To young to train????

[Lawdog]

I was thinking about putting Nahnuk (10 week old male Husky/German Shepherd) into training classes, but one of the local trainers I called said he was to young to train. I have never heard anything like this. I did't know that dogs had to be a certain age to learn. Is this guy nuts or do I need to wait a while?

 

[jess2416]

I dont think a dog is ever to young to train (or too old) but he might have been talking about as far as having all his puppy shots???

 

[zoe08]

I was going to say just what Jess said.

You should start training at home, but I would hold off on puppy classes tell he gets all his shots

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

If someone is telling you your pup is too young to train, RUN in the other direction. They are likely using correction based methods to train.

Puppies routinely enter puppy training or kindergarten classes at this age.

Call around your area, I bet you can find a class that is just for baby puppies.

Starting early is the BEST!!!

 

[Lawdog]

Thanks for the input guys. The trainer didn't realy give an explanation he just said " I don't take dogs that young." I would be inclined to agree that he might be using coorection training wich is, from what I have witnessed, basicaly abuse. I will just have to keep checking around.

 

[elegy]

i'd look around for a puppy kindergarden class. they're usually a little bit of training and a lot of socialization which is very important (and very fun!)

 

[dr2little]

Puppies are ready to learn (really learn) at about 7 weeks of age. As far as puppy classes go, I require that all pups have second series of shots plus Bordatella and are at least 10 weeks of age. Home training should begin as soon as the pup comes in your door, hopefully not before 8 weeks

 

[MomOf7]

I hesitate to take a young pup to public places here. Parvo is rampid.

Puppies at that age are like lil sponges. A little at a time but still a great time for learning and bonding.
I agree find another trainer

 

[smkie]

Mary learned to shake paws at 7 weeks. It was the earliest i ever saw a puppy learn that trick. SO much can be taught at that age. Important things like come!!!!! and sit. I make a huge game out of come and big reward with praise. I use a whistle too so that if when they get bigger and are out of voice range the whistle will mean something! Fetch down a long hallway is a good start too but no more then three times in a row. I would avoid treats at this stage..and in the future, you are lucky enough to have a baby and love is all they need for praise. If you keep it that way, it will always be the biggest reward of all. Just remember to keep your lessons very very short and do them often.
My old boss had three rules for training a puppy

make sure they are having at least 50 percent of the fun

always leave them wanting more

never give a command you don't enforce.

I would never ever take a baby out to a public place where other dogs are around. There is plenty of time for that later. Babies should stay home! After you know that all the booster shots are well in the effective stage, then you can take them out for socialization. I don't even let a baby touch the floor at the vets office. Goes in the door in my arms and back out as quickly as possible.

 

[Zoom]

You can start to lay a great foundation at home at this age, but I know that where I work, we won't take puppies until they are 16 weeks of age, due to shots. But you can start working on sit, stay, down, come, leash manners, off, and a host of other things to get your puppy interested in learning.

Clicker training can be very fun for a dog this age; the game 1001 things to do with a Box is a great place to start. First, get your dog acclimated to the clicker so that it equates "click" with "I did something good". The reward can be either praise or treats. Then just set a cardboard box down in front of the puppy and see what it does. Reward for any interest in the box at first, then see what little things the puppy does on it's own. When you see something you like, click to that and treat, come up with a command name for it and work on shaping it.

 

[good_dog]

For group classes, I require that pups have had their second puppy shot at least a week before starting to allow their immune system time to process it. I also recommend a blood titer to be sure, but don't require it at this point.

Puppies at my house begin training the minute they come home. To quote something I once read (Joel McMains, maybe?), "Every minute your dog is with you, he is learning something. Make sure it is something you want him to learn."

Beth

 

[SummerRiot]

Its never too early to train your dog.

Riots SaR parnters owner came across a man with a 6 month old Belgian Puppy in a training practice. Apparently the man trains these dogs for the Police and SaR departments in various ways - protection, drug detection etc etc.

Apparently when the dog is 9 months old they are finished their "pre-lim" training and are sold to them to finish out their training with them.

These dogs are fully trained for basics, as well as having touched on Schutzhund, drug detection and SaR.

He said that he starts them when he first leave their litter.

I started training Riot - my Belgian when he was 9 weeks old. I have him a couple of days until he really settled in and bonded firstly though.
He learned sit, drop and wait rapidly - then we worked on mannerisms for inside and outside the house.
He started in his Search and Rescue training when he was only 4 months old. Before then we worked on tracking work with hot dogs in a baby pool under water, then we worked on food tracking - where I lay a scent pattern down on the ground and he had to follow up until he found his prize

I know that your pup should have at least their 2nd set of shots before going into any puppy training classes though. Just to be safe for them and other dogs.

 

[Lawdog]

Thanks to everyone for all the info. I have already started training Nahnuk on several things like leash manners, sit, stay, come, and just whatever comes up. He seems to be very attentive as long as I am with him one on one. The only problem is I am staying with the inlaws right now until I find a house and they have a pup too. (Nahnuk's sister) I feel like a jerk if I don't spend time with both dogs, but if I have them toghether they don't want to listen. I am going to have to make time to train both one on one because if I don't my mother in law's pup will never get trained.

 

[SummerRiot]

Defiantely split up training time for the pups. BUT one thing you COULD teach the pups TOGETHER is the "wait" command for treats and such.

Right now we've got 4 dogs in the house. One is only 4 months old(just turned). She is EXTREMELY food motivated - which is good, BUT she is like a little pirhana and will jump and nip trying to get the food out of your hands.
SO we have been working on the "wait" command. Slowly at first of course. But what we initial want her to do is sit and "wait" her turn while the other dogs are fed a treat in front of her - when she sits like a good girl without being greedy, she gets a treat.

Its definately great to have!

 

[stevinski]

its never to early to start training from home!

its important to remember that at training classes, you just learn the methods on how to teach your dog,
one day a week isnt enough
as my teacher says one day a week isnt enough, atleast 5 minutes a day!