[Kirk]

The wife and I got a puppy 6 weeks ago, he was ten weeks old. Brought him home, fed him, took him outside waited for him to pee, praised him ectra. He has never pooped or peed in the house, he has learned to fetch, sit, lie down, stay in the yard, stay out of the trash, come when called, knock on the door to get back in and lie down while we eat. So far he only barks when the DW gets him riled up. I dont think he is much in the way of watchdog/guard dog material as he shows no aggression or protective tendencies, although his size may someday be a factor in scaring folks off (lab/? mix). He plays well with our five year old twins. Although he has chewed a few things he seems to be fine left alone in the house unconfined.
I think he is the perfect puppy in all respects but fear I may not be the perfect master. He wants to learn and having not had a dog in many years I really don't know what else to teach him. Any sugestions ideas?

 

[bumpus]

Just give him a little time and don't rush him
and the pup will teach you a few things as he grows up. :haha:

 

[big rockpile]

Kirk sounds like he is doing real good.Try giving him a hug and show him Love.

big rockpile

 

[wr]

Bumpus is on the right track. I don't like rushing young dogs cause somewhere up the line, they may become frustrated or tired of education. I'd take some time, relax and keep refreshing him on the commands that he has a good grasp of. He sounds like a gem and you seem to make a good pair.

 

[Countrystyle]

I agree with the others on not rushing and reinforcing what he has already learned. I also like to teach my dogs to "give" or "release" what ever they have in their mouth just in case it's a new kitty or a good shoe. Especially good to know for a retriever. ...He sounds great!

 

[bumpus]

See what I mean, big rockpile's dog has taught him that he can go to sleep
and that he will watch out and protect him so he can relax, and rest.

The proof is in the picture.

I told you the dog will teach you a thing or two. :haha:

Hey ( big rockpile ) in your picture
could you tell me what the name of the 16th month is ? 16/06/2003

Good to see you again ! ! !

 

[Mountain Mom]

Just enjoy that pup!! Soon enough he will enter adolescence and you'll wonder where everything you taught him went!!! We are in the middle of that ourselves with our pup (Lab/mix?) After 2 puppy training classes and wonderful results, we were wondering if someone switched our pup on us while we weren't looking!
He's still a joy, just a tad bit more challenging.

 

[puffdog]

I have raised several Chows and they are know to be very protective but also very hard headed two thing iI have learned First and formost make sure the dog know his place in the pack. never feed the dog while you are eating, Never let the dog go out the door before you and you should be able to take the dogs food away from him while he is eating ( Be careful with this one and is bet started when they are pups ) Before it starts yes give the food back but hold it from him for a few seconds at least . Dogs are still pack animals like there brothers the wolf and you and your family are the pack. Show it love and kindness but also show it it's place and you will have a friend for life.

 

[lacyj]

The best thing we ever taught our dogs, was to SHAKE, and I don't mean hand shake. Whenever our dogs get out of water, they are told to shake, and they shake the water off. This is really important, when camping or washing them, in the tub. They know that, they have to shake, before getting out of the tub, that way water doesn't get all over the house. There's nothing worse than a dog, shaking right next to you. At the lake, they have to shake away from people. I can tell them to Go Away and Shake, and it's done away from the blanket and food...
lacyj

 

[JWH123]

The one thing that my wife is thankful that I taught the dog to do, is 'bed'. He has a bed in our room, and whenever he's in the way or underfoot (as 100 lbs of Lab is sure to do), I tell him 'bed', and he goes up to his bed, usually takes a nap. Very helpful.

As Countrystyle said, 'drop it' is a good one for a dog that likes to pick stuff up.

Above all, enjoy your dog!

John

 

[Guest]

You haven't mentioned it, but even farm dogs should learn to walk nicely on a leash. It will come in handy when/if you need to take the dog to the vet, etc.

"Drop it" and "leave it" are 2 other things I recommend. "Roll over" is another one that comes in handy when you need to inspect a hurt paw or remove a tick. We also practice "wait"...which really helps when getting in/out of the car
since you aren't getting bowled over by a dog in a hurry to get out/in. "Go around" also helps with lease walking.

Your dog is young, but can learn lots right now. Just remember to keep the sessions short and to always end on a high note...completing some task they already know & do well and include a lot of praise.

 

[Browsercat]

With our older dog, I trained him with hand signals as well as voice commands. If you are consistent with them, and make it fun (dog cookies/treats and lots of pettings and praise), you can get to the point where a dog recognizes the hand signal without the voice command.

Both our dogs know paws off, off, lie down, go bed, cookie, sit, stay (although staying is not their strong suit), come, leave it, and out (as in go out).

Manners such as 'off' (gentle knee in the chest when they jump on you, with a stern 'off') is good, as is 'leave it' so you can get them to leave something alone when you see them head for somethng they should stay out of.

If your library has the book 'dogs for dummies', I suggest that as a source of information. I found it very useful for my first dog; same thing goes for the books by the Monks of New Skete, who raise and train dogs and speak to the psychology of dogs (establishing pack order, etc.).

 

[Soni]

How about "bang, you're dead"? Train the pup to fall over on its side when you point your 'finger gun' at it and say "bang". Makes for hilarious company entertainment.

 

[Bladesmith]

Teach him to make coffee and get the paper...useful tricks for a dog round here. Although mine makes a really lousy espresso...too much milk in it I think :haha:

 

[Little Quacker in NC]

Good for you! Might as well use those canine brains...its good for them! There are a few good books out there that have great ideas for teaching your dog useful and fun things. "Mother KNows Best" by Carol Lea Benjamin is tops. You will have your dog helping pick up laundry and other cool things. "go around" is a good one too. For going from the front door to the back door and visa versa...around objects or buildings etc. Of couse fetching is a great game and useful too. When hiking if I drop something off the trail and down in a canyon, my dogs will go get it and return it to me. This applies to fetching other dogs too. My friends' two labs once had to "retrieve" my little Bull Terrier while on a hike. She just couldn't get over that rock. The two labs were commanded to fetch and they did! Grabbed my little dog by her collar, one on each side... and got her up! LOL If you teach your dog to "bang your dead"..add "rigor mortis" to it. On the first Bang! the dog drops on it's side(or you can have it "drop" from a sit-up position)and on the "rigor mortis"have it roll on it's back with the feet up in the air. Cracks people up!! LOL Have fun..aren't dogs fun? LOL LQ

 

[MaKettle]

You have a great little pup--he's not even 4 months old!. Absolutely don"t push him, and keep reinforcing. Please see if you can find NATURAL DOG TRAINING by Keven Behan. He has a website at <[email protected]>. Another good one is PLAY TRAINING YOUR DOG by Patricia Burnham. Her greyhounds have accrued all sorts of titles in obedience. After all, this little guy is a PUPPY, and you aren't going to go into heavy attack dog training until he matures a bit more. Although you might introduce "hup" to get in the car and "out" to get out. Always handy.

I took two of my dogs to dog schools run by a fellow who believed in overpowering the dog, rolling it on its back and forcing submissiveness, and yanking them around with a choke chain. The dogs in those classes were scared to death of that man. I wouldn't let him handle my dogs. It was so sad that he gave people permission to hit their dogs. His rott was submissive and obeyed every command in seconds, and kept his eyes rivited on his "pack leader", but he was not a happy dog. When he bounded forward on "Come", he did not have a doggy smile and his stumpy little tail never, ever wagged. There is another dog training group in this locale that stresses "no harsh methods", and their doggies wag their tails and smile and bound forward with a spirit of fun, fun, fun.

 

[Don Armstrong]

"Sit" (you've done that).

"Stay" (that's a hard one, but well worth making the distinction).

"Give" or "release" is good.

"Find" (good one for a retriever-mix like you have, and a fun game for the dog). You can do this two ways - one is finding a downed bird - sort of an extension of "fetch". The other is finding on scent. Send the twins out to hide, then let them scent one of the twin's clothes, then send them to "find" - no points for the wrong twin.

There's two very useful ones for herding dogs, and your dog sounds bright enough to be able to do it, even though not bred to it. Can also be useful for a hunting dog. Those are relative commands - they mean "go further away" or "come closer". Used when telling a dog to go round the head of a flock, or come back behind them. Here they're expressed as "Git back" and "come behind" respectively.

P.S. How could I forget? "Heel".

 

[Jack in VA]

I always teach my dogs to close the door after they pass thru it. Keeps the heat in. Also taught one dog to pick up soda cans and deposit them in a paper bag. Once he's learned the basics , novelty tricks are fun , cheap entertainment. One dog I taught to "Bag your face" . Set an open paper bag on the floor. She would stick her head in it , then lift her head up and sit there with the bag on her head , waggin' her tail. Dog's love to learn and please.

 

[Kirk]

Hey Folks,
Thank you all for the great ideas. Sorry I havnt been back to thank everyone earlier. Its just that I've been busy putting a roof on the house in the snow. What a joy.
I think we are going to try the find command. I'll start with the kids and move on to the car keys lol.
Thank You all again and keep em coming.
Kirk

 

[Little Quacker in NC]

"FIND IT" is a great thing to teach. If you do teach this, start with the members of the family as you said and be sure to teach the pup their names. Use each persons name every time you have the pup close. Then starting with one person..give that person a handful of treats and stand within a few feet of them. You say "GO FIND......"and insert name...just as you finish saying that have the named person call the pup and give treat. Do this for several days with just one person, increasing the distance gradually. Then, retire that person for awhile and move to the next. In a few months your pup will go "find" any member of the famile by name. Don't rush it and as the pup gets older add people who visit often. I have taught my dogs to go find " " ,and then come right back to me.

Also taught some of my Indian Runners to "find" me...of course that's all they do! And it's food driven. Yeah, I know..pretty silly. LOL LQ