Which commands should/could I be working on with an 11 week old?

[Lucy & Ellie]

So Lucy is 11 weeks... actually 12 weeks on Thursday.  She knows sit and down and come really well.  Well, well for a puppy I guess??  She kind of decides when she wants to obey, but is pretty good for the most part :)

I'm trying to teach her "drop it."  Both with a toy of hers and something she actually should not have.  Which she doesn't have much of an opportunity for, as we still watch her like a hawk around the house.  It's slow going, but we're trying.

What other things are good to work on at this age?  And I'm not sure how much to expect.  A) I'm not an experienced trainer - I'm totally new to this.  B) She's still young.... right?

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

I think "leave it" is very important and an appropriate command age wise for your puppy.
Also, maybe not a command but something to work on is "settle", and putting your hand in her food bowl and taking out food, or adding to it to avoid food guarding.

[John Wang]

Boomer's hitting 12 weeks this Thursday as well! Right now he's good with the following commands:

• Come
• Let's Go (Signal that he should get off his lazy butt and start walking with me)
• Sit
• Stay (Remaining sitting, he's not good at this unless we repeat every five seconds)
• Watch Me (Maintain eye contact)
• Down
• Shake!
• Fetch (I feel like most dogs will do this happily)
• Pen! (Goes to the playpen)
• Nappy Nap! (Goes into crate)
• Potty! (This helps stimulate him when he's trying for a #2)

We're working on Drop It! and Leave It! (We were told that instead of 'Leave It', to use 'Icky!' as the dog can more easily recognize the sound.) Boomer's too clever and evil, he will only do it if we have treats, as he sees if we have it in our hands. We're going to adopt the closed hand technique so he can't tell.

But FYI, we are also doing training classes in tandem, and Boomer's at the minimum age requirement. So far they've only taught Come, Sit, Down, some loose leash walking, and we're now starting Leave It and Drop It. So it seems you're on the right track. The other tricks we taught Boomer ourselves in our spare time. It takes 2-3 days for him to pick it up, and a few more days to refine it.

Down - Place your hand on your puppy's back while moving a treat at their nose towards the ground. As soon as they get into a down position, feed it to them and saying 'free!'. Continue doing this until they don't need your hand on their back. Then begin lengthening the time between the 'down!' and 'free!' for the treat, so he knows to stay down until you say free.

Shake! - Just say shake! with your hand gesture. Wait 1-2 seconds, then shake their paw, and immediately feed them a treat. Keep doing this. Now my dog will sit and automatically raise a paw, cheeky bugger.

Nappy Nap! and Pen! I would have him near the pen, say the words a few times then throw a treat into the zone I wanted him to go. After a few days I would only sometimes put the treat in. Now I only put in a treat once he goes into the zone specified and sits.

[Kelly & Zoe]

Never to young to train :-)  Sit, stay, leave it, come, are to me the most important.  That's what we started with at 9 weeks.  Once you get those down, reinforce them every day for the rest of Lucy's life.  We made the mistake of slacking on those commands, assuming Zoe had them down, and one day when she was about 5 months old I gave her a sit command and she looked at me as if I was speaking Mandarin.  Other important commands after those 4 are: wait (a less strict variation of stay), down, then the fun ones like fetch, find it, etc.  I found this book to be very fun and informative 101 Dog Tricks - not just tricks but good basic techniques of training the basic commands: http://www.amazon.com/101-Dog-Tricks-Activities-Challenge-ebook/dp/...

Our doods are so smart, they need that mental stimulation daily, so reinforce every day.  And a dog is never too young or too old to train :-)

And Lucy is adorable!

[Kelly & Zoe]

Oh, and, I'm a big fan of positive reinforcement and treats at this age for training.  Make it fun for both of you!  Praise a sit like it was the best thing you've ever seen.  It will become ingrained that sitting (or whatever) is a great thing to do when asked.

[Amy]

The puppy class we are in right now is focusing a lot on improving the dogs impulse control. We started with things like holding a high-value treat in your hand and simply waiting for the dog back away from the treat, give you your space, & sit. You don't use any commands per se, basically the dog figures out what you want. Doggie problem solving? Also working on sit and down commands without any hand motions and from a standing position. We thought our pup had mastered sit and down, but when we removed the motions, we had to re teach. I really like a lot of the impulse control exercises the teacher has shared with us. She really emphasizes rewarding natural behaviors that are desirable.

[Gem's Jewel]

Jewel will be 12 weeks old tomorrow and we have been working on not jumping, to sit and stay before going outside unless called outside (even when the door is wide open) and walking on a leash and she is doing well with all of them. Have fun with Lucy, who is adorable by the way!

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Never, ever too young to start!

These are all good suggestions.  The "leave it" is very important!  You will find your pup wants to grab anything and everything off the ground.  Some (maybe even most) can be extremely dangerous for them.

  I would also add "wait".  We use this for when we are going out the door.  She should not be rushing out ahead of you.  There will be times, that you might not want her out at all.

  We also use this in the car.  She must "wait" before coming out of the back of the Jeep. 

[Lucy & Ellie]

Thanks!!

I'm watching a lot of Youtube videos and reading how-to's online.  I was so impressed at how quickly she learned the ones I mentioned she knows.  But some of these others have been tough!  Oh and in the videos, the dog always gets it sooooo quickly!  They make it look so easy!  I'm sure the dog is probably already trained to know it but still....

And I'm not sure how to differentiate things like leave it vs drop it.  Ya know?  What do you do?  I guess leave it is for when she hasn't put something in her mouth yet, and drop it would be to drop something she already has....

And like, "Off..." is that get off of the couch, or get your paws off of that person?  Or both?

Thanks for the advice!  

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Use the command you want to use!  It could be " clown" for all anybody cares....just as long as you and your pup are on the same page as to what it means.  At some point you will introduce a "release" word" for your pup.  It means when they are in a sit stay, or a down stay, or any command ( like the wait command), you are telling them it's okay to move or go or whatever the command was.   Again...everyone makes up their own release word....whatever works.   It is the same with these puppy commands.  Only thing is, if you go to puppy class, the trainer will use her own commands and it may confuse your pup.

  Yes...."leave it" for all those times she sees poop or a leaf or a toy or sock, you don't want her to pick up.( If you were ever to train as a Therapy Dog, hospitals are full of human meds. that have been dropped on the floor.  In this case " Leave it" is very important!)

            "Drop it" for when she has something, she shouldn't or a ball or a toy, you want her to drop.

Use "off" as you see fit....but just don't have dual meanings for it, as she will never know which you are commanding her to do.

[Kelly & Zoe]

Funny - my husband and I have to make sure we're on the same page when we're teaching Zoe something.  As Ro said, pick something and stick with it and who cares really what it is, unless Lucy will have other 'guardians' taking care of her, in which case, pick something that seems most widely used.  For us, the release command we use is 'Free' instead of OK, since we use the word OK all the time in normal conversation.  As far as 'Off' - I use that with a very stern clipped, LOUD voice when I *really* don't want her on something - thing or person or otherwise (counter surfing has become an issue <sigh>).  I tended not to use 'down' to mean 'down off a person', because I wanted 'down' to mean lie down (gently), not get off something *now*.  We also (probably incorrectly) interchange wait and stay too much.  The goal  for us is 'wait' is 'pause for a bit while I'm doing something', and 'stay' is do not move until I release you.  But I often do one or the other.

I find that adding the visual hand commands as I say the command works REALLY well too.  I can be across the room from Zoe, get her attention and just do the hand command for sit and she will. Very helpful that is!  We only have 2 or 3 of those down, but if you can get the important ones - useful!

All that being said - just be consistent - sounds like you're doing a great job already!!  Isn't it amazing how quickly they pick this stuff up?  Be advised though - around 5-6 months Lucy will likely enter the rebellious state and won't obey any command - just stick with it, she'll grow out if it in a few weeks or so if that happens.

[Lucy & Ellie]

LOL oh boy, I can't wait for the rebellious stage!

Thanks for the tips everyone!  We'll keep plugging along :)

[Kyoko]

I think most important thing is a recall. Solid recall can save their lives in situations....

I don't think 12 weeks is too young to teach this

1) Say "Lucy" and when she gives you the eye contact, click / marker word such as yes --> treat / kibble

You can do this while you are n the sofa watching TV, etc....

2) Once she does this on consistent bases, say "Lucy" from few feet away, but this time no treat for just an eye contact. She would have to step forward to come to you. then click/ marker word --> treat

3) Eventually, you can add distance, distraction and duration.

I used the portion of meal / kibble to train mine, and did not use special treat at home. I only used cheese and other treat when I raise the criteria in the distraction such as park, pet store, etc....

Good luck with Lucy!!!