It’s Train Your Dog Month- Why it’s so important to start training early!
One of the biggest questions I often get asked is “when can I start training my new puppy?” and my answer is always the same…RIGHT NOW! There is no specific age to begin or end training. I’ve trained dogs as early as 8 weeks and as late as 12 years, there is truly no age limit to learning! However, depending on what you want to train, you may want to start earlier or later AND some things may be much easier to train at a young age and some may be easier at an older age. Let’s break it down!
Puppyhood 8 weeks through 6 months: This is the prime time for socialization. Socialization should begin even before you get your puppy from their breeder. If you’re getting a dog from a rescue, make sure to ask if they have had any prior socialization that they know of. Having a social dog is very important to a lot of people, however, if this isn’t something you are worried about (aka you live in the woods and don’t really need your dog to leave your home) that’s ok too! Just know that an un-socialized dog can develop different behavioral issues, especially around other dogs!
Puppies at this age have an attention span of less than 5 seconds. This can create some training difficulty. At this age, it’s best to keep training sessions short, fun, and easy for your pup! Lessons of 2-3 minutes 2-3 times daily are perfect. Cues like “come (recall)”, “sit”, “down”, “touch”, and “focus” are good cues to start with at this age!
Another thing you want to begin working on with your pup is handling. Making sure your dog allows touch to their face, head, ears, tail, and feet is super important. This is the best time to begin exposing them to nail trimming, ear cleanings, bathing, grooming, and anything else they may need to learn to allow throughout the rest of their life.
6 months-1 year: At this point, your pup is now an adolescent. An adolescent dog comes with many fun and frustrating things! Think of it like a teenager going through a rebellious phase. They will push every button you have and try to get away with EVERYTHING. However, at this point your dog’s ability to pay attention may have increased and their ability to learn has more than likely improved.
At this age, you can begin increasing your training session time limits based on what your dog seems to be able to handle. Some adolescents can focus for up to 10 minutes, some can only do 5 minutes. My Pitbull at 6 months of age was running through 10 minutes twice a day of training while my Jack Russell at the same age struggled to handle anymore than 5 minutes. Make sure your dog is having fun. When they begin looking away, start getting anxious or jittery, or if they seem more interested in something else, end the session before your pup gets too stressed! Cues like “stay” (for short durations and distances), “leave it”, “take it”, and “heel” are good cues to begin working on at this age!
2+ years: Now that your pup is heading into adulthood they should have established much better impulse control. At this age, you will be able to train more difficult behaviors, advanced training skills, and potentially get your dog interested in some agility or therapy work! At this time your dog has really developed their personality and you may find they have an affinity for something. For example; if your dog plays fetch really well you may want to consider getting your dog into Flyball OR if you find your dog is very relaxed and loves getting pets from everyone, you may want to consider a therapy dog program!
Reviewing all your previous training and continuing to build on it as your dog ages will keep their brain sharp and continue to improve your relationship with your pup! You can begin teaching more advanced level skills like going to a place and waiting for long periods of times, weaving in and out of your legs, leaping through a hula hoop, or even frisbee tricks! Cues like “go to place” and “stay” (for long durations and distances) are good to continue expanding on at this age when their impulse control skills are much improved.
I want to remind everyone that this is not a be all end all for every dog. There are many dogs with an affinity for learning and will learn fast and be completely trained within months. This is not the norm for most companion dogs, but it can happen. Dogs like Border Collies, German Shepherds, Poodles, Golden Retrievers, Doberman Pinschers, Shetland Sheepdogs, and Belgian Malinois are some of the smartest breeds and they will learn much quicker than say a Bulldog (I LOVE Bulldogs, but they are STUBBORN lol). On the other hand, mixed breeds can sometimes come out of nowhere and surprise you! Finn has a great learning ability and has ever since he was young and Fionna is so smart that she can watch Finn do something a couple of times and then she will do it on the first try! She learns just from watching another dog! Dogs are incredible.
Lastly, remember that if you are struggling with your pup, there are so many good resources out there for you. There are books, videos, trainers, and blogs (hint-hint) with tons of training tips and information to help you out! It’s not about what you teach them or how fast they learn, but it’s about learning to communicate and building a strong bond between you and your pup throughout the years! Take your time and enjoy training with your dog and your dog will enjoy it too!
*A special mention for service dogs. Many service dogs that are doing a job like monitoring for drops in blood sugar, blood pressure changes, and leading the blind are bred and trained from the get-go. These dogs are bred specifically for this task and are trained and handled in a completely different way. Other types of service/alert dogs, Psychiatric service dogs, and working dogs (Police) are trained in a very different manner and are typically started very early on and progress much differently than I listed above, so please note that this is a basic setup for companion dogs only.*
