Bichon Frise: Basic Training

General obedience training is recommended with your Bichon Frise. As with any breed if you can begin training your Bichon early the better the chances are for success. Since Bichon Frises can be rather shy early socialization is especially important. If you have children you want to include them in the correct way of handling and training their pet too. Also keep in mind that your Bichon responds best to praise and positive reinforcement.
In training your Bichon Frise be consistent, keep your pet’s attention and make it fun. If you have a new puppy you want to begin training as soon as you bring it home. You can do the training yourself or hire a professional. If you want a professional trainer ask your veterinarian to recommend a good trainer.

Be Consistent
Above all be consistent. This will teach your Bichon Frise to respect and follow your lead. Decide now what your household policy will be and enforce your rules from the start. Always reward your dog when they demonstrate the desired behavior and when their behavior is undesirable punish him appropriately. Determine what is unacceptable behavior. It may be having your pet on the furniture, begging for food, or jumping up on people. If you can get your dog on a regular routine or schedule they will have a better understanding of what to expect and how to behave properly.

Keep Your Bichon Frise’s Attention
So how do you get and keep your Bichon Frise’s focus on you? Short of standing in front of Fido with a treat in your mouth and telling him to watch? (Which actually is a training technique that may work for you). Try calling your Bichon Frise’s name then when your pet looks at you, say, “watch”. Before long your dog will catch on and associate “watch” with looking at you and you have their attention. Now begin expanding your dog’s attention span to about a minute and longer he’ll become a better student.

Have Fun!
Like everybody else Bichon Frises just want to have fun! Time your training sessions in keeping with a dog’s attention span. After about ten to twenty minutes they’ll probably need a break. Shoot for regular daily training sessions of 20-30 minutes. Always reward training behavior with praise and treats even if they didn’t go as well as you’d have liked. Follow up with some playtime and remember have fun! If it’s fun for you it will probably be fun for your Bichon and quickly become an anticipated event for you both Once you’ve mastered simple training such as sit, come, stay and lie down you can always advance to more challenging tricks in time.

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