Top Two

[Odin-Genie]

For me it has always been good socialisation and lack of aggression. I like to take my dogs to various places, including friends' and relatives' places who have dogs, cafes, restaurants, so it's really important for me to have dogs who are relaxed with other dogs and calm in public places.

[whiskedaway]

I agree with good socialisation. Akira got a fright at a dog park yesterday - a beagle tried to dominate her and because she wouldn't let him, he became aggressive - but because she's been well socialised, after 10 minutes of being my shadow and being wary, she was fine again to go and play with other dogs and so far I don't think there's any lasting effect (though we'll see when we meet another beagle I suppose!)

The second most important thing is recall. At the moment we'd have 80% recall at home, though only about 40% at the dog park, though yesterday it was closer to 60%. We've been working fairly hard on it, and it's definitely stopped her from running out the garage onto the road at least once.

[Starkehre]

From day 1, on the very top of my list is teaching puppy to be respectful of all other ranking leaders, which is everyone else in the household.

Then following closely behind that is teaching puppy to be confident and comfortable in it's own company.

I work very hard to have these 2 priorities reasonably solid within week 1 of puppy arriving. of course there will be step backs and challenges further along, but as long as the foundation is there, I am happy.

Socialization, and obedience training are hugely high on my agenda, and are a no brainer for me, but I am not overly stressed about getting these sorted in the first week, especially not the recall.

Getting puppy out does normally start for me until I know pup is settled at home, so probably day 3-5.

Edited July 6, 2010 by dyzney

[newfsie]

Number one to me is "recall" as said before it could save their lives

And number two is Socialization and I include food aggression with that. it is nice to know you can take your dogs along and enjoy life.

Third would be all the basic training to make them a joy to live with

I have noticed that with each pup you own, it gets better and better............

[dandybrush]

I would say

1. recall - yes i worked on it..but if something is more exciting...then i still cant get him to come back

2. crate training - no i didnt not till now and he is nearly 2 definately an important skill for the dog to have in any situation, for dogs who need regular grooming..so they dont stress when locked up at the groomers, when dogs have to go to the vets, will decrease stress and help with recovery, at competitions or days out or at home when they get to exuberant with the kids, I am definatley wishing he was fully crate trained as a pup now

[Jaxx'sBuddy]

1 recall

2 emergency word, in my case "WAIT!!!!" Jaxx stops in her tracks when i say this and it has been used once when she got spooked on a lead and the lead was ripped out of my hand and she was running in the middle of the road. it was the first time i used the word in real practise and it worked.

[Sandra777]

Don't "mouth" people (ie NO BITING)

How to learn. Scary the number of adult dogs I have met who simply do not understand the concept of trying behaviours and getting rewarded.

[sas]

I think the most important things a pup should learn first are:

1) You are the leader and not to train anything until it knows that and the dog will respond better.

2) Attention/focus because you need that to train other behaviours.

[Cookiez]

I agree with all the ones everyone has already mentioned!

I am finding it really hard to narrow it down to 2!

What about "stay"? That was important for me so that Codi understands he can't just bolt through the door or go running off. We're still working on this one- he's good at it in the home environment.

I haven't been able to train "leave it" or "give" reliably yet. We have been given many suggestions for how to do this (having 2 equal value items and swapping them and then rewarding when they "give".) However, Codi gets far too distracted as soon as he sees or knows he's getting treats and he loses interest in the item.

Recall and toilet training is definitely important too. Oh and of course socialisation especially when I have a JS!

[Mas1981]

When I got my pup, the 2 most important things were recall and focus, we are still working on the 2nd one

[pixie_meg]

1 - The marker word or "click" that tells them: "you did the right thing"

2 - House training - if you don't have that nothing else matters.

Just have to say i love your avatar.

my number 1 is socialising. Its defintely helped my boy and made him such a pleasure to be around for kids, adults, other dogs etc.

my first number 2 was getting a good pack leader thing going( he was a bit of a dominant pup). We've got it worked out now so effectively that if i walk near him when he's eating something tasty he will stop and move away from his food for me. now on to our new number 2.

my new number 2 would be recall. We're back to working on this. I have no chance in hell of recall at the dog as his key motivation is other dogs. He is improving however so we'll keep working at it. he is only 10months old so still a pup.

[Diva]

Just 2?

If it's specific behaviours then housebreaking and recall - although walking nicely on a loose lead is right up there with recall.

If it's general 'things' then it's

- you can completely trust me, I am always a safe place, and

- yes, I am the boss of you but that's a good thing as I have lots of fun things to teach you.

Edited July 7, 2010 by Diva

[tlc]

Hi Guys, thanks for all the great responses, it is interesting to hear others take on what is important to them.

I just thought picking the top two would be a challenge and make you think about what is really important to your own situation.

Of course I realize there is a lot of other things that are important and possibly equally important as some of the things mentioned here.

[Remarkabull]

I think that there would be alot less dog bites if people did not allow their puppies to mouth (bite). Also no roughing up games. It encourages the dog to treat you as an equal or litter mate and not as the Alpha. Once that is understood then definately a recall and perhaps 'no' or 'stop'.

[tlc]

I think that there would be alot less dog bites if people did not allow their puppies to mouth (bite). Also no roughing up games. It encourages the dog to treat you as an equal or litter mate and not as the Alpha. Once that is understood then definately a recall and perhaps 'no' or 'stop'.

My Oh is big on rough play but from the time my lot were puppies I had told him no rough housing allowed and that's the way it has always been, we still have lots of fun and do play with them but no really rough play.