When you first bring your puppy home, you will inevitably want to spend some time bonding with her and get her settled into your family.

Obedience training is something that you should make a priority for several different reasons. Most importantly, it can help keep your puppy safe. Despite your best efforts to ensure the safety of your furbaby, accidents do happen. If your puppy manages to slip her leash or is startled and runs away, or if she manages to somehow break free of your back yard, if she understands a simple command like 'stop' or even her name, you could prevent her from running into danger. Similarly, a command like 'drop' could stop your puppy from eating something toxic.

Other reasons why obedience training is so important include:

• It strengthens the bond between you and your puppy
• It improves the communication between you and your puppy
• It gives your puppy greater confidence in dealing with the big, wide world
• It improves your puppy's social skills
• It can help to eliminate behavior issues