when do you start training?

[cali]

ok just wondering what is common, because a lady on a list my mom frequents was being attacked for starting to train puppys at 4 months old, like how dare she start training that early :confused: this I find really weird because around here breeders start training at 3 weeks and sport training starts at 7-8 weeks of age, obviously no jumping lol but thats the way we do things around her, and to me this is totally normal, but these people were freaking out because this lady was training 4 month old puppys! as if they were way to young to be trained, however I have also heard of people who will not start any training till a dog is 6 months to a year old, which I personally find stupid, I mean why live with an unruley dog for that long? its unfair to both you and the dog. but it seems to vary upon where you live, so what is the common age to start training where you guys live? remeber this is not when you yourself starts training but the common thought in your area.

[lv4dogs]

I & everyone else I know starts to train as soon as the dog is walking, has their eyes open etc...
It's never too early.

[aly]

Do you mean basic obedience and manners training or a different kind of training (like for sports, etc)? Because if you mean basic manners and obedience, then that is ridiculous to wait until a puppy is 6 months to start training. Even 4 months is too long to wait. I train my fosters to sit when they are 6 weeks old. I pretty much start all other basic obedience commands at 8 weeks. I don't understand the logic of waiting? That is weird because training is GREAT for dogs. It helps form a bond to their people and it makes them so much easier to be around as far as manners go.

[cali]

I don't understand the waiting thing either. I mean any type of training, the lady being attacked started training the pups a long time ago, I just said 4 months because that's how old the pups are as of now when she mentioned it. I don't understand how people can think 4 months is way to early to train a pup lol

[Kfamr]

I start training the first day home. Training isn't just tricks and such, like different behaviors - peeing in the house, jumping on the counter, touching things that aren't theres, etc. Since day one they've been taught their rights and their wrongs and I think that's completely fine. If they get away with it once and punished the next, it'll be confusing.

Simba was 8 months when he came home.
Nala was 8 weeks old when she came home.
Kiara was 15 weeks when she came home.

[Vette]

Im with everyone else. traning is a good thing no matter how young the puppy is. just as long as your paitent.

[k9krazee]

Training puppies is a lot easier than waiting and trying to teach an unruly older dog what is expected. I started training all of mine right away. Kyra was taught to sit, stay, come, wait and down by the time she was a little over 7 wks then I started teaching her tricks all before she was 3 months old. Jack was 2 months when I got him and I started with the basics probably the first day he was home, we are going to participate in agility next summer because he is only 8 months now. When he was around 5 months I started teaching him the "over" command by using uprights but I have not made him jump anything, I also slowly taught him the weave poles and he knew them before he was 6 months (the poles aren't in a straight line but are spaced out so there is less twisting and turning involved). But I definately agree training should start when they are young.

[poofy]

I agree with starting as soon as you can. Bring them up the way you want them to be..lol..dont wait for bad habits and try to chage it then, will be hard on the person and the dog..how do you train a dog to roll over?? Sammy is well trained can even shake paw, but roll over confuses him he just lays down and puts his nose under as far as it will go, he seems to think its something hes done wrong.so I quit trying to teach it. Dont know how to get him to undersand it. And dont want him thinking its something wrong. Hes so cute..lol..He even does La La, when he climbs up in my lap I say La La and he puts his head on my shoulder and i rock him..lol.lol..so cute..lol..

[BitsyNaceyDog]

I agree with everyone else, start they day you bring them home.

Bitsy was 8 weeks old when we brought her home and that's the day we started training her.
My other dogs were all older when we got them, but with all of them the training started the day we got them.

[cloverfdx]

8 weeks is pretty normal for puppy preschool, and about 3 months for other Obedience lessons.

12 months plus for real Agility lessons (Some people do foundation work, i wouldn't), and no competing before 18 months.

Flyball, the dogs start from day one but no jumping until 12 months and box work starts at about 8 months but nothing serious.

I have seen so many dogs ruined from being made to jump too early/ young and have lots of formal training drilled into them early on. Let the dog grow up first, it is not then end of the world if you are not competing on the dogs first Bday :(.

ETA: Basics should be started from day one ;).

[IRescue452]

I think the youngest puppy in our class at our dog club was 12 weeks. This seems to be the normal age I see. I start as soon as possible. As long as the training sessions and style is appropriate for the age of the puppy I say start as soon as possible.

[cali]

see now the flyball training is definatly differnt from here lol flyball starts when you bring the pup home and jumping starts when the dogs recalls are solid, not rel jumps though, we use the 1 inch sticks that are used for making jumps higher, and we just set up the sticks that way the dog gets used to having to go over something and aovids a futer problem of the dog going around real jumps, reals jumps starts around 8 months and box work starts early, around her we do aim for dogs to be competing on there first birthday, we have never had a problem with it hurting pups either and the same dogs easily race past 11 years old without a problem, I see young puppys in agility all the time as well. I mean nobody does anything that would seriously injure a pup, but thats the wya things are done here and nobodys ever had a problem lol

[k9krazee]

I had Micki in agility class when he was just over 7 months. My Aunt is an agility instructor and thought that Micki would be fine. I started going to classes with him, he was jumping 8 inches and I made sure not to do anything to strenuous and not a lot of tight turning etc...but something happened to him and he became lame. I am not sure if it is directly related to the agility training but he is now 3 years old, we immediately stopped all agility and have tried to find out what is wrong with him. We are still trying to figure it out, he has been in overnight for supervision, x rays taken of his whole body, etc but the vets can't find out whats wrong with him. He still has episodes where he will start going in circles and you can tell he is in a lot of pain, we take him to the vet whenever this occurs and he gives him a Cortisone shot. I think he is permanently injured from starting agility too young and he was perfectly healthy before classes began. I will never start a dog in agility that early again, I am actually going to wait until Jack is 1.5 years to make sure he has finished growing etc. For sport training I think it is much more beneficial to wait until the dog is older but basics can start right away.

[AllAmericanPUP]

it depends on what kind of training and your own beliefs

I start obediance training with my dogs as soon as i get them..

but for stuff like agility, weight pull, flyball, etc. i PERSONALLY believe a dog shouldnt start any serious work/training until about 18 months of age.

Too much jumping and running can seriously mess up a puppy when you do it at a young age, you might not see the damage when the dog is young but it catches up with them when they get older.

[bckrazy]

k9krazee, thats really sad :( poor Jack! 7 months isn't very young either.

I do think 4 months is too early, unless all that you're doing is training light contacts, tunnels and far-spaced guided weaves. Someone recently posted pics of a 6 month-old Golden doing a-frames, dog walks, tunnels, and a couple other obstacles at their demonstration and that I DEFINITELY don't agree with... if the puppy falls off of the A-frame or dog walk, which puppies do all the time, he could be lame for life. With flyball, I think it's kinda pointless to start training when a puppy is so young ~ they cannot jump, or hit the box, which is what Flyball consists of. Taking them to tournies to get them used to it and encouraging ball/tug motivation I understand. But just the jumping motion over and over, even jumping over a stick or whatever, can harm a puppys joints ~ especially a large breed.

meh. Anyway, I don't really see the point in sport training puppies of such a young age. Encouraging tug, targeting, ball motivated, etc, will set them up better IMHO. I think really solid Obedience should be in place and the dog should be mostly done growing/maturing before they compete in high-impact sports. BUT, Obedience should be taught from day 1, definitely.

[k9krazee]

Originally posted by bckrazy
k9krazee, thats really sad :( poor Jack! 7 months isn't very young either.


Yeah, actually Micki is the one with the problems ;) He acts a lot better now than he used to, we know when his little "episodes" are going to occur so we can take him to the vet or get some pain killers in him. It is really sad because as of right now there is nothing we can do for him, we know something is definately wrong with his back but the vet hasn't actually pinpointed anything yet. The days where he is really in pain is really hard because he always wants to be sitting on someone's lap and getting his back rubbed. Hopefully we will find out what the main problem is soon!

[bckrazy]

ehhh... I knew that. I was just looking at a Jack pic when I typed that. Poor Micki :( thats really strange. Could it be a slipped disk or something?

[Savana_morgan]

i've heard that the puppies will absorb more when they are young. I taught 8 wk old puppies sign language and they did fine. But know that puppies that are that young have quite short attention spans, so don't expect to be doing more than 30 minutes at a time.