Training tools and tips for a new pup

[ragough96]

That puppy reminds me of my chocolate when she was young.. She's about 9 years old now.

Have fun with the new dog!

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

Dedicated training time EVERY day. It can be simple things. Somewhere between when they are wild with excitement over seeing you and when they pass out tired, work with them. Sit, stay, down, heel etc. can all be found on you tube videos.

The word NO is one of the most beautiful words in dog language. When they hear that word it needs to have impact. Read up on correction and find the method that best suits you. For me it is a sharp no accompanied by grabbing the loose skin on there neck and giving it a pinch/twist. That's just how mom corrected them in the litter. A grown and a neck nip. One day I was at the dog park with my black lab. A woman had a dog that was mounting every dog in the park. She would say "quit it" "don't" "knock it off" or some other variation of a word that means cease. This played out a number of times. I was quietly watching. Mr. Humpy soon mounted up a new suitor to which the owner said "get off." I said "I am pretty sure that's not the command you want to give a humping dog." It has occurred to me that far to few owners use the word NO.

NEVER give a command that you do not follow through with. I see owners give dogs commands all the time and never hold the dog to it. Then they look at me and ask why my dog is so well trained/behaved? They look at me askance when I tell them my dog doesn't have a choice.

TALK to your dog frequently. They will amaze you with what they learn and understand.

Your dog is smart and is a pleaser by nature. Give your dog a JOB every day. Something. When it's rainy out, I will hide a toy for Shadow and give her the challenge of finding it. I take her for a walk, for a run, for a swim or to the dog park daily. They need an outlet for their intellect or energy or they will develop bad habits.

PRAISE you dog. They thrive on verbal affirmation.

Use dogs natural tendencies to your advantage. All pups love to play fight. When Shadow was a pup I'd get down on the floor and growl and roughhouse like she did with her siblings. After doing this a few times I would start saying the word Pit Bull. Now if I ask her what the Pit Bull does, she comes flying at me growling and playing like she wants to attack. People get a big kick out of it. Well, some Pit owners get a bit indignant.

If you live near other people do NOT leave your dog outside to bark incessantly. That should go without saying, but several of my neighbors don't seem to understand that nobody wants to hear their dog bark all day long.

 

[mountainhawks]

Everyone here seems to have it dialed in for you. The one thing I would stress would be exposure. Once the shots are taken care of expose the puppy to as much as possible as often as possible. I'm fortunate enough to have a lab that goes to work with me every single day and from the moment I could he's gone everywhere. It's crazy how quickly they learn what is ok and what isn't and now, 5 years in, I often forget he's even with me because I don't have to worry about what he's getting into or where he's at. He knows where he should be at all times and is always there.

 

[MTPipeliner]

One of the several books i read when I got my last lab was British Training for American Retrievers. One of the main points the author tried to make was that you want a dog that behaves like a gentleman. He had a story along the lines of even a hunting dog who isn't very good that is pleasant to be around doesn't detract from a trip but a dog who is a pain in the rear can ruin a trip. I liked the general idea and have tried to keep it in mind with my dog.

Two things I did with my younger lab that I really like is a "place" command and making her sit and wait before feeding her.

 

[Clarence]

Great conversation and direction here. Thank you all. Some good pointers on here.

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[3forks]

Last thing from me, don’t train your dog if you’re in a bad mood.

Some training situations will go better than others, but if you’re frustrated or the pup is trying your patience - get compliance on a command the dog knows, and quit for the day.

 

[Phil McAvity]

I would advise against food reward based training or training sessions and remember that every interaction your dog has with you, others and the environment shapes it . Every second counts. As a pup I would work on developing a focused attentive positive attitude towards you and a neutral detached attitude to other people, animals and the environment

 

[Morrid7]

You got a lot of great advice in these responses. I’m a bird hunter, mostly ducks, and I’ve had a few labs over the years for the dual purposes of hunting and family companionship. Here is some of my advice.

Give the pup plenty of opportunities to develop confidence in various environments with and without people, kids, etc.

Work on getting the pup to imprint on you. Some might say I place too much importance on this, but I disagree. It pays off in the training and responsiveness to commands later.

Early training should be fun. This is particularly important for gun dogs. Hunting dogs need prey drive, and nothing will snuff out that flame faster than too much pressure at an early age.

Start formal training with simple objectives and keep sessions short. Whether they have a good session or bad session, don’t extend it. If it was a good session, then you did things correctly, so stop and go do something else. If you have a bad session, stop because you did something wrong and don’t want to reinforce it.

Once the dog has learned the basic obedience commands, I encourage people to think about finding a good gun dog trainer to force fetch the dog even though it’s not going to hunt. Some people don’t believe in force fetching (also called force break, etc.) though. In my opinion, this process really improves a dog’s responsiveness to commands in general. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS YOURSELF if you haven’t done it a lot. I did it under direct supervision of a good pro trainer before attempting by myself.

Dog anxiety...pay attention to the dogs reactions reactions, mood, etc. They all have them. My best gun dog and companion loved hunting and would lay down inside my layout blind with me while I shot ducks over him, but he wigged out during thunderstorms. Gun shots excited him and thunder terrified him.

Good luck!


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[Fartrell Cluggins]

Teach fetch in a hallway with all the doors closed. Pup has only one place to go with it, and that is right back to you. Heap them with praise when they successfully complete a command.

 

[Two Roads]

4 labs in, we always have hunted AND we use Wolters books, excellent. As for retrieving all we use are tennis balls. Had a friend send his lab to graduate school. We are duck hunting a creek and came time to get the decoys in. I send my dog for the first one and my pal goes nuts. You are going to run your dog, he will get confused with real ducks.

I politely explained my dog knows the difference between feathers and plastic. And sent him to get each one. Slept like a baby in the truck. Like I said, tennis balls. Labs come prepackaged with a brain. We are the handicap. Wolters is your friend on this. Read that imprint timeline carefully.

 

[Roughout]

Lots great input here— exposure, exposure, exposure.

Determine what you want you “finished” dog to look like and start training around those ideas now. Simple things like, crate training, where he rides in the vehicle, how you want them to act around strangers/house guests, on or off a lead, etc.


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[Gearqueer]

I used the Wolter’s DVD (Water Dog) with my lab. I can’t tell you enough how much of a bond it helped me and my pup form. Labs love to retrieve, so I used retriever training as a way to form the bond. I hunted with him though so it was more necessary for me. Just 15-20 minutes a day is all you need.

Check out the Wolter’s obedience videos/books if you have no desire to do retrieving every day with pup. They are fun, build the bond, and keep the pup engaged.


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[FatCampzWife]

I've had real good luck with practicing sit, stay, down, up, off over & over & OVER again anywhere & any time. Stupid pet tricks really aren't stupid, because they work on obedience & bonding & are fun to boot. Good luck with your pup!

 

[AK_Skeeter]

I have never once used food to train my dog. Again the book I referenced above is completely against that. Using treats implys that there is some sort of negotiation with the dog. In my opinion that is not what you want. You want to be the leader or alpha member of your dogs pack. Your dog needs to obey you because you told it to. Not because you asked it to and it will get a treat.

Yes it is absolutely possible for praise to be the reward. It is also harder to train that way but is much more worth it. Judging by how it sounds you want to train I cant recommend Julie Knutson to you enough. Also I think you have the advantage of having a lab. They are so forgiving in training mistakes and so eager to please. I could talk about labs all day.

I train my labs to Master Hunter level and I use food.
A huge advantage: Twice a day with a highly motivated pupil = 60 2-minute training sessions a day.

I teach pups 2-sided heeling, backwards heeling, push/pull lining, casting rotations, etc. all during feeding sessions. https://www.youtube.com/user/MissSkeeterRetriever/playlists

 

[BigDog00]

The Wolters stuff is pretty good, but I really like Bill Hillmans approach. The best advice I can give is be consistent and if you get frustrated just stop for the day and come back.