Hi, I am a new dog owner and new to this forum. We recently adopted Frankie, a lab mix from a rescue and he has only been home with us for 5 days. He is still very nervous and jumpy at times but, i think he and i are beginning to bond quite well. As I said, I am a new dog owner and don't have a lot of experience so as far as training, I am not sure where to start. He is housebroken and crate trained but, he doesn't seem to know many basic commands ie: sit, stay etc. Either he doesn't know or perhaps he is just not listening to ME very well yet. The rescue is paying for a session with their trainer which I intend to take advantage of but, I'm just curious where and how to start with some basic training? He is one year old and very sweet. Thanks for any and all suggestions
How lovely, I guess he is going to need some time to settle in. He may know quite a bit but in new surroundings it will take a while to see his real personality. I would go back to basics, treat like a new puppy. Get yourself a good book such as the Labrador handbook, full of sound advise and traing tips. Also, get along to obedience classes, they super for weekly encouragement and learning for both you and your dog.
The most important thing to teach your dog is that he is safe and that you will only ever treat him with kindness - and that is going to take time! As regards skills-based training I think the two essentials are recall and loose lead walking. Pippa's book 'Total Recall' is an excellent program for recall training. It gives detailed instructions which work.
