how old should my puppy be when i start to train her.

You can start the moment you get her home with recalls, sits, getting her to walk at your side using a treat as a lure etc

A couple of minutes at a time three or four times a day is enough for a young pup though and make it fun

Christine

Yep, I started training Sydney from day one. No!! being one of the first for those puppy mouthing/biting antics. Sit is one of the first things that you can teach your dog. Im sure that their will be lots of information on the easiest way to teach sit contained in this forum. Two weeks and we have sit, down, heel (off the lead) not far though as to many distractions for a 10 week old pup. But perserverience and a lot of patience and you will suceed.

i just got maggie 4 days ago and she is 7 weeks old ,is it to early to start.

no it is not too early!

No it's never to early.

Just one thing I would say decide what you want the pup to do and try to get everyone in the household to do the same thing in the same way. You'll be surprised how quick they learn and the more they learn the more they want to, or so I've found.

Kazzstaff.
Can ;you tell me HOW i get my housemate to communicate with the dogs?
Everyone should treat a new pup the same when it comes to the ground rules, if one person is more lax and fails to praise the pup for something right, or fails to either prevent the pup from doing something wrong, or uses different words for commands, then you will have a confused pup.

My house mate cannot understand why i can TELL my 6 month old puppy to 'go weewees, hurryup' and he does just that, 9 times out of ten. He does not figure out, despite being 23, adn about to start a masters degree, that Dill does not hear 'Dilly go pee adn poop and stuff' nor does he understand it. Dill hears 'blah blah blah', and stands looking at Stef in a way that suggests Dill should be the one with the degree, adn stef should be the one eating off the floor!

What i am trying to say here, is, that in training a pup, a large percentage of the things that need to be learned, are in fact things that all the owners/family need to do. Not just the puppy. You dont just train a dog to be a pleasure to be with, you are training yourself and your family to adapt and change to accomodate a dogs needs!

Em

It's never too early. Find yourself a good book!

remember to earlier you start, the more likely your puppy is eager to please.

We had Rufus sitting before meals, and before going outside within two weeks. Make it fun and incorporate it into everyday life.

Remember that every interaction you have with your puppy is conditioning her for life. Always praise positive actions immediately and ignore unwanted behaviour. Everything you do with her is training her, however informal. So, don't encourage any behaviour that you will disapprove of later, no matter how cute it seems today. It will be much more difficult to correct later. Hope that gives you an idea of how to start thinking about this issue. :)

Monty's Mum :)

Buy a copy of "The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey and start reading it immediately! It is easy and fun to read and the advice is spot on!

Monty's Mum :)

Yes you can start training them from the day you get them. But all i would say from the experience of having two labs is that although they may well be able to obey you at an early age please dont forget that they may not be steady or consistant with every command all the time as they are only puppies! Many people get to held up on the fact that a puppy should obey every command all the time, which as many of us know it doesnt always happen! All i would say is be persistant and when they get between 5-6 mths they should be at the stage where serious and steady training can begin :D

Regards

Mark

I agree with Mark, dont forget that your puppy is young and has the attention span the size of a gnat. Sydney has occasional memory lapses especially if I have missed a training session, just keep repeating it and remember patience patience they are frustrating.
As previously stated make a list of things that you want to teach your puppy and how you will command the puppy. ie for sit say “sit” lie down say“down”, get off furniture say “off”. Don’t confuse the puppy by saying two commands together “sit down”. I have mine on the fridge so all the family can see them (In laws however are a nightmare they never obey the rules te he he).
The perfect puppy is well worth buying, it has lots of easy step by step explanations on how to teach your pup.