By Sarah Groves Dog Training - puppy training specialist Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot
Do you have a new puppy, or are looking to get a puppy and have been wondering 'How old should I start training my puppy?' OR 'Should I start training now, or wait a little bit longer?'
This is a frequestly asked question, and I'm here to answer it!
The quick answer to this question - it's NEVER too soon to start training - infact, the sooner, the better!
Your puppy will be learning all of the time - whether you like it or not, so as soon as your puppy arrives at home, you have an amazing opportunity to start training straight away - starting with showing the ropes of where to toilet, where the den/crate is, and what an awesome place the den is too!
Puppies are so so clever and will repeat behaviours that they enjoy doing - so it's super important that you start off on the right paw by driving the desired behaviours in the direction that you want!
What can I teach my puppy before they are fully vaccinated?
There is a TONNE of useful behaviours and skills that you can start teaching your pup before they are fully vaccinated and allowed out into the big wide world.
AND infact, if you start teaching your puppy these skills from 8 weeks old, they will be WAY AHEAD in terms of development compared to a dog who starts learning these skills when they are a little older.
Not only that, your dog will have greater confidence, a greater bond with you along with a sense of fulfillment!
You will be having some fun with it too!
So here are some things that you can teach your puppy before they are allowed out in to the big wide world!
1) Exposure to sights, sounds, textures and handling
Your puppy doesn't need to be fully vaccinated for you to start carrying them around the streets so that they can start getting an idea of what the world is like.
By doing this a couple of times a week, by the time they are allowed out on a walk, the big wide world won't be such a surprise and a scary experience!
Teach your puppy to be calm when being touched, to be happy with their ears, paws and mouth being inspected is such an important skill for the future!
Expose your puppy to a variety of normal life sounds - starting quietly and then over time increasing the volume - for example, there are loads of youtube videos of firework noises, traffic noises, baby cries whcih you can make a start with.
IMPORTANT! When exposing your puppy to these different experiences, please make sure that they have a positive or neutral experiece. If they appear to be overwhelmed or scared then remove them from the situation ASAP.
2) Toilet training in the garden
You can start this process by popping your pup into the garden as soon as they arrive home!
It's highly likely that after their journey from the breeders, they are highly ikely to need to go pee!
So use this opportunity to start the ball rolling and get your pup in the garden for their first toilets!
3) Name recognition
Take 10 pieces of your pup's own dog food out of each meal and use this to teach name recognition.
This is soooo easy to do - all you need to do is say you pup's name, followed by putting a piece of food in their mouth - it's as simple as that!
They don't need to be paying attention to you when you say their name at the start - they just need to learn that when that word is being said, something good is going to come from you.
They will very soon start responding!
4) Swap games with toys
Teach your puppy that when they drop one toy out of their mouth, that the fun can continue with playing with you with the other toy.
This can quickly develop into teaching your puppy a drop, and further down the line youcan start using a toy as a reward for other behaviours that you like seeing!
4) Sit, lie down
Your puppy will learn these behaviours pretty quickly, so you can then start teaching in different rooms of the house and in the garden.
5) Recall and walking on the lead in the house and in the garden
Get your puppy learning all of the behaviours that you want from them in a low distraction environment such as at home and gardne first, so by the time they are finally allowed out into the big wide world, they have a better chance of learning it quicker in newer places such as the local park.
How do I teach my puppy all of these behaviours?
As a qualified dog trainer, I knOw that sometimes the biggest obstacle for new puppy owners is knowing HOW to teach a puppy - it's not something that you come knowing naturally and is something that needs to be learned!
This is where I come in!
I have worked with HUNDREDS of puppies and their owners since 2014 and have undertaken hundreds of hours of learning and training myself so I can relay the best advice over to you as the puppy owner!