Larks is going to be 11 weeks old tomorrow and I'm just looking for some feedback on if we are doing ok with her training. She knows Come, Sit, Stay, Lay Down, Up, and Shake. We are working on "Leave it" but she isn't consistent with it yet. Am I missing anything important? I'm a first time puppy owner so I want to cover all my bases. We are also working slowly on her fetch game. Thanks in advance for the input!
The only other command we started in early training was wait. We started that early with the release word "ok". Just impulse control work...we use it for eating, crossing the street and and when we release her off leash...that sort of thing.
You're miles ahead of where we were. I think the only thing I'd taught by 11 weeks was the hand touch, and the foundations of basic recall (eye contact and run).
Way ahead of us too. Storm is 11 weeks on Monday and we are Teaching foundations of basic recall, heel and sit at the moment!
She is a REALLY fast learner so we are moving quicker then I thought we would, but I need to keep her brain busy so she stays out of trouble! I spend all day wth her since she is allowed at my job and we do 5 minute training session all throughout the day.
Ours is the same age as yours. So far we are teaching (with varying degrees of success) heel, settle, stay, wait, leave it, drop it, basic recall, hand touch, food manners, responding to name, sit/down/stand, and responding to a kissy noise to grab his attention I'm waiting to teach retrieve as this is already so much! His heel is more like a lunging pony at this stage though
I used to train 'let me look in your ears, or see your teeth, your paws, your tail' so that when/if a visit to the vet is necessary they will be used to being examined. All this can be done as fun with treats.
Hand touch and "watch me" (eye contact) would be what I'd add. We're not doing any formal "stay" yet. I realize now, reading Pippa's book, that with previous dogs I used the cue way too early and "stay" meant "stay as long as you like, but definitely a while, and get up when you want." Instead I'm just rewarding duration of remaining in a down or sit (esp down). She has started to figure out that lying down patiently in the kitchen is the way to get a REALLY GREAT treat while I'm cooking or prepping food (like the food she's trying to counter surf, she will get if she lies quietly). Eventually I'll move that to a rug outside the kitchen area a little bit so she's out of the way, and am generalizing to other places. We are doing short stints of on-leash walking on my road with a treat given every time she's in heel position. No other formal "heel" or "with me" word yet. You said you're already doing come, definitely doing Pippa's recall training basics is a big part of our focus. Oh, and the other side of "stay" which is a release word. I want to add that this week. Definitely check out kikopup on YouTube. So much good stuff. I also have 51 Puppy Tricks which is fun for finding a new task/trick to teach them, if you want to keep her brain busy and you both enjoy it!
I can't get Stanley to do a watch me - he just doesn't seem to understand it. I'm not sure why, he picks everything else up so easily!
It's not natural for many dogs to make eye contact, and may even be uncomfortable for them, so they have to learn it's OK - and even rewarding. I didn't need to do anything special with mine, they were more than happy to look at me by the point I worked on it, but if I were coming at it with a dog that didn't naturally do it, there are a couple of things I'd try. One is, to get him used to making eye contact, have a treat in your hand or on the floor (if he can be trusted to leave it). Sit down and wait. Just wait. A bit like the "no mugging" game, but instead of waiting for him to stop pawing at your hand, you wait longer. Eventually, he will look at you for a clue of how to get it. That's when you click and let him take it. He'll soon cotton on that eye contact is the way to earn the treat. Once it's an established behaviour, you can then put it on cue. You could also try a lure of a treat to in front of your eyes, and gradually fade the treat. My visual cue for "look at me" is two fingers pointed at my eyes (in a traditional "I'm watching" sort of gesture). Add a verbal cue if you wish once he understands the visual cue. I don't have a verbal cue for this, just an attention-getting noise, followed by the fingers.
