What is the first thing you taught your puppy?

*blackrose

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#22
Chloe was a shining star in her puppy classes and knew all of the commands - sit, down, come, back, shake, leave it, etc. That was what I really focused on with her, on top of some behavior modification training for her issues.

With Abrams, I find myself much more concerned about his overall manners than I do his smarts. Crate, car rides, handability, house training, house rules, food etiquette, polite greetings, leash manners, response to new/scary stimuli, etc., etc. So far so good, although he is the biggest cry baby when it comes to any form of restraint and just cries and cries and cries. I'll be making a thread on that later, I think.

He knows "sit" and "down", and only if you do the hand motions and give him a second to think.

But, the very first thing we taught him was name recognition. If you say his name in the tone of voice we say it, he immediately looks to you and focuses on you.
 

Toller_08

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#23
I don't really have a list or anything of things to teach and work on first. I just kind of go with the flow and see what happens, because I know we'll accomplish everything eventually.

The first thing Journey learned was how to wave haha. Why? Because it was what she kept offering and I wanted to use the opportunity. We also worked a lot on attention, touch/targeting and loose leash walking (which has suddenly gone out the window anyway). Also, waiting for meals and being quiet in her crate. And pivot work. And being used to being handled and bugged, grooming, nails, etc. Her name, of course. All kinds of things.

I dunno. I just kind of work on absolutely everything in small increments until we eventually get there. I was really laid back with Journey.

With my past dogs, I was in a hurry to teach them all proper manners and rules and all of their basic obedience. Which is fine, but this time around I just didn't feel like doing it that way. I mostly focused on the clicker and shaping vs. one particular behaviour.
 

Sit Stay

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#24
With Quinn it wasn't just one thing at a time, but we worked on all sorts of things early on.

She came knowing sit (down was started) and had a bit of a recall. We continued to improve on those from day one.

Also very important was rewarding her for going into her crate. And rewarding her for eye contact (which she was a natural at... creepy stare-y puppy - she still is)

I inadvertantly taught her stay within the first week or two, during all her photoshoots. She quickly learned that if I put her somewhere (for a picture, with props or something) and she moved, she would get put back there. So she just started "stay"ing until she got a release and then we worked on increasing time, duration, and distractions.

I would say recall and eye contact were the first things actively worked on and rewarded for though. Then we started targetting which she loved and still loves.

I wish I had worked more on loose leash walking, earlier!
 

AmandaNola

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#26
The first few days were just bonding and building focus. I also used the "puppy follows you everywhere" to build the foundation for the great recall she has now. Aside from that, bite inhibition and sit, bang, paw, touch and leash manners.
 

AliciaD

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#27
Well, the first thing I intentionally taught was "sit", but I have no good reason for that. I was very new to dogs and I thought that that was what everyone taught at first.

Now, if I were to intentionally teach something it would probably be drop it and leave it, only because my current dogs are **** about that and it scares me to death thinking that they might eat something bad for them and I wouldn't be able to get them to give it up.
 

SarahHound

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#28
Well I got Katy at 12 weeks, she already knew to sit, go to bed, ask to pee etc. First thing I taught her was to lie down :) Then it was her name, I didn't decide on her name until after Lie Down.
 

GipsyQueen

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#29
Zora learned her name first - took her like 2 or 3 days to 100% understand who we were referring to when saying her name. ;)
Potty and getting used to her crate we part of the first as well.
After a few days we started practicing sit, not jumping up on people, and come.
Now, at 14.5 weeks, she has a pretty solid sit (she even holds her sit now) and a pretty solid come.
Leash training and off leash training are in practice now, and she is starting to get the down command.
 

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