Training your dog when he or she is a puppy is the best time for effective and life long lessons to be imprinted.
When should you start training your dog?
The best time to start training your dog is the minute you first bring your dog home. Amazingly, dogs are able to start learning the first day you get your new puppy, but be patient. When a puppy reaches seven weeks of age, his or her brain and response patterns are almost identical to that of an adult dog’s brain. Although a puppy’s brain may be fully developed at a very young age, his ability to learn and his coordination skills must be practiced repetitively over time, just like any motor skill.
The best time to start taking your dog to dog training courses is between 7 weeks and 18 weeks old. Keep in mind, the training doesn’t stop there, and it’s not just for your puppy! As I mentioned in an earlier article.. In general, puppies that have had obedience classes with other puppies have less behavioral problems than those without any training at all. Why? This is because dogs are natural pack animals and need to learn how to act with other pack members. Within the pack there are higher ranking (alpha) and lower ranking members. In a one dog household, the other human members are seen as part of the pack from the dog’s point of view. Often though, we don’t know what our dogs are telling us and we wonder how to get them to understand or listen. This is why a course with other dogs, humans and a good trainer eases the communication between everyone, and the end results are amazing.
The best dog training courses are group classes where you are present with other dogs and their owners. The dog learns how to act with other dogs, with you and other dogs, and with many different distractions. These courses are designed to simulate the distractions that dogs experience all the time, but your dog learns that you are its anchor no matter what is going on. You become the top dog, the pack leader, alpha etc., and your dog should always listen to you regardless of what is going on around him or her.
There are so many theories and so much conflicting advice regarding the various ways to train our dogs. I can’t tell you how many times I have been at a public dog park when someone’s dog did something and I heard advice (good and bad) from another dog owner. It’s hard to know who to trust and what to believe. This is what I personally consider to be crucial, and always strive for when training my own dogs:
- To build a strong owner-dog relationship, based on trust and mutual respect.
- To have confidence in, and control of my dogs in any situation.
- Most importantly to have happy, outgoing dogs that are properly socialized.
- To work with my dogs natural drives and instincts.
- Absolutely no cruelty or harsh “old school” training techniques. I certainly don’t believe you have to “break a dogs spirit” in the training process.
