Anxiety over training

[KateGrey]

So my anxiety is kicking in. Grey Pup is 14 weeks. And I keep reading about people doing lots of training. What do people class as training? We work on recall in the garden, when I walk him I correct his walking but is that enough specific training? We practice sit and down at home and leave it. I’m worried I’m not doing enough. He’s a good boy though does nip the kids and my husband when he’s over excited in the evening but we’re working on that. We’re just waiting for puppy classes as his vacs prevented him going to the last lot. But I’m worried I’m not doing enough.

[BiteyShark]

Honestly we had so many ups and downs with illnesses etc as a puppy that I only targeted specific training when younger. Mostly that was sit and recall. I didn't bother with any of the 'paw, down' stuff at the time.

Anything you are doing, like getting them to settle, not bite, grooming etc is training. It's just not 'trick/command' training.

Don't worry about needing to do everything at the start. Recently I started to train all the commands such as paw, down, weave etc and my dog is now two years old. You don't have to fit in everything when they are a puppy.

[MiddleClassProblem]

As pp said, start with what you’re doing. I wouldn’t add others until done of these are sorted.

Despite the saying, there is no age limit to when dogs can learn “new tricks”. But you may find there are some they can’t grasp. Also you’ll find there are things that they learn through just life with your family. Plenty of dogs just use those basic commands and no other “tricks”.

It sounds like you’re covering the right things for now. Obviously the nipping is a big one to sort.

[anniehm]

By 14 weeks we had recall, sit, stay, come, wait, roll over, beg (ok kids did those) and (very breed specific) go left, go right. Was a doddle to train.

[OverFedStanley]

A simple thing you could add in is reward him every time he looks at you. - getting focus makes all other training really easy.

If he looks at you just reward him with a treat very easy and can be done while having a coffee. I dont give this a command as I want it as a default setting.


Also toy play is good eg tugging on a toy as this can help distract the nipping just use an old t towel tied with knots in it. Also can be used as a reward for other training at a later date.

Enjoy your puppy

[twinkletoedelephant]

Dpup is 12weeks he's a lab do will do pretty much anything for food...especially frezmeze dried chicken liver...

He can sit wait (for a couple of seconds were building on it) both paws...and high five. Failed at 'down" have no idea how to teach it. He's inside for another 3 weeks so trying to keep him busy. We only doing 'Training ' for 5 minutes a few times a day....but as I said lab so feed me feed me feed me plays right into that

[Theoscargoesto]

The only thing I'd add is that getting a dog to use it's brain is a useful thing in itself, and tiring too. Asking the dog to learn things, to obey commands, is a way of doing that, and thus A Good Thing. But as said above, you don't need to train tricks, necessarily, things like look at me, sit, down, leave it and stay are really helpful basics to build on. It sounds to me like you are already doing a good job!

[pigsDOfly]

Agree, you just need to train the things that are important at this stage, things like stay/stop/wait could save a dog's life in certain circumstances.

Things like offering a paw or rolling over are fun, and as pp said it's good for a dog to use it's brain, but save those for when you're ready to teach them.

Having said that one thing I found helpful, is to get a puppy used to having it's paws handled and having the inside of it's mouth touched.

Paw handling will help when it comes to claw clipping - my dog will offer her paws for wiping - and being able to put your fingers in the dog's mouth helps with teeth cleaning, which is also something to start asap. Both paws and mouth, like any sort of handling can be of enormous help when having to take a dog to the vet.

Easy to say, I know, but try to relax around training and enjoy it. The more you do the better the dog will learn and it should be fun for both you and the dog.

Good luck.