Puppy Training

[Janalle]

What age did you send your puppy to training classes? Sam is 3 months old and I asked the vet her opinion and she said
"NOW". :-). I'm looking into a bootcamp for him.. I know some don't agree with sending a puppy somewhere for a week but my mom did it with her poodle and she was so great.. I've reached my training point with him.. He's a great puppy but I can't seem to break the jumping and biting and barking at the kids.. The trainer said between 6 weeks and 16 weeks is where they learn their behavior.
So what is your opinion?

[Jen W]

I started when my puppy was 12 weeks old.

I don't know anything about bootcamp, but my trainer always says that they don't train dogs, they train the people who love them.  When my pup doesn't listen to me, I know there's a better chance than not that I'm the one who's the problem (i.e., inconsistency, mixed messages with body language, etc.). 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

They usually say four to five months for serious obedience work, but I think that puppy training begins the day you bring them home.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

^This

[Joani, Skadi & Elli]

Agree...the day we inherited Skadi at 10 weeks, we called the trainer to the house for the very next day!  We've just recently enrolled her once again in classes...and she's 3 1/2...it's great for you and great for the dog.  A trainer once told me they need training til the day they leave this earth!  So much fun!  My cousin took her Rottie to bootcamp and they all loved it...so much she is sending him again!

[Janalle]

Oh I totally agree that it's the owner (me).. Lol. He is easy to train and does great when it's just me.. But it's training my kids and puppy to respect eachother that is a challenge.. My kids are wild and love playing and wrestling but don't get that you can't be like that with a puppy. So when Sam takes a nice nip out of them, they get all upset..

[Susan, Coby & Chloe]

I am actually sending my new puppy to a boot camp. I understand it's a hot topic but I have utmost confidence in Aly Rodgers with alyspuppybootcamp outside of San Luis Obispo - she came highly recommended by several labradoodle/goldendoodle breeders. Due to current circumstances of getting a new pup earlier than anticipated after losing Bosco at only 3 1/2 and now having my 2 1/2 year old grandson living with us part-time, I wasn't up to the challenge of taking on puppy training again so this seemed like the best option for us. We'll have Coby a week before bring her to Aly's and I'll spend a good amount of time with her upon pick up to learn commands, etc. I'll be getting daily updates along with videos while she's in Aly's capable hands.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I've put lots of her training videos in the Training Group.  I love the work she's doing with puppies.  Would you mind sharing with us how this experience goes....it would be awesome if you could share that in the Training Group.

[Susan, Coby & Chloe]

Sure but it will be awhile. She'll be in training from 2/15-3/15

[Susan, Coby & Chloe]

Update on this as it's now been three weeks since Coby's been in training at Aly's; we flew out with her on 2/15 and I go to pick her up on the 15th of this month. Aly sends me daily progress reports with puppy/dog training tips each day as well as photos and videos on her FB page (I've included one on my homepage here; I don't log in though very much).  Where is it you suggest I post more about this experience? I was in awe with how well trained her "Power Pack" was when we were at her immaculate and loving home. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

Luca started at about 6 months and he really could have used it earlier. But I prefer to keep the dog at home and go to classes rather then sending them off.

[Janalle]

I would love to find someone like Alys in Florida who specializes in doodles..anyone know of someone??

[Diane and Alma]

I've never used boot camp to train a dog but some of my friends have.  We found a trainer through our vet that worked great for us.  Maybe your vet can recommend a boot camp?   Every week we would go and I would take my kids with me (8 and 10 years old at the time).  That way they could train Alma and see how it was done.  I think it's important to involve the kids in the training if possible - not sure what ages yours are.  Good luck.