Training Your Labradoodle

Think about everything you are doing from his perspective, reward desirable behaviour and ignore or ‘punish’ undesirable behaviour. (It so happens that ignoring your Australian Labradoodle is just about the most effective punishment since they are such people-focused dogs).

When puppy jumps up on your leg, it is only human nature that you will think “oh, he wants a cuddle” and you’ll bend down to speak to him, give him a cuddle and lots of attention. You have just rewarded undesirable behaviour. If you don’t want your fully grown dog to be jumping on you and others when he wants attention, you cannot allow him to do it now.

Think about everything you are doing from his perspective, reward desirable behaviour and ignore or ‘punish’ undesirable behaviour. (It so happens that ignoring your Australian Labradoodle is just about the most effective punishment since they are such people-focused dogs).

When puppy jumps up on your leg, it is only human nature that you will think “oh, he wants a cuddle” and you’ll bend down to speak to him, give him a cuddle and lots of attention. You have just rewarded undesirable behaviour. If you don’t want your fully grown dog to be jumping on you and others when he wants attention, you cannot allow him to do it now. When he jumps up your leg, do not make eye contact, nudge him off your leg gently (using your leg only – lowering your hands towards him will be interpreted as a reward – he’ll think you are giving him attention) and turn away. This way, he learns that jumping up your leg achieves nothing. When you spot him sitting on the floor looking up at you angelically, make a point of going over to him, speaking to him, giving him a cuddle and lots of attention. This way, he learns that polite, desirable behaviour earns the reward he wants.

When puppy is in his crate and is barking because he wants to be let out, ignore him and do not make eye contact with him. If you give him what he wants and let him out now, he will learn that when he barks, he gets what he wants and you will have encouraged him to display undesirable behaviour. Instead, wait for him to stop barking before you let him out. Hopefully, he will have stopped and sat/laid down for at least a few minutes before you let him out. If this is not possible due to his persistence, grab your 30 second opportunity if need be, but the former is better! This way, you have taught him that quiet, polite, desirable behaviour gets rewarded.

You can extrapolate this method across all aspects of his behaviour management and training. He must display desirable behaviour to get what he wants. Undesirable behaviour gets ignored. It's really simple – just get inside his head and think from his perspective.

Puppies love putting things in their mouths and this usually includes human fingers. You need to adopt a zero-tolerance policy on mouthing, right from the very beginning. If he nibbles at your fingers, squeal like a puppy and he should stop. If need be, remove them from his mouth and distract him with a toy or something that he is allowed to chew on. Make a fist so that he cannot physically get your fingers into his mouth. If he remains determined to nibble your fingers, end play time with him, ignore him, stop making eye contact. This way, he learns that nibbling fingers is not allowed and you will ignore him if he persists.

Puppies love putting things in their mouths and this usually includes human fingers. You need to adopt a zero-tolerance policy on mouthing, right from the very beginning. If he nibbles at your fingers, squeal like a puppy and he should stop. If need be, remove them from his mouth and distract him with a toy or something that he is allowed to chew on. Make a fist so that he cannot physically get your fingers into his mouth. If he remains determined to nibble your fingers, end play time with him, ignore him, stop making eye contact. This way, he learns that nibbling fingers is not allowed and you will ignore him if he persists.

There is a little game you can play to encourage him to stop mouthing in a positive way. Warning: this should only be undertaken by adults with a reasonably high pain threshold! Take a little piece of cooked sausage, chicken or something else equally tasty. Place it in the palm of your hand and make a fist around it. Go and sit on the floor next to puppy, presenting the closed fist to him. He will nibble and mouth at your fist to try and get the treat. Grin and bear it. It won’t take long before he sits and looks up at you, baffled as to why he cannot find or get to the tasty treat he can smell. As soon as he does this, open up your fist and present the treat to him on the palm of your hand. This way, he learns that mouthing your hand achieves nothing, sitting looking up at you politely does!

The traditional method that many people seem to employ involves covering the entire floor with sheets of newspaper – DON’T DO IT! This will only encourage your puppy to go to the toilet inside your house on your floor, which is exactly the opposite of what you’re looking to achieve. Instead, what we have found works best (quickest and most efficient) is to take your puppy outside into your garden at frequent, specific times.

The traditional method that many people seem to employ involves covering the entire floor with sheets of newspaper – DON’T DO IT! This will only encourage your puppy to go to the toilet inside your house on your floor, which is exactly the opposite of what you’re looking to achieve. Instead, what we have found works best (quickest and most efficient) is to take your puppy outside into your garden at frequent, specific times.

First thing in the morning, straight after meals, as soon as he wakes up from a nap, if you see him snooping around with his nose to the floor and his tail in the air or even if he just hasn’t been outside within the last hour or so. The final time of the day that you should take him out to the toilet is last thing before bed. Stay with him and watch what he is doing. Don’t pay him too much attention initially – he is there for a purpose – to go to the toilet – and if you try to play with him, that will only delay proceedings.

Use a phrase when you go outside, such as “be clean” or “busy busy” – eventually he will associate that with going to the toilet and you will find it very useful. As soon as he has done the toilet, go over to him and make a big fuss of him, praise him to the hilt. Then take five minutes or so just to play with him before returning inside. Providing you follow this procedure religiously, there is little reason why it should take you any longer than a week to have him house trained.

Overnight is slightly different... if you hear your puppy crying in the middle of the night then he probably needs the toilet. Go to the crate, pick him up and pop him outside. Use your chosen phrase e.g 'busy busy', and give him a few minutes to do the toilet. Once he's finished, praise him and bring him back to the crate. Say goodnight but don't make too much of a fuss or play with him, then go back to bed yourself. You want him to know that he has to toilet outside and not have accidents in his crate, but you don't want him to think that if he cries in the middle of the night that he gets playtime. If you are consistent with this routine then after a couple of weeks he shouldn't need to go to the toilet in the middle of the night as he will have learned to hold it.

The best way to introduce your puppy to his crate is to feed him in it. Pop his bowl of food in the crate, guide him towards it and if necessary, pick him up and put him inside. Ask your puppy to 'sit' and then serve him the food. Whilst he is busy eating, gently close the door so that he gets used to the feeling of being enclosed. It is important that the crate is a very positive place for your puppy to be, and the food really helps to fix the association. The crate should never be used as a place of punishment...ever! Now we’re getting to the important bit about the use of the crate overnight.

The best way to introduce your puppy to his crate is to feed him in it. Pop his bowl of food in the crate, guide him towards it and if necessary, pick him up and put him inside. He will notice the food straight away and start eating. Whilst he is busy eating, gently close the door so that he gets used to the feeling of being enclosed. It is important that the crate is a very positive place for your puppy to be, and the food really helps to fix the association. The crate should never be used as a place of punishment… ever! Now we’re getting to the important bit about the use of the crate overnight. Cover half of the floor area with a nice thick blanket, cover the other half with newspaper (NOT a puppy toilet training pad – this is scented and encourages toileting – we want something to catch an accident, not encourage one) and put a small (but heavy so that it doesn’t spill) bowl of water in the corner. Just before you go to bed, pop him inside his crate and close the door whilst speaking to him in a positive, but calm and soothing voice.

When you wake up in the morning, go back to his crate, open up the door and take him outside to the toilet. You will find that he will likely have done the toilet on the paper in his crate overnight. This is absolutely normal and to be fully expected. Don’t tell him off, he doesn’t know the routine yet. The frequency of this occurring will decrease as time goes on and as he learns what time you go and let him out every morning. A consistent time helps a lot! On each occasion that he has a clean and dry night, give him lots of praise first thing in the morning before taking him outside. Eventually, he will be clean and dry overnight, every night, and it is at this stage that you can remove the newspaper and cover the entire floor area with a nice soft blanket or bed.

This element of training should be started from the very moment you bring your puppy home. The best time to conduct this training is at meal times. Prepare the bowl of food as you usually would and approach your puppy holding the bowl in one hand. Bend over (keeping the bowl high enough that your puppy cannot get his nose into it!) and use your free hand to take a piece of kibble. Starting at your puppy’s nose, move the piece of kibble up and over the back of his head. If he follows the piece of kibble this will naturally get him into the “sitting” position. Remember to say 'sit' while you are doing this. Once he is in the sitting position reward him with his food and lots of praise. Complete this exercise at every mealtime and it won’t take long until your puppy runs to the crate and immediately sits to wait for his food.

This element of training should be started from the very moment you bring your puppy home. The best time to conduct this training is at meal times. Prepare the bowl of food as you usually would and approach your puppy holding the bowl in one hand. Bend over (keeping the bowl high enough that your puppy cannot get his nose into it!) and use your free hand to take a piece of kibble. Starting at your puppy’s nose, move the piece of kibble up and over the back of his head. If he follows the piece of kibble this will naturally get him into the “sitting” position. Remember to say 'sit' while you are doing this. Once he is in the sitting position reward him with his food and lots of praise. Complete this exercise at every mealtime and it won’t take long until your puppy runs to the crate and immediately sits to wait for his food.

It’s important to do this regularly throughout the day with small treats too. Make sure when you are doing these exercises you say ‘sit’, and if you have a free hand you can hold up one pointed finger, so that the puppy learns to associate the word and pointed finger with the 'sit'.

Eventually you won’t need to move the kibble/treat over his head, you will just need to point your finger and say ‘sit’ and your puppy will know to sit.

Best way to start off – train your puppy to walk by your side, without a lead. Introducing the lead before he is trained to walk by your side can be disastrous, as he will try to resist the lead, pull against you and try to slip out of it – a negative experience for everyone.

So, start off in your back garden, just you, your puppy and some tasty treats. Hold a treat between your fingers, show your puppy the treat and as soon as he has ‘locked onto it’, put it down by your side and start to walk forwards.

Best way to start off – train your puppy to walk by your side, without a lead. Introducing the lead before he is trained to walk by your side can be disastrous, as he will try to resist the lead, pull against you and try to slip out of it – a negative experience for everyone.

So, start off in your back garden, just you, your puppy and some tasty treats. Hold a treat between your fingers, show your puppy the treat and as soon as he has ‘locked onto it’, put it down by your side and start to walk forwards. He will follow the treat and after a few paces, stop, ask him to sit and let him have the treat. Give him lots of praise. Then take out another treat and repeat the process. Each time you repeat, try to walk a few extra steps before letting him have his treat. Only spend about 5 minutes doing this at a time, as puppies have quite a short attention span. It is a good idea to do this about 3 – 4 times per day though, especially when you are starting out. This way he will remember the previous time and will know exactly what he has to do in order to get the treat. Do this for about a week.

Once you have reached this stage, it is time to introduce the lead. Start off by using a very lightweight collar and lead – the little canvas puppy collar and lead sets are great. Put the collar around his neck, tight enough that it won’t fall off, but loose enough that you can get a couple of fingers between his neck and the collar. Clip on his lead, and then repeat the process of walking a few steps and giving a treat, just as you have done previously, but with the lead on. He won’t even notice it is there! Build up the number of steps that you can take before giving the treat, just as before, and it won’t take long before you have a puppy that will walk alongside you, as happy as can be, without ever pulling on his lead. You have trained him to walk beside you, to heel. The lead is there as a back-up in case he sees something he wants to chase.

This should only be started after “sit” has been well established. The best place to practise this is in the back garden so that you have enough space, but are in a safe and enclosed area. Firstly, ask him to sit, using the verbal command and hand signal as described above. Then, use the verbal command “stay” and raise the palm of your hand as if you are signalling for traffic to stop. Continually repeat the word “stay” and keep your arm out in front of you with the palm of your hand facing your puppy and start to take backward steps. If he starts to follow, you need to start again by asking him to sit.

This should only be started after “sit” has been well established. The best place to practise this is in the back garden so that you have enough space, but are in a safe and enclosed area. Firstly, ask him to sit, using the verbal command and hand signal as described above. Then, use the verbal command “stay” and raise the palm of your hand as if you are signalling for traffic to stop. Continually repeat the word “stay” and keep your arm out in front of you with the palm of your hand facing your puppy and start to take backward steps. If he starts to follow, you need to start again by asking him to sit.

Initially, just take three or four steps back before stopping, bending down and calling him by his name in an encouraging tone, e.g. “Bouncer, come!” When he arrives at your feet, ask him to sit again and then give him lots of praise and a treat, which you should have in your pocket. Repeat the process several times; increasing the number of backward steps you take each time. Just as with the lead training, little and often is the key to achieving this. When you are out walking, you should not let your puppy off his lead until you are very confident that the recall is well established and don’t doubt that he will come straight back to you when called. To make the transition from on lead to off lead, it is a good idea to practise the recall in a wide-open space, but using an extension lead. This allows you to ask him to stay and walk quite a distance away before calling for him to come to you.

Once this is well established, the next step is to let him off the lead but it is very important that you call him back to you nice and often to make sure that he is listening to you and paying attention. It is worth carrying some treats initially to reward him every time he comes back to you when asked. This can be gradually reduced, but treats should be used every now and again to reinforce the “something good happened when I go back when called” mentality. If for whatever reason, you struggle to get him back to you, do not lose patience and get angry with him as this will only make matters worse. He won’t want to come back to you if your voice is deep, raised and he knows that he is going to get a row.