Dog training: Follow me

Add a comment to this page

Right from the outset, teach your puppy the notion of following you around the house and garden and in other fenced or safe areas. The principle of following is simple in theory; the owner leads, and the puppy follows. However, in practice the 'following' exercise is a little more involved and extremely amusing to watch. During the first session, owners quickly realize that training is a two-way street. Furthermore, the owner-training skills of most puppies far exceed the puppy-training 'skills' of most owners. Characteristically, puppies demonstrate leadership, independence and improvisation, whereas the owners follow, wait, stand, stay and eventually try to catch up with the pup by pirouetting and walking backwards in circles.

The knack of getting your puppy to pay attention and follow is really quite simple. After giving a suitable command such as "Rover, Come Along," you should move away from your dog. Do not doddle around waiting for your dog to mobilize. Just Go! Motor! Boogie! The dog cannot follow you, if you don't go anywhere. If you hang around, aimlessly dithering and doodling, like a lettuce trying to take root, the pup will quickly get bored and wander off. Instead, walk fast and try to lose the pup, and you will find that it will stick to you like glue.

Whatever the pup's improvisations, alert your pup to its errant itinerary - "ROVER!!! Come Along," and quickly do the opposite. Do not change your intended direction to try to cover up for your pup's mistakes, or else it will never learn. Instead, accentuate the pup's mistakes a) if your pup slows down, 'give it some Welly' and sprint ahead, b) if your pup runs ahead, slow down, stop dead or turn around and walk quickly in the opposite direction, c) if your pup drifts left, turn right and accelerate and d) if your pup drifts right, turn left and speed up. Your puppy will soon learn to follow the leader, if you lead. After just a minute of active following, let the pup wander off and do its own thing for a while. Then, practice a little more following, then allow the pup to lead again and so forth.

A young pup will naturally follow its owner, as if there is an invisible social bungey-cord connecting person and pup. However, as the pup matures and becomes more confident, it has less need to remain close to its owner and will be more interested in investigating its surroundings. In a sense, you will be competing with the environment for your pup's attention. Practicing following  [Continued]

Your name:

Your email:

Recipient's email: OK to enter multiple addresses
separated by commas

Message: Check out what I found on DogTime.com!

And, for spam prevention...

Incorrect please try again

Enter the words above: Enter the numbers you hear:

Try another one | Try audio instead Try text instead | Help

Sending....please wait.