There are things you should do, things you shouldn’t do, things you should let the puppy do, and things you shouldn’t let it do. The cost of the “don’ts” shows up later: you end up paying a trainer to teach simple things you could have taught yourself, and to undo habits that slow the learning down. When you send a young dog to a trainer, you want it to learn as much as it can in as short a time as it can. The do’s and don’ts below are what make that happen.
The Do’s
- Teach your puppy its name. You should be able to call the puppy to you using just its name. Don’t say “Come Here” — “Come Bye” is the left-hand command, so don’t teach “Come Here.” Just say “Here” or “In Here” after you’ve called its name and you want it at your feet.
- Expose the puppy to as many different people and environments as possible. This socializes the pup so that when training starts, it won’t be easily distracted by noises and other activity. Take the puppy for walks where there’s no stock around. As it tries to catch up with you, say “That’ll do” or call its name and say “Here.” It starts associating the verbal commands with coming to you. Reach down, pet it, praise it for coming. This makes the trainer’s job so much easier.
- Teach the puppy to tie and lead — while it is very young. The younger it is, the less fuss it takes the restraint.
- Teach the puppy to lie down. You can use treats at first, but eventually wean them off. You’re probably thinking, “Isn’t this what I pay the trainer for?” What you are doing is conditioning the young dog’s mind to learn — it’s discovering that learning is okay, not stressful, and that it learns best with someone it knows and likes. Step on the lead with your foot and mash down gently on the dog’s shoulders while you say “Lie Down.” Do it gently — this is not a punishment. It’s just something the dog learns to do on command.
The Don’ts
- Don’t let your puppy run loose. Loose puppies get into things they shouldn’t and develop bad habits you never see — like chasing stock when you’re not around. Keeping the pup contained in a kennel or yard helps condition it to rely on you for the adventures.
- Don’t let your puppy bark. It’s annoying to you, and it’s certainly annoying to the trainer you send it to. If barking has been allowed to go on, the trainer has to correct the puppy at the same time he’s trying to build a trusting relationship — which slows the dog’s acceptance of the new person in its life. A quick “Hush” with a hand or a ball cap (not to hurt, but to interrupt) works. If you want a device, Tri-Tronics sells a bark-limiting training collar the dog wears when it isn’t being supervised.
- Don’t let your puppy work stock without you standing right there. If you don’t know what to do, it’s better not to work stock at all. Letting the pup chase or hassle the stock while you do chores can make the dog untrainable if it goes on. The dog goes to the stock, you can’t do anything for a few minutes, then you grab it and take it away. What the dog learned: when I’m let out I can chase the stock until the human gets here, and then I quit. Your arrival means no more stock work — that’s the lesson. And if you call to get it back in between, the dog learns to ignore you too. Pups with good genetic potential get sent home after a few weeks because they won’t work stock when anyone’s around — and they learned that at home.
If you’ve made a financial investment in a working dog for the future, don’t kill the dream before you get a chance to put your plan into action. Most people don’t realize that a pup is learning from day one, and how it’s raised has a lot to do with how trainable it is. Raise your puppy so someone can train it.
Archive note: Restored from the 2004 archive of the original site, lightly edited for clarity with the owner’s voice preserved.