Dog Health Questions: Can I get some help/advice with dog training?

I taught my puppy to sit.
I taught my puppy to sit and shake

I just taught her how to "speak" on command but now since we have been working on that so much.... she immidiatly thinks I want her to "speak" when I am asking her to sit! Poor thing is confused. Any advice?

How do I teach her to lay down? She does start training 1 week from today. I hired a dog trainer to come into our home. I just want her to know some things now.

A Guide to Basic Dog Training Principles

Recommended Answer:
maybe the words speak and sit sound to much alike for your puppy to tell the difference, also in my experience when you work on one command so much the dog either forgets the other command or gets so use to the one command it automatically will do the same command hoping it will get it right, kinda like what kids do when they learn colors or numbers or there letters, what is this color and they say blue. If blue is the only color that they have learned they are going to say blue to every color that they see even if its not blue, and they can tell the difference but they don't know any other color to shout out, same with if they learn the color red then you spend weeks teaching them the color green and then you go back and ask them what the color red is they are going to say green because that is the freshest color in their mind, I'm not saying only teach the doggie one command but as you teach them one command don't forget to refresh them on their previously learned commands.

Is Dog Training Necessary? Part 1

• Are your words or hand signals too similar for those two actions?
  
  When my dog was in a sitting position, i would put a treat in front of him and slowly move my hand to the floor. He would follow the treat, and often lay down when I did that. Now, his hand signal for lay down is a downward motion with my hand.


• I would get a treat in one hand and say down as you bring the treat down to the ground slowly. they will follow the hand movement and make her lay down for a couple seconds. or you can take take your index and middle finger and put them together and signal the two fingers up and then down.remember to give a happy praise with a high pitched voice if she lays down for at least 5 seconds. ( sorry if i cant explain that very well)


• well since she's learning speak, make sure you teach her "quiet" too!
  to teach laying down you can put the treat in front of the dogs nose and then bring the treat down under something, use your leg or a table, so that the dog is forced to lay down to follow the treat with it's nose. also, try teaching with hand signals rather than just words, something to show the difference between sit and speak. lol. just google training videos :)