Training Advice for 8-12 week old puppy

Hi

Fairly new and I have one post under my belt with a lot of helpful advice, thanks to everyone on here!

I've taught my puppy her name, Gertrude, and she responds every time now with excitement. My question is she just turned 8, what should I work on with her as far as training goes. Obviously housebreaking, but should I get into sit, stay, etc.?

Also I ready to get them ready for the leash to attach it to her and let her drag it around which I have done for a few days, and she has had no problem dragging the short leash behind her and never paid it any mind (I do it for like 20-30 minutes at a time). Now what? How do I proceed with training her on the leash properly?

Thanks again!

And I appreciate everyone's insights in advance!

Bill

Hi again Weppler178,

I love owners who take a interest in their dogs long term well being. So congrats!

Just some rules in general for puppy training:

1. keep training sessions 2-5 minutes long

2. Take things slowly at her pace

3. Wash, rinse, and repeat everything

4. Make it super fun!

Although training is crucial for forming a well behaved family member, all training should be a game for you and your dog. When I was teaching my dogs how to walk on a leash I would play a game with them. (Like your idea of dragging leash)Always create positive associations with training.

The three most important commands you can teach a dog is sit, stay, and come. Although you can teach other fun tricks/commands these are the ones she should know by heart and they may be life saving someday.

It sounds like you are on he right path to raising a polite, well behaved dog. Keep it up!

Hi Bill. Congrats on your puppy. There are lots of different methods for training a dog to walk on a leash nicely. I would start out with short 10-minute walks around the yard or down the street or even in the house. One thing I would do while the puppy is young is to simply stop walking when and if she pulls on the leash. That way you teach her early on that pulling/tension does not get her to go where she wants.

You can use treats to reward her for looking at you and staying close. And if you can swing it, I recommend enrolling her in a puppy obedience class. It's a great way to learn some of the basics and also a great way for the puppy to socialize.

Nope! The puppy won't learn anything if the sessions are that short. They should be more like 10-15 minutes depending on the dogs individual attention span. You should absolutely get into sit, stay, etc.

This is the best time for her to learn it, also it's about time to take her out to see other dogs, even if you don't let her directly interact with them yet. A puppy class is also a great idea. They help with house breaking, hand biting and other common puppy issues. You also have a chance to interact with other healthy puppies, which is great for her.

Her reaction to situations right now will help you learn her temperament and guide you in the right direction with training. As a Staffy, a breed which is prone to dog aggression and whatnot, early socialization is very important.

Ensure she is properly vaccinated, and take her around to places (PetSmart and Petco are good places) and see how she reacts. At this age, a bit of fear is to be expected, but it'll help her get over these things if you repeat them often enough and have positive reinforcement all the way through.

Unfortunately a 8/12 week old puppy does not have the attention span for 10-15 mins of training, thats why most reputable trainers will tell you 2-5 mins is more than enough.

To the poster, there is no reason not to incorporate sits , stay, wait and any thing else you want from your pup, you can make it fun , you don`t even have to designate time for most of them, keep it short and keep it fun for the pup.

Figo when he went for his bronze GC ,(and he was a lot older) only had a couple of minutes on each exercise, as the trainer pointed out, any longer and the dog gets bored,

There is no reason not to repeat the exercises more than once a day, but 10-15 mins constant trying to make a dog sit is a pointless exercise as the dog wil switch off after a few mins.

Well, Nigredo is a Labrador mix and he was more than happy to do sessions of 10-15 minutes or even longer sometimes. I got him at 16 weeks, so maybe that is making the difference. Eager to learn and excited to be in a new home, this was easy for him.

All basic commands learned and mastered, perfect leash walking, many advanced commands, no aggression at all and perfect recall in all situations regardless of stimulus. He struggled with jumping up on people and "leave it" but he shaped it up pretty well.

I did speak on what worked for my dog... but I have always been keen on 10 minute sessions. Again it depends on the individual dogs attention span and willingness to learn... so perhaps what worked for my captain will not work for other dogs.

All articles I'm reading say only that sessions should be under 15 minutes... but maybe that is not standard in your country. I did not use clickers, BTW. They were annoying and served only to distract both me and my dog. We are not trying to "make" our dogs do anything, we are trying to teach them how.

Commands such as sit should come very, very easily to most dogs. Harder command such as proper recall and lay/stay and dual commands like that should be left for once the puppy learns the basics. Again, as another user stated... puppy classes are great for this.

No, you contradicted a poster on her advice........

nothing about whats works for you, yes your dog was older so a different scenario, the pup in question is between 8-12 weeks,,,,

The few minute rule is not exclusive to the UK, its even advised in the US....and the poster is in Canada .

15 mins may well work for you, but that`s not what you wrote, you stated others were wrong in their advice.

Recall should be taught from the first day you bring your pup home, the window for imprint on the pups mind is better the younger he is.

Puppy classes CAN be a good thing, depending on the class, they can also be a very unsettling experience for a pup, you have to chose wisely.

Ooooops, here you go again Bill! You can't say that you don't get varied advice here and it's because folks are so very passionate about their pooches and doing the very best they can for them.
Have you considered a puppy training class? I've had dogs for many years but only with my current pooch (now 9 months) did I go to a puppy class and we both got a lot from it.
Before we joined I did quite a bit of research on different trainers and training methods available in my area and I was surprised to find that lots of people had waiting lists.
I found the training and socializing aspects invaluable in equal measures and would definitely do it again and recommend it to anyone with a new puppy.

Most of the advice given here is spot on.
Keep your sessions very short and do them a couple of times per day. You don't have to dedicate special training time, you can just incorporate into daily life. The earlier you start with training important cues like recall, stay and loose leash walking, the better!
But again, make it fun for the dog, never punish your puppy and only train in 2-3 minute sessions. When she gets older, you can adapt those times.
American Staffordshires are not prone to aggression, they're prone to hyperexcitability (this can turn into reactivity if it goes over bord). So when introducing her to other dogs and puppies, make sure she doesn't go over the top and learns to bully other dogs. It's good to socialise puppies with older, experienced dogs who will show them appropriate behaviour.
Like Jackie said, puppy classes can be great but it's important to find the right ones. Stick to those that don't allow more than 6 puppies in class and that don't use any aversive training. If your puppy starts getting overexcited in class or you notice her being tired, not concentrating etc. just take a break. Ask to be let outside so she can calm herself down.
I'm currently an assistant trainer in puppy classes and we give them lots of breaks which works great, because and hour of training is exhausting for grown dogs, never mind little puppies! At the end, they're all tired but not so tired that they start having tantrums etc.
If you decide to get into clicker training, you'll be amazed how quickly puppies pick that up and how easy (and fun) it makes training. There are books about clicker training for puppies, so you might want to have a look at those if you're interested

Also, remember puppies of that age need about 20h of sleep per day, so give her plenty of opportunities to rest so she can process things and be refreshed when she's up for more training and play!

You are right, Jackie... not all puppy classes are good ones. some can do more harm than hurt. I don't think that 2 minute sessions are any good... maybe 5 minutes. Oh, well. We all have to cater to our particular dogs, and a good puppy class can really help with that.