Puppy training!

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

Libby will be home sometime the week of the 23rd. She will be 8 weeks old. When should we start having a trainer come to the house to work on sit, stay, down etc. along with housebreaking? Thanks!!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Those things are pretty easy to start yourself. And 8 weeks is a bit young to think about stay IMHO. But housebreaking is a full time effort at 8 weeks. You have to keep the pup under supervision or in a small crate and take it out very often. Unless you have a full time trainer you have to do this yourself. We have lots of advice on housebreaking and training if you search through the site.

[Wendy and Myla]

I think 8 weeks is too young for a trainer - I think that when you first get the puppy, she has to learn about her new family and their voices, her new surroundings and the sounds of your household.  Housebreaking is all about taking her outside all the time and praising her - lots of advice on DK about different methods like bells etc.  I also think that this is the time to spend lots of time with her, getting her to trust you and you can teach her simple commands like "come" and "sit" without the help of a trainer.  It's also the time to socialize her with different people and places, like the car, simple walks where she can hear the sound of birds, vehicles, etc.  I remember when Myla was 3 1/2 months old we took her on a dock and all of a sudden she saw a huge sign on the dock and barked and barked - she was so afraid of the sign that she backed up and fell right in the water!  She had to swim ashore - I thought for sure that it would traumatize her for life about swimming! (it didn't at all!!)  We've never had a trainer and I'm sure others will chime in about when they got one but I think that the first few months at least are the time to bond and let her know who her new furever family is!!

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

that is funny about the sign...I am glad she did not get traumatized etc. from that!  Must have been funny but too scary to laugh at the time!

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Trainers train you to train your puppy! Eight weeks is a baby and you will spend all your time potty training but it's not too young to start teaching basic commands either once your puppy has got over the initial shock of being taken away from the comfort of it's siblings and mom. Check out clicker training, all training at this age is reward based, whoops of joy and praise and treats the second you get the result you want. Look at YouTube.  I found the Kikopup videos really great and you can start watching them now. 

Bringing in a trainer is something you may want to do later on but socialization is so important from the start.Read Dr Ian Dunbar's Before you get your Puppy' here which will give you lots of information and do join all the groups here too.  Good Luck !

[Julie and Charlie]

I would consider a puppy class at that age (remember, safe clean environments only- like the first class of the day, requirements for carrying your puppy into the facility, all puppies must have first vaccinations, etc)-- they help with both socialization and some basic training. Plus, it gives you something to do every week that isn't sitting at home, bringing your puppy outside for potty!

Plus, read the books. I like Sophia Yin, but a lot of people don't. You just have to keep in mind that she has time to do this ALL DAY.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

My trainer does "new puppy owner visits" shortly after they come home where he teaches the "basics".  After that the owners are left to housebreak and teach some basic commands....he comes back later (about 5 mos) for the more "serious training'.

[Adina P]

I don't think you need a trainer right away.  IMO, there are more important things to work on than obedience when it comes to young pups:

-- House breaking (which doesn't require a trainer as much as vigilance)

-- Teaching puppy to accept handling (by handling it all over in a gentle way.  body, ears, head, mouth, paws, backside, legs, etc)

-- Teaching puppy to accept confinement (crate training).

-- Teaching puppy to keep teeth off people

-- Teaching puppy to not jump on people
The above takes a lot of energy and time.I'd say obedience commands for a few months later.

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Adina is so right, from my limited (one puppy now a year old) experience.  There is plenty of time a few months down the line to spend your money on training!  Right now, it's you who will be the potty trainer, get used to being handled all over Mommy, crate master and no jump enforcer!  have fun, and in a few weeks/months introduce the socialization aspect and the start of more advanced obediance with training in puppy school!  Look up "capture" as the training method for pups (simply watch for him to sit, say sit, and reward) and you are on your way!  have fun and love every minute of puppiness!!

[Star and Goldie]

Adina hit it right on the head. At 8 weeks you need to work on what she said and you can also work some basic commands like sit and come- Goldie knew sit when she came to me at 8 weeks. The breeder had already taught her that one. But I definitely would not even think about trying to master Stay until the other stuff was taken care of.

[Adina P]

The reason I have started to skip even teaching basic commands like 'sit' to young pups is that I find that it all goes to pot once they hit about 5 months.  I mean puppies are smart and learn things really fast, but it doesn't stick (i.e. become reliable) until you've trained through that lovely 'teenage' period that begins around 5 or 6 months.  Plus I use a more bootcamp-ish method that is too tough on small pups with short attention spans.  When I get to training it is all very serious :-)  So to me there is no point in starting with one puppy-friendly method when I'll have to retrain anyway and the 'hard' work starts around 5 or 6 months.  Early training doesn't seem to make the work any easier, in my experience anyway, because the teaching is always easy.  It's the training around distractions, training that a command is always to be followed, etc that is hard.  I've only tried this once--with Boca.  I trained her in nothing until we started more serious training at 5 months and it didn't hurt her one bit.  It didn't set her back or make it harder to get compliance.  If anything she was above average in her obedience compared to pups her age.  Thule we got at 11 months so the puppy training was a moot point and she did fine.  And Rosco, who I got as an 8 week old pup, I started right away--but it didn't matter because again the hard work didn't start until several months later.

The way I train is very hands-on.  So I place my dogs in positions (rather than lure) and so even though I wouldn't train commands with a young pup, I would still practice the placement exercises because it would make accepting the handling that much smoother I think.

[Cathy, Fozzie & Shaggy]

Congratulations on bringing home your new furry family member! I remember being so excited and nervous then exhausted and wondering what have I gotten myself into. Well, 4 years and a second puppy later, I'm still exhausted but so lucky to have my amazing doodle boys to mess up the house and make me laugh everyday =:-}

I agree with everything that's been said. Your pup doesn't know its name or that you are the new "mommy" the most important personin her new life. I sat on the floor with my hands all over my boys treating with their dog food and calling their name. I became someone they were happy to come to when I called. I started classes when they were 10 & 11 weeks old.

The book *** PUPPY PROMLEMS? NO PROBMEM! By Brenda Aloff *** is a fantastic book that describes what to expect at each puppy growth stage and what new owners can expect from their new puppy as well as practical training strategies for new puppies. This book can be found at -- www.brendaaloff.com

Another book that looks good is by *** Sarah Fisher & Marie Miller called 100 WAYS TO TRAIN THE PERFECT DOG ***

I hope you have years of fun and laughs with Libby and look forward to seeing pictures!!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I've been pondering the "when to start with a trainer" question as well.  We are coming up on 14 weeks.  My experience has been that until probably the last week she didn't really have much of an attention span.  We have just been working on potty training, no bite, no jumping, sit, and walking on a leash and most importantly socialization.  We obviously waited until she had her shots for the leash part.  All of those other things are just incorporated into her daily routine.   We started with "sit" and now in the last we days we are working on the "sit/wait" to get her food at meal time.  Oh, and we have also added the down as well.  I know that we started at 5 months with Lucy and Sophie in official classes.  We are going to use a private trainer with AnnaBelle I think and I'm thinking maybe around 4 months.  I'm just sort of going to gage it on when I think she is ready.  No sense spending the money if she isn't ready.