How much time should you spend a day training puppy to sit, and come?

Question

How much time a day should you spend teaching puppy commands such as sit, stay, or come, and how many commands should you teach at a time?

Answer 1

My puppy is 4 months old and I spend a little time every hour throughout the day teaching those basic commands.  She sits before every meal or treat and waits until I tell her go ahead.  I have her sit before we go out...which is several times during the day.  I use come at meal times, when we come in from being out and sometimes just for the heck of it when I want to pet her.

I think that it is working really well doing this all through the day and not too much at one time.

Answer 2

Not much if he is 8 - 12 weeks old.

Make it part of your day.

When he is coming towards you say, "Come".

After a few weeks of this he will know "come."

When you go to feed him, tell him to sit and gently put his bum down.

Off and on through the day, ask him to sit........

No discipline when he forgets, keep it fun and light.

Answer 3

15-30 minutes once or twice a day is usually good

Answer 4

A lot of what you are asking depends upon the age of the puppy and the breed as well.

Personally, I would not spend more than 5-7 minutes (3-4 times per day) teaching a puppy...

Teach one thing at a time...

1st 5 mins - teach "sit"

1/2 hour later spend 5 mins teaching "come,

etc, etc...

You cannot teach "stay"...unless you already have "sit" or "lie down" as a consistent behavior.

BTW - if it is a breed that needs grooming...PLEASE ALSO TEACH "STAND AND STAY"... Geez....makes dog's and groomer's life easier....

Good luck

Answer 5

5 min. twice a day. it doesn't take much always end on a good note and don't stress them with it. it's amazing how quickly they learn

Answer 6

I would work on one at a time... a lot of the tricks/skills your puppy will learn build from one another.  I would start with sit.  That is probably one of the more important skills to know.  Once he has that down go on to the next.  We tried to teach our pup come, but once we started with "heel" we found that it worked better than "come."  "Heel" means you better get your little booty over here, by my side, now... plus, we say "wanna go buh bye, c'mon let's go" which doesn't really stress to him that he needs to come to me immediately.  Whatever you go with keep it consistent. You have to be able to say "come" or "heel" and have him stop what he's doing and come... you never know if he will be headed for the street or something.

We worked with our guy a few times a day but no more than 10 repetitions or so.  Stay firm with him, but lots of treats and praise for a good job and repeat to him "good sit", and a steady, firm, no - sit! when he doesn't.  Once you tell him "no" repeat the cue and if he then does it praise, but we withhold the treat.  Treats are reserved for obeying on the first try.

Even though our pup is 2.5 years we continue with the training.  Of course he mostly gets treats because he knows his commands, but a little positive reinforcement certainly won't hurt.

Answer 7

I always suggested that my kids train during the commercials on TV... break it up. have them follow room to room and go through the doorway last..  Sit and brush on next commercial... get up and practice commands on next set.. etc.  do it for a couple of hours and do fun training like in the book MY SMART PUPPY>

If you look back at my answers or use search you will see how often I have given this book as a reference.

http://pampered-puppy.zlio.net/TRAINING-...

check it out!!!!!!!!!! the picture on the front is great.  

There is a page on there worth the whole book on housebreaking, and the games for training make it easy and fun.

http://golden-joy.blogspot.com  

Answer 8

10 - 15 minutes for a young puppy. You can extend that for an older puppy. You want to do training several times a day. And most importantly, finish on a GOOD note. Meaning if puppy does the command, give the treat, the praise and finish. If you feel yourself getting frustrated at any point, stop and try later.  

Answer 9

Every puppy is different and their attention span will differ as well.  

First off, you should only teach one command at a time.  When your puppy or dog understands and can do the command, then move on to the next, but very often go back to the previous command as well.  For example I always teach my pups and dogs the "sit" command first.  Once they have that down very well then I start with "lay".  I will work on "lay" with them but every so often will ask them to "sit" in the middle of working on "lay".  It keeps it interesting for the dog and makes them think a little bit.  It also shows me that they really do understand the specific word for the specific command.  

As far as how long to work on each command, I only work with a particular puppy or dog as long as they are paying attention to me.  Once they act bored or quit listening then I quit.  Some dogs love to learn and could go all day.  Some (especially puppies) have a short attention span and may be only able to work for a couple minutes.  Don't force your puppy to work for you or he will start to resent training.  The timespan spend on actually teaching the command and having it learned also varies with each animal.  I taught my little pom to sit, lay down, roll over, and stay all in less than a day.  He was 4 months old.  I think he was an exception though.  Usually it takes several days of intermittent, short, training sessions before the dog gets it very well.  

You just need to learn how to read you dog and go with what he is telling you.  

  

Answer 10

Keep your training sessions short 10-20 minutes at a time.  You don't want to make it a bad experience, or your dog will get tired and bored.  Then once they have a command.....you use it to communicate with the dog.

Answer 11

i taught mine sit and stay at the same time and only practiced it prolly threw 2 treat sticks worth of him getting it right.

did it about twice a day until he somewhat understood and then just used it on him throughout the day without treats. he got it pretty quickly.

once he got that i worked on just 1 at a time using the same method.

you dont wanna spend to much time on it cause then you get frustrated and the dog picks up on it and he will just end up ignoring you all together or acting up. do deffinatley not past 10 minutes, and 2 times a day is enough until they get the idea.

then the rest is just drilling them on it as you go about your day.