Are Cockapoos Easy to Train? + 9 Training Tips

Sometimes it can be easy to forget just how much a dog has to learn as a puppy. There are many skills to pick up for your new family member to become a well-mannered and obedient dog.

If you are considering a Cockapoo puppy, this might be one of the main questions you ask before deciding to take one home. How easy is this breed to train?

Well, the good news is Cockapoos easy to train. They are incredibly bright, attentive, and love to please their families. These are all qualities you would look for in a highly trainable dog breed.

How Long Does it Take to Train a Cockapoo?

Cockapoos are bright and easy to train, but it will still take a little time to get your new puppy up to speed with everything.

Your Cockapoo should be up to speed with basic training and behaving like a well-trained dog by around six months old.

This time frame can go well past the six-month mark if you are training your dog to understand more advanced commands.

What Should I Teach my Cockapoo?

So, you have that new Cockapoo puppy now you might be wondering what they need to learn. Let's run through the main skills your new canine companion will need to become an excellent family dog.

Basic Obedience Training

Basic obedience training is the main commands and behaviours your Cockapoo puppy will need to understand. These are the first things you will want to teach your pup when they arrive home.

These include:

• Toilet training
• Sit
• Lie down
• Stay
• Come
• Drop it
• Go to place
• Crate training

Toilet training

It's not going to be a surprise to learn that toilet training is first on this list. Making their puppy understand how to use puppy pads and then go to the toilet outdoors as soon as possible is a priority for all dog owners.

Sit and Lie Down

These commands are typically among the first you'll teach your Cockapoo puppy. They don't take long to master and can help build that connection of following commands to get a reward.

Teaching your dog to sit can also help keep your dog safe when you are outside such as when crossing a road.

Stay

Teaching your Cockapoo to stay could save your dog's life. It could be outdoors like above, or even if something dangerous has happened such as food which is poisonous to dogs dropping on the floor.

This is a very important command you will want to teach your Cockapoo quite early on.

Come

Similar to stay in the sense that it could be used to keep your dog safe, come is another command that should be part of any solid puppy training plan.

This one is very self-explanatory, it just means your Cockapoo should come to you from where they are. One common use of this command is getting your dog to come to you outside when you are in the park or on a walk.

Drop it

Drop it is another staple of any Cockapoo puppy training plan. This one is just teaching your dog to drop whatever is in its mouth.

Ask anyone who has ever tried to remove something from a dog's mouth when they don't want you to have it. It is not happening. By teaching your Dog to drop whatever is in its mouth you can save yourself a lot of worrying and difficulties.

Your puppy explores the world with their mouth.

This means that stones, sticks, anything that looks remotely edible on the ground, skirting boards, or even something dangerous to dogs that fell on the floor at home is likely to end up in your pup's mouth.

For these reasons spending some time teaching your Cockapoo to drop it is an excellent use of time.

Go to place

This one is another safety consideration. You want to teach your Cockapoo to go to a specific place such as its crate or bed to relax. It's quite similar to stay, but with the added advantage that you can have your dog go to a safe place.

Crate training

Teaching your dog to love its crate is a brilliant way to keep your furry friend safe and give them a place to feel like their own. A dog crate is also an excellent place to have for your Cockapoo to have if they ever become unwell and have to have restricted movement.

Optional Extra Training

So, you've got your Cockapoo puppy all trained up.

Guess that's it then? Nope, definitely not!

There is still a lot you can teach your canine companion. As Cockapoos are intelligent dogs you shouldn't have any problem teaching your dog more advanced commands. Mostly, these commands are just a bit of fun and are a great way to strengthen your bond with your dog.

Here are some of the advanced dog commands you might want to consider tackling with your Cockapoo:

• Spin: This is training your dog to spin in a circle.
• Crawl: Your dog is crawling forward while lying down
• Speak/Quiet: Training your dog to bark and not to. This one can be handy for vocal dogs
• Roll over: Your dog turns over while lying down
• Find it: Teach your dog to find an object. You can do this with toys or even people if you reach your dog a name.

This is just a short list of commands you can teach your Cockapoo puppy, there are far more that you could find online if you get through these.

What is the Best Age to Train a Cockapoo?

The best age to start training your Cockapoo is as soon as you get your puppy home.

Don't fall into the trap of not training your dog and starting to have fun when they are first home as you will just start to develop bad habits which you will need to work on later on. This just extends the training time and makes life harder.

9 Cockapoo Training Tips

Now that you have an excellent handle on how easy to train Cockapoos and know exactly what you need to teach them, I've got a few tips for you to make the process far easier and more streamlined.

Use Positive Reinforcement

Positive training methods are the best way to get through to your dog. Cockapoos do not respond well to harsh treatment. All having no patience and scalding your dog for getting it wrong will do is hamper any progress you've made and make it harder to get positive results.

Try to use a positive and relaxed approach when training and reward getting it right more than worrying about mistakes.

Remember Professional Help is an Option

Sometimes you might find it hard to make progress on a specific area of dog training and become a little frustrated. In these times it's best to remember that you have professional dog trainers who can support you.

These professionals are very experienced in dealing with tough-to-train dogs and will know exactly how to get through to your Cockapoo.

Just search in your local area and I'm sure you will find someone to help.

Use Food to Motivate

The number one training trick you can implement is using food to motivate your dog. A Cockapoo owner can get their dog to do just about anything for food, especially if they are using a high-value treat.

Once your dog realises that there is food on offer for doing a certain action it gets far easier.

Phase Out Treats Over Time

Okay, so treats are a brilliant training aid. But you don't want to have to feed your dog every single time you want them to do something.

Try to reduce the number of treats you give your dog when training over time to the point where they don't expect it.

Dog treats are exactly that, treats. This shouldn't be a large part of a healthy dog diet. With the right food a dog gets everything they need nutritionally from the food they are fed.

Use Hand Signals Along with Verbal Commands

We have talked a lot about command words to use when training dogs, however, you should also consider accompanying your commands with hand signals so that your dog understands both.

Older dogs can become deaf which makes giving your dog verbal commands far less effective. If you were to train your Cockapoo with hand signals along with verbal commands you can be able to effectively communicate with your dog if they were to become deaf as a senior dog.

Don't Repeat Commands

If you give your dog the same command six times before they listen to it all you are telling your Cockapoo is that they don't have to listen to you. This can be really dangerous if you are next to a busy road and you asked your dog to stay, for example.

Don't repeat a command more than once and wait until your dog obeys it.

Use More Challenging Settings as they Progress

Your dog training should start in a quiet and distraction-free area, however, as your dog becomes more proficient at the command you should move to an area that will be a bit more real-world and distracting.

Try a local dog park or public area with other dogs or noises to step it up a notch.

Realistically, you want your Cockapoo to be listening to commands in all environments.

Practice, Practice, Practice

It takes hard work and consistency from both you and your dog if you are going to succeed in training your dog.

Don't let up and stay consistent when training your Cockapoo puppy to become a house-trained and well-behaved adult dog.

Have Patience

While Cockapoos are a really smart dog breed, it can sometimes take a minute for your dog to understand what is expected of them. You need to have patience and allow your Cockapoo the time and space to make mistakes and learn at their own pace.

How Smart is a Cockapoo?

Being the result of breeding a Cocker Spaniel and a Poodle, two dog breeds that are known for being really bright. The Cockapoo is a very intelligent breed.

This means you will have no problem getting your canine companion up to speed all of the training we have discussed above, even the advanced elements of it.

Conclusion

Are Cockapoos easy to train?

Yes! Cockapoos are an absolute joy to train. From basic house training to making your dog roll over or spin, you'll have to difficulty getting this designer breed up to speed.

Cockapoos definitely have to thank their parent breeds for that bright, intuitive nature they boast. Cocker Spaniels and Poodles are well-known for their intelligence.

It is best to start at a young age when training a Cockapoo. This way there are no bad habits developed and your dog is going to learn much quicker than an adult dog would.

Hopefully, the list of what to train your Cockapoo puppy on is helpful if you have just brought a little dog into your family.

Best of luck! It's one of the best decisions you can make.