My wife and I are strongly considering adding a dog to our family. We each had family dogs growing up that we each helped to house train and take care of.

But it's been quite a while since we've had a dog of our own, and as adults, we have not raised a puppy from scratch.

Please chime in with your pro tips for things like house breaking, crate training, basic obedience and discipline, breaking bad habits, food, and flea/tick meds.

Also interested in resources such as sites, books, videos, etc.

Thank you all.

Get an Easy Walker harness. It'll prevent them from pulling on the leash and/or choking themselves, and makes teaching them to walk on a leash significantly easier. It's a must-have for a big dog, but is handy for any sized dog.


Smart dogs are easier to train because they pick up on things quicker. Loyal dogs are easier to train because they're eager to please. Smart and loyal dogs are easiest to train. If you have the chance, select a breed that's known for intelligence and loyalty.


My best advice on training is to start as young as you can. When they're little (8ish weeks), they're like sponges, and training is significantly easier. If you wait even a few months, it gets noticeably tougher. At 12ish months, training gets noticeably tougher again.


In addition to the basic stuff like commands and potty training, make a list of all the behaviors of other dogs that annoy you. Jumping on people when excited? Begging for food at the dinner table? Climbing on furniture? Barking at passing birds? All of these can be more easily corrected and trained out when they're little.


And if you'll put some effort into training your dog to follow voice commands, hand signals, claps/snaps, and/or whistles, you can often get them to a point where they can accompany you without a leash. Everywhere we go, we get compliments from folks on how well-trained our Labradoodle is. It's all from a strong foundation I laid from ~8-12ish weeks, with only really a minimal amount of effort, thanks to the breed's intelligence and loyalty.

One of the things I did with our Pal was picking him up and taking him to the edge of the woods to do his business. After training he never dumped in the yard. Even when camping he would not go at the campsite but would head into the woods.

Jim

consistency.

Be kind, gentle, firm.

You’ll get conflicting information. I’m totally opposed to using a harness mentioned above. I use a lead, and a collar. Working dogs a fur saver or shock collar if needed. Also think those spool type leashes are poor also. Better to train the animal which means training the trainer.

Crate train from day one. Read up on it extensively. Buy a book or a DVD. Leerburg has some solid training DVD’s.

At 8 weeks the puppy bladder is small so to house train it you need to go out to your designated potty area every 4 hours 24 hours a day. That means you set a clock and wake up 4 hours into your sleep and take the dog out. Or get used to cleaning up #1 and #2. Puppy pads or anything similar are terrible training methods imo.

Be patient and just keep doing your reps. Heel, down, sit, stay, speak, are all easy to do, just takes patience and reps. A good trick is to get a bag you can strap to yourself. Instead of feeding them a meal, feed them as you do reps using the food/meal as a reward.

No dog parks or around other animals when they are pups. One bite or incident with another dog and you’ll risk your puppy being dog aggressive for their whole life. It’s one of the worst things to train out. I loathe dog parks. My working dogs are always trained to the letter but all that is worthless with some idiot owner at a dog park.

I pack train from day one. Nobody touches or interfaces with the dog outside the pack. Pack is family, friends, neighbors, even the mail man, but not strangers. I socialize them when they are pups by taking them around everywhere I can with people walking by, other animals, etc, I just don’t let anyone pet the dog. They need to get used to distractions however. They are pack animals and pack animals don’t let everyone and their dog touch and jack with them. They are loyal to the pack and that’s it.

Get a harness if you want to train your dog to pull something.
My first recommendation for new dog owners is crate training. Google it, read about it. It's not difficult and will make house breaking and travel much less stressful.

Socialization- introduction to as as many places, people and situations as possible. If the dog shows any reluctance, YOU approach situation in happy, upbeat way and let the dog approach it as they are comfortable. NEVER force them into a situation. PRAISE, PET them when they muster the courage to do it.

Prong (pinch) collar with rounded tips on links, properly sized. This will allow you to control he dog with less force. A soft leather lead is easier on your hands than other kinds, especially for a larger breed.

Obedience training. Start off by guiding the dog through exercises. The dog will go through periods of "amnesia" and seem to forget what it would do perfectly before. Usually around a month after starting a particular exercise. This is the behavior transitioning from short term memory to long term memory. Be patient and go back to showing, guiding, the dog what to do. Use alot of praise rewards during training. Train only for about 5 min per session and have 3- 5 sessions per day. Only focus on one behavior per training session. End on positive note. If you have a bad training session, go back to an easy task they can do successfully to end the session. As the dog learns, slowly go from rewarding every time they perform correctly to rewarding every other time, third time, then randomly. Lots of praise and play at the end of a session. Corrections for incorrect behavior are only administered after the training has transitioned to long term memory and you KNOW FOR CERTAIN the dog is willfully disobeying you. Have a reward word and a release word. The reward word lets the dog know it has done something correctly, even if it won't be getting a food or toy reward. As training progresses and the dog is on a variable reinforcement schedule, this is part of it's reward and it will know addition rewards are coming. I use YES, in an excited voice, for this. The release word lets the dog know an exercise is finished and I use OK for that. Don't train the dog shortly after a meal.When using treats for training, make sure they are small and soft. This keeps the dog from getting full and becoming disinterested in the reward. And, with hard treats from stopping to eat them and becoming distracted.

I agree with Prefontaine to a point with socialization with people. YOU have to be in control of the situation. I always tell people who want to greet my dogs exactly what to do. No hands over head, no bending over the dog, let the dog approach you. There are two basic philosophies when it comes to working dogs. One is the dog is strictly limited to outside contact with people to the training (work) environment. The other is the dog should be approachable and is taught during protection and obedience training to discern when a protective response is warranted. Part of this is also knowing the individual personality of your dog and what it will tolerate.

There is one thing two trainers can agree on and that is what a third trainer is doing wrong!

I am a puppy survivor one of the best things i did was leave the leash on the puppy while loose in the house its alot easier to get to it and make a correction or get them outside and out of trouble and always have eyes on them at all times good luck with the puppy

I agree with most here on BASIC Training, (potty, crate, leash, social) BUT as a German Shepherd breeder & exhibitor for many years Remember it's a Puppy.. NO Really tough training until at least 6 months old.. You want a Friend, Not a Nervous Slave!

Incentivize the employee

quote:

Originally posted by golfrjd1:
I agree with most here on BASIC Training, (potty, crate, leash, social) BUT as a German Shepherd breeder & exhibitor for many years Remember it's a Puppy.. NO Really tough training until at least 6 months old.. You want a Friend, Not a Nervous Slave!

My daughter got a Basset puppy and I’m helping her with it but I really want GS. Right now we are trying to potty train her ( going every couple hours) and to not bite hard. I think the pup needs to be around her siblings longer to help her know how hard to bite. She gets downright mean when she’s playing and doesn’t know how hard she’s biting. We are also crate training her, she hates being enclosed but after a week she’s getting used to it. I forgot how much effort goes into training them (and so did my daughter).

Check out this guy’s approach to training a puppy. Link
In other videos he demonstrates that a pup can be trained even while a bunch of other pups are running loose around him.

Look at the training methods used by Robert Milner at Duckhill Kennels and especially by Mike Stewart at Wildrose Kennels. They have posted many tips and videos on their web sites and their gentle training methods really work well. We have trained several pups using their methods and everyone including the pups are happier for it. Both of them have books out as well. You might also read Leader of the Pack by Duno and Baer for some insight.

http://www.duckhillkennels.com/

https://www.uklabs.com/

I am absolutely dead set against shock collars except as a safety recall device after training is completed. It is counterproductive in young dogs and has no place in training a puppy. Socialization is really important to success in training and the more positive reinforcement you give early on the greater the long term reward.

One of Mike Stewart's best tips is to not let bad habits get started and that if the behavior is habit by six months they will have it forever. Much easier to not let bad habits start than to try to train it out of them later.

We found that making the puppy make eye contact and then comply with a command, such as sit or down, before putting the food bowl down sets the stage for your pup to get positive rewards for tractability. Once he learns this he will lock attention on you for instructions for the remainder of his life.

Enjoy your pup.

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:

quote:

Originally posted by golfrjd1:
I agree with most here on BASIC Training, (potty, crate, leash, social) BUT as a German Shepherd breeder & exhibitor for many years Remember it's a Puppy.. NO Really tough training until at least 6 months old.. You want a Friend, Not a Nervous Slave!

My daughter got a Basset puppy and I’m helping her with it but I really want GS. Right now we are trying to potty train her ( going every couple hours) and to not bite hard. I think the pup needs to be around her siblings longer to help her know how hard to bite. She gets downright mean when she’s playing and doesn’t know how hard she’s biting. We are also crate training her, she hates being enclosed but after a week she’s getting used to it. I forgot how much effort goes into training them (and so did my daughter).

Puppies give vocal feedback that siblings are biting too hard. We have had luck with nipping puppies by loudly saying Ow!Ow!Ow!. If that doesn't work put a leash on the pup and tie it to a doorknob where he can see you but not be with the family after every time he nips. He will get the message quickly with these time out sessions.

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:
Puppies give vocal feedback that siblings are biting too hard.

Yep. The easiest way to train this is to be like another puppy.

When a puppy I'm training nips me, I give a loud yip, similar to the noise another puppy would make, and briefly disengage from play. (Disengage = Take a step away, fold your arms, and turn your back for a few seconds.)

The dog automatically knows that means they were too rough, and it doesn't take long for them to moderate their mouthing accordingly.

 

My suggestion is to find a local dog trainer and get training for you and your puppy.

Get recommendations from friends and websites such as Yelp, BBB online, etc.

The investment of time and effort will pay HUGE dividends. Not only will you learn the best ways to control your new friend, it's also much needed socialization for the pooch too.

Where do you live? Rural, suburban, urban? Definite consideration for what kind of dog you get.

How much time will you be with the dog daily? My wife and I are semi-retired and can spend much of the day with the dog.

Where will the dog be when you are away? We have a fenced area and a connected place for the dog to get out of the weather.

“Trainable” is certainly highly recommended but intelligence can also lead to michevious (sp?) behavior. This would be typical with a Border Collie IF the dog didn’t have enough work/play to do during the day. That said, we have had six BC and are on our seventh. They are great dogs.

I think many dogs are trainable (not all) and the training and learning goes on as long as you, the Alpha dog, decide it needs to go on. When you decide to stop, the learning stops. For that reason my mind set is that the dog NEVER stops learning and I am teaching for his/her entire life. They are learning from me by either intent or neglect. Yes, some learn slower than others. As noted above - consistency is very important.

When scolding I do it verbally nearly 100% of the time. If I feel a “swat” is necessary I will swat his rump. By hitting his/her face they learn to flinch at the raised hand, whether he has been bad or not. To me this reaction tells other people that I beat my dog. Dogs are extremely devoted to the pack, their life there should be happy not stressful.

You are the “pack leader” always. He will always look to you for guidance. If he doesn’t find it he will take your place as Alpha dog. You see this with people scolding a barking dog with zero results. The dog runs that show.

Adopting a dog can have training benefits too. Yes, some worry that they will bring bad habits. If you accept the bad habits, yes they will come along. Again, YOU decide what you will accept. The adopted dog has lost its pack. You are taking in a “lost soul”. Unlike a puppy, the adopted dog will be forever grateful to have a new home. There is a deep tie there that is created in no other way.

Asking about where you live, your time and place - all should be considerations of the type of dog you pick. Having a Border Collie in the city would be criminal in my book. A Miniature Pinscher on the other hand might work out.