[ilivenanigloo]

Love a smart dog! Lupa never liked treats, she's always been a tennis ball kinda dog. I actually never marked individual tricks she did correctly, I just used repetition and then play time so she wouldn't get bored or frustrated. These days, I can tell her to get her ball, bring it, drop it, heel, sit, heel, down, heel, go get your ball! Her training is rusty, but it's pretty nice to not have to carry around a slimy ball or smelly treats because she's waiting for the chance to go grab her ball, run around some and lay down to chew on it.

It took three days to get Lupa to sit at the door to go outside in the morning. No special training was need for that, since going outside means running around and presented a reward in itself.

Personally, the thing I enjoy most about training smart dogs is that you don't have to train every little in-between step. Some dogs need to be taught "hold," "pick it up" and "bring it" and then "drop it" just to learn to fetch. Of course, it helps when the dog has prey drive, so maybe I'm just cheating. Hehe.

"Stop" is an easy one. Put the puppy on a retractable leash and let it run in front of you. Stop while giving the leash a tug to exaggerate the annoying tug on the dog. Say "Stop." Repeat with varying distances between you and the puppy. No treats necessary.

Oh, and just some advice...teach your puppy to speak so you can teach him to hush. My #1 training regret is not doing this.