If
you have a puppy, you must start training early, but do
it gently.
Your puppy has to have
confidence in you before he can begin learning.
Remember that puppies are like children - they have growing
bodies, short attention spans, and will only learn things
when the conditions are right and when they understand
what it is you're trying to teach them.
That said, the earlier
you start training dogs, the better. More specifically,
it's best if you start “socialization” from
8 weeks, simple commands like “come” and “sit”
from 12 weeks, and more intensive training at 5 to 6 months.
While some early training can
be started as soon as you bring your puppy home, the optimum
time to begin obedience training is somewhere around
9 to 12 weeks of age.
Keep in mind that training
can cover a broad range of topics – I’m not
suggesting that you begin training your puppy at 8 weeks
of age for agility competitions! Your training should
start off with the basics – teaching him
“No!” and beginning house-training.
Socialization skills
are next – experts tell us the best window for your
puppy to learn socialization skills is between 3 and 16
weeks – that’s the best time to insure that
your puppy grows into a well-adjusted adult.
And remember, socialization
isn’t about teaching him the right fork to use at
the dinner table – it’s about giving your
dog the self-assurance to deal correctly with any social
environment he finds himself in is one of the most valuable
and lasting lessons you can teach him.
A well-socialized dog will
interact well with all types of people and situations,
even those he has never been in before. With appropriate
social skills, your dog will show little or no
fear of most objects, people or other animals,
and even if startled, will recover quickly and won’t
panic.
Bottom line, a well-adjusted
dog is one that is comfortable in a variety of situations
and surroundings. He may be excited in a new
setting, but not fearful. The key here is to create positive
experiences as you expose your dog to more and more new
situations.
Even training your puppy for
5 – 10 minutes per day as soon as you bring him
home will make a big difference in the social skills and
adaptability of your puppy.
Keep in mind that puppies have
very short attention spans, so keep your lessons short
and fun. How short an attention span? That depends on
the age of the puppy, his breed and how mature your individual
puppy is – but a good rule of thumb is to keep the
training sessions within that 5 -10 minute range.
Depending on your puppy’s
age and maturity level, sometime between 3 and 6 months
of age you should be moving the training into the area
of the basic commands such as Sit, Heel, Down, etc.
It’s important you have
realistic expectations about your dog’s capabilities
at this point – I don’t expect a puppy to
be responding to the basic commands with any degree of
regularity until they’ve reached 6 months of age.
And if you want to start
today . . . just
click here to check out my book “Dog Training Secrets!”
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(c) 2004 by Charlie Lafave, author, "Dog
Training Secrets!"
To transform your stubborn, misbehaving
dog into a loyal, well-behaving "best friend"
who obeys your every command and is the envy of the neighborhood,
visit:
http://www.DogTrainingZone.com
