Teaching your dog ‘heel’ command is all about the trainer and how you hold the leash. Your dog should be positioned directly beside your leg. Make sure your dog is always on the left side. Keep majority of the leash on your right hand and hold the leash about 2-3 feet from the collar with your left hand. This will give you good control with the dog. Make sure you do turn both sides and both ways, stop as well as walk forward. Your dog should automatically sit every time you stop. Bring the dog to the position you want it to and never move to stand beside your dog. If your dog doesn’t walk properly on ‘heel’, correct him either by using a correction tone or by giving a quick jerk on the lead. Do not hurt the dog. Practicing ‘heel’ frequently will eventually make your dog move off leash on his own.

Teaching your dog to stand is helpful for getting your dog examined by the vet or taking part in the dog show. Teach your dog ‘sit’ before teaching ‘stand’. Your dog should be lying down or sitting while teaching him to stand so that he can do the actual stand. Don’t start touching the first time when he stands. Try to gradually increase the amount of touching you do as he learns. When he stands, make sure that he stands still for a few seconds in place and doesn’t keep moving. Take the time to examine your dog including his tail when he is in the ‘stand’ position. Let your friend or other people also examine the dog. This would help the dog feel comfortable to be examined by the show judge or vet. While introducing strangers to examine your dog, correct him either by using your correction voice or with the lead if the dog moves away.

You should avoid certain things while teaching your dog ‘come’. Never let your dog off leash when you’re not in a secured location (inside a home or a fenced backyard) until your dog is reliable on ‘come’. Don’t repeat the command more than once. Don’t punish your dog after he comes to you. While training come at the beginning, make sure that your puppy is hungry. Don’t make him scared as it may cause him to break the command. Don’t say ‘come here’ or words that are similar to ‘come’ command. Once the puppy comes to you, grab the collar to make him recognize this as part of the command and instead of using the ‘sit’ command, use the hand signal and bait to get your puppy to the sit position. Use longer leads when you add distance to ‘come’ command. When your dog becomes proficient at coming every time and with distraction, you can take the lead off.

Training your dog to ‘stay’ can be a bit challenging as it’s a long process. To teach your dog ‘stay’, you need to eventually build up on 3 areas: duration, distance and distractions. When you train your dog to ‘stay’ for the first time, you may want to treat your dog after a few seconds. However, you can gradually lengthen the duration of ‘stay’ in one spot as the puppy progresses in the training. Just as duration, distance can also be increased over time. Start with no distractions and finally distractions should be introduced to the puppy slowly. Be proactive to make your correction sound if he breaks the command and place him back exactly into the same spot where he moved from and don’t give the command. Always move back to the dog up to your walking way from him so that he moves back in. Releasing the dog after ‘stay’ is important as it will help your dog recognize the difference between ‘having to stay in the same spot’ and ‘when he’s free to move’.

Dogs naturally don’t want to lie down because it’s a sign of submission when they are down lower to you. This makes teaching your dog ‘down’ command a bit difficult. To train your dog to lay down on command, place him on the lead to have better control over him. Start with your dog in the ‘sit’ position and give your dog the ‘down’ command using hand signals. Use firm voice while giving the command. Don’t give him the bait unless he is actually lying down. The proper ‘down’ position needs your dog to have its legs on both sides of his body. If the dog starts to shift his heap to one side, use correction sound. When your dog finishes the command, let him stay in the ‘down’ position. Don’t allow the dog to stand up. Be calm and remove all distractions around the dog while training. Once the dog masters the command, add distractions.

This section of the video shows step-by-step how to teach an untrained puppy to sit on command. Squat down next to the pup, place one hand on his chest and the other just behind his rear legs. Say “Sit” as you apply gentle upward pressure to his chest and against his rear knees, guiding him into a sitting position. Do not repeat the command if he doesn’t listen to you. As soon as he sits, reward him with praise. If he doesn’t sit, introduce the bait to your puppy. Get down in front of your puppy, hold the bait as a lure right in front of the pup’s nose. Say “Sit” as you slowly lift the food above his head. Be sure to praise him and give him the bait as soon as he responds to the command. As the puppy eventually gets used to the command, take away the bait and introduce the hand signal into the command. Remember to reward him with praise when you’re not using the bait.

Basic dog training can start at a young age. Formally it begins at 12 weeks of age, but you can start as soon as you get your puppy home. When training your dog, it's important to spend time teaching your puppy certain actions, or commands. There are several basic dog obedience commands that every dog should know. Though young puppies have short attention spans but you can expect them to begin to learn some simple obedience commands. These are very important for the puppy to learn as these cues will help you keep him safe and under control as it grows. This section of the video covers some essential commands such as SIT, DOWN, STAY, COME, STAND and HEEL.