Albert is nearly 13 weeks and I'm a bit confused with training! I have a copy of Total Recall & also The Happy Puppy. My confusion lies in what I should be training first and when as there are all manner of things he needs to learn (as you all know). I started whistle recall from the early days and he now has a very basic (but clearly not ingrained or proofed) idea of what is expected. When out and about my husband is usually with us, so it's harder to interact with him. Do we both try things like chasing, hiding behind trees etc. As we will both be out him seperately at some point should we both be practising the recall (IE by running away and getting him to chase both of us or separately?) Will the dog eventually just come to the recall no matter who gives the signal so only one of us needs to do it?. So he is off lead most of the time when we are out, but when do I do lead training. IE stopping him from biting it and pulling? At home in the garden? When off lead he will approach other people with gusto, so I put him on the lead straightaway if I can see anyone before he does. Is this correct? Training to sit, wait, not jump up not to bite hard,fetch etc etc. How much of this should I be doing on a daily basis? A bit of everything or one thing at a time in order of importance? It all seems a bit overwhelming, and I don't want to confuse my puppy, but I don't want him to get bad habits ingrained from an early age. I've had a lab before, and he had poor/no recall, all down to us I know and having 2 young children. I really want to get it right for this one. So should I also go to puppy training classes? Help!! Thanks for any advice Jan
Re: Training advice please. Hi Jan , first bit of advice is to relax and try not to worry It can be a little bit of a minefield , we all want to do the right thing but honestly, if you do inadvertantly do the wrong thing, it can be righted , especially when they are so young . Albert is still very much a baby , so keep any training sessions short , no more than 10/15 mins or his attention will wander and he may fail to respond . Make the treats as tempting as possible , I use cooked sausages chopped into tiny pieces or you can use cheese, again just small pieces though and make an allowance for treats when it comes to meal times , deducting a little food . I would say that if you are both walking him off lead, then both hide together, otherwise he will be confused as to who to find first and again, he may fail because of confusion . Both work on the recall whistle , seperately , you ideally want him to recall to each of you . Try not to saturate him with teaching too much , the most important commands to teach are the recall and the sit , concentrate on these until he is pretty good at them before even thinking of moving onto something else , good luck and above all else, have fun
Re: Training advice please. Yes - I would just train for sit, recall and 'leave it' - these are the life saving commands. All the others are 'extras' We made mistakes - but none to worry about. One was playing with her with the brush when we swept up, it was great fun with a wee pup - but now Tatze gets so excited when the brush comes out she has to go in the crate, her big teeth would destroy it in seconds! I think a good rule of thumb is 'don't do with a puppy what you don't want to do with a 26 kilo dog'
Re: Training advice please. The training for not jumping up and biting and things that I call general 'house manners' like not jumping on the furniture, at visitors etc should be part of your daily routine that you teach with every single interaction with the puppy as these are behaviours he needs to learn from day one are not acceptable. With other commands and recall it should be ok for one person to be the primary trainer but do get the second person involved as well. When training my pup I did everything myself, yet she will obey any command from anyone. So I think if they have learned it and it's ingrained enough then they should respond to other family members even if only one person taught it to them. With the lead walking, this again should be taught with every interaction you have with the puppy that requires being on a lead. It's no use spending a training session teaching it and then when you go for a walk not enforcing it as they will never learn that way.
Re: Training advice please. It's all very overwhelming isn't it- books and Internet, YouTube videos and people telling you what they did and what is best... you have just brought back panicked memories reading your post lol. I was very lost as to where to start when I first got Scout. I'm no professional and this is my first lab but I started with the fun things like sit and paw and then mixed in stay and wait. In the house Scout is very food orientated but outside she is not interested and far too distracted for any kind of food/treat. Scout is also trained to a whistle and if it's just me and her in a field she comes back no bother but if there are any distraction she completely ignores it and me. I found the commands No and leave is used hourly in my house (she thinks the cats are her toys) and she figured them out relatively quickly. Consistency and repetition is the key (in my opinion). Good luck!... scout is 8 months now and she is still leaning, it's a long process, keep ya chin up and have positive thoughts lol
Re: Training advice please. Stay calm Jan, it's all going to be fine… Keep formal training sessions very short, but do them several times a day. Walking with you, coming when you call, 'leave it' or 'no' - those are the most important things. Don't try to do too much too soon - he is very little still! But remember that actually you are training your puppy every moment you spend with him - whether you are training him good things or not. Every interaction you have with him, he will be drawing conclusions from. So if he cries in his crate and you feel sorry for him and pick him up, or if you give him a treat because he whines a bit in the kitchen when you are cooking - he has just learned he can get something by making a noise! If you give him a cuddle because he is being good and quiet, or give him a treat if he is sitting cutely without you having asked him to - he has learnt that quiet, calm behaviour is the way to go to get attention or a reward. He is learning every moment of the day, and it is your job to help him find his way through the maze of strange things that humans like and expect of a dog.
Re: Training advice please. Thanks for advice everyone. We have the Sit command pretty well mastered and I do try to teach 'good manners' throughout the day. I suppose what I was really worried about was doing too much with him, but on the whole I do around 10-15 mins 'puppy school' in the garden, some recall chase games when we are out, and good manners when needed. He seems OK with what I'm doing and really enjoys the rewards. When we were out today we both hid, and we both ran away, but with me blowing the whistle as he ran towards us and it worked much better. Just need to relax and hope it will all flow......... well a girl can dream can't she? Jan
Re: Training advice please. Your pup will let you know when he's had enough. My pups usually zone out after 10-15 minutes of training, no matter how yummy the treats are. I do short sessions lots of times a day, and by short I mean just 30 seconds. Pup wants to play with a toy? Let's do a quick "take it, drop it" session. Pup wants some affection from me? How about a couple puppy pushups (sit, down, sit down) and then cuddles. It's easy to get confused but hard to really screw up a dog - so long as you're getting basic safety commands and house manners, and lots of socialization, you will be fine.
Re: Training advice please. The hiding will be great I did this with my pup, he is two years old now and keeps his eye on my, if I deviate suddenly up another path he is with me in seconds. I don't keep him close, he will often run off happily about 75 yards or so, but he always knows where I am! As someone once so wisely said (and I have said this on the forum before, so sorry all you who have read it!), "it is not up to me to keep my eye on the dog, but the dog to keep its eye on me". He also recalls on a sixpence ;D Not like my 8 year old Lab who missed out on those vital first 8 months due to injury.
Re: Training advice please. Yes - I did hiding with Tatze too. I also vary our walks a lot (she is 12 months old now) As soon as we come to a corner or a fork in the path she waits to see which way.
