Training mini doodles

Miniature doodles are food-motivated dogs, which  makes giving small food rewards an ideal way of motivating your doodle puppy and  rewarding those behaviours you wish to teach. However, rewards do come in  all shapes and sizes, and range from food tidbits to praise or play with  a toy. Key to successful training is to work out what your dog will  work for. If it likes playing with a tug toy, then a brief game of tug  could be your way of motivating him.  Many people who choose to reward their puppy with small treats can pair  this with clicker training. Clicker training is a neat way of marking a  desired behaviour, to let the doodle puppy know what they are being rewarded for.  The principal behind clicker training is to first teach the puppy to link  the click-clack of the clicker to getting a reward. Then you make the  desired action with the click-clack.  For example, when teaching "Sit," you lure the puppy into a sitting  position and press the clicker as soon as the puppys bottom hits the  ground. 

Do frequent but brief training sessions with puppies. Remember your puppy has a short attention span, so several 5 minute  sessions spaced over the day are better for an 8 - 10 week old puppy  than one long session. Gradually increase the length of the training  session as its concentration and stamina improves. 

 Always end your session on a positive note. If the  puppy is getting distracted, bring the training session to a  close with a simple command you know it can do. This will allow you to  praise it and leave it feeling happy with itself. 

 Start toilet training your mini doodle as soon as you bring it home. Set up a puppy room in which the dog will sleep and eat, rather than  letting it roam all over the house. Letting it roam your whole home will  make potty training more difficult, as you will have a harder time  keeping track of what it is doing. Take the puppy straight out to the  spot that you intend it to use as a toilet. Pop it down on the spot and  if the puppy happens to 'go,' give it heaps of praise.  The idea is for the puppy to associate going to the bathroom in that spot  with getting heaps of praise. This makes it worthwhile for the puppy to  save up its bodily functions in return for adoration.  Of course potty training doesn't happen instantaneously and you need to  stick at it. Training requires the puppy to learn where it is meant to  go, and where it shouldn't go. To teach the later means constant  vigilance. Watch it indoors like a hawk and when the puppy shows the  earliest signs of wanting to toilet, such as sniffing with great  concentration or sidling up to objects, then pick it up and take it  outside to the toilet spot. Then when the dog goes in the right place,  lavish it with praise. 

 An adult dog that has never been potty trained should be able to hold it  for several hours once trained. However, to increase your success rate,  take an 8 week old puppy outside every 20-30 minutes. If you can't be  with the puppy in between toilet stops, then pop it in its crate rather  than letting it go to the bathroom in the house. Also, puppies tend to  toilet about 20 minutes after eating, so put him outside after each  meal, and likewise immediately after eating.   If the  puppy does have an accident indoors, be sure to  thoroughly clean it up. There should be no lingering odour left behind  once you have cleaned it. 

• A lingering odour could draw it back to use the same spot once again.

CRATE TRAINING:

 The idea behind crate training is to create a space that belongs to the  puppy which is their den. Choose a crate that is big enough for the  puppy to stand up in without banging its head, and can lie down with its  legs stretched out.

• Pop a comfortable bed in the crate, a water bowl in one corner and  some toys. At times when you can't be there to supervise the puppy, this  is a safe place to confine it so that it can't chew household items. 
• Putting your mini doodle in a crate can also aid in house training. Natural  instinct dictates that a puppy is less likely to soil its den, so  staying in a crate teaches it some bladder control. However, you should  never leave a puppy in a crate for too long.

  Encourage the dog to explore the crate on its own.  Puppies readily learn to like the crate if you help them to discover  that it is a place where good things happen. Seed it with treats for the  puppy to pop in and discover. Feed the puppy in the crate so that it  associates the crate with meal times. 

• Give it a chew toy while it is in the bed, but leave the door  open. Early crate training is all about the puppy getting comfortable and  happy in the crate.

  Once the puppy is popping in regularly to investigate if any treats have  appeared, you can start to shut the door. At first this is just for a  few seconds, perhaps while the puppy is eating. When it is calm and quiet  with the door closed, give it lots of praise.

• Gradually extend the amount of time the door is closed, until it is equally happy with the door open or closed.

  If the puppy cries while in the crate, don't release him while it is  crying. If you respond to its cries then it will have trained you to let  it out, and it may become ever more vocal if you don't do so. Instead,  wait until the puppy is quiet and then set it free, so that the good  behaviour is rewarded. 

  Teach your mini doodle to sit. It is essential for your mini doodle to obey basic commands, such as "sit", "stay", and "come."  If your puppy obeys these instantaneously, you can control it in pretty  much any situation.Begin this training with the "sit" command, and then follow with other commands once your puppy has mastered "sit."

• To teach "sit", use a food lure. Hold a small treat between your  finger and thumb. Hold it just in front of the puppys nose, and when you  have its attention, raise the treat in an arc going back over its head.
• As its nose follows the treat, its bottom naturally sinks to the  ground. As soon as its butt contacts the floor, press the clicker. Then  reward the puppy with a treat.
• Start adding in the vocal command "sit" as you show the puppy the treat. This tells it what action it is you require.
• If using a clicker, as it sits, then click.

 Teach "Stay" once he has mastered "Sit". Put the  puppy into a sit and then hold your hand up, palm towards the puppy in a  "Stop" signal. Say "Stay" and take a small step back. Wait for a few  seconds to ensure the pup doesn't move, then pat your thighs and call  the puppy's name  and say "Come" a bright voice. Reward him when he runs  to you.  

  Teach your mini doodle to "come." To teach come, play with the  puppy and take a couple of steps away from it. A puppy's natural  instinct is to stay close to their mother, or minder, and so it will run  to rejoin you. As soon as it moves toward you click your clicker or say  "come," and then give it a treat when it arrives.

• This is a very important skill for your puppy to have, for both good interaction and for its safety.

  Use repetition and don't get discouraged. Keep  repeating this desired action until the puppy gets the hang of things,  which may take quite awhile. Using these basic principles, you can train  a mini doodle to do more complex commands or tricks. 

• However, don't overwhelm your mini doodle. Break complex tricks  down into their individual components and teach one element at a time,  then add them together for a more complex trick.
• You can make training into a fun game with your puppy. For example,  throw a toy in the yard for your doodle and train  him to bring it to  you when you say a specific command, make him wait when you say "stay,"  and come back to you without it if you say "come." A miniature doodle, with  its great intelligence should be up to this task with enough training.