Kelpie collie cross puppy - photo for attention!

[NoSwsForYou]

Isn't he beautiful?? His dad (collie) apparently had a recessive blonde gene and our little boy was one of seven puppies, 4 blonde 3 traditional collie coloured. He's been a dream with DS so far and is displaying signs of being clever already... we are in quite an active household and DP runs his own outdoor activity business so he'll never be on his own for any longer than 2ish hours and the plan is eventually to go with DP whenever possible, but what can we start teaching him? We've both had dogs before but never from this young (8.5 weeks) so I'm unsure whether we can start training to sit etc?

Get a clicker and a book... Karen Pryor or Pat Miller or both. That little fellow can learn anything you want. Start now!

He's definitely learnt what the dinner bowl means...:

It's never too early to start training but keep sessions fun and short initially.

Blimey, you'll have your work cut out with that cross

Definitely start training him straight away. Keep sessions short and do several spread out through the day. As well as commands like 'sit', etc. I'd also work on teaching him to settle. Chilling out at home doesn't always come naturally to some very active and driven dogs so it's a good idea to train it early. Kikopup on YouTube has a good series called 'Capturing Calmness' which I'd recommend. In fact I'd recommend her channel in general, she's got loads of really excellent videos including lots covering stuff to do with puppies.

Mental stimulation is likely going to be very important for him, even once he's no longer restricted exercise wise. The Canine Enrichment and Beyond the Bowl groups on FB are packed with great ideas of enrichment activities.

I'd be tempted to look and see if any agility trainers near you do a special puppy class. Although dogs shouldn't start on any equipment until they're at least 12-18 months old, they can learn all sorts before then which he'd probably really enjoy.

I'd also recommend the Dog Training Advice and Support FB group. There's loads of great information on the 'Files' sections, especially their Congratulations on Your New Puppy collection.