricks, especially with large dogs who like to put their paws on your leg or somewhere else. This is also one of the easiest tricks to teach your dog. Make him shake by gently lifting his leg and shake it as if you were going to shake a hand while saying “SHAKE!” Give him a treat and then he’ll raise his paw for you to shake. To be really cute, have your dog sit first, and then as he sits, say “SHAKE” and ask him to hold up his paw for you to shake. This can be a nice show for house guests.
train your puppy to sing it can be a bit more complicated and may not work for all dogs. This often works with dogs that like to howl or bray. My first grade teacher had a dog that sang with us when we had music class. This was pretty fun, but it’s a pretty hard trick to teach your dog. The best way is to have your dog sit and then, while you play a song, have him howl with the command “SING!” You may have to howl for your pup to howl. When your pup starts howling on command, give him a treat.
Training your pup with many different tricks will depend on the breed of dog. Some puppies may not be able to do all the tricks, but several of the basic tricks are covered in this article.