Is this right? More training or less for young puppy?

Ok, by no means is Takara a 'problem dog' she's brilliant! But I want to make sure I am too! So, as I am doing a lot of informal, every day training with her thought I'd check this is ok and there's nothing more that can be done without overloading her!

I'm not expecting miracles and this is just about getting her to accept the way we live, and know that what we do is what she must do, not teaching her fancy tricks or getting her ready for talent shows!

It's to try and initiate that respect thing and knowing that she is lower rank, so am I doing everything that can be done without doing too much?

This is what I do:
She must sit while I put her lead on.
She must sit and wait for me to leave the house before she steps outside. I tell her to sit, move outside then say 'ok' and she comes out.
She must give paw for anything she wants, dinner, toys etc.
If she jumps up for a toy she can't have it until she has sat down and given paw.
If she gets far too hyper or starts growling, biting etc. she goes in the kitchen for a maximum of 3 minutes and then comes back in, the minute she starts again she goes back in the kitchen for 3 minutes. etc. I can't do the leaving the room technique because she seems to like me leaving and does it all the more!
What else do I do?
Ask her to 'give' if she is keeping it from me - very popular with the lead! And then when she does give I give her a treat so she thinks she gets something better for letting go.
When we go out in the garden on lead, when she pulls I stop. when she returns to my side then I say 'heel' and start again. While ever she's walking calmly by my side I say 'heel' and fuss her when we get to destination.

I think that's it at the moment, is there anything else that I can teach her through every day things. The way I see it is she is constantly learning what we do and what she can get away with so if I start this informal training that you can do whenever/wherever now, then she won't be as difficult to train when she gets stronger and for instance, I can't stop as easily when she's pulling!

Also, can a puppy pull hard enough to damage it's neck on the collar? I feel awful because she pulls so much and I feel like I should go with her so she doesn't pull too much and hurt her neck but I know this will make it worse because she'll continue to pull when she's older!

So Is there any other every day things I can incorporate into every day life to help her realise I'm boss?

Thanks,
Lottie

Hiya Lottie, im no expert, im only 15 lol but what your doing with Takara is exactly what i did with Dizney. Hes now quite well behaved but he has his moments!!! I would say that you were doing brilliantly!!! Hope u get some better advice soon lol

Good luck Jay & dizney xxx

Thanks Jay,
Just wanted to check! I'm glad it worked with Dizney I'm the type of person who needs a lot of reassurance!

Take care,
Lottie

Hi Lottie I know I spoke to you before about this but thought I would put it down here so you understand what I ment incase I confused you before
I would say that you can over do on the training, but what you seem to be doing at the moment is fine but for a 9 wk old pup more than enough for a pup to learn, so I wouldnt add just yet anymore training. You want to make sure each training session is kept short as pups attention span often wonders easily, so its important to keep them short and most importantly fun! When she does something correct make sure you give her plenty of praise and encouragement, and if she doesnt do it correct then never mind she is still very young. Its good that you want to do whats best for her and you are doing a great job like I keep telling you Just dont get annoyed if she forgets commands that you have taught her now when she gets to that age, she will soon pick it up again.
So if I was you the main things to consentrate on is not overloading her with different commands/training, keep sessions short to stop her getting borred, and try and end it on a possitive.
Finally remember to keep everything fun fun fun!
Hope this helps a little if not feel free to ignore me

Wow that is an awful lot of musts & training for a baby

Why does your puppy have to know she is lower ranked ? Dogs are aware humans are not dogs & in the wild puppies are allowed to do things that adult dogs are not. They get fed 1st to ensure they survive not after the older dogs. The older dogs allow puppies to play tuggy & wrestle with them

A little puppy has an attention span of seconds so a little & often is better than lots all at once.

My BC puppy is hopefully destined for obedience but all he does at present is retrieve to hand & a happy recall(comes bombing back when called for mega fuss & tuggy)& a little bit of heelwork (offlead). He is starting to sit & I am getting the command sit in everytime he does(making sure he is sitting straight for obedience) & he is 18 weeks old !

ok,

i appreciate everyone's help and this may come across harsh as i'm not in the best of moods tonight but i have to say this,

i may be a first time dog owner which obviously makes me a 'novice' which is an awful word to use especially for someone who has done ten years of reading up on dogs and in particular dalmatians.

everyone seems to think i expect an awful lot of takara, i'm not expecting her to get everything straight away - but to me, seeing as she's at the best age to pick things up, i'm best off doing 'informal training' with her all the time.
this just simply means she will learn just by living with us, how we live, how we react to things she does, and what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable in our home.

i'm sorry - this may make me crap but i can't cope with letting her have giddy fits and biting fits and biting my sister, barking constantly for the next 9 weeks before i decide to take action.

if i start it now, then at least we start as we mean to go on, just because she learns by living that way.

Natasha thanks for the advice, but all of those things have already been taken into consideration A LOT. I never do more than 5 minutes max with her and most of the time it's just adding command words to things she's doing naturally.
I'm not considering getting her to do anything else until she's got the first thing.

Joedee, I don't know how much you know about dalmatians in particular but they are extremely intelligent dogs who get bored easily with not enough stimulation, so I started straight away with the 'sit' command. just saying it when she sat at first and then saying it, waiting til she sat then praising and rewarding. she then got sit/paw within a couple of days. but until she'd got that, i didn't start anything else with her.
like i won't be again.

Thanks for the advice, but all i wanted to know was if there was anything else i should be doing, not to be told i was doing too much. i'm being very careful not to overload her and keep getting it drummed into me to give her a chance. i think people think that all we ever do is train - believe me, if you knew Takara and her energy levels you would understand that there is no way i can do anymore than 3 minutes at a time with her as she gets bored anyway and starts jumping about. i look for the early signs of her getting restless and praise and finish there.

But, I appreciate you're only trying to help - I've just not had a great day, am in a bad mood and probably need to sleep rather than typing this

Lottie

oh forgot to say - it may seem an awful lot of musts and training for a baby but she's picking it up and is a much more pleasant and happy puppy for it. yes, she is a bit miffed that she's not allowed to eat coal out of the fire or steal ice cream wrappers from the living room bin, but she seems happier now that she can run around and not get 'Takara - NO' 'Takara, get out the bin' 'Takara, be careful'

she's picking it up so i'm not worried it's too much

Lottie I think the posters on here are trying to offer advice, don't be offended! The most important think with a pup I think is to enjoy him/her whilst training. Don't expect too much as eventually the pup will fail and that can make training harder. I agree it's important to start early but just be sure that you enjoy it, before you know it she will be all grown up and you'll wonder where all the time went!

Lottie I dont think your post was at all fair to myself or Joedee. From your reply just then its seems like you dont want any advice unless its what you want to hear, so why ask for help? Im not saying that what i say goes and you must do that, its only suggestions on what I have found have worked, so to get a reply like that is not called for. You say you have already taken everything into consideration what I have to say, yet you ask me my advice of dw as well why if what i say to you, you already know. I wouldnt have wasted my time. I wont bother replying to your 'help' threads again as its obviously not want you want to hear, and hell what do I know.
BTW even if you are having a bad day there is no need to take it out on members who are offering advice, there is no excuse for bad manners, and as you say yourself shouldnt have waited till morning until posting .

Ok - from the quote that you put Natasha, I'm not sure what was so unfair. I appreciate the overall tone was harsh and yes, I should have probably waited, but the quote that you added to your comment was just me saying that I was already doing it.
When I ask for your advice, how do I know the only advice I get is going to be stuff I'm already doing?

I just wanted to ask if there was anything additional which there wasn't - I simply told you that I had already thought of all that.

Sorry Joedee if I was harsh on you - I know that I was and moreso than Natasha, but all I've got so far when asking for advice is 'don't overload'. I'm not going to! But there's no way I can leave her for another 9 weeks before starting to teach her anything. She'd get way too bored. Ok - I know that people are trying to help by telling me not to do too much - but it doesn't help because I'm not really doing much at all with her.

I don't know how to explain any clearer what I wanted to know -

is there any behaviour that I can incorporate into everyday life with her that she will then pick up on and learn that's the way we live?

is that any clearer? I don't want to do loads of FORMAL TRAINING with her. ie. sitting down with her and teaching her to 'roll over' 'stay' and 'speak'! I just want to start as I mean to go on with her so that she understands how we live. If she lived in a pack, there'd be a pecking order and through behaviour, they'd all understand, so how would I do that within a household - that was my question.

I'm sorry, I really am. I was angry last night and probably should have waited to post it just winds me up when I ask a specific question 'is there anything more I should be doing to help her understand us?' and all I get is how I'm overdoing it.

I would know if I was overdoing it, she would tell me. When she's not in the mood for it, we don't do it.

RipSnorter, thankyou for your response, I know that they were only trying to help - it's just as I have said above, I've heard it all before and am always extremely careful not to overdo it. I am enjoying her and we are literally doing 3 minutes formal training in a morning which she does seem to enjoy, after that all we ever do is things she has already learned, or just trying to help her realise how we live and how she eventually is expected to behave. NOT YET!

Thankyou - I do appreciate people's advice - Natasha I'm sorry I offended you and that you feel you can't give me any more advice, perhaps I shouldn't post 'help threads' anymore. I'll stick to books after all, like you said yourself, it's so fluffy on dogweb! It's just that we have had personal conversations and I have heard that same advice numerous times from you.

She's a baby I'm not expecting miracles!