Hi Guys & Girls, I am just wondering if there are any basic training I could be starting now with my 9 week old pup ("Max") he is becoming boisterous (only in spells though) but seems to have taken a shine to my 6yr old daughter and seems to like having a nibble and a jump at her. I am wondering how I can stop him from doing this, we are telling our daughter to say "oww" and then turn away as though she has stopped playing with him but he just continues jumping on her until we intervene. I am just wondering if this is normal as it can be distressing to my daughter. Also we have started getting him used to his collar just within the house and his lead, although he hats being on the lead and tries to chew it constantly. is this normal? He is going to his first puppy class on Saturday (socialisation with other pups that are in between injections ran by the vets). ;D ;D Sorry for all the questions its just fantastic to be able to ask some of these questions with other people who have probably gone through what we are going through now. Cheers Michael
Re: Basic Training Everything you describe is normal but that doesn't mean your daughter has to be on the receiving end You could get a puppy play pen for him to be in sometimes (when he's in a boisterous mood) so he can be with the family but not harass your daughter. And you can teach him to sit and, once he's good at it, teach your daughter to get him to sit for a treat instead of jump on her (keep some treats in bowls around the place so she can grab one to reward him when he sits). I'm sure that others who have kids (I don't) will have good ideas Other behaviours to work on would be coming when called and following you closely as you walk along (the beginnings of walking on a loose lead). Also waiting to eat till you put his bowl down.
Re: Basic Training Have you checked out the puppy articles on the main site? This page here is a good start and gives links to useful articles. There are several articles on starting to train 'walking nicely' and also the recall
Re: Basic Training Thanks, I will check those links out now. I am not sure if its my daughters voice, even when she is saying no its quite high pitched which probably sounds like she is playing with him. This might sound daft but can you over treat them? how often should i be going through the sit command etc with say a day period, is this just something you do for say 10 minutes as i am aware they have a short attention span anyway. Cheers
Re: Basic Training Hi Mike Welcome to the Forum, where you will find help for the experts and friendship and support from fellow sufferers (I fall into that category). My puppy is just six months. The mouthing took me by surprise too and I didn't like and I'm an adult. As Oberon says it is par for the course. It took along time to persuade her not to do it and I was never sure if it was my efforts (and believe me I tried everything) or she just grew out of it. I found the 'sit' very easy to train. She got that within a couple of weeks. It was also easy to teach her to give me her paw. Some would say it was a pointless exercise, but I figure anything you can teach them is good, it looks cute and will probably entertain your daughter immensely. Good luck with it.
Re: Basic Training A couple of short training sessions a day is good - just a few minutes at a time. But you don't need to confine things to formal sessions - once your puppy has learned something you can ask them to do it any time (for a treat) Make it unexpected and fun and that will help your puppy to pay attention to you and see you as a source of good times
