What to train puppies before puppy school?
BUT - by the time she is old enough and has enough shots to take classes - it will already be into the next month. So she might not be able to take classes until two months after I get her. So what should I try to teach her in the mean time? I want to start as early as possible with those basic behaviors that she needs to learn. I don't want to overwhelm her either.  |
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| Congrats on puppy!
Train the basics right form the begining, you will have your hands full with crate training and potty training, but use every opportunity to reinforce good behaviours right from the start. We had good luck with Chelsea by working on 'sit' and 'get down'(or 'off' as some prefer) - we also started with good habits on the walks right away, making her sit at corners and wait for a release, waiting nicely while the leash was attached. We also had VERy good luck with making her wait for her food and not attacking us as we put it down. She had to sit and 'wait' for a few seconds until we said 'okay', she does this automatically now. Discouraging bad behaviours at a young age is appropriate too. Let the puppy know what is off limits (furniture, dangerous things), discourage nipping, etc. They 'get it' and they will continue to get it if you discourage bad behavious by replacing it with a distraction and then reniforcing the positive behaviour. For instance, whenever Chelsea would pick up a shoe, I would hand her a tug toy instead, she usually dropped the shoe and grabbed her toy, only to be rewarded by a few minutes of a game of 'tug'. When she really wants our attention she runs and gets a toy for us to play with instead of grabbing something and running with it. Just some ideas, we read a book called The Dog Whisperer that was really helpful, I also firmly believe that a puppy is a lot like a toddler (human) you can teach them things right away, but it needs to be positive, fun, the training you choose needs to be 'soft' and casual, otherwise you will lose their attention and perhaps do more damage by setting up training as 'no fun'. Good Luck. Up |
| Most classes will require her rabies shot before she can attend. It's not what to teach before class but how. You may want to find out how the trainer will do the class--for example, our teacher now does not use the dog's name during training, but I did when we started training (from the day we got Pooh home). So now we are adjusting.
Definately go with the basics: Sit, Down, Come, OFF. With a big dog, that last one is invaluable! |
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