Puppy Advice Please

[PuppyAdvicePlease]

Hello, we got our new lab x springer pup on Monday, she is 14 weeks old and i have a few questions.

1. How many walks should she be having? I take her out on a morning and afternoon for 15-30 mins (school run-afternoon one is longer as have to wait for dd1 to come out 10 mins after dd2)
   
   Puppy loves all the attention from the kids (i sit to one side so anyone afraid does not have to pass) and then once the kids are in bed i take her round the block which is about a 15-20 min walk. Is this too many? Not enough?

2. When training her to sit, lie down etc do i do one at a time or a few at a time ie, 'sit!' 'Lie down!' 'roll over!' one after the other? Or 'Sit'! one day, 'Lie Down!' the next?

3. She is not too keen on the dry food i got her so i bought her a tin of wet, just to get something into her, and she wolfed it down. Should i change to wet/combination/or keep trying the dry? I know dry is the best option (recommendations welcome)

Erm i think that's it for now, but i'm sure there will be more.
Thanks.

No help at all I'm afraid, but I'm interested in the answers as we are thinking of getting a puppy.

Walks is meant to be 5 mins per month of life, but not sure if that is just large breeds who have a predisposition to hip and joint problems? A vet will be along soon to clarify.

When teaching brand new behaviors I normally lure. If they will lure from one position to the next easily, then great, train all behaviors in one sitting i.e., sit, to down, to settle, to roll over, to stand. Click and treat for each correct position.

If they're like whippy and take months and months to learn one command, then I stick to one behavior per session i.e., I will work on luring a down for a whole session, but depending on how far she is getting in one session I might up my expectations, so she might get clicked the first few times for lowering her head, then I might stop clicking for that and only click for head lowered and bent front elbows etc. If I'm only doing one per session I throw in a few cues they already know to stop them getting bored/frustrated.

Thanks, I dont have a clicker yet, but just ordered one! Do you click and give treat straight after? Are the treats special treats or just kibble (or whatever the uk word for it is?) I'm doing ok with her 'heeling' she still pulls but only slightly, now i'm trying to get her to sit before crossing the road. Its easier to train her while out because the kids are too much of a distraction for her lol.

Oh and i knew there was another questions-sleep. I read a pup should sleep 18 hours a day, but my pup only sleeps at night. She is always on the go during the day (maybe a half hour nap once a day) is this ok? Don't want her to get grumpy through lack of sleep.

Our pups are 20 weeks now. Food - they will eat dry, but days their teeth are bothering them I add water to the food to moisten it. Seems to help.

Training - I've worked on things on own, so just sit in one small couple min session but have done different in same day. Now I've combined them so one of them will go through sit, lie, sit, stand. The other one is slower to get the training. I'm using clicker and treats trying to keep it positive and fun. I watched kiko pup on you tube to help.
Have fun with your new pup.

Yeah click and treat straight after.

The Complete Idiots Guide To Positive Training is a great read for clicker training novices. It explains clearly how the clicker works and how to teach each behavior. Kikopup is also excellent.

Reference walks - I have a 12 week old Springer. Our vet has advised that the 5 minute walking rule for every month of life doesn't really apply to us, given that the breed in general is very hardy, mid sized and our dog specifically has parents with extremely low hips scores (not that this is a guarantee I understand). So we haven't been following this but still have ensured that he is pottering off lead on muddy tracks and fields and going at his pace for about 45 minutes. He's tired at the end of a walk but back up to party after a good sleep!

However - the Vet specifically said that she would NOT be saying this to me is we had a Lab puppy (the breed being known to have joint issues) or a large breed or a breed with known joint issues, she has a lab herself and was cautious with walks.

So, given that your puppy has lab in there, I would perhaps be cautious initially and walk on soft surfaces too?

Just a small point that if you want you dog to lie down quickly, I was told by my very first trainer to not teach the down from the sit.
Also I do find that puppies get a bit confused if you try to teach several things at once, until they know a couple of basic commands I would do one at a time. I would do several in a day for a few minutes each but not all together iykwim.

Thanks everyone. I've bought wainwrights puppy food, is that a good brand? Only got it today but she doesnt seem interested, though she did have some green tripe this morning.

I've always taught the backwards "cantilever" down as opposed to down from sit. As mentioned above its quicker and I've always wondered how dogs who only know down from sit, get on learning the emergency down while running (a very handy skill for them to learn).

I teach behaviours one per session if its a new thing but when it's pretty well mastered - usually to the point where it's reliably on cue - I start incorporating it into "mixed up" sessions but have the clicker handy still because mixing things up, with them having to listen and think so hard, can cause them to regress slightly. Or you may find that they'll get "stuck" offering you the latest behaviour even if you haven't asked for it so you might want to ask for, and reintroduce the clicker for, something else.

Be careful not to ask for things in the same order every time. IME they REALLY start thinking once you've taught 3 things. For instance if you've taught sit and down they know that if you've asked for one Thing, the next thing you ask will probably be The Other Thing.

I'm obsessed with clicker training

When we first got our pup he would only eat if you fed him off a spoon and we were told to moisten the food and then warm it slightly as that releases the aroma so makes it more attractive. I feed a combination of wet and dry as my boy loves the meat so much I feel mean feeding dry food .

needastrongone how do you let your pup off lead? Are you not scared of it running off? Theres not really any deserted tracks round here so generally just walk round the block/up to school etc.

I feed dry dogfood but mix a little water with it to soften it up.
As for walking, i walked my cocker's, ones now 5 and the other is 9 months for 15 mins twice a day and gradually increased it, you will know when your dog is tired.
Training, i tended to work on one command untill they had mastered it before moving on to a new one, I started with sit first then heel, then recall (for which i use a whistle) It is lovely to see your dog/puppy recall instantly on a whistle blow rather than belowing at them from afar (even if its flushed deer, oopps!)

cathpip - any tips on heel? Our puppy is doing super with most of the other commands, picking them up really quickly but pulling like mad on the lead, despite me using a combination of clicking, stopping if he pulls, turning, treats etc. Especially when he is near home.

Many thanks.

Is it a dog whistle you use? Or just an ordinary whistle?

WIll add a bit warm water to the food to see if she is more interested :)
Thanks for all the advise, really appreciate having other people to ask questions to as although my nan and brother have dogs, they havent trained them.

One of Kikopup's brilliant tips (among hundreds) is to make the first behaviours you teach calm ones, for instance down, settle etc. because they tend to return to those because they've got the longest reinforcement history.

Use a slip lead and put it up around ears, its much better control and you can then shorten the lead. Have a lot of treats and start walking always saying heel in a happy voice, when you stop tell pup to sit and treat (i do this about every 25 metres or so). If hes pulling change direction completely, esp when near home, i did this for about 5 mins on every walk. Does pup get fed before or after a walk, because if its after this could be why he is eager to get home, my pup is still not 100% at heel on a lead but is perfect at heeling when off. As for slip leads, a lot of people disagree with them but i have always used them with all my working gundogs and never had a problem.

Its a gundog whistle, you can get them from pet shops or farm stores. I use a 211 1/2. ( two eleven and a half). 3 peeps is recall, i always remember a dog trainer saying that if you could not recall your dog then it should not be off a lead, he had a point! I walk with 2 dogs and a double buggy and i do not want to be labelled as that woman who shouts at and has no control over her dogs.....

I wouldnt let my dog off her leash until i know for sure she would come back. I would be too scared incase she got hurt/lost.

You need to get a long line ,if you haven't one already , and start practising recall on that , it's much easier to train recall when they are really little . Or find an enclosed field that you can let her off in.

People tend not to like slip leads because of the extent they can tighten. Having it up behind the ears can cause all sorts of damage because its a far more sensitive area.

Yeah i have a 5m retractable lead. Will start learning her it when my clicker gets here :) Really hope she grasps it.

Another question: at tea time, me and the kids eat at the table, but dp eats in the living room (barbarian! lol) so there's no-where to put the puppy while we eat so she usually sits under/beside the table. I do not give her scraps. But what i do do is give her a chew stick to munch on while we eat, is this a bad idea? It keeps her busy and she does not beg for food so i thought it was, but wondering if there is a downside?

We were told by our breeder to let off lead asap, when they are young and scared to leave you! I only do this when I am 'off road', so to speak, in a field or track etc, so it might be different to you are we are very rural. Also, I have worked really hard on recall, he will do anything for liver and comes back when called without fail (so far!!!). He doesn't go far anyway but loves the freedom, today in the snow was magical!

I see nothing wrong with giving him a chew and letting him be under the table, with occasional treats or praise for being calm and good.

Many thanks for the heel and lead information, I have a slip lead and a normal lead, our friends have always used a slip lead for their working gundogs, with a combination of consistent/intensive training? I see no issue either but am no means the expert!! I think this will be my main focus in the next few weeks, everything else he 'gets' pretty easily but not the lead work. Realistically, we are rural and will only use the lead to get somewhere 5 minutes away like a field or track but I want him to walk nicely anyway.

I also have the same whistle but keep forgetting to use it, with a combination of treats, poo bags, clicker, lead etc etc.

Interesting information re commands too, thank you. We have been doing several commands in a session, which he gets fine but might not be the best way to do stuff? Mmm.

Also meant to mention putting liver in snowballs would appear to be fascinating for puppies and very exciting and very tiring. 30 minutes in the garden this afternoon trying to figure this out and he is pooped!

The occasional 'non liver' snowball foxed him hugely!!

I mean a 16 m plus tracking line ,not a retractable thing , just like a long piece of rope . Best to use in conjunction with a harness not a collar .Re the dinner time thing if it works for your family its fine .