Posts Tagged ‘puppy obedience training’
What age should a puppy begin obedience training classes?
September 28th, 2009 | 
Author: My Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Sophie, is almost 12 weeks old. Are the classes sponsered by PetSmart and Petco worthwhile, or should I look for other pet training specialists, like Man’s Best Friend?
Just like with your hairdresser, where they work has little to do with skill level. So no matter where you go you may run into a very skilled trainer or a person that can’t even tie their own shoes. I have little to no interest in a puppy that did not start training at three days of age. From that point on it isn’t a question of should there be training, it’s a question of what kind of training. @ 12 weeks “fear memory” has developed so the window for some things has already closed. At this point everything in the puppy’s development needs to be kept on a fun basis only because it will not have the cognitive skills to properly understand a correction. Take advantage of the puppy’s natural food motivation at this stage.
At approximately 6 months of age the pup will suddenly start to demonstrate a new found feeling of independence and self awareness. (very noticeable change of behavior) At this point “formal” training can begin because this behavior change indicates that food motivation is being replaced by other motivations, and that the pup does have the cognitive development to properly understand training.
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Puppy Obedience Training – The Do’s And Don’ts
So you have just bought your new puppy, a six maybe eight week adorable ball of fluff, but you know he isn’t always going to stay that way. So when is the best time to start to train him – the answer – right now. You see it is never too early to start puppy obedience training; ok it’s not going to sit and beg at 2 months old, but believe me it is taking in everything that is going on around him.
Just as you started learning from the time you were laying in your crib looking around you, so a puppy is no different and the main way it learns is by playing. Watch any natural science programme of lion cubs playing in the wild and you’ll see that they will learn to sneak up on their brothers and sisters and pounce on them. While this is a game to them they are also learning valuable lessons on how to hunt when they get older.
Now obviously puppies are by nature mischievous and boisterous, but have you ever watched how an older dog will treat a new puppy that bounces into its life. It will roll him over on to his back with a soft growl. The older dog has no intention of harming the puppy, it is just showing him who the boss is. This is known as becoming the Alpha dog and just as the older dog becomes the alpha over the puppy so must you. Again you don’t need to be rough, just play a game tumbling him over the floor and make sure you always stay above the puppy. This type of puppy obedience training will ensure that he will get the message without even realising it
We all know that owning a new puppy can be one of the most rewarding experiences you can have, but they can also be the most tiring! Apart from the time when they start teething and decide that they are going to chew up the leg of granddads favourite Victorian chair to the inevitable puddle and parcel that will be left on the carpet, you are going to need patience! But now we come to a crucial factor with puppy obedience training and that is that you should never hit or threaten your dog. Ok no one is a saint and there will be times when you will yell and send your pup scurrying under a table for cover, that won’t do him any harm. I am talking here of persistent shouting and hitting your pup when it does something wrong as this will have the exact opposite effect to that which you wish to achieve.
If your dog has an accident and spoils the carpet don’t rub his nose on the mess so that he goes around with the smell under his nose all day – it doesn’t work. Furthermore if you are going to start to crate training your puppy, for goodness sake don’t use the crate as a punishment. You want him to feel that the crate is his home from home not a prison cell where he gets sent every time he does something wrong. Simply put, shouting at your puppy or even worse hitting him will only produce a nervous timid puppy, who will in turn become a nervous and timid grown dog and nervous dogs can be extremely unpredictable and anti social.
Some dog owners may feel that they need to resort to dog training devises to train their puppy but the thing is it really isn’t necessary. If you want to take professional advice on the best tried and tested methods of puppy obedience training go ahead. There are some great books and manuals that you can buy online which will help a lot. The bottom line however is to teach your pup simple commands backed up with lots of love and rewards when he does something you want him to do and in only a couple of months you will have an obedient little friend who will love you as much as you love him or of course her.
