Training a litter of puppies?

Question

Ok, so my dog has had a litter of pups (labs). We are getting her fixed really soon, so please don't hound me for that. What I want to know is: How young is too young to start training them. I would love for them to know how to at least sit on command before giving them away. They are 4 1/2 weeks old. I know they don't know the meaning of food reward, they barely know how to eat at all, but what about praise? How old are they before they can comprehend and understand basic obedience training?

Answer 1

About 6 to 7 weeks old I think. When you Praise you Pat them and tell them how good they are and How proud you are of them, things like that. Even if its just the little`ist thing. Take them out one at a time and train them for about 10 minutes each.

Answer 2

Gosh, dogs bred specifically for service dogs are specially reared and trained by very experienced people and you make the grandiose leap that you, who are obviously not terribly knowledgeable about much of anything to do with dogs, are going to be capable of training a service dog for your uncle and train an entire litter of likely fairly poorly bred Labs to obey obedience commands before they are properly placed at 9 - 12 weeks of age into your well screened homes after being altered so they don't continue the cycle of irresponsible breeding by people who don't have a clue...  You have, of course, already had vast experience training the b*tch you bred, right? :)

Answer 3

Puppies have attention spans in nanoseconds.  By the time that they are 6 weeks old, you will be able to start to train them but because they are babies, you will have to keep training sessions extremely short, 1 - 2 minutes at most.  Keep any lessons very simple.  The sit is a good one to start with but you might also try teaching "Paw" or "Shake" as well.  Don't try to start real obedience training until they are 4 - 5 months old and even then keep it really simple.

Answer 4

I start "training" my pups as soon as they are born.  At that age I give them problem solving issues like "how do I get over this lump of blanket to the milk bar (mom)?"  

I have 4 week old Bernese Mtn Dog pups.  Since I've been training dogs for a very long time, I tend to only pet, scratch or pay attention to dogs who are sitting.  My pups all sit when I walk into the room.  Its nice to see their cute little faces looking up at me and I tell them "Oh, nice SIT!"  By the time they're 6-7 weeks they know what Sit means and I never really had to do anything.  I do the same thing with "Drop" (which is the word I use rather than "down").

At 4 weeks I'm doing a lot of hand-feeding- a nice mooshie kibble or a bit of raw meat (while I usually raw-feed I feed more kibble to pups since I cannot depend on new owners to raw-feed)... and guess what?  The pup who gets offered the bite of food is the one that is sitting!  If the pup stands up, I pull the food away.  My pups learn to sit as a default reaction.  Whenever confused, they will sit- even as adults.

I start "house" training at 3 weeks or so.  I put potty pads at one end of the whelping box.  At 4 weeks of age my pups are about 80% accurate.

I breed and train Service Dogs.  Since I am not sure which pup I will keep until they are about 12 weeks old all pups are given LOTS of mental training and stimulation.

Read:

http://www.echowyn.com/Ruleof7.html

http://www.dogsadversereactions.com/trai...

and most importantly:

http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/achiev...

My favorite website - a woman who has trained her own Service Dogs-

http://www.dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/%2...  There is a LOT of reading in the website- spend some time going through it.  Especially read Stitch's Blog.  Book mark it.  Don't try to read it all at once.  Its a great guideline.

Edit:  How you decide which pup to keep depends on the future use/job for the puppy.   Since I train my dogs as mobility assistance dogs (steadying work, pulling wheelchairs, opening doors etc)  I am more concerned about their ability to stay focussed and keep working (people orientation at a very young age) than I am about their retrieving/bringing things ability.  The people I am training dogs for need a dog that is relatively sedentary and is able to lay around for hours between "working"-- Its a different need from someone who is out and about constantly and needs a higher energy dog.  

As I said earlier, I start "training" at a very early age.  I watch for the pup with the problem solving abilities- the one who figures out that if I hid the toy we were playing with under a plastic bucket all they have to do is knock the bucket over to find the toy.... then I expand that task the next day and set up 2 little buckets-- I let the pup see me put a treat under one-- watch them to see if they knock it over... and then watch to see if they check out to see if the second bucket also has a treat (it does).    Play with their wee little brains!!!  

Then evaluate the needs of the person the dog is going to and the temperament of the parents at similar ages (*my* Service Dog was an insane nut until she was 2 years-- then she settled into a fantastic working dog--- I do not worry that her 18 month old son and daughter are a bit nuts - the daughter moreso than the son- they will settle down at 2 or so).  Choosing the right pup is a balancing act.  I would keep the top 2 picks until at least 16 weeks.

I don't worry about the s*x of the dog- other than to say- I will choose a taller (male) dog for someone who needs walking/stabilization assistance.  

Whatever you do, keep the dogs LEAN as young dogs to further decrease any risk of hip dysplasia.   Do a hip prelim at 6-8 months.. before you invest too much time training a dog who is not structurally sound.  Do NOT overwork the dog physically at a young age.  And don't spay/neuter until the dog has met its full growth potential (18 months at minimum).

Answer 5

8 weeks on you can begin with very simple stuff.

The most important initial training is for them to learn their name and come on command.

The other things should wait until they are about 4 months.  Every dog matures a little differently, just have patience.

Answer 6

You are suppose to let the mother take care of them for the first

8 weeks of life. She will teach them things that dogs need to know,

but even then as long as you touch and play a little with them, they

are learning how to fit into the family. Basic commands like sit, stay,

etc should begin at about 8 weeks though. Here is a web site that will

tell you a bit about it.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

i wouldnt waste your time trying to train them at that age. i tried to train my dogs 6 puppys to sit when they were about 5 weeks old, but when i was working on one, the others would come over and get in the way. if they are going to new homes when they are 8 weeks old, let the new owners deal with the training

Answer 8

They are too young to train right now.  Your main focus needs to be on letting the mother (and the littermates) do the training.  Nature is an amazing thing.  Mothers automatically know what to teach their pups. If this training is not allowed to occur naturally, they will have obedience/training issues as they get older.  They might also have problems with abandonment.  When they are 8 weeks old or so, you could start training them.  Make it fun and they will learn quickly.  I taught our newest pup to off (stop jumping on ppl/things), sit,  and down in a total of 3 ten minute sessions because he was having fun.  Puppy training should be done in short sets 5-10 minutes several times a day.  Good luck!