Mochi's Tricks

Mochi is 5 months old and is a ball of energy. She's incredibly athletic, agile, and smart. I take her out to the dog park or to play with friend's dogs at least 3 times a week. She's great friends with Felicia's chow and lab mix, Leo; Crystal's bichon-papillon mix, Bailey; and Alice's bichon-papillon mix, Momo.

Happy October from Mochi!

Mochi on top of Leo

Mochi's also a very smart puppy! She learns tricks in the same day or a day later. "Bang" took her the longest to learn (2 days) because she gets too excited about treats to stay still. Here's a video showing her collection of tricks so far!

Some puppy training tips:

1. Limit distractions. Make sure there is as little competing stimuli as possible, meaning clean up any toys and train in a smaller area with few objects and other people. 

2. Positive Reinforcement only. Puppies need a lot of positive reinforcement and conditioning. Take baby steps and reward graciously when the puppy is doing what you want. Puppies get discouraged with punishment. 

3. Patience. Puppies are babies, don't speak English and can easily be distracted. Be patient with the puppy, he/she will learn what you want!

4. Practice. Keep teaching the same trick over and over in 15 minute intervals (puppies have a short attention span!). Once the puppy gets the trick down, reinforce it by doing it at least 6 more times.

5. Show off.  Once the puppy has gotten his/her new trick down, perform in front of others! Get the puppy use to doing the trick in a variety of situations.