What should I teach my puppy next?

[GladysKravitz]

I have a 12 week old Presa Canario cross. He can sit, lie down and give you his paw. He usually comes excitedly when I call his name (as I usually have a piece of cheese for him when I do so!).

What should I teach him next? Is he too young for learning some things, such as whistle training? I want to whistle train him eventually so he can go offlead, what whistle/long line do others recommend?

He's going to be big and powerful so obedience training is very important to me, but I'm less bothered about him doing tricks.

[TheRollingCrone]

Sorry nothing to add except I read "Should I teach my puppy to text?"

[Isthatwhatdemonsdo]

Start whistle training now. They are never too young learn. The sooner the better in my experience.

[babyblackbird]

Loose lead walking - something I didn't pursue rigorously enough with my lab and 2 years down the line and regretting it massively as he has wrecked my back.

I was determined he would walk nicely on the lead as I hated seeing dogs dragging their owners around but I had no clue how hard it is to nail it and gave up too quickly and he has gradually got worse and worse even with a harness.

If I had my time again that and recall ( which is pretty good) would be my main things to focus on.

[tabulahrasa]

Drop and leave are really useful and stay and wait, you want those as soon as you can really.

Playing dead is surprisingly more useful than you'd think with a large dog, it means vets can get underneath them easily, lol.

[Hoppinggreen]

I would do drop it, leave it and fetch next

[phillipp]

We started whistle training our dpup as soon as we got her. At 20 weeks she comes 99% of the time. Even when distracted.

We started in the garden. We got the book 'total recall' and followed that. It's worked really well so far.

So far she does find/fetch, sit, down, lay down, stay, leave it, drop it, give paw, find the kids, roll over and recall to whistle.

We have also made sure we let her off the lead when safe to do so (so well away from roads, people and other dogs) during her walks.

[GladysKravitz]

Thank you for the replies. I've been watching a kikopup video about 'stay', but it seems quite complicated! I prefer Zak George's style.

I want to get 'Total Recall' phillipp, I've seen it mentioned several times. Does it matter what dog whistle I use? Some have more than one tone and I don't know why.

[phillipp]

The author recommends and acme one, cant remember the pitch number (Dd is away with mum and taken the book with her). I just have a standard metal one from the pet shop. I already had it so used that.

The author also has a website called totallygundogs.com. It's been really helpful. We have a sprocker but most the information suits all dogs, not just gun dogs. She talks a lot about training working dogs and family pets.

I think some may have more than one tone because working dogs will learn lots of commands for the whistle. Not just recall. So it may help them hear The difference. But that's a total guess on my part.

[DietCockBreak]

Get a gundog whistle. It doesn't matter which tone it is, but stick with whichever tone you choose (it will have a number) so the sound of the whistle remains exactly the same even if you lose the whistle and have to buy another one.

My pug is 11 weeks and I've taught him to come to the whistle (3 pips) - that was the easiest thing tbh! He also does come, sit, paw, down and fetch. And he's really cute! I'm ridiculously proud!