I have read the happy puppy book,but, I am unsure how and when to use my pups name in any training excercises. please can you help, I dont want to spoil any training with un appropriate use. ruth
You first need to teach your puppy her name. The easiest way is to just repeat the name followed by a treat. That will get her associating it with good things. But you don't need to use the name at all during other training. When you only have one dog, the name is superfluous and even (I read an article on it once, can try to find it if you're interested) it can be detrimental to performance. So, instead of "Peanut, sit", just use "sit". That doesn't mean you can't use "Peanut" as an attention-getter (that's what associating the name with a treat does), but it would be "Peanut" (wait for attention), "sit". That's once you've added verbal cues, obviously, which doesn't come until quite a way down the line in the whole training process. I should also add that you should train another attention-getter, too, because the dog's name will be over-used in everyday life and so does turn into "white noise" to some extent. I hope that makes sense.
