Too young?? - Page 1

Hi there. I'm training my puppy (2 months old) and he already know some commands: come, sit, stay and release. I'm using a clicker and praises, no force of any kind has been used. Not even a leash. However my girlfriend told me that she heard somewhere that training youn puppies isn't a good idea because they get stressed. So far he seems to enjoy it, I'm training him in very short sessions, no more than a couple of minutes and he loves the food treats. Should I stop the training? Thanks a lot!! Merry christmas. P.D. The bitting issue has been decreased, but not dissapeared yet... patience I'll have ;)

This is very interesting and I would love to give you a detailed answer, but at the momemt I am busy trying to teach my 3 yr old Calculus.

As long as it is all positive, I agree with it totally. Mine was also happy doing these things eartly. I, personally, think pups are like very young children. The more you expose them to in an enjoyable way, the more their mind becomes engaged and observant. Also, I have never had, with any of the breeds I owned, much at all in the way of defiance during the "teenage years" with a dog I've done this with. My vote would be as long as he enjoys it, no pressure, and he's being succesful to build confidence then go for it. Dawgs

In my opinion your doing exactly what your supposed to do. Puppies have a short attention span so a couple of minutes is great. You mite want to work on focus (eye contact) now is an excellent time to start. Also some tracking when i say tracking i mean just a stepped down area in the grass 3' circle with some treats in it starts to teach the pup that in the broken grass smell there are treats. Just an opinion.I know of a lady the tranes during advertisements this a short time then puts them in kennel to think about what they learned untill next advertisement. Just a thought.

This is absolutely fine for your pup. Stressed? No. With inducive training and operant conditioning of this sort, your pup hasn't a clue that he is being "trained"--only that he is having fun interacting with you and receiving rewards when he "offers" the desired behavior. One of my dogs (Zeek vom Olympus SchH3 IPO3) completed his BH at 13 months (when this was still possible). All of his training for the BH took about 6 weeks. This training was done all off-leash and reinforced with the use of a clicker (as a behavior marker) and food. Later, one of his schutzhund trainers described him as "Mr. Consistency" and the most intelligent dogs she had ever trained/titled. At the very worst, if you plan to do protection work later on, your pup may initially be a little too handler oriented, concentrate only on you, and tend to ignore the helper.

I can start obedience with a dog at 13 months and easliy have it ready for a BH at 15 months, but what is the rush? Why do you need to start obedience with a 2 month old dog? I would work on building drive, focus, and let the thing be a puppy.

As long as it is positive training the puppy should not be stressed if he is of good quality. Yes, puppies can be stressed, but often it is because they are asked to do too much, too soon. I agree with Louise and DeKal 100%-work on things such as (fun) drive, (fun) focus, and most of all-(fun) confidence. Just keep it fun amd there will never be stress. In short, a dog will only do things that he really enjoys doing. Regards, Bob-O

DeKal-I didn't do it, myself, to rush the training but more to stimulate the pup's mind and imprint it somewhat to positive reinforcement. If he didn't get it right, it was no big deal, I just didn't give the treat.

dawgs That is fine! Everyone has his/her own philosophy. I just think that an 8-12 week old puppy should be building a foundation, not working on obedience. I'm not saying that it isn't worked into drive building in a few months, but at this point, what is the rush? Keep in mind, I am training for sport. If you want a house dog, be my guest. There really is no need to work on fundamentals. You can even take the 8 wk puppy to a training facility that uses the Koehler method.

DeKal: "I can start obedience with a dog at 13 months and easliy have it ready for a BH at 15 months, but what is the rush?" ********************************************************************************************** This may be personal preference without a "rush". My first AKC bitch completed her AKC UD title at 13 months (all titles in less than 7 months--a total of 11 trials) and her TD title a few months later with only 6 weeks of training. She simply loved to work and had fun with her training.