what the proper age is for starting training and what steps we need to follow
I recently got a 7-week-old puppy in my household. I would like to know what the proper age is for starting training and what steps we need to follow to be successful--for instance, preparing the dog for using the bathroom outdoors instead of indoors, etc.
Training begins, informally, the day you bring your puppy home. Training is not just about teaching commands; it is about the entire education of your dog. Whether you intend to or not, you are helping your puppy form conclusions about its new environment and the individuals it lives with. Sometimes people unintentionally teach their puppies many things that result in inappropriate habits. Later, when they think it is finally the "right time" to begin training, puppy owners enroll in a class and learn about all the mistakes they have been making that now have to be undone! Housetraining usually is the first concern for puppy owners. Housetraining is teaching a puppy where and when to eliminate and is accomplished by feeding and taking the puppy outside on a consistent, scheduled basis. There is no reason to ever scold or punish a puppy for eliminating; it is more important to teach it where and when to go than to try to convince it where it should not! Puppies that are punished for eliminating inside may become afraid to go anywhere, including outdoors, when the owner who has punished is present. Puppies need to eliminate and need to feel safe doing so; they have no concept of right and wrong, so there is no good reason to punish mistakes. They will learn by being allowed to eliminate outside and by being prevented, through supervision and restraint, from getting into habits of soiling indoors. Keeping a puppy near you on a leash, or using a dog cage for short periods of time, helps increase a puppy's ability to wait until the next scheduled outing. Young puppies do need to go very frequently--typically after a nap, after eating, after playing and every two hours or so in between. As they get older, they need to go less frequently, but initially it is a great deal of work for the owner! Accidents happen, and when they do, don't get excited; just clean it up and keep a more watchful eye tomorrow around the same time. Another important early training concern is social behavior and manners. Here is where many owners make big mistakes. What are the rules going to be for this dog as an adult? No jumping? What about biting and rough play? Then why encourage these behaviors now? Starting out accepting rude behaviors and later trying to change the rules is much more difficult than reinforcing good behavior from day one. Don't make size- and age-related excuses for small puppies; they grow and learn bad habits quickly. Enroll in a puppy class, where good manners and social skills are positively reinforced from an early age. You can start in some programs with puppies as young as 11 weeks, provided they are properly immunized. Earlier is not advised, as puppies between their 8th and 10th week are very impressionable and easily frightened. Any trauma experienced at this age can have a lasting impact on the dog's personality. While puppies are intellectually capable of learning performance concepts, they are emotionally immature. I think each dog gradually evolves into emotional maturity and training readiness at its own pace. A perceptive owner can identify this maturation and readiness by looking for increased focus and attention span in the puppy. Teaching simple commands using positive reinforcement can be done in very short installments, working within the time frame the puppy's willing concentration allows. A puppy as young as 8 weeks might be interested in very short (five minutes or less) training interactions with its owner. These short sessions should be done in the house or yard where the puppy feels safe and has limited distractions, and should involve no force or punishment. The objective is to TEACH the puppy, not demand responses from it; teaching is not confrontational. Ideally, training should be practiced using positive shaping techniques. This means the puppy is guided to the desired response, or the owner waits for it to happen spontaneously, the behavior is associated with a word (command) and immediate positive reinforcement is given. The best advice I can give is to suggest you seek more information through books or a reputable trainer.
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