What Else Can I Start To Teach My 13 Weeks Old Puppy?

[Gerda the Schnauzer]

Hiya,

Gerda is 13 weeks old, and can sit, stay (mostly), lie down, roll over, come and 'leave it'. She is very enthusiastic to learn, and seems very good at it if I get the technique right. So where to now? Just keep up cementing those ones? Or can she cope with something new? - and in that case, what is best to do next?

We are in puppy school, but they are way behind and have only done sit, down, stay (she taught me how to teach the lie down early so we weren't bored) and only have one week left. Sounds cocky, sorry about that, but we needed to start early with our puppy!!

Thanks for any ideas.

[cassie]

How about training her to walk nicely on a loose lead? Maybe also getting her to "WAIT" while you put her food bowl down, and not allowing her to eat until you say "OK" or whatever your chosen release word is. Just a couple of ideas.

Other than that, personally I only teach pups the basics at this tender age, so as not to overload their minds JMO

[Erny]

Have you been out and about socialising your pup to all our worldly things that WE take for granted, very much? It is good to introduce the basics of obedience skills to pups at an early age where you can perhaps manage them a bit easier, but socialisation IMO should comprise of at least 60% of the pup's 'training' at this early and valuable age.

[Gerda the Schnauzer]

Oh ok, we have only just started walking her, which she is very much enjoying. I get her to sit and look at me for her food (a bit of a variation on the K9 TOT, I'll go to the tie back later). We used to carry her to the shops, and we had lots of visitors, and a few trips to my mum's property.

I'll just keep going with the ones she knows then.

Thanks

[WalandLibby]

The sky's the limit - just make up stuff and see if you can teach it. Sometimes I just sit down with my dog and look around the room and decide, for eg, I'm going to teach him to put his feet on that thing, or pick that up in his mouth, or get on the chair or off the chair (you get the picture). I don't use much free shaping, most of what I teach him starts with targeting (actually this is probably the first thing that I would teach, if I were training Gerda).

Doing as much as you and Gerda are up for will not only give her a chance to have a really great game with you, it will really allow you to develop your training skills. While understanding the theory of how training works is really important, it's not much use without lots of practice (training is a mechanical skill, as Bob Bailey says). And I think it's the best thing for the relationship between a dog and person to do lots of training together.

[Erny]

I have had Mandela (several times each ... gradual and non-traumatic introduction) to the train station; on trains; meeting unfamiliar people; down the main street cafe (meeting more people including children, older people, older people on their scooters, hearing the light and heavy traffic going by); in and through a major suburban town; puppy school (of course); at the Moorabbin airport listening to the planes and helicopters take off and land; stay over and be left with someone else for a day (someone who I completely trusted for this); take a ride in an elevator; a bus ride ..... there is more but this is the list I can think of off the top of my head. We have yet more to do before he is 16 weeks old and of course will continue beyond that as well.

The majority of this did not require him to walk - in the initial stages I actually held him as he was too small to walk (and the weather was too cold). I have him walk more now though and getting him used to being on the ground rather than on my lap, although I do pick him up at times when we have some distance to go and/or when I see/think he has done enough as he's too young to be walking too far.

All of the above has taken numerous visits, starting off with distance and short sessions and only increasing in the next visit where I could see he wasn't worried about it in the previous visit.

It's good that your pup is learning the basics and I think it's great to "free shape" any desireable behaviours that she might offer accidentally. My suggestion would be to stick to the basics (eg. a bit of sit, a bit of lead walking, a bit of recall), including manners (such as what you're doing for meal times), and build on those before you rush into bringing in more and more new obedience requirements.

Edited September 14, 2008 by Erny

[Crest_Fallen]

When my dog was a puppy I mainly focussed on recalls. It is good to do as puppies as they naturally want to come to their owner. If you want to offer variety, I would try things like roll over and shaking hands on top of the basic obedience commands.

[Gerda the Schnauzer]

Thanks!

Can I ask what free shaping means? And targetting? Sorry, just new to the terms.

If she does something (like bark) I try to say "speak" straight after, I just figured it couldn't hurt for her to learn the name for it LOL (and so I can move on to 'shh' later!). I find "down" the hardest one, when we are sitting in chairs outside.

I haven't done as much socialising as that! We live in a village, so we are starting around here, busy children's parks, coffee shop today, and vehicle noises etc. I'll have to think about other things that are within reach.

[WalandLibby]

Can I ask what free shaping means? And targetting? Sorry, just new to the terms.

Sure, they are definitely animal training jargon. Targeting is teaching the dog to put a piece of it's body in contact with something else, which you can then move in order to move it's body and get it into a different position. I'm guessing that in your puppy class you have been taught mainly using luring, where she's following a treat in your hand. That's fine, especially when you and your pup are first starting out, but it adds an extra step into the teaching where you need to fade that out. Nose-to-hand targeting looks pretty much like that, except that the dog learns stick my nose on mum/dad's hand and go with it as a behaviour.

Here are a couple of articles about it - this first one about the differences between targeting and luring... http://www.clickertraining.com/node/301

And this one about actually teaching it (she's talking about using a target stick, but I'd recommend you start with your hand - offered in a 2 finger point with a 'look at this' kind of movement, and a verbal cue - I use 'here' - to help your dog distinguish it from general hand movements) ... http://www.clickertraining.com/node/289

Free shaping is something I don't use much, but it involves marking (say by using a clicker or verbal sound that = treat to indicate to the dog that that is the behaviour that is being rewarded) something the dog does by itself, without you prompting it or doing anything to get the behaviour. This will (hopefully) cause the dog to do the same thing again (dogs usually do need some practice to work out how the game works). When that is happening you can withhold the marker a little and get the dog to develop the behaviour more before you mark. Once dog and person are experienced this can happen very quickly and efficiently. However lots of dogs find it a bit overstimulating and stressful, you often get a lot of 'thrown' behaviours - where the dog keeps trying, outside of training sessions, to get you to reward it for things, or within training sessions where (due to confusion) it offers behaviours different from what you're trying to work on, and because it can be challenging to communicate exactly through this method, you tend to also get superstitious behaviours (more jargon - those are behaviours that the dog thinks are part of what you marked for, because they were doing them at the time they heard the marker (at the same time they were doing the behaviour you do want - they are never just doing one thing), but you don't think are part of the behaviour.)

Edited September 15, 2008 by WalandLibby

[Gerda the Schnauzer]

Oh great, thankyou for explaining, makes a lot of sense. Would you suggest a clicker then? I've read the benefits and I think the 'exact' timing of it could be helpful... and to not get a fat puppy (LOL). Also we get a little trouble with her nipping at our hands after doing something looking for a treat! Not a good thing with children!

Off to read the sites, thanks

[laffi]

Oh great, thankyou for explaining, makes a lot of sense. Would you suggest a clicker then? I've read the benefits and I think the 'exact' timing of it could be helpful... and to not get a fat puppy (LOL). Also we get a little trouble with her nipping at our hands after doing something looking for a treat! Not a good thing with children!

Off to read the sites, thanks

When you use a clicker you still have to reward after you click. Clicker is not a reward but a marker. So your puppy can still get fat (just make sure that you take into account all her treats when you give her her meal so you don't overfeed her).

You also should teach her not to nip (for example by withholding the treat if she nips).

[WalandLibby]

Yes, I do use a clicker. Although when you're starting out, it adds another thing to coordinate, which is a challenge. Verbal markers such as a short word ('yes') are fine also, and you don't have an extra thing to hold, but I find them with new trainers and beginner dogs more inclined to disappear into background sounds.

[Gerda the Schnauzer]

Hmm.. good points. Concentration is hard for a puppy it seems! She can be very gentle when taking a treat (I say gentle, don't let it go till she is etc) but forgets that quickly. I might try a clicker later, when its just me and her doign extra training (at obedience) - otherwise my 4 year old might try to use it too, and click way too much! - which would be very confusing I'm sure.

Thanks!

[WalandLibby]

Perhaps you could teach your pup to expect the rewards to appear somewhere other than your hand? You can use either her normal bowl or some other thing that she will be able to see well against the floor, like a white ice-cream lid, set up right beside you as you train. Click or say your word, then show/let her sniff her the treat in your hand and before she tries to get it, use it to lure her to the bowl, drop it in and let her eat it there. Soon the sound of the marker will have her orienting/moving to the bowl, which is great, because then she's got no reason to be mouthing anyone's hands.

When pup's bite at hands that contain treats, it's difficult not to reward them, because they'll usually get at least a taste, so I prefer to bypass the whole issue if I can.

I love to think of small children learning to train dogs with rewards - children are often really punitive with dogs, but if they learn that they can get them to do things without being bossy, it's so much better, and much safer, imo.

Edited September 20, 2008 by WalandLibby

[Gerda the Schnauzer]

Thanks for the idea WalandLibby, I like the icecream lid one. My daughter is very good with training, the puppy-school wanted to keep her! She is strict with the commands but treats properly (as in, when gerda does exactly what is asked) - but she is more likely to drop the treat to the ground than me, so her hands don't get nipped LOL, smart girl.

Off to find a lid..........

[WalandLibby]

Can't wait to hear how you get on.

[Leema]

I like the training levels. Fantastic foundation behaviours for life and every dog sport.

http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/%20Dog1/levels.html

[Gerda the Schnauzer]

Update...... wow, what great advice! The dropping of the treat has helped a lot, much more of Gerda with her head down than jumping to our hands!

The Levels web site is fabulous, and the 'zen doggy' things are working so quickly, and are lots of fun to do when we are bored LOL. She learnt almost straight away how to get the treat. Just need to keep doing it now I think, until she can (hopefully) transfer that learning to a more broadly zen attitude (hehe).

I was most surprised to see my 4 year old offer to hold a treat in her fist - I said no, no no... then relented, and she did it! Not one bite, and Gerda just sniffed the ground at her feet and waited for the treat to drop, just perfect.

So thanks very much for all the help