At what age should we start to train our puppies? And how should we do it? These are probably the most often asked questions of prospective puppy owners and those who already have one of those cute creatures in their households. And there are varoius answers to these questions. Why? Because it all depends on the trainers’ personality; the approach and the method they apply. Some would say a 5-6 month old puppy is old enough to start training. I say, we should start puppy training as early as possible with the right approach.
Jazzy Molly is learning off leash walking
Just think about it. Reputable breeders allow us to visit the puppies before we can take them home. In fact, they positively encourage us to interact with them. It shouldn’t be a problem to see our puppies before they come home with us, if we have already established the relationship with the breeder, planned the puppy project well in advance and we live in acceptable proximity of the breeder. But there are other ways to overcome the boundaries of geographical distances if need be. Also, pure breed is not necessarily the first choice for many people, but the bottom line here is that we have the choice to start to interact with our puppies before they arrive in our homes.
Back to the subject of puppy training. We know that puppies are very curious and active. They move like flash. They want to see, touch, smell the world round them and put everything in their mouth. In my first blogpost I emphasized that our puppies are constantly watching us, observing our behaviour, trying to find out what is encouraged by us. They do learn to anticipate our moves even if we think we show them nothing. So if we have the chance to visit them at the breeder, and the opportunity to interact with our puppies before they come home, why shouldn’t we start to do that with intention.
We take them home, probably in our cars. It is decisive how we transport them in the car. Then, the first day in their new homes is a crucial experience, too. What they see, who they meet, how the family members interact with them, how other animals in the household interact with them. The first night in their new homes is so important. Where they sleep, if they sleep on their own or with a family member. Also, with whom they sleep with. Do they sleep with the person who will train them? Yes, the interaction starts from the first moment the puppy and owner see each other. So, why should we wait with the training? Some of You might think: “Well, puppy training is a professionally set up, serious activity. It is entirely different from what we do at home.”
But my thought process is this: it is only natural that we start to train our puppies from day one. We just have to do it the right way. With other words, we have to prepare ourselves and have to learn how, and prefereably before they arrive. However, let’s keep in mind that adjustments can be done at any stage and at any time.
Karen Pryor reminds us that puppies learn easily if we keep it a fun, encouraging and playful activity. It is a misconception that puppies are too young to learn. Pryor says that the real problem is “that formal training is generally aversive, and the puppy is too young to learn that particular way. With praise and petting and food, you can teach a puppy almost anything…” Pryor’s words are so important. For one, puppies never stop learning whether we intentionally teach them a certain behaviour, or they just simply learn what they can get away with. So, the learning process is ongoing. On the other hand, it would be a bit unfair to expect them to forget everything they have already learnt just because we decided to attend a training program with them when they reach the often recommended age. Another aspect is that it is a lot more complicated to relearn habits, to exhaust unwanted behaviour than to teach puppies what earns encouragement and appraisal.
Food and treats are subjects of a never ending discussion in dog training. Unfortunately, it is still often the case that deprivation of any sorts is encouraged by trainers, but puppies have to eat … they have to eat a lot, so food deprivation is out of question. I remember that I was told not to feed Vinnie the night before training, or not to play with him the day before training. It always makes me wonder and I never understood how come that deprivation is acceptable after a certain age of the dog, but it is classed as a terrible thing to do to a tiny puppy. I think it is a terrible thing to do to an animal at any age. No question about it. I would like to refer to Karen Pryor’s wise words, again: “It’s my suspicion now that trying to increase motivation by using deprivation of any sort is not only unnecessary but deleterious. Reducing the normal levels of food, attention, company, or anything else a subject likes or needs before training begins—and solely in order to make the reinforcer more powerful by making subject more needful—is just a poor excuse for bad training. Maybe it has to be used in the laboratory, but in the real world it is good training that creates high motivation, not the other way around.”
We are warming up before training.
I believe that puppy training should be an affectionate, playful, fun activity from the first interaction on. And there is no age limit to having fun, isn’t there. So, let’s get down to business!
There are some basic activities, tricks or tasks, we can call them whatever we wish because it doesn’t matter what label we put on this group of activities. What matters is that we can learn how to teach our puppies to respond to us from a very early age. In the process we learn, and our puppies learn. The trust increases in “Team Puppy”, the bond gets stronger. An advantageous side effect of the process is that our puppies also learn that we are exceptionally good source of fun.
My favourite and classic trick is “touch my hand”. And probably it is one of the most useful tricks, too. Why is it so useful? Because once the puppies learn that the hand, the palm of the hand is the source of something really good, they learn to respond to it, it becomes the easiest and most effective way to keep them focusing on us whilst they are in close proximity. Such handy tricks help us to avoid stressing the puppies or telling them off if they wander off or show interest in something else or do something we don’t want them to create a habit of.
We play touch my hand (Jazzy Molly)
Keep in mind that the purpose of the training is twofold: we want to teach the puppies to do certain things in a given situation, but we also want to encourage them to stay inquisitive and creative. Puppies often offer behaviour voluntarily; we only need to be there to catch a glance of that behaviour and reinforce it. However, if they want to dig a hole in the garden, chew on some training equipment or just run round the garden instead of training with us we can put “touch my hand” in good use. Once they learn that “touch my hand” is a fun activity they can be easily “rearranged”, we can regain their attention without stress. It is also a great stress release in-between tasks if we work with more than one dog and we need to increase the duration of the “patiently waiting” exercise.
In the end every single minute we spend with our puppies is part of the training process whether it is intentional or not.
Vincent the Wizard and Jazzy Molly are having some fun time with “touch my hand” in between training sessions. (Note: there is no treat in my right hand, it is the remote control of the camera that I am trying to hide. Well, not so effectively this time.)
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