puppy do's and dont's - Page 1

I have a three month old puppy and I have not decided how he will be trained or for what.  I want to know what are the do's and dont's as far as play time, corrections, and any preparations for possible Shutzhund training.

How does one develope or encourage drive and obedience at this early age?

What mistakes can be made that may hamper his drives or weaken his nerve.

How do you handle a puppies desire to bite hands and chew on inapropriete items.

I am just looking for a few helpful hints.

First of all, you must decide what you want to do with him. I think it can make a difference in some, but perhaps not all, things in how and what you do with him. 

The desire to bite is innate and if you want him for a pet, then you will do all you can to completely discourage it. If, on the other hand, you want to do Schutzhund with him, you will want him to bite and learn confidence and a correct bite. But he still must live with you so how you work with this issue is critical. The easiest thing is to find some Schutzhund clubs and make contact with them and ask if you can come observe. Go more than once, and go to more than one club. Watch, watch and watch. Then, when you have the opportunity, ask if you can bring your pup if they have not already agreed and let them work with him to see how he does. At his age, it is critical that the club does this well and he has a good time and is not frightened by being asked to do too much. What the club does with him will depend in large measure on the pup, assuming they are a good club with good handlers and helpers.

Again for obedience, what and how you do it is critical if you wish to do Schutzhund. Essentially, my suggestion is to NOT do much obedience with him at all. Just don't put him in a situation where you need to correct him either. You would be amazed at what you can teach even this early, but if you do it incorrectly, while you may end up with an obedient dog, you might also end up with squashing his drives. Again, a good club can assist you in how to do early work with him. There is a film that also can help. And if at all possible, consider finding a Bernhard Flinks or Ivan Balabanov seminar near you and see if you can go.

The bottom line is that you want to engage the pup, build his confidence, let him have fun, have realistic expectations and learn how to immediately reward the behavior you want. There is no substitute for having someone help you in this. Without it, even reading books or seeing film will not be enough to keep you from making a lot of mistakes.

Do you know how to look for clubs in your area?

I have never permitted my dogs as puppies to mouth me, teeth don't belong on me, ever, and they have never had trouble with their bitework or drives.

Play, play, play play! I like to put my very young puppies on a long line, toss out the toy (usually a tug rope or soft leather rag) and encourage them back. I gently tug a bit, let them win, praise, praise praise, tug a bit more, touch them all over while they tug, let them win again, if they get bored, I whip the toy around a bit to spark their interest, toss the toy and we start all over. In a 30 min play session I throw the toy maybe 3-4 times, I like my pups to learn the best part of play is direct interaction with me, not a "swipe it and run" game.

From 8-16 weeks, I teach very simple sit, down, come with a bit of food given intermittenly, sometimes substituted for a toy or just praise.

Correction is a touchy thing, the nuances of which I will never try to describe in written word. Gently and fairly applied, you can actually teach a puppy to handle pressure with more confidence and actually strengthen a dogs' nerve (just my opinion). Incorrect application with screw up your dog and break his trust in you. Find a trainer you like, and take it from there.

Unfortunately I live in a backwoodsie place and I would do alot of traveling to be able to train with a club or trainer.   I still want to keep the option open tho is why I was asking.  I wanted to see if the dog could help me move sheep that I sometimes keep but again theres no one close who knows anything about training a herding dog.  I have already taught this pup to sit, he's still working on down, stay, and come.   I just know that this pup will need to be more than just a pet and that I'll have to find him something real to work at.  Tracking also interests me.  I do know where I can go to watch Shutzhund training and I will see if this person will take me along on one of these training sessions. 

He obeys well enough but he does like to mouth , not really biting but even a brush of his teeth draws blood.  I usually try to give him something else to put in his mouth and use a firm no when he grabs flesh. 

Thanks for your responce to my questions and I think I'll take your advice and attend one of these training sessions, maybe even take my pup with me.