Once you have your puppy home it is time to start the training process.  I find it  easier training a puppy that is 16 weeks old than waiting until they are 6 months old.  When your puppy becomes 6 months old, they are now a teenager and your puppy will look at you and say make me do it.  I usually start training my puppy basic commands when they are 8 weeks old.  I start with teaching them what sit means with a dog treat.  I want to get them ready for when I do start training at about 14 to 16 weeks of age.  

When I start teaching the puppy to sit I want to reward them with a treat.  In the beginning, as soon as they sit I'm giving them a treat.  I usually do this until I can see that they know what they are doing.  Once they are sitting, I will start making them sit for a longer period and then reward them.  I'm re-enforcing the word sit.  Sit does not mean you get to sit for 3 seconds and go but it means to stay sitting until they are  told to do something else.  They usually learn this very quick.  After awhile I will substitute the dog treat with a pet and telling them that they are good.  This helps teach your puppy that the reward of a pet is just as good as a treat. 

When the puppy becomes about 14 to 16 weeks of age, I then start putting the leash on and teaching the puppy how to heel next to me.  Heel does not mean to walk behind me, in between my legs, or in front of me.  Sometimes this may take some time for them to adjust.  You are taking the puppy outside of their comfort zone and they are not sure how to react.  Make sure to tell your puppy they are doing good. 

Teaching your dog obedience does not happen all in one day.  The first day just working on heeling your dog.  If they are doing great then maybe tell them to sit while you are heeling them.  You can't tell your dog all these new commands in one day.  They will have an over load and soon this will be no fun.  Baby steps are the best.  It may take them longer then others but you need to be patient. 

Once I have a dog heeling on leash and sitting, then I can work on teaching them what "here" means.  I use the word here because I can say it louder and clearer then if I would use the word come.  It is not right to get mad at your dog if they can't hear or understand you!  As I'm healing my dog I will stop and walk backwards.  I'll  give a tug on the leash and training collar and tell them to hear.  I always use my dogs name before I say the command.  This helps to get their attention.  The first few times might be tuff but use positive praise and encouragement and it will work.  Again this will not be accomplished all in one day. 

When I'm training a young dog this is what I start out with.  Make sure to keep your training sessions short.  Your dog has a very short attention span and if they get bored, then it is no fun.  Always keep them down to 15 minutes at a time and I always end my session on a fun note.  Either sitting down and playing with them or tossing their favorite toy around.  I want to teach my dog that this was fun and that they want to do this again. 




***Next week we will be talking about introduction to guns and birds!




Keep your questions coming!! I really do enjoy helping you out!

I got a great question from Dave C.  He has a nine year old lab that loves to retriever pheasants but does not like to retrieve ducks.  This actually has happened to me at a AKC field trial.  I always train with pheasants and never thought about what my dog would do to a fresh shot duck.  Well I found out in a hurry that my dog went out to the live flyer and he wouldn't pick it up.  I was just dumb founded that this could happen.  I went home that night with a fresh dead duck and threw it for him. He ran out to the duck and looked at it and then looked at me and he refused to pick it up.  I called my dog back and took him over to the dead duck and made him sit while I put the duck in his mouth.  What I did was reinforce what hold means.  I made sure he held the duck on his own.  When he was holding it I gave him positive reinforcement.  I told him when he did really good and when he didn't hold the duck I told him "NO" and put it back in his mouth.  This step may take some time.  Some dogs can be very stubborn and some dogs say ok and I will retrieve it.  I usually do it for about 5 minutes and then I take a break for a couple minutes and let the dog have some fun and then right back at it again.  The session should last no more than 15 minutes of working time.  I try to do this a couple times a day. 

After a few days of doing this I will throw the duck again and see if he will retrieve it.  Usually they will, but if they don't then you just need to keep doing the process with them. 

What I have learned over the years is that some birds have a bad taste on their feathers.  Dogs sometimes don't like ducks and woodcocks. 

Great question!  Keep sending them in.