# Train more than one command at a time?



## Golden Bug (Apr 28, 2012)

I hope to be getting my golden puppy soon, and I'll be looking forward to training my puppy. I want the best behaved most awesome golden out there, so I'm going to be working hard on its training.

My question is, can I train a golden more than one command at a time? For example, while I'm training it to sit, can I train it down as well? Should those commands be trained separetly? Or is there a logical order that I should follow when training?

I was thinking of doing something along the lines of holding some food above the pup to get it to sit, then saying the command to sit, then lowering the food to the ground, to get it to lay down, then giving the command lay down. 

Thoughts?


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Yes, you can train more than one command at a time. In fact, you should, so you don't end up drilling the pup endlessly on one thing. He'll get bored if you do that.

However, I wouldn't just muddle through training by guessing good ways to train each behavior. People get in lots of trouble that way, since some things that people do intuitively are actually really problematic for the dog.

Why not try a puppy training class? You can learn lots of good techniques for training basic behaviors, and your pup gets a great opportunity for socialization at the same time. In fact, at least half the benefit of puppy class is the environment for the dog. I've taken several dogs through puppy kindergarten, so I know the curriculum backwards and forwards. I'll still take new puppies, though, since the environment is invaluable and you can always learn something new.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Yes you can be training various behaviors, but I would not link them together until the dog understands them independently. You don't want the dog to think the behavior is "sit then lie down", so work some sits, then work some downs, then go back to working some sits, etc. Once the dog understands a sit by itself and a down by itself, then you can occasionally link them.


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## maxmbob (Feb 20, 2010)

tippykayak said:


> Why not try a puppy training class? You can learn lots of good techniques for training basic behaviors, and your pup gets a great opportunity for socialization at the same time. In fact, at least half the benefit of puppy class is the environment for the dog. I've taken several dogs through puppy kindergarten, so I know the curriculum backwards and forwards. I'll still take new puppies, though, since the environment is invaluable and you can always learn something new.


I agree this is very important.


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## Golden Bug (Apr 28, 2012)

Loisiana said:


> Yes you can be training various behaviors, but I would not link them together until the dog understands them independently. You don't want the dog to think the behavior is "sit then lie down", so work some sits, then work some downs, then go back to working some sits, etc. Once the dog understands a sit by itself and a down by itself, then you can occasionally link them.



Thanks for the tip. I've been teaching him "down" from the sit position. I need to get him to do down from standing. So it looks like I've been linking them. 

He's had a tougher time with this one. He's getting "Stay" decently well, but I haven't really pushed him past more than 5 seconds and a few steps away. (He's only 9 weeks old).


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Dogs thrive on learning lots of things - especially goldens. I think they get really bored just doing the same thing over and over.  

Somewhere or other I have the class notes from my Danny and then Jacks... each class (week) we had 2-3 new things to train and practice.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Golden Bug said:


> He's had a tougher time with this one. He's getting "Stay" decently well, but I haven't really pushed him past more than 5 seconds and a few steps away. (He's only 9 weeks old).


That's really good for 9 weeks. Build your stay times slowly so you can reward success as you increase the time, rather than having to reset the dog after he breaks.


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