Hi everyone! New member, only just signed up but I've been learning from The Labradorite.com for a while now. We're soon to be lab parents, my first actual own dog! I've had labs growing up and my parents still do. I've been studying the get it, pair it method on the site and I think it's what I'm going to follow. I love the idea of the dog being able to follow my command instantly with no thought or hesitation. I'm worried because I don't actually know any dogs *that* well trained so I figure it must be difficult to achieve. Have people here used that method? And how successful were you? If I can nail a solid "sit" "down" and recall I'll be very happy!!
Welcome from Hattie 10 years and our rescue boy Charlie 6 years. Total Recall is a 100% must also The Happy Puppy Handbook is great too, but mainly you will have a lot of very hard work What are you calling your puppy? x
Using modern positive reinforcement training methods it's not hard to train your dog to respond the first time. What is important to remember is that all puppies/dogs are individuals and that a training method mentioned on a website may not work as well with one dog as another. A good book for basic training if you've never trained a dog is 'Train your dog like a Pro' by Jean Davidson
Hi and welcome from me and 4 year old girl, Harley. Are you getting a girl or boy? Any names picked out yet?
Hi from me and Molly. Yes, the ‘get it, pair it’ method works and a more detailed program based on that concept is contained in the book Total Recall. This forum is committed to reward-based training and most of us with adult dogs have successfully trained them to come when they’re called, walk nicely on lead and be well-behaved socially. A few members have working gundogs who have won at trials, still trained with kind methods. It’s not instant but it’s delightful building a relationship with your dog over time.
Hi and welcome from me and Poppy (five years old) and Merlin (seven months old) in Germany. There aren't actually that many things that you need your dog to do, in order to be safe and happy, and a pleasant companion for you - but you do need to be sure that these things work properly. For me, the essentials are a good recall, heel walking on and off lead, sit and wait, and a reliable stop to the whistle. In addition, if you do some kind of ongoing training with your dog, be it retrieving work, agility, fly ball, obedience or search and rescue, you will find you build a wonderful bond with your four-legged friend. Buy The Happy Puppy Handbook, keep training sessions short, fun, positive and reward-based. The first year with a young Labrador can be pretty intense, and requires a lot of time and patience on your part, but honestly - what you put in during the first 12 months is what you get out later. Good luck with your puppy, looking forward to hearing more!
My dogs were already trained before I found this forum but I have found a wealth of information here for building on the education they already had. I firmly believe in reward training only and starting training from day one. Start small and work up. Use nice treats. I use cheese, bits of chicken etc. The nicer the treat, the more focused the little pup is. Having a pup is like having a new baby in the house. Be prepared to have broken nights for a while, toilet training, being attacked (crocopup ), and generally losing your sanity. It's not all bad though. You will have the best friend you could ever have. The rewards are enormous!
I have lots of the books others above have suggested. I haven't been on the forum long enough to know if there are rules about who or what we can suggest so my apologies if I break a rule! But, we also really like Zak George. He has loads of videos on YouTube that we watched as a family and followed them. I went outside for 15 minutes one day and my husband called me in to show me 3 things he'd taught our 9 week old in that short time fromm one video!
I'd love to claim that my dog Pongo is perfectly trained.....alas that is very far from the truth! But what I've done, I've done with positive methods and they do work. There are some really expert, helpful people here who can give very good advice on almost any aspect of training. And there are also lots of very kind, sympathetic people who are just wonderful when things inevitably go wrong! Welcome - looking forward to hearing all about your adventures!
The only thing I can add is to be careful not to train your puppy things by accident that you don’t want a 30-35kg dog to do later. Total recall is a must and I’d also recommend training to keep all four paws on the ground from day one as well. We have a tendency to get down and encourage puppies to jump up and lick our faces and hug them as they come running up to us and then our friends come over and encourage the same behaviour. This just teaches them it’s okay to do this to humans and reinforces that it’s okay...until they hit 6 months and can knock grandma over in a single hit. Lol. Then you’ll be back here asking how to train your dog not to jump up on people and strangers.
