Content
- Choose a suitable name
- catch the dog's attention
- Required repetitions
- prolong the dog's attention
- The dog's attention in motion
- increase the difficulty
- Possible problems when teaching your dog a name
- Precautions when using your dog's name
teach the dog your name it is critical for it to respond correctly to our signals. It is a basic exercise to teach the other canine obedience exercises and to capture their attention in different circumstances. If you can't catch your puppy's attention, you won't be able to teach him any exercise, so it's useful for this to be the first exercise in dog obedience training.
In this article by PeritoAnimal, we teach you how to choose a good name, how to capture the puppy's attention, how to prolong its attention and useful advice so that it responds positively in the different circumstances in which it may find itself.
Remember that teaching the puppy to recognize its own name is a very important task that any owner should take into account. All of this will help to strengthen your bond, prevent you from running away in the park and build a foundation for your level of obedience.
Choose a suitable name
Choose an appropriate name for your dog is critical. You should know that names that are too long, difficult to pronounce or those that can be confused with other orders should be discarded immediately.
Your dog should have a special and cute name, but easy to relate to. At PeritoAnimal we offer you a complete list of original dog names and Chinese dog names if you are looking for a more original name.
catch the dog's attention
Our first objective will be to capture the puppy's attention. With this criterion the aim is to achieve a basic behavior, which consists in your puppy looking at you for a moment. In reality, it is not necessary for him to look you in the eye, but rather to pay attention to him so that it is easier to communicate with him after saying his name. However, most puppies end up looking you in the eye.
If your dog is a furry breed and its fur covers its eyes, it won't know where it's really looking. In this case, the criterion will be for your puppy to guide your face towards yours, as if he were looking into your eyes, although he doesn't know if he is actually doing so.
To get your dog to pay attention to you use food appetizing, can be treats or a few pieces of ham. Show him a piece of food and then close your hand quickly, protecting the food. Keep your fist closed and wait. Your puppy will try to get the food in different ways. It will paw your hand, nibble or do something else. Ignore all these behaviors and just keep your hand closed. If your puppy hits or pushes your hand hard, keep it close to your thigh. This way you will prevent your hand from moving.
At some point your dog will get tired of trying to carry out behaviors that don't work. say your name and when he looks at you, congratulate him with "very good" or click (if you have a clicker) and give him the food.
During the first few repetitions don't worry if your dog doesn't seem to relate the process properly, this is normal. Repeat this exercise and click the clicker or praise him when he pays attention to you and responds to your name by looking at you. It's important not to reward him if he doesn't do it properly.
Required repetitions
Learn more or less quickly to correctly relate your name and the award you receive later it will depend on the mental capacity of the dog. Don't worry if you don't seem to understand, some puppies need up to 40 reps and others however 10 is enough.
The ideal is to repeat this exercise daily dedicating some 5 or 10 minutes. Extending a training session can upset your puppy by distracting him from his training.
On the other hand, it is important to emphasize the importance of carrying out training in a quiet place, free from distractions so that our dog can focus on us.
prolong the dog's attention
This procedure is very similar to the one explained in the previous point, with the intention of increase the duration of the behavior up to three seconds. Start the first session of this criterion by doing two or three repetitions of the previous exercise to get your dog into the game.
The next step is (as in the previous process) to pick up a treat, close it in your hands, say its name and wait. count three seconds and click or praise him and give him the food. If your puppy doesn't keep looking, try again by moving so that the puppy keeps attention on you. Most likely he will follow you. Gradually increase the time your puppy looks you in the eyes, until you get at least three seconds in 5 successive reps.
Do the required number of sessions until you get your puppy eye to eye for three seconds in five repetitions in a row. Keep increasing the duration of these reps. The idea is that the dog is attentive for a minimally prolonged time to your indications.
As mentioned before, the ideal is not to confuse overworking the puppy, so you should spend little time training but with an intense level.
The dog's attention in motion
In general, dogs tend to pay more attention to us when we're on the move, but not everyone responds in the same way. Once our dog is listing the treats, the name and the later prize by looking at us, we should step forward to pay attention to us. when we are on the move.
So that the exercise can be easily related it should start with light movements that should increase gradually. You can start by moving the arm that has the treats and then backing away with a step or two.
increase the difficulty
After devoting between 3 and 10 days to repeating this exercise, your puppy should be able to relate his name to a call to your attention. However, it may not work the same way indoors and outdoors.
This is because to different stimuli, the dog can't help but be distracted. But it is precisely this situation that we must actively work on so that the puppy responds equally regardless of where he is. Remember that teaching a dog basic obedience is a great help to its safety.
As in all learning processes, we must practice with our dog in different situations that increase the difficulty. gradually. You can start by practicing answering the call in your garden or an empty park, but progressively you should teach it in moving places or places with elements that might distract you.
Possible problems when teaching your dog a name
Some problems that can happen when teaching your dog the name are:
- your dog hurts the hand when trying to take away his food. Some dogs bite or hit the hand that is holding the food hard, which can hurt the person. If your puppy hurts you when trying to take the food, hold the snack at shoulder height and away from your puppy. When you can't reach the food, your dog will look at you and can start reinforcing this behavior. With each repetition, lower your hand a little more until you can have your arm straight down without your puppy trying to take the food out of your hand.
- your dog is too distracted. If your puppy is distracted, it may be because he has eaten recently or because the training site is not quiet enough. Try at a different location to train and carry out the sessions at a different time. It may also happen that the prize you are offering is not appetizing enough, in which case try it with pieces of ham. If you think the place and time is right, make a quick sequence of giving your puppy pieces of food before starting the session. Simply give him five pieces of food quickly (as if you were clicking the clicker, but as fast as possible) and start the training session.
- your dog don't stop looking at you not a second. If your puppy doesn't stop looking at you for a moment, it will be difficult to enter the order. To distract your puppy and use his name, you can send the food to the puppy after each click. This way, you'll have a way to say your name after your puppy takes the food, but before spontaneously looking at you.
Precautions when using your dog's name
Don't use your dog's name in vain. If you say your puppy's name under any circumstances and for any reason, without reinforcing his behavior when looking at you, you will be extinguishing the appropriate response and your puppy will stop paying attention when you say his name. Rewarding and praising him whenever he responds positively to the call will be essential.
