Hi, we have an 8 week old puppy and finding the whole experience quiet overwhelming. With Crate training, House training, teaching her not to bite, not to snatch food/toys and discovering more all the time it's all quite a lot to take in. I am hoping for some advice or maybe a checklist on what training to concentrate on first and which can be picked up later. Sorry if this is already answered elsewhere but I've not been able to find it. Thanks!
Hi Dohee, Our pup is 12 weeks old now, and we were in the same place as you 4 weeks ago. It can definitely feel overwhelming at times - the content in this forum and on the puppy website has been of tremendous help to us. I thought I'd list out what we've done in the past 4 weeks and it may give you some ideas (we are by no means experts, husband grew up with black labs, however this is our first puppy together! "Must do": Toilet Training - We were super lucky, our breeder is magical and our pup came home completely toilet trained with the ability to signal for a wee. Any accidents in weeks 1 were entirely due to us missing signals. At 11 weeks we tested him for a night, and his bladder is ahead of his age - he does sleep through completely comfortably 11pm - 6am. Puppies vary so much, so do not feel guilty if this takes time, it's entirely dependant on their control as they age. Crate training - we call this "bed!". I started by throwing treats in there first so through positive association, he would choose to be in there. During the day while we are with him to supervise, we leave the door open and he chooses where to be (rug or crate!). During our mealtimes and during the night ("goodnight!") we shut the door. We now ask him to "bed!" first, then ask him to do "down" and then we reward with treat after or some frozen carrot. Biting/chewing - always find something better for him to chew, loads of toys with different textures. Rotated regularly and not all available at once. He is BARELY nipping us now after 4 weeks. We also used a disrupting sound "ah-ah!" to let him know he had hurt us, and stepped back and away from him. About 30 sec later once calmed, we pick up a toy, and have a play! Back to fun! Also found that when he was particularly mouthy or zoomies, it was a perfect time to crate him positively (i.e. unofficial timeout without using that phrase to him) and give him frozen carrot to munch on and he'd chill out quickly. He now mouths our hands gently and gives nice licks! Clothes is our area of focus at the moment, he seems to love my woolly jumpers so no baggy clothing allowed. Toy possession - I found that initially he did run away with toys and hide under the armchairs, however he has corrected this by 10weeks as we enticed him away with "come/treats/noises/silliness". We always sit against the sofa, on the floor/rug with him and now he wants us to play with the toy alongside him. Who wants to be bored by themselves! Commands Sit - this is the first thing we taught him, now working on duration and distance alongside distractions (our cats provide high end distraction). We also make him sit before we present him with (refilled) water bowls or his food bowl. Down - moved this to apply to his crate also after he could do it consistently. Come - practicing recall at home, making a HUGE fuss when he runs over. PUPPY CLASS!! I can't recommend this enough. Attended his first local puppy class (both vaccinations completed) - this has been immensely helpful from the first session. We've learnt "look at me", "stand", "touch" & recall training with all the distractions of the other pups/owners. The best thing is the socialisation element with other puppies, watching them do zoomies together is hilarious. We've got 6 puppy sessions and then I think we will continue with this trainer to the advanced classes as she's fab and I like her pawsitive style (sorry, love a pun!). Fun to do: Paw - well I know it's a trick but we both found it fun! Closed Fists - hide a treat in one hand, close both hands and present your fists to him. He'll sniff the treat out and you can open your palm. When he doesn't get the right hand first time, he goes to the other palm, and so he would still get a treat. I think it improved his nosework because he gets it 8/10 now... new game thinking required! I hope that helps a little bit - if I think of anything else, I'll comment again Thanks, G
Sit and No are two commands your puppy has to know before you go any farther in obedience training. With an 8 week old pup it all has to be fun.
