Puppy Training

[grandpajoe]

Apart from "house training" which I suppose is ongoing, at what age is it best to start training a pup'. Chris

[LochNessMonster]

Depends on the animal, my Collies started to training at 1 year old for working with sheep.

[dannyk13]

Best advice is to contact a local Dog Training Club.

[FredPuli43]

Wearing a soft collar and training to the lead; start as soon as you can. Getting it not to jump up at you and other people and to stop play-biting you, as it would its litter mates, and coming when called, ditto. Puppies vary in age when they can learn, dependent upon breed, and you'll soon see with yours when that is, but they all learn those pretty quickly and from early on

As to the rest, e.g sit, stay, stay at a distance, you can start when the pup is typically 5 months. More advanced stuff, sheep dog trials, Cruft's obedience, agility training, heelwork to music, it's probably best to start when the dog is grown and used to the simple stuff, say 10 months or a year

[grandpajoe]

Sorry, of course you need to know the breed. We are hopefully getting a Parson Russell bitch. This is to replace Maxie,a rescue Parson, mentioned in another of my posts. She will be 9 weeks when we get her and we intend using a "crate" as her bed but we'll see about that as I have never used one of these before. Any thoughts on these BTW.

[woofgang]

why do you want to use a crate? i would suggest you get one or both of these books.
Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation


training starts the minute pup enters your life!

[woofgang]

other book
Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[woofgang]

sorry, duplicate
Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[hellywelly4]

I have an 11 week old Cavalier/Jack Russell cross and have had a crate since day one. He goes in it quite happily and is absolutely brilliant overnight. No crying and no 'mess'. He's still having accidents in the house, but always goes when I take him outside.
I've just got him some hide chews as he is biting everything, most particularly my feet when I haven't got my slippers on!!
I haven't started any proper training with him yet, waiting until he can go out on a lead which will be in a couple of weeks time.
Good luck, I hope you have as much enjoyment as I'm having. xx

[Tilly2]

We used a crate for Tilly but it was only ever used as a sleeping place. Once she was moving about we let her out, usually outside first to do her business. As she grew up a bit, we used to leave the door open and she would go in when she wanted to sleep.

Once she was fully house trained we put the crate away and moved her bed into the kitchen. Now she sleeps wherever she likes.

[FredPuli43]

Don't like crates. The temptation is to leave the pup in one for long periods. Nothing wrong with a dog bed, so it has got somewhere to go for peace and quiet or sent, briefly, when it is getting in the way when you are trying to do something.

I can see the thinking, but it's perverse. Pups often quite like to be in enclosed places; I had one that used to squeeze under my bed, giving it about 3 centimetres of room above its body, to sleep; and the traditional dog kennel was quite a tight fit, but crates are not justified by that.

[Tilly2]

I agree with Fred that the crate can be used as a prison to keep the dog locked up.

We didn't do that and it worked well for us.

[grandpajoe]

Thanks for the pro's and con's re crates folks. We are both retired so the pup will have lots of attention so we feel that a crate will help us and give the pup somewhere quiet to go. We hope to dis guard it,s use around the house in a couple of months when she's properly toilet trained but also crates are ideal for car journeys . At least we can try one and we intend to introduce her slowly to this regime.

[woofgang]

Don't use it to assist with toilet training because it won't. It won't help the dog to hold on longer and once he has soiled his crate then you have lost any "puppies don't soil their nest" advantage. Keep the dog with you ALL the time and take him out on waking, before and after eating before and after play and during his waking hours, around hourly if none of the above have occurred. Watch pup carefully and learn what he will d before he wees or poos (circle, sniff squat) and when he starts the dance take him cheerfully and gently outdoors. If you can do this through the night as well (have pup in your bedroom in a cosy box) then you will do less cleaning up and by the time he can hold it for any length of time, he will know where to go. If you are smart and add a keyword then they will learn to wee and poo on request quite easily which is a boon before journeys. Mine travel on a crate in the car but didn't get on with having one in the house so we did away with it.

[FredPuli43]

Looks as though those on here who have ever had a crate haven't fallen for the daft American fad. They use it like an ordinary dog bed. A puppy bed made of some chew resistant material is best. All puppies chew eventually, and Jacks are better at it than most.
Watch out for your shoes, slippers, and socks !

Keeping a very young puppy in your bedroom at night is a bit unconventional, though it seems to have worked for woofgang. Mine had got some control of bowel and bladder when they did it.. They tend to wake up and find some mischief; I had a wolfhound pup who was fine if you could hear him at night because that meant he was sleeping. It was when you couldn't that you worried; it meant he was up and quietly looking for something to wreck,!

[woofgang]

fred, its not that unconventional, harder i agree with a wolfie. you have pup in a deepish box that is hard to get out of. it means that you take them out to be clean night and day and it speeds housetraining amazingly.

[lankeela]

I have several crates round the house/bedroom. Some use them, some don't but I always start a puppy off in them for safety around the other dogs, for (short) periods if I have to go out, and overnight. I also work with rescue, and in most cases the problems people have with their dogs can be fairly easily solved by using a crate. Got one at present, family have a young baby, so not much time to devote to young dog, who doesn't appreciate being left at home so has been wrecking the home. Put him in a crate for the short trips to the shops etc and he has now learnt to go into it on command and sleep or chew on a bone till they come home - result is that they no longer wish us to find him a new home. They don't suit everyone but they should not be dismissed as used properly they can be a godsend.

[lankeela]

As for training, right from the first meal you should be training the dog to come when called - hold the food bowl above the pups head, call excitedly to you and raise the bowl so the dog lifts its head and its other end will go down as you have tipped the point of balance - hence pup has learnt to sit so tell it 'sit, good girl' then put the food down. As a pup of 9 weeks will need four meals a day then you have four training sessions to teach the come when called and the sit on command. Same with lead walking, put on a loose lead and pick up the end when you call the dog for its food. After a few times move away holding the lead and encourage the dog to follow you before doing the sit as above. Everything should have a reward for the pup and make it want to comply.

[woofgang]

the two best bits of advice I have ever had

If the puppy can reach it, it belongs to him, don't get angry when he chews it!

Puppies are still learning when you think you have stopped teaching.