I am a new member to this forum and as posted in my introduction post we are bringing a new Labrador puppy into our household in late June. We already have 3 Cocker Spaniel adult dogs. Would I be right in thinking that to do the early training of our Labrador puppy 'Lexi' away from our adult dogs on a one to one basis thinking that if any of our adult dogs are present it would distract her and make her training more difficult?
The general advice is to train your new pup separately from the adult dogs, although they will no doubt provide good distraction as training progresses . Once puppy is fully vaccinated walks are normally separate as well until puppy has worked up to the same duration as current dogs, and training has advanced enough to walk with the others (no pulling, leaping, lunging etc.)
Thankyou MaccieD for your help and advice. I will try my hardest to train her away from our adult Spaniels and walk her separately too.
Forget to add that the bonus of training puppy by itself is that it helps to build your bond and gets puppy focus on you rather than doggy housemates same with walks although you do have to consider the length of walk as well with a puppy not just training the aspects. Do you have any photos of Lexi you can share
Once again MaccieD thankyou for your advice I can't wait to get started with her early training once we have brought her home late June. Yes I have posted a picture of her on my introduction thread under the title "Hi Everyone" which should be at the top or near the top of the list of threads. The picture is about halfway down the posts on the first page.
Definitely separately like @MaccieD said! We had issues with our older dog (when she was a pup) being more interested in Molly ( the older dog at the time) . And had to work much harder to get Caoimhe to be more interested in us than Molly . She just wanted to be with Molly and doing whatever she was! So when Sam arrived we have really made a point of keeping them apart ( especially first couple of months) unless they were both tired out . Fingers crossed its seems to have worked as Sams focus is on us and he is happy to play with her and snuggle up , but will 98% of the time come away from Caoimhe when called . The other 2 % is when the crazies have set in
Thankyou Sammyboy for your valuable advice. I will certainly take it on board when little Lexi comes home in late June.
Good advice given. However, if your older dogs are well trained and have reliable recall, you may well find it helps with your puppy's recall, too. If you call the older dogs to you, the pup will naturally follow them. Everyone does things slightly differently- I never really separated the puppy from the older dog on walks (at least not on short walks), and incorporated a lot of informal training into those times, making use of the older dog's experience. But you'll work out what works best for you and your pack!
I train my pups in the same room as Tatze ~ she gets treats for sitting and watching or joining in, either way. All lead walks are done separately, free runs sometimes together sometimes separately. ...
Very similar vein to Karen. We had 2 labs, 7 and 2 years old. A lot of our walks are informal off lead walks in local quiet fields and paddocks.((no other dogs) We are lucky though, to be fairly rural. When Bramble was old enough, I think she was around 4 months, she joined the other 2 on their early morning strolls around 6.30 am, around a paddock. She is good at self regulating ie not running full pelt all the time, and the calmness of our other 2 help her with this. These walks are only usually 20-30 mins to stretch legs first thing. She has learnt to settle, and just watch the world go by on these walks too, lays down with the other two, when my camera comes out this signals to my dogs, OK better wait awhile then! Bramble does also get very specific one-to-one training, maybe just 10 mins here and there, where she has been taught to walk off lead to cue, sit, recall (very short recalls) and again short clicker retrieves, these are no more that a few feet. No tennis balls etc. and I don't do any retrieves if the three are out together and it is just me. I also take the pup on carefully chosen areas where we will meet a few dogs along the way. These are to help her build independence and confidence when meeting other dogs.I think this is quite important she builds this key behaviour . We started this process at puppy school and the basic socialisation skills in a carefully managed setting have proved invaluable going forwards. Bramble is almost 6 months old. Finally a crate has been a lifesafer! I don't know whether you plan to use one, but it has helped enormously with giving our 2 older dogs a bit of space from her playing and puppy teeth!
Thanks Karen for your helpful tips. I will certainly take them on board when we bring little Lexi home.
Thanks Boogie for your help & advice I am looking forward very much to the challenge of little Lexi's early training. Once we have brought her home later in June.
Thanks Beanwood for your help and advice. I am greatly looking forward to starting little Lexi's early training once we have brought her home. Wow! You are lucky to have all that open running space for your Labs. Here in Hornsea (a small seaside town) we have a park about 10 minutes walk away and of course the beach also around 10 minutes walk. Our adult Cocker Spaniel family, mum, dad and pup (of 3 years) in their exitement of going to the beach or park can be a bit of a handful sometimes. But on their own they are great, I suppose it is that pack animal thing. Anyway I think it would be best to train and walk little Lexi on her own as one to one with myself so that she can learn that I am the pack leader and not the Spaniel Dad who always tries to show that he is top dog. We shall be using a crate (wire mesh cage with hinged door) that we used when we bred our Cocker Spaniels in 2013. I'm sure it will be quite useful in giving little Lexi the sanctuary and space she needs of her own. Thanks again Beanwood.
I'm trying to word this right . Labs are very unique dogs IMHO . The same training may work for all breeds ,but Labs are labs once you have one you'll know what I'm talking about they are unlike any other dog you will ever own. No other breed I have owned or worked with wants to please his owners more. I would give individual training to your pup ,but I would also apply it alone and with the other dogs . IMHO having other dogs around will help the puppy stay focused on you with other dogs around and that's a plus IMHO. I do feel sorry for your current dogs once the puppy arrives . No doubt one if not all of the adult dogs will become the puppies object of attention. Our first lab when he was a puppy we had other dogs and the Lab terrorized that poor basset hound, but they became best friends . Labs tend to get really excited and when they do they go deaf in a hurry ,not literally but they will not listen to the owner . Training them to still respond to commands when this excited is Key IMHO. You can eventually use your other dogs to help in this .
