Traditionally, training of dogs was delayed until 6 months of age, but at this juvenile stage, many bad behaviours have aleady been ´learnt´. As the dog is also beginning to develop adult behaviour patterns at this time, strategies or techniques the dog has learned to use to gain attention or resources will be much harder to change. Some dominance behaviours can also devlop around this time and so training really should begin as soon as you get your new puppy home.

 Establishing yourself as pack leader through your feeding routine, body handling and appropriate training  is the most important task and it will be you, the owners attitude, responses and actions towards the puppy (as well as some of the animals genetic tendancies) that will determine whether the animal will become well mannered, well trained and responsive or disobedient, stubborn, beligerant or even aggressive.

Early training - When training begins around 6 or 7 weeks of age, the responses are often much quicker than with older dogs,  as the young pups are so open to learning. We either wait until the animal assumes a position we are trying to train for example sitting or we use food lure training, to entice the animal into a sit or down position, we hold the food close to the nose and either up over the head for a sit, or down and along in an L shape for a down. Once the animal is in position we can keep it there longer by rewarding at sporadic intervals. The pups soon learn that certain positions are more rewarding and begin to offer the sit or down more frequently to see if they will be rewarded. Once they have learnt the rules of good behaviour and the rewards that follow they become eager to ´work´ for food.  Once in position we can add in our verbal cue (sit, down etc) or the appropriate hand signal. 

The rewards should be as small as possible and given every time the correct behaviour is performed during the learning process. In the beginning we cannot expect to say a word and expect the puppy to know it´s meaning, Remember it doesn´t understand human vocalisation. We make the association first by the action then adding in the word, only after man repetitions will the animal understand what is required and we can use the word as a ´command´or request.

Timing is very important at this stage also and the reward must only be given when the animal is in the correct position, reward an animal that sat and then moved forward to take to treat will only confuse the animal as to which behaviour is required so, when teaching a sit make sure the reward is only given when the animal is in a sit. Puppies attention spans are short, so training should be brief but frequent. 5 minutes a couple of times a day should suffice. If we do not teach the good behaviors at this early age, it is more likely the puppy will develop problem behaviours as it finds other ways to mentally stimulate itself.

Often people will comment to me that they do not want their dog to work only for food, I usually reply that equally we can use toys and praise but much quicker responses and more attention is focused when we work with food. The trick of training is that once the behaviors are learnt we start to phase out the food rewards and intermintently reward with lower value rewards such as a toy, a stroke or a verbal praising, howver we must continue with rewarding at least once in a while otherwise the behaviours will simply 'die out' and retraining an old trick can actually be much harder to do second time around!

The food reward is known as the primary motivator and we use it to teach the behaviour. We do this by we pairing the word 'sit' with the food and sometimes the words ´good dog´ or ´good sit´ and can give a pat, affectionate stroke or heaps of verbal praise as well- these will later become our secondary reinforcers.  Once the puppy has learnt that sitting receives a tasty treat and the behaviour becomes more regular, we begin to hide the food in our hands. When we can use the verbal cue or hand signal and the puppy assumes position, this is the point at which we know the association has been made and the behaviour is said to be 'learned'. At this point we can begin to start thinking about not rewarding every time but intermittently using one of our secondary reinforcers. Phasing out the food reward at this time is a vital part of the training!

We can easily integrate much of the training we need to do into our every day routines, for example asking for a sit before feeding, opening doors, gates etc. At these times, pup will be more likely to comply, as he wants something!  We can teach a close or a heel every time we walk aroud the home and the pup follows us, and a wait at closed doors etc.

 Using positive rewarding methods of training, we gain the ability to develop a much closer bond with our dogs and can achieve much quicker results in training.  There is no need to push, pull or manouvre an animal into any position and no need for punishment  The animals think they are training us to feed them by assuming the positions we feed them for, they are learning good behaviours and being mentally stimulated through learning and are usually more mentally and often physically tired after training too! 

So within a few days of this new routine, they begin to perform the behaviours we like more and more do the naughty ones less.

Nikki Alexander N.Dip.Sc  - Companion Animal Behaviour Counsellor

When training begins around 6 or 7 weeks of age, the responses are often much quicker than with older dogs, as the young pups are so open to learning.

The pups soon learn that certain positions are more rewarding and begin to offer the sit or down more frequently to see if they will be rewarded.

When we use positive reward training and eliminate stress and punishments fromout training routines we can train any animal!

Even cats can be trained to sit, lie down, wave or give a high five if you are a clever enough trainer! 

Once the animals have learnt the rules of good behaviour and the rewards that follow if they get it right, they become eager to ´work´ for food.

Once in position we can add in our verbal cue (sit, down etc) or the appropriate hand signal.