Hi im new to the forums and have some questions about training pups. We will (hopefully) be getting new puppy in the next week or so, pending an EIC and DM test from vet (i was advised to get clean bill of health on these before buying pup). She will be 13-14 weeks old when we get her, and I have been reading "Family Dog" by Wolters in preparation. My question is this: If the pup is a few weeks older than the book says to begin training, where do we start? The current owner, and owner of the mother, may have started some basic house training stuff etc, but can anyone give some advice on where/how to begin given my circumstances, opinions on the "Family Dog" book, etc? Open to all, many thanks!
Start right from the beginning. You are a new person to her, so she’ll need to get used to your ways and commands. I recommend the Happy Puppy Handbook and Total Recall too. I read them again with every new pup. And welcome to you from Mags, Tatze and Keir from Manchester UK Tatze is my pet dog, a black Lab and she's four years old. Tatze means 'paw' in German. Keir is my fifth Guide Dog puppy, a yellow Golden Retriever/Flatcoat cross and he's five months old.
Start at the beginning. We did with 16 month old Coco - he was house trained at least. Good luck with your new addition. I don't know the book you mention, but my bible is Total Recall - just for recall training - so important.
I haven’t read the book you mention, but having just looked it up I see it advocates hitting the dog. Please ditch the book and use kind, reward-based training methods. Total Recall is a wonderful complete training program for ensuring your dog comes back to you and it really works. You can definitely have a well-behaved dog without using punishment. When you get your puppy take her out so she gets used to lots of different sights and sounds -people, cars, bikes, children running, ball games, pushchairs etc. Just sit and watch the world go by together - talk happily to your puppy and if she seems unsure feed her so she makes a positive association between the thing and the food. In the garden or in a safe off-lead area, let her off lead and get her to chase you around. When she catches you, give her a treat.
