Behavior Training For Your Teacup Puppy  

So now the fun and hard work begin. It is time to train your Teacup Puppy. The key points to remember with your "Teacup Dog Breed" is to be consistent, don't spend more than ten minutes on any training period, don't try to teach to many things at once as this will only confuse your puppy, be patient, and show your excitement at your puppies ability to follow through with your commands.

First we will start with behavior training. It is good to start this training as soon as you get your "Teacup Puppy" home. In all dog breeds there always has to be the Alpha pack member. That is YOU! If you don't establish the Alpha position right away, your Teacup Puppy will learn how to push you around and make you spoil them rotten. Once you have established your Alpha position (you are the leader, master, etc) you will have a much easier time working with your "Teacup Puppy Breed". Your "Teacup Puppy" will work hard to please you. Although spoiling is great to some extent don't over do it, this will only cause your "Teacup Puppy" to be naughty and really bother people when they come over for a visit or if taking your "Teacup Puppy" outside. If you live in an apartment complex or condo you must remember courtesy for you neighbors. You want your Teacup Puppy to be the best puppy in the world, and with your patients and diligence you will get just that. The funny part is that you are actually teaching the owner how to train their Teacup Puppy.

Just for an example, we had a neighbor that had a Lab and they were always bragging about their dog having had taken obedience classes and how smart he was. Well unfortunately they wasted their money because they did not work with their dog on the things that were taught in the classes. You must be disciplined enough to work with you "Teacup Puppy" or "Teacup Dog Breed" everyday. As in my example, if you are not consistent with what you want your "Teacup Puppy" to do and go through daily training, it will only end up hurting your loving companion the most. Get the mind set that you are doing this in the best interest of your Teacup Puppy.

So here are some of the basic commands, as you don't want to start with anything complicated, that you can start with.

Sit
To start it is best to sit down on the floor with your "Teacup Puppy". Make sure you have your "Teacup Puppies" undivided attention. You might have to play with him a little bit at first, especially if he has just gotten out of his crate. Give him some time to burn off the pent up energy. Place your "Teacup Puppy" in front of you and say, "Sit". Your "Teacup Puppy" will have no clue as to what you want him to do. Making sure your "Teacup Puppy" is standing in front of you, gently push his hind quarters down and reward him or her. Try doing this several times. Another technique is to have your "Teacup Puppy" standing in front of you and hold a treat just out of reach. When you say, "Sit" move the treat guiding towards the back of the "Teacup Puppies" head to the point where he is almost leaning back. If he falls over or doesn't do it quite right, use the pushing the hind quarters down again. Once again, I can't say enough, you need to do this everyday. And Praise, Praise, Praise. Your "Teacup Puppy" should be able to learn this command in a short period of time.

Lay down
This technique is pretty much the same for training you "Teacup Puppy Breed" to sit except that you also want to get the front end down. A very important reminder, that with "Teacup Puppy Breeds" you have to be gentle and don't force them very hard. Since they are smaller "Puppy Breed", their bones are more fragile than your average dog, so their bones will break much easier.

Come/Heel
What I have found as the best technique for this command is to train your "Teacup Puppy Breed" indoors. Make you "Teacup Puppy" sit and move away a very short distance. In an excited tone, tell your "Teacup Puppy" to come or come here to start. You "Teacup Puppy" should be happy to come to you. Reward with a treat. Keep this up until you Teacup Puppy has mastered an understanding of this command. Once your Teacup Puppy has mastered this command, it will be safe to work on this command outside as well. Just to be on the safe side when outside, please use a leash. An extendable leash will come in very handy for this training exercise.

Stay
I have found this command a little bit harder for puppies to get the hang of. I believe this is true because all they want is to be next to you. This command will take a little bit longer for you Teacup Puppy to grasp. The first step is to get your "Teacup Puppy Breed" to sit and be relaxed. Then while you have your Teacup Puppies undivided attention, hold out your right pointer finger saying the command "Stay", while looking them straight in the eye. Back away one or two steps. Your "Teacup Puppy" will not immediately understand what you are trying to tell it to do and will get up repeatedly to follow you. Start from square one with the sitting position and follow the above mentioned steps. Eventually you "Teacup Puppy" will understand. As the command gets easier for your "Teacup Puppy", use you best judgment on distancing yourself farther and farther away. You can also implement the Come/Heal command as your "Teacup Puppy" understands what "Stay" means, thus working on two commands at once. And Give you "Teacup Puppy" lots of love and praise.

Well these are just a few of the basic commands that you need to teach your new "Teacup Puppy Breed". After a couple of months the training period should be done with. One important thing to remember especially for the first year is to always praise for good deeds. As a matter of fact I think we could all use a little praise sometimes.