Top Five Life Skills You Should Teach Your Puppy Right Away
- Jan 8
- 3 min read
Getting a puppy is really exciting, but can also be overwhelming, especially as a new dog guardian. Once your puppy comes home and they have begun to settle in, you need to begin teaching them the life skills that they need to navigate daily life. There are lots of skills that you can teach and it can be difficult to decide what to train first, so below is a list of the 5 most important skills that you should be teaching your puppy right away. These life skills will build a solid training foundation that will encourage good habits and keep your puppy safe.
The top 5 life skills you should be teaching your puppy right away are:
Name Recognition
Name recognition is your puppy's ability to recognize and respond to their name. This life skill teaches your puppy the importance of their name by giving it value. This is the first and most important skill to teach your puppy because you need to be able to get your puppy's attention to:
cue them to engage in another skill
give them guidance or support in a given situation
distract or interrupt them from engaging in a certain behaviour
Name recognition is essentially basis of all your daily interactions with your puppy.
Wait
Similar to stay (but less formal), wait is your puppy's ability to momentarily pause in time and remain still until they are given a release cue. This is really helpful life skill when you need your puppy to stay still for a moment, like before going out the door or getting into the car. This is essential for safety because it can keep your puppy from bolting out the door, or being underfoot as a tripping hazard. Wait overall is an excellent skill for building good habits and manners when moving from place to place or in space.
Drop It
Drop it is your puppy's ability to drop an item they have in their mouth. Life happens and puppies explore the world with their mouths, so there will absolutely be a time in your puppy's life when they will get ahold of something that you don't want them to have. This life skill will keep your puppy safe in the situation they get ahold of something that can cause them potential harm or save an item that you don't want destroyed.
Touch
Touch is your puppy's ability to target the palm of your hand with their nose. This life skill is a fun way to engage with your puppy that can be used in multiple ways:
as a form of recall
as a form of leave it (using touch before they engage with something they shouldn't be)
as a fun game to keep your puppy engaged in new, uncertain or exciting situations
to begin loose leash walking foundations
to help them navigate or move in space (ex. getting in to the car)
As far as foundational training goes, touch is a multifaceted skill that can't be ignored.
Mat
Mat, or place, is your puppy's ability to go to a designated spot (a mat, or bed), and stay there until released. It is an important life skill to be able to send your puppy away to a place to relax and be calm while you need to do something, whether it be the dishes, working in your office, eating dinner, and so on. Mat makes living with a puppy much more manageable in day to day life.
Overall, these 5 life skills create a solid training foundation, giving you the ability to:
get your puppy's attention
keep them safe from bolting out the door or being underfoot
keep them safe from ingesting or destroying items they get ahold of
get them to come you
keep them engaged
begin loose leash walking
send them away to a designated spot
This is NOT a definitive list of all skills you should be teaching your puppy, but they are the best place to start to keep them from getting into trouble and staying safe.
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