People often recieve conflicting advice on what they should be doing with a young puppy, especially if the owners are hopeful of getting into gundog work with their labrador at some point in the future. This article looks at the issues involved and is intended to help you decide when is the right time for you and your dog to start training. www.thegundogclub.co.uk/library/agetostart.php
Re: What age to start training a puppy? interesting article, thanks. Would you start training puppies with a clicker or whistle? my lab is 2 and i have only ever used vocal commands would she find it hard to respond to a whistle now or clicker? i want to train her as a gundog as she is so quick and eager and quick to learn! people have told me she will make a excellent gundog. any advice greatly appreciated ju
Re: What age to start training a puppy? Hi Ju Unlike the whistle, the clicker is not actually a command, rather it is a marker to let the pup know that a reward is coming, so you can use clicker training for both verbal and whistle commands. I will put some more stuff up on the website shortly about clicker training as it is an fun subject that a lot of people are interested in, and is gradually becoming more accepted within the gundog community too. Whether or not to train to whistle or voice first, is really a matter of personal preference and it depends a little on what skill you are teaching, so for instance with ‘sit’ I always teach the voice command first and the whistle later. But with ‘recall’, I use the whistle right from the start. Other people may train a little differently Hope that makes sense. I think you and your dog will love gundog training, and like any other advanced dog skill, it is built on a foundation of really solid obedience. So that is your first priority. If you have a reasonable recall in the company of other dogs, and some basic control of your dog on a lead, you can join a gundog training class. Whistle Switching to whistle commands (for recall for example) with a two year old lab will not be a problem at all. You will need a gundog whistle, there is an article here about whistles which may help. www.thelabradorsite.com/training/whistles.php Standard retriever whistle commands are a string of pips (pip-pip-pip-pip) for recall, and a single long blast (peeeeeep) for sit Clicker If your dog has already got some basic obedience skills, and likes to retrieve, there is no particular reason to clicker train, but if you want to have a go just for fun (which is how I started with the clicker) then your dog will enjoy it, and it will broaden your skill as a dog handler. I found that learning to clicker train after many years of using traditional methods gave me a whole new perspective on training. And its fun! I will post up the clicker link as soon as its available Pippa
Re: What age to start training a puppy? Hi Pippa, The above link has answered what I have been thinking about for some time now, you have the "knack" of answering peoples queries/problems in a very easy to understand way. Just to push you or any other readers a little further: Do you think that a puppy brought up in the house and part of every day life can go on to succeed as a Gundog that can take part in the Gundog Clubs graded Training Scheme? If so should there be any signficant differences to that as rearing any other Pup? Regards, Paul.
raising gundog puppies Hi Paul, Thanks for your kind comments. I would estimate that over 95% of the dogs taking part in the Graded Training Scheme live in the family home, as pets first and foremost, so that is a definite yes. Whilst many very keen gundog trainers kennel their dogs, they are probably still in the minority overall. The majority of working gundogs in the UK are probably ‘live-in’ family pets too. Most of the people who ‘beat’ or ‘pick-up’ on shoots around the country would probably count their dogs first and foremost as family. Possibly ‘pressure of numbers’ is a key reason for keen trainers to kennel their dogs, as much as the training issues involved. A much larger proportion of trialling gundogs are kennelled, but the number of gundog owners competing at a high level in field trials are a very small proportion of the gundog community as a whole. You certainly do not have to kennel a gundog to reach a high standard of performance... Having said that, there are advantages to kennelling, especially if you have a busy family life, and family members who do not necessarily share your goals for the dogs you are training. That is probably true to a degree for other dogs sports too, because advanced obedience of any kind thrives on consistency. Differences in rearing There are some areas in which care needs to be taken with a retriever pup intended for gundog work, for example: preserving and enhancing enthusiasm for retrieving and gentle handling or the retrieve, and in ensuring that the pup does not become excitable or noisy. Keeping the dog in the house has pros and cons to it, there are more opportunities for the dog to learn bad habits, but also more opportunities for training good ones. It really depends on your situation. Where an owner has a family with young children who are likely to play ‘tug of war’ with the puppy or throw balls endlessly until it gets sick of retrieving, then the kennel is a definite advantage. You mentioned in your ‘hello’ post keeping German Shepherds, can I ask whether they lived indoors? Pippa
Re: What age to start training a puppy? The retrieving keenness is a real potential stumbling block with puppies in the house. My husband and I are discussing getting a new gundog puppy - our first since starting our (human) family. My gut feeling is to wait until the kids are older - I just can't see any way of reliably stopping my possessive, messy, two year old from leaving her toys where pup can get them - and then snatching them out of his mouth! Sam
Re: What age to start training a puppy? Hi Pippa, Thank you for your response. In answer to your question: My very first working dog(Prison Service) was kept in a Kennel but allowed to have down time and socialising time in the house, but always slept out in the kennel every night. My partner who had never been a "Dog Person", missed the security of him around when I was on night shift, so we decided to get a pup to keep her company/security to cover this. This new puppy was brought up in the house and when we had guests or visitors she was put into the kennel with my working Dog. Every pup that I have had since then as always been kennelled at certain times to allow both the pup and ourselves time to relax. Pets have then slept indoors, but always accepted that if we needed "space" plus not every person is at ease with a German Shepherd watching their every move they were put in the Kennel. So in answer to your question, My Dogs have had both Kennelling and time in the house, which has for me worked ok. However I have known people that have treat their "Working Dog" as a tool and used it as such IE when at work it was taken out of the Kennel and upon their return put back into the Kennel. I fully understand that in a busy and hectic household with a growing family around there is the opportunity to"spoil" any training that has been carried out. I have always had strict rules that has always been spoken about prior to the arrival of a new pup EG basic commands such as "come", not come her.etc etc. Just my views.
Re: What age to start training a puppy? We used the trick of teaching 'unusual' command words (eg 'hup' instead of 'sit') to our pup, so that other people, visitors etc, couldn't accidentally undermine training. I have heard about people who took this so far as to give the dog two names - one for the kids to use, and one for training! Sam.
