At what age should I put my puppy in obedience training?
September 4th, 2009
I have a new puppy and wanted to know when I should start looking for a trainer. Also, are dogs still fairly trainable when they are older. I have the mother of the puppy too. She’s only 3 years old.
The puppy is just six weeks old. The mother is fairl good as far as sitting, shaking and all that, She just pulls hard on her leash and loves to run off on me. She is a very active dog(loves to run). She can catch a frizbe ok but has had no training other than the stuff I tried when she was younger. I just want her to walk on leash better. It sounds so terrible when she is pulling and choking herself. She has pulled hard since she was little.
Old dogs can definitely learn new tricks! It’s never too late to enter your dog into obedience! There are so many options too, such as flyball, herding, conformation, etc. There are a lot of great training books out there for in home training, so do some research to get started! As for how early you can start obedience training on a puppy, you can start training basic commands such as sit and lye down in your home from 6 weeks on. Wait until the puppy has had at least two sets of puppy vaccinations (usually around 12 weeks) to enroll them in public obedience lessons. Good luck!
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September 4th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Go on line and see what ages should puppies go and get trained think My brother took our dog at 7 months and it worked great for us.
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September 4th, 2009 at 10:00 am
3-5 months is a good time
Older dogs can benefit from obedience training but it is best to start them out as puppies.
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September 4th, 2009 at 10:32 am
After six weeks, puppies ears unseal and can respond to sounds they hear. They still cannot see real clearly or hear as well as they later can. After six months, they can be trained with much success. No, it is never too late to train a dog. Teaching is a continuous act that is followed through with each time. Repetition is key!
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September 4th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Older dogs are harder to train but far from impossible. Your puppy could start puppy kindergarten which is wonderful providing you find a good instructor and your older dog could start basic obedience. Contact local vets for local dog training clubs! I take my puppies (5 and 8 months) and it’s so fun! I got so much into it that I’m going to enter my older one in an AKC dog obedience trial very soon. I also do agility with her which certain breeds are good at and others have a tough time! By the way, they can be mutts to do both. The UKC has obedience and agility trials for mixed breed dogs! Have fun! Start soon, the sooner the better!
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September 4th, 2009 at 11:11 am
any dog can be trained. realise it might take her longer than the pup. much like kids get things faster than an adult would. the pup has no other frame of reference and usually will take to learning faster. the mother has her way, but is not unteachable, just takes more time and patience. the key to training any dog is be consistant. if you say sit and you make her sit. the command from then on it sit. not sit sit sit sit. be loving. don’t get frustrated. they are learning and not disobeying you. right now is a great time to look for a trainer. it’s important that you watch the class and the participants to see if the method agrees with you and your dogs and if they people in the class seem to understand what is going on and their dogs are responding. usually you can enroll a pup around 4 months of age. but different trainers have different rules and regulations. ask before you sign up. ask if there is a guarantee where if needed you can re enroll at a discounted rate if needed. i would take mom now and then her pup after mom has completed the course. it will be difficult to train both dogs at once. plus you will have the beggining knowledge to start the pup off with the commands and actions you are learning for mom and the pup will have a head start on the class. even if your pup responds well and you don’t think the pup needs to go to class, you should take the pup because it will give the puppy a chance to learn she needs to behave and mind her manners and listen to you with other distractions, such as strangers and other dogs. also if you haven’t had mom spayed (and i just have to say you should) if she’s coming up to go back into heat (you never said how old the pup is) you cannot enroll her in a public class while she is in heat. good luck to you. i hope you find that a training class will bond you better with your dogs, and give them confidence and teach them you are to be respected and listened to.
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September 4th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
I had my puppy in training at about 16 weeks. He was one of the youngest puppies in the training class. But I think you can have them in there as young as 8-10 weeks.
good luck training!
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September 4th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Dogs can be trained at any age. I’ve taken in a few older dogs (German Shepherds) given to me because of behavior problems and obedience training and firm but fair dominance resolved the problems. One was a 3 year old female from East Germany, who had been allowed to do whatever she pleased since she was an 8 week old puppy, she had many behavior problems due to the lack of discipline and it was funny to see the shock on her face when she first found out that I had rules in my household and would enforce them. A few months later, I had her trained well enough that she would reliably obey basic obedience commands and was well behaved in the house.
The book I like best for learning how to train and understand a dog is "The Art of Raising A Puppy" by the Monks of New Skete. That book is EXCELLENT, it tells you the stages of a puppy’s mental development and it teaches you to relate to a dog and work with a dog in a way that the dog can understand.
You can start training even when playing with a young puppy. For instance, when you take the puppy out to potty, as hes looking for a spot to eliminate, tell him "Hurry and go" or whatever your choice of command would be. Praise him after he eliminates. By giving the command as he’s eliminating and following it with praise after he’s done, the dog is learning to associate the command with elimination. Very handy later if you’re traveling and you stop at a rest area and want the dog to relieve himself, to be able to tell him "hurry and go" and have the dog relieve himself on command!
Call your puppy’s name when he is running toward you, and when he comes up to you, gently push him into sitting position in front of you before you pet him or throw a toy or do whatever youre going to do with him. By using his name and by pushing him into the sitting position in front of you, you are teaching him to come and to sit in front of you automatically when he gets to you. In AKC obedience competition a dog is required to come and sit squarely in front of you when he reaches you, and shaping the habit this way with a young puppy will make training much easier later on. Also, gently teaching the pup to come and sit in front of you before you pet him or do anything else, helps prevent or correct the common problem of the dog jumping up on you.
When you go to feed the pup, hold the dish a moment and say "Wait" and then when you put the bowl down, say "Ok". When you get ready to open the door to let him out, say "Wait" and wait a moment before opening the door and then say "Ok" and let him out. After you’ve done that awhile and he acts like he has an idea of what "Wait" means, tell him "Wait", open the door, and if he tries to go out, shut it on him so he’s (gently!) trapped in the door. Then say "I said WAIT" and open the door just enough for him to back up and not be trapped. Continue to hold the door open a little, say "WAIT" and if he tries to go through again, trap him again. When he waits (only make him wait a few seconds in front of an open door the first few times before giving him the ok command), then say "Ok" and let him out.
There are so many times when the command "Wait" comes in handy; Use "Wait" not stay, when you want the dog to wait on you to open a door, etc. "Stay" means stay in the position required and not move at all until you give the release command, which is why "Wait" is better to use in situations where you want the dog to wait until you open a door, etc. If you use "Stay" for such situations, your dog may think "Stay" means its ok to move around, etc, and in competition obedience a dog cannot move at all when told to stay.
Incidentally, a dog is mentally just reaching adulthood at about 3 years of age! There’s a joke among some dog people that says "If you don’t kill him before he gets to 3 years old, at 3 he finally becomes a civilized canine!" the joke being that a dog goes through puppyhood and then is a bratty adolescent testing you to see what he can get away with, until he gets to about 3 years old, when he starts acting more mature mentally.
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September 4th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Old dogs can definitely learn new tricks! It’s never too late to enter your dog into obedience! There are so many options too, such as flyball, herding, conformation, etc. There are a lot of great training books out there for in home training, so do some research to get started! As for how early you can start obedience training on a puppy, you can start training basic commands such as sit and lye down in your home from 6 weeks on. Wait until the puppy has had at least two sets of puppy vaccinations (usually around 12 weeks) to enroll them in public obedience lessons. Good luck!
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Dog Breeder of 10 years
September 4th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
A puppy can be trained as early as 3 weeks old..however, the schools for obedience suggest 10 weeks old usually. I am not sure as to why. My neighbour has 3 golden retrievers and started training them around 2 years old. Those dogs, now 5 yr, 6 yrs and 10 yrs old have won numerous awards for St Johns Ambulance, dog shows and other various competitions.
I started training my dog around 3 weeks old and by the time she was a couple months old, she knew everything that the obedience school was teaching..kind of a waste of money for me..but apparently you have start with puppy class, then move up. A dog can learn at almost any time in my opinion. Some breeds are smarter than others for some reason and they specialize in their own thing.
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