A positive approach to dog training means we don’t use force or physically put an animal in the desired position when we’re teaching something new, but it doesn’t mean it’s a totally hands-off approach. Handling is an important part of puppy training and can be built into training sessions.
There are many ways to teach a puppy new behaviors. For example, you can quickly teach your puppy to spin in a circle, lie down, sit, and stand, with a few pieces of kibble using luring. Once your puppy understands how to follow a lure and how to offer behaviors through free-shaping, training gets even easier.
Luring and free-shaping, along with other techniques such as targeting to build behaviors, all work great. I teach with all of them, depending on the dog, the person, and what we need at the moment. They don’t involve much handling, but a hands-off approach for this part of training is intentional. We want the animal to think. We want them to respond not out of force, but because they’re working things out on their own.
Handling is important, too, so you should incorporate it into training at the right time and in the right ways. With puppies, you can do this by including praise and handling in training sessions. It’s easy to do right from the beginning.
Not all dogs like to be petted or praised during training sessions, but if you introduce this right from the beginning and figure out your puppy’s praise style, they often find it very rewarding. For example, when your puppy gets something right, you can invite them over for petting and praise, then move away; if they move toward you happily, pet and praise them again. This helps you understand how much they’re enjoying that type of praise. It lets you work handling into the training session without forcing it. The puppy can choose to be petted as a reward by moving toward you.
That’s just one way we use handling in training. You can purposely include handling in training even when you don’t need it. If you’re working on a stand, teach your dog to stand and then pet their back. You could even work toward a stand where you pick up each paw one at a time while your dog stays in position. This is great prep for nail trims.
We also want to teach dogs to be comfortable when someone reaches for their collar. This is great to start with young puppies, along with teaching them how to yield to gentle collar pressure. If you reach for your puppy’s collar and they move toward your hand without mouthing, reward that.
During training practice, you can keep a brush nearby. When you pet and praise your puppy during a training session, try doing it with a brush in your hand. This helps your puppy get used to being petted while you’re holding something, which prepares them for grooming tools. You can introduce gentle brushing, too, as long as your puppy is comfortable.
During training, when you’re using hands-off techniques like luring and shaping, you can work in some handling. For example, you can teach your puppy to follow a lure to sit, down, and stand. Then do the same thing while gently keeping your other hand on your puppy, without using any force or pressure at all. This helps them get used to your hands being on them in different circumstances. You should also practice handling your puppy at various times throughout the day. It shouldn’t always be during training practice.
Like everything we teach, there are many different ways to work these skills into training. Whether you’re bonding with your puppy through trick training or working on important safety skills, you can easily add handling to the mix.
