First off I have to say that I really love this forum! Everyone is so helpful and extremely friendly! ☺️ Of all the forums I've been on, dog and non-dog related, this is the best! Ok, my question is about the number commands I'm teaching Max. In our puppy training we learn 2 - 3 commands each week to practice and add to them each week. I also have gone ahead a bit and I've started adding a couple other commands that I think are important that we don't learn for a while in class. It just occurred to me that I am now reviewing around 6 - 7 different commands each day and with more to add. Is this okay? I know as a human I can't do that. Thanks!
I would just mix them up. You don't need to train them all every day - and it's actually better if you don't. I often find if I have a few days away from a certain task, they are able to progress far better when I reintroduce it. I would also say, don't stress. You don't have to get everything ticked off at an early date, even if it seems like you do. The important thing is that your puppy is learning to learn, more so than what he is learning. I didn't teach my latest puppy the sit cue (it's a "cue", not a "command") until she was about 15 weeks old. Sitting is something that people seem obsessed with with dogs, and I don't really get it. I was more interested in teaching her a stand (she's a show puppy) and I had no need for a sit at all. Calmness, yes, a sit, nope. When I came to teach it, with that added maturity and history of learning, it was a doddle. Far simpler than had I tried earlier on, which I did with my first two pups. Of course, I ended up teaching a sit eventually, and it is something they do need at some point, but there's really no rush. It's a small part of a big wheel. If I were you (and I have very recently been in your position), I would be focussing on real, practical things. Not behaviours that you feel you should be training, because shouldn't every dog know how to sit, down, shake, play dead? Most of those things have limited practical use. The things that do matter, are things like: learning to wait to be invited through a door, rather than pushing through (for safety). Leaning to have his feet handled and his claws cut. Learning to have his teeth brushed. Having his ears and eyes inspected. Recall (if you don't already have it, I encourage you to get the book Total Recall and start working through it). Walking on a loose lead. Leave. Give. But, the most important thing is that all of this should be fun. Fun for you, and fun for your puppy. If you're stressing about how may behaviours you're trying to train, and how they're coming along, it won't be fun. Try to make everything into engaging games and you'll progress far faster than by simply drilling behaviours.
Thank you! I feel better that I don't need to teach all the cues each day. Right now in addition to our puppy class cues I'm working on recall and stay.
I agree with Fiona - break up the training and make it fun. Don't beat yourself up if they have an 'off' day and struggle to follow cues, everyone is entitled to have off days.
Everyone has their own ideas on what is important to train with their puppy. Sit is easy to train - most puppies already know how to sit and you can quickly move on to asking for a sit before your open the crate or oen door or even before you put their food bowl down . Another key cue, for me, is attention on the owner/handler. If your puppy doesn't focus on you, your training is going nowhere very fast. Then there is the settle which I start training with clients while we have a chat at the beginning of our first lesson and again at the end of the lesson while I set homework. Not forgetting the importance of starting on recall from the very first days with your puppy.
