When to start obedience training?

Question

What age do you think I should start obedience training my pup [sit, lay down, stay, come]? I've already started "manners" [no bite, no jump, etc.].

And how do you suggest to train a puppy not to nip. I have been saying no bite whenever she nips at me or whoever else. She seems to be pretty much ignoring it. I've also tried yelping, it works sometimes. And what should I do after? Ignore her?

Answer 1

The sooner the better. Most breeders start teahing their pups before they go to their new homes.

You probably aren't yipping in a high enough pitch or loud enough. If she stops you praise her, if she doesn't you yip again.

Answer 2

Actually you are asking the wrong question because there needs to be something being done from the day a dog is born until the day it dies.
So you should be asking what should you be doing at X age.
When you first get a puppy home you want to work on introductions because between 7 and 11 weeks your puppy has not yet developed the ability to remember fear. The more things around it's environment that it has become accustomed to before it has the ability to remember that it was scared the first time it was exposed to it the better (stairs, balconies, vacuum cleaners, etc,etc)
Between 12 weeks and 6 months a pups only motivation is food, so take advantage of that and cookie train and keep everything on a fun basis. The pup really doesn't understand corrections anyways.
Somewhere around 5-6 months the pup will demonstrate a newfound sense of independence and self awareness. You will swear that it has forgotten everything that you have ever taught it. This change marks the development of "other" motivations (should not need to explain). It also marks the cognitive development necessary for the dog to understand what training is about, so formal training and proofing should start at this age with a sound basics program.

For the biting substitution works best. So when you say "no bite" it needs to be immediately followed with "here" as you hand the pup something it is allowed to chew on. Be consistent and use the exact same sequence for everything that the pup is not suppose to chew.

Answer 3

To teach bite inhibition, every time your pup bites you, immediately get up, walk out of the room, and close the door. Come back after 1 minute, and continue as normal. Most other methods for getting a dog to stop biting can be perceived (by the dog) as attention. Pushing him away, grabbing his muzzle, yelping, can be seen as attention, as a game, and thus a positive reinforcement. If you leave the room, you take away all attention, all reinforcement, and the biting behavior becomes unrewarding to the dog. He loses you: giver of all things wonderful. So, any time your pup nips, simply leave the room. If there are other people there, everyone should leave. That has an even bigger impact on the dog.

Start training obedience right away. Even if your pup only knows "sit" so far, try to ask for a behavior before you do ANYTHING for the pup. If you are putting down a bowl of water, ask for a sit first. If you are going out for a walk, ask for a sit before you open the door. Ask for a sit before putting food down. As he learns other commands, use them in the same way. It's easy to integrate training into your life this way. And if your pup gets used to this now, he'll always look to you for guidance, and realize there is "no free lunch."

Answer 4

She doesn't understand what you are saying - you are talking in your language, not her's. You have to teach her what you want and reinforce it so she learns good behaviors. If she stops when you yelp then you need to reinforce that by giving her something to chew on that isn't you or another human -- let her know she is doing wonderful by stopping the biting behavior on you. Once she has gotten all her shots, you can take her to a puppy obedience class that will train you how to better teach her to behave properly. She will pick up good and bad habits fast so you need to learn what you should do to teach her acceptable behaviors. Find a good trainer now and go visit their classes to see how they are run -- they need to be very motivational and positive for training puppies and not simply be a social club, although socialization around crowds is an important part of her training. Good luck...

Answer 5

I've always had my puppies doing sit and come by 8 weeks old. The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned. If you have already tried yelping, you can try ignoring. Some need a little thump on the nose along with NO. I'm guessing she really doesn't know what NO means yet and that you are serious when you say it.

Answer 6

Obedience can be started almost immediately. Basic stuff works great and gets them thinking and learn.

My German Shepherd (see left 7 mos in pic) had a nipping problem too. He never did it of the first 7 months I had him. Then he started with pant legs, shirt tales. Here is what I did to stop it. By the way it happened twice and has not happened since I did this:

Once he nipped at my pant leg, I stopped walking/playing, stood in front of him, held his mouth shut for 3 seconds, while looking him in the eye and saying a firm 'no'. I didn't scream it, yell it and I didn't vice grip his mouth. Calmly, sternly I said 'no'. He was so sad he had disappointed me that he stopped playing and laid down. I immediately got him up and went back to playing. He has never nipped at me or anyone again.

Answer 7

Start obedience training NOW; the puppy has an almost completely clean slate. Start drawing correct examples on the slate by training her now. As she ages, her slate will get bigger and harder and training will not have gotten etched into it; training will still be very possible but it's easier with a pup.

To not nip--when she bites you use a spray that is edible but tastes bad. When she nips give her a small spray on her tongue--not to the back of the throat--and say "NO" sternly, firmly but not in such anger she retreats in fright.

Answer 8

Right away! The sooner the better. I suggest formal obedience classes. Socialization is crucial for puppies. Obedience training is very necessary for some breeds. I am thankful I had my min pin manchester terrier go through classes or he would have been out of control.

We simply used the "no biting" command for my dog when he would nip and it worked out good. Good luck!

Answer 9

i would say the first day, because most likely you are going to find acciedents everywhere around the house so a good idea is to show them what they have done and then put then outside and tell them that they should do this out side not inside. Or for the first month or so if its winter buy some puppy training pads they work great. But also for like sitting and things like that i would start young too, i trained my chihuahua to sit when she was about 3 and a half months old, and to speak. But best of luck with your dog

Answer 10

I start encouraging correct behavior as soon as they have their eyes open and are mobile.

My usual method for dealing with nipping is to use say "ACK" (which is the all-purpose word in my house for "you're doing something wrong, stop immediately) and then either offering another alternative to nipping (chewy toy) or simply ignoring/walking away from the transgressor.

Since I start "working" with my pups very young (petting the sitting pup.. ceasing paying attention to the one who nips) they figure out pretty quick how to work to please me.