Too young to teach?

[Tiffany Bailey]

Baby (a female beagle) is approx. 10 wks old and I'm not sure if she's too young to start to teach obedience and stuff like that. I'm a first time indoor puppy owner and I'm a little confused. Some days she's great at urinating on her pee pad but days like today I would like to crate her all day and only let her out to pee (although I would never do that). Please help me!

[Amber]

I would start out with teaching Baby her name. You can do other things like Sit and Stay and such. I started Precious out around that age and she comes to her name (not off leash/outside...we need to work on that) and sits. It took her a while to learn her name, but I think that was because it's such a long name for such a small dog (toy poodle)! Beagles are smart dogs. The younger you start, the better you're results I think!

Also, I have learned this from first hand experience...unless you do not have a fenced yard and cannot take Baby out on a leash, PLEASE do not train her on pee pads! I trained Precious to go on pee pads at first and now that we have a fenced yard, she is having a VERY hard time going potty outside. I'll put her outside with Sally for a half an hour. They will come in and Sally will be fine, but Precious will poop on our carpet within 15 minutes of coming inside! :banghead: I have even left them outside longer than a half an hour, just to make sure, and she will STILL come inside and poop on the carpet. Tonight she almost peed on the carpet, but my mom caught her and put her outside. I've learned that, by training dogs on pee pads, you are ultimately training them to go on the floor.

[Rowena Fry]

Hi Tiffany!
I don't think it would do any harm to start your pup on training right now. We got Gum Gum at 10 weeks and she learned the purpose of the clicker and how to sit in a day, the day after we got her! As Amber suggested, you can start with simple commands like responding to her name, sit, down etc. Just do very short 2-3 min training sessions, but a couple of sessions a day.

I would also suggest that you introduce the NILIF programme to Baby early on, cos I've found that has really helped with everyday things later on. Beagles can be quite a handful sometimes!

Good luck! :)

[Rowena Fry]

Oh yeah, almost forgot! Here's a link to an article on NILIF from the articles section. Actually, all those articles are worth a quick read if you have the time.

http://www.doggiebagonline. com/articles/article.php?articlei d=15

And here's a link to a thread on NILIF from the clicker/obedience training section.

http://www.doggiebagonline. com/forum/showthread.php?t=573

Hope that helps!

[Eric Vecc]

The first thing we taught our dog was how to speak on command. We waited until he was barking and would give the command and treat. He caught on at 10 weeks (within about 1 day of training the command). We would then make him 'speak' everytime we were going outside and the exact moment he barks once - we open the door. He made the connection very fast and was housetrained in one week (by 11 wks). We did not have a fenced in yard but took him out on a leash. Now we have a fenced in yard and have not had an accident in 4 1/2 months (he is only 7 months).

Puppy pads are a very bad idea if you do not have to use them. Anytime you have a similar object on the ground, it will be messed on (carpet, newspaper, blanket, school books, poster, etc.). A friend of mine started with them and has had so much trouble teaching her not to use them now. And it is a Golden Ret., which generally catch on to that rather fast.

[Melissa Brunoehler]

Hi Tiffany~

10 weeks is not too young to start teaching your puppy. I recommend you read the potty 101 article in the Article section. It will give you step by step advice on how to potty train your pup. If you want your puppy to learn to potty outside, teach her that, rather than encouraging her to go on potty pads. At this age you need to watch your puppy constantly. If you are unable to watch her there is nothing wrong with putting her in her crate(with a nice toy &after she's had a chance to potty).If you have questions after reading potty 101, please ask.

Here is another great article that I'll think you'll find beneficial
http://www.doggiebagonline. com/articles/article.php?articlei d=24

If you need anything else, please ask.

Baby (a female beagle) is approx. 10 wks old and I'm not sure if she's too young to start to teach obedience and stuff like that. I'm a first time indoor puppy owner and I'm a little confused. Some days she's great at urinating on her pee pad but days like today I would like to crate her all day and only let her out to pee (although I would never do that). Please help me!

[Tiffany Bailey]

:p Baby has now learned how to sit! Having her come is a different story. She will look at me with her head tilted but I know I should expect to have a harder time teaching Baby (a beagle) than training another type of dog. But I just though I should let y'all in on my progress.

[Amber]

I can second what Eric said! I started Precious, my toy poodle, out on puppy pads when I didn't have a fenced yard and now that my yard is fenced, she is having a HORRIBLE time figuring out that she is supposed to go outside to potty! I think she'll pee outside, but she'll come inside to poop on our carpet! She's a very smart dog otherwise...she just can't get the idea that she is supposed to go to the bathroom outside now.

By using puppy pads, you are teaching them to go on the floor. I've learned that since coming to this forum. I wish someone would have told me that a long time ago! She's a year now and we're still trying to get her completely housebroken.

[Eric Vecc]

Just a tip on teaching come: Use lots of tasty treats and never use the command to end a fun activity. Ex: if she is outside playing with something and you say "COME" to come in and go to bed, that is ending a fun activity. She will learn to associate the word "COME" with 'end of fun activity' and will be relucctant to follow. Instead use "LET'S GO" and always treat heavily to teach all commands. Once she learns the commands you can back of the treats. Additionally, always say "COME" when she is already running toward you. I did this up and down my hallway for 20 minutes a day. I would throw a treat down the hallway and he would go after it. After he ate the treat, I would say "COME" and he would come running back to me for another treat. We did this everyday and he is pretty reliable now. Just a note, use small treats or even dry food bits.

[Rowena Fry]

Great suggestion Eric! I'm going to use your game to strengthen my pup's recall, cos it's still rough around the edges. Thanks!

[Tiffany Bailey]

Thanks Eric for the great tip. Baby has learned the sit command but she will only do it if she's looking at me. Since she's a beagle she lets her nose take over her every thought. If she's sniffing something out she will not turn around when we clap, whistle, make kissing sounds, OR call her name. I'm gonna try the game and I will try to change the commands so she doesn't associate it with something bad. Again Thank you!

[Rebekah Hartman]

Saying "Come" and running in the opposite direction seems to work well, too - every dog seems to love a good chase. Then when she gets close, turn and let her reach you with praise, praise, praise!

It's awesome you're starting training now, we were dealing with Parvo at 10 weeks, so training wasn't top of the priority list, but I wish we could've worked on things then. Samson is 6 months now, and he does learn pretty quickly, but I think we missed out on some good critical learning time.

Also, make sure you do weird things like put her on tables (simulates the vet), give baths (even without shampoo) and touch the nail clippers to each nail every day until she thinks nothing of it. It will make life MUCH easier later on when she'll tolerate the above without protest!

[Tiffany Bailey]

Thanks Rebekah! I really like your idea of the nail clippers because I was afraid of doing it myself because I once had to do it for a dog I was puppy sitting and it wasn't a good experience because I believe the doggie had a bad previous experience. I think that's exactly what I need to do.
-Tiff

[Jay Adams]

Definitly agree that it is never too young to start training. If fact, it is better to start as early as possible before bad habits start.

Also recommend against pads, if you can avoid them. This just adds a step to training. Watch your dog at all times, then as soon as they squat, scoop and take them outside. It will eventually set in.