Are Cavapoos Easy to Train? (Plus Training Tips)

You’re thinking of adopting a sweet Cavapoo, but you admittedly don’t have the most time to dedicate to training the dog. You’d like it if your dog could learn quickly. Are Cavapoos easy to train?

Cavapoos are considered highly trainable and quite intelligent, so learning should come easily. This crossbreed prefers your gentle guidance as you teach them how to do commands and tricks. Be sure to use plenty of positive reinforcement as well, including treats and verbal praise.

In today’s article, we’ll examine how quickly Cavapoos learn. We’ll also go over the basics of training this mixed breed, including a simple training timeline. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll know everything that goes into training a Cavapoo.

How Quickly Do Cavapoos Learn?

The Cavapoo is the result of breeding Poodles and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. Both the Cavapoo’s parents are exceptionally smart, and that’s a trait that’s passed on to the offspring as well.

As we touched on in the intro, Cavapoos are eager to learn and very trainable. Thus, they should learn how to sit down or roll over relatively quickly. We had our Cavapoo puppy sitting at just 9 weeks of age.

You should provide a quiet and peaceful learning environment that puts your dog at ease. Keep other pets out of the room if you can so your Cavapoo isn’t distracted.

Also–and we can’t stress this enough–treat your Cavapoo kindly. This dog does best with positive reinforcement training sessions.

If you have this kind of setup and you keep the training sessions comfortable and gentle, your Cavapoo will pick up new skills like a champ!

What’s Involved in Training a Cavapoo?

What exactly goes into training a dog such as the Cavapoo? Let’s take a closer look now.

Consistency

You can’t complain that your Cavapoo isn’t learning when you train the dog maybe twice a week with breaks of four or five days in between.

When training any dog, the Cavapoo included, you must be ready to commit to daily training. This creates consistency that will help reinforce commands and concepts you teach your Cavapoo.

The training sessions only need to be 10-15 minutes apiece, but they should happen daily.

Basic to Advanced Commands

You might have a list of commands a mile long that you want your Cavapoo to learn, but all with due time.

Start with the absolute basics, which for many dog owners means potty-training your puppy.

Once your Cavapoo learns to go outside rather than on the carpet, you can teach them other basic but less urgent commands.

We’re referring to commands such as sit, stay, lie down, and be quiet.

After your Cavapoo has mastered the basics, only then should you move on to more advanced commands like a shake or play dead.

Positive Reinforcement and Treats

How do you teach a dog to do something? In the same way, you teach them not to do something, and that’s with positive reinforcement.

Being rewarded for something makes your Cavapoo want to do it again. You can give your pup lots of hand pats and cuddles, verbal praise, treats, or a combination of all three. Our local dog club recommends using mostly treats for puppies.

*Trainer rewarding a puppy after a training session.*

How Long Does It Take to Train a Cavapoo?

You’re ready to start training your Cavapoo, but how long is it going to take before you can consider the dog fully trained?

If you refer to a fully-trained dog as one that knows all the basics, then at least eight weeks.

With a training plan like this, you’d spend each of the weeks focusing on different tasks or commands.

For example, for week one, maybe you’d train your Cavapoo to retrieve, recall, and sit. You’d also work on potty training.

Then, the next week, you’d continue reinforcing the above commands while building on the Cavapoo’s skills. Now they’d learn cue word recall or cue word sitting.

Of course, this time frame assumes that you train your Cavapoo for at least 15 minutes every day. If you have to skip a few days (which can happen from time to time as life gets in the way), then the training timeline can take longer than eight weeks.

This really is only the beginning though. A puppy that listens inside will likely not listen outside. You’ll need to train your dog in many different environments.

You could also have a wonder pup on your hands who learns faster than expected. You never know!

Should You Get a Trained or Untrained Cavapoo?

As you browse Cavapoos for adoption, you have the option to bring one home who’s already trained or work with a blank slate who you’d train from scratch. Which is more advantageous?

Let’s take a look.

The Pros and Cons of a Trained Cavapoo

A trained Cavapoo will come into your home already knowing not to pee in the house. They might be adjusted to time alone as well, which will put you at ease when you have to go to work or school.

However, you don’t know the full breadth of what your dog has learned.

Plus, if your Cavapoo is older, it can be harder to train them at something new since they’ve followed certain behaviors for a while.

The Pros and Cons of an Untrained Cavapoo

We called an untrained Cavapoo a blank slate before, and we think it’s fitting. This dog doesn’t know much of anything and will rely on you to teach it how to do commands.

The obvious downside is that training a dog from scratch can be time-consuming and sometimes stressful, especially if you have some frustrating training sessions.

Think of it this way, though. You’re creating precious moments and memories when you train your dog.

Plus, this is a great bonding opportunity that you miss out on when you adopt an already trained Cavapoo.

Cavapoo Training Tips

To wrap up, we want to share our best Cavapoo training tips if you decide to train your dog. These pointers will certainly help!

Begin Training Right Away

One question that new Cavapoo owners tend to have is when they should begin training their dogs.

Our answer? The sooner, the better!

I started training my puppy, Coco, on the second day we got her. She was just 8 weeks old. Training your Cavapoo right away will help them learn their name quickly. Plus, they’ll have fewer accidents around the house, which is always a good thing!

Further reading:
What Age To Start Grooming Cavapoo Puppy
How to Crate Train Your Cavapoo Puppy

Never Raise Your Voice

As we alluded to, training a dog can be frustrating, even if it’s a trainable crossbreed like the Cavapoo.

As annoyed as you can sometimes get, avoid yelling at your dog. You could upset them and create negative associations with training.

Cavapoos are docile and sweet creatures and need that kind of treatment in return.

Besides, many dogs don’t understand yelling the way you think they do. They hear you raising their voice and they begin barking because they assume it’s the same sort of thing.

Take a gentle, firm approach and your pup will react much better.

Don’t Train for Too Long

Training your dog is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s all about energy allocation and planning for tomorrow so you don’t use up everything your Cavapoo has today.

There’s no need to push your dog into a 30-minute or 60-minute training session. You’ll end up with one mentally fatigued Cavapoo who didn’t recall as much information as they could have had you divided their training into several shorter sessions.

Exercise before training helps too. Our 6 month old Cavapoo is more compliment and willing to listen if her physical needs have been met before training.

Further Reading: When Do Cavapoo Dogs Calm Down? (Plus 5 Calming Tips)

Always Give Praise

The Cavapoo thrives on praise, so don’t be afraid to dole it out whenever your dog does something you like during training.

Conclusion

Cavapoos are considered easy to train and happy to learn, but you must appeal to their gentle nature if you want to get through to them.

Keep training sessions to about 15 minutes every day, follow a training plan, and reward your dog handsomely for being so smart!

Further Reading: