When Should I Start Training My Puppy?

Many people ask me this question.

Here's the bottom line:

If you have a puppy, you must start training early, but do it gently. Your puppy has to have confidence in you before he can begin learning. Remember that puppies are like children - they have growing bodies, short attention spans, and will only learn things when the conditions are right and when they understand what it is you're trying to teach them.

The earlier you start training dogs, the better. More specifically, it's best if you start “socialization” from 8 weeks, simple commands like “come” and “sit” from 12 weeks, and more intensive training at 5 to 6 months.

Here's some more on this topic:

When Should I Start Training My Puppy?

Simply put, the sooner you begin training your puppy the better – for both of you. But you have to understand the stages a puppy goes through as he matures so you can form some realistic expectations of his behavior and learning ability. (Click here to see my article on the “7 Stages of Puppy Development for additional in-depth information on this subject.)

While some early training can be started as soon as you bring your puppy home, the optimum time to begin obedience training is somewhere around 9 to 12 weeks of age. Keep in mind that training can cover a broad range of topics – I’m not suggesting that you begin training your puppy at 8 weeks of age for agility competitions! Your training should start off with the basics – teaching him “No!” and beginning house-training.

Socialization skills are next – experts tell us the best window for your puppy to learn socialization skills is between 3 and 16 weeks – that’s the best time to insure that your puppy grows into a well-adjusted adult. And remember, socialization isn’t about teaching him the right fork to use at the dinner table – it’s about giving your dog the self-assurance to deal correctly with any social environment he finds himself in is one of the most valuable and lasting lessons you can teach him.

A well-socialized dog will interact well with all types of people and situations, even those he has never been in before. With appropriate social skills, your dog will show little or no fear of most objects, people or other animals, and even if startled, will recover quickly and won’t panic.

Bottom line, a well-adjusted dog is one that is comfortable in a variety of situations and surroundings. He may be excited in a new setting, but not fearful. The key here is to create positive experiences as you expose your dog to more and more new situations.

Even training your puppy for 5 – 10 minutes per day as soon as you bring him home will make a big difference in the social skills and adaptability of your puppy. Keep in mind that puppies have very short attention spans, so keep your lessons short and fun. How short an attention span? That depends on the age of the puppy, his breed and how mature your individual puppy is – but a good rule of thumb is to keep the training sessions within that 5 -10 minute range.

Depending on your puppy’s age and maturity level, sometime between 3 and 6 months of age you should be moving the training into the area of the basic commands such as Sit, Heel, Down, etc. It’s important you have realistic expectations about your dog’s capabilities at this point – I don’t expect a puppy to be responding to the basic commands with any degree of regularity until they’ve reached 6 months of age.

Puppy training (well, all dog training for that matter) has three main components - known as “PCP”. No, I’m not talking about drugging your dog! (Shame on you for even thinking that!) PCP (in this case) stands for the three things you need to keep in mind day in and day out when you’re training your dog:

1. Patience

2. Consistency

3. Practice

Patience is the key to any training program with your puppy. The level of patience you display while training your dog will have a direct impact on whether you have a happy, well-trained dog, or a miserable, misbehaving one.

You’re the adult here, remember? You’re the trainer, the leader of your pack, and the one doing the teaching. You know that your puppy needs short and positive training sessions. You know you can’t teach him everything in one

session, or even in a week of sessions. So patience is the key. If you find yourself getting frustrated when training your puppy, end the session on a positive note, and stop the training. Don’t lose your temper and take it out on your dog. It’s not his fault you’re getting annoyed – ok, well, maybe it is, but it’s up to you to maintain control and restart the training on another day.

Consistency is the second most important component of training. I’ve already talked about how important it is for everyone in the family to give your dog the same commands and allow the same behaviors. I can’t stress this point enough. If your family is all on the same page in terms of training, your puppy will be trained more quickly and thoroughly than you can imagine.

Everyone in the household needs to use the same commands. That way, when someone says “Sit” to your dog, he knows it means “Sit.” Not “Lie Down,” not “Ok, go eat your food now,” not “It’s ok to chase the cat.” Sit means Sit. Down means Down.

And it’s equally important to keep the behaviors consistent. You can’t have one family member letting your dog get on the couch and another trying to discipline him and telling him “No!” for the same behavior. It will only confuse him, with the end result that he won’t learn which behavior is right. So he’ll either try to do both, or neither. And either one of those actions will simply get him in trouble with whatever family member happens to be present at the time.

Practice makes perfect. I really hate to use that old adage,

but it’s true! Repetition is the way to teach your dog a lesson – any lesson. Repeating the lesson over and over again will engrain it so deeply in your dog’s memory it’s likely he’ll never forget it, and that’s what you want. You want his reaction to your commands to become second nature, obeyed almost instinctively and certainly followed immediately – it literally could be the difference between life and death for your dog.

Any successful training program must include some sort of discipline. Having said that let me say this: don’t ever hit your puppy. Let me repeat that so there’s no mistake. Don’t ever hit your puppy!

In order to apply discipline for an inappropriate act, you must

1. Catch your puppy in the act of misbehaving, or

2. Take steps to avoid the misbehavior in the first place.

If you walk into the living room and find your puppy squatting to piddle on the carpet, you should tell him “No!” in a loud and sharp tone of voice, then walk over, pick him up and take him outside. (Or leash him up and take him outside.) Either way, your puppy can tell he’s done something you don’t want him to do. There is absolutely no need to hit your puppy, just because he’s doing what comes naturally to him.

And, truth be told, if you had been paying attention to your

puppy, you would have recognized the signals he was using to tell you he needed to go outside. So the fault for this particular situation needs to be laid at your door, not your puppy’s. You could have avoided the situation in the first place by being more attuned to your puppy’s needs.

So, start early, be consistent, be patient, practice – and before you know it, you’ll have a dog that’s a joy to have around!

All About Five (5) Tips for Your American Pit Bull Terrier

Is your puppy or dog going potty (sorry I couldn't think of a better term there) all over your house? Are you waking up to poo and pee spots in front of your bed room door?

House training a new puppy can be easy or it can the most frustrating thing a person has every experienced.

This article will share with you five tips to make potty training your American Pit Bull Terrier quickly and without all the stress that normally comes with this over complicated process.

Keep reading to find out how to make this process a lot easier ...

TIP #1: Watch for the Potty Sign. Recognizing that puppy needs to potty is the first thing you should do. One of the easiest signs to spot is the sniffing. Excessive sniffing of the ground is one way to tell that your puppy is thinking about going potty on your nice rug or carpet. Pick the pup up and set it outside.

TIP #2: Be Prepared. Be prepared to clean up some accidents and don't freak out about it. One thing that always made me laugh was how people reacted when they're new puppy went in the house. They acted surprised, like it was a shocker the little thing used the bathroom. So be prepared to clean up some mistakes and remember, the little darling is just doing what comes natural it's your job to teach it were it's okay to go.

TIP #3: Take it Outside. When you notice the dog is thinking about going to the bathroom pick it up and take it outside. I would recommend taking it to the same spot every time. This way clean up is easier because you know it will be right there and not all over the yard. If an accident occurs be calm, carpet can be cleaned, simply pick up the dog place it outside in it's potty area and leave it there (you should be with it) for a few minutes.

TIP #4: Never Correct. This is one many of you may not agree with, but here me out. You don't have to yell at the dog, spank it, and for God's sake don't rub it's nose in the stuff. That's just down right rude. Calmly pick the dog up, set it outside, and proceed to clean up the mess. Bring the puppy back in the house and go on with your life. Correction is a set back in this case because once you scare the puppy it will start to hide and do it's thing. Which makes the process longer and more difficult. No harsh corrections means the puppy will have it's mind at ease and will be able to learn what you want it to do. Which is go outside to potty.

TIP #5: Be Consistent. I know in this busy world it's hard to be there all the time to get the little darling outside to use the bathroom. Consistency is key here, the more times the dog is let out to use the bathroom when it needs to go the less time it will take to learn that's the right thing to do.

A few more extra tips: take the dog out 10-20 minutes after eating and drinking, before bed time, and right when you wake up in the morning and when you get home from work.

House training isn't that hard if you devote the time it takes to get it done right. Respect the puppy and be consistent. In as little as one week you can have a house trained dog.

Good Luck!

5 ways to stop excessive barking

If you have a Pit Bull who barks non-stop here's five tips to help you teach them to quiet down.

Barking is a normal behavior. However, excessive barking is simply annoying.

Give them plenty of exercise:

There is a saying in the world of Pit Bulls, "A tired Pit Bull is a good Pit Bull."

If you find yourself hearing barking at all hours of the night you might want to look at how much exercise your dog is getting. They could be bored and barking is a way of letting go of some of that stress. Give them plenty of exercise every single day.

Acknowledge them: Walk over and give them a bit of praise.

Pit Bulls are attention nuts which can lead to barking to get your attention. Walk over and give them a very small amount of praise and let them know you heard them. I have found this to work for me personally with my dog Honey.

Make Your Own Doggy Rattle: Rattles are to dogs as fingernails on blackboards are to people.
Take a soda can or bottle and put some coins or rocks inside. When your dog starts barking shake your rattle. This will cause them to focus on you and be quiet long enough for you to call them to you or tell them to quiet down.

When You Speak, Speak in a Normal Tone and Don't Scold them

Squirt Bottle Surprise: When your dog starts barking let them know you would like them to stop by telling them "enough." In a firm but not scolding voice. After you do this give them a shot with a squirt bottle. You won't need to do this to many times because they will eventually put the word enough together with the squirt. Once they get squirted a few times the word will be enough to stop them from barking.

Ignore them:
One of the reasons for excessive barking is getting your attention.If they don't listen to you after you tell them to quit walk away.This works for dogs seeking attention. They will seek you out and stop the barking by seeing where you are going.

Mail Man = Good Stuff: Does your dog flip out when people come over?
Ask them to bring a treat and give it to your dog. Your dog will start to see them as friends and not threats. Which will help curb or stop your dog from going nuts when they come over.

Note: If you want a guard dog get a Poodle. :o)

Summary

One of the mistakes people make when they are training their dogs it they don't know when to move on to something new.

Usually a week or two is long enough to know if the training tip is going to work or not. If you find yourself not getting any results after a week or two move on to the next tip..