barb
housebroken
Posts: 78
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Post by barb on Mar 15, 2007 19:55:02 GMT -5
We just got our new 9 week old puppy last Saturday. We are trying to train him... Is he to young to really understand the SIT, and potty outside? I know and expect accidents b/c he is so young but is he to young to fully understand what you are trying to teach him since they have a VERY low attention span?
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Post by kaos on Mar 15, 2007 21:07:56 GMT -5
Hello and congrats on your new puppy. Most pups seem to learn 'sit' very quickly. Keep sessions short and fun and you will be supprised just how much a tiny pup can learn.
Housetraining is a little more tricky. Some pups can pick up the idea very quickly, for others it takes a little longer, but just like a human toddler knowing where you should go, and having enough advanced notice to get there in time are two different things. Little bladders don't give much warning until they grow a bit so expect a few mistakes for a while yet.
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Post by Aussienot on Mar 17, 2007 15:46:40 GMT -5
I grew up 'old school', where dogs had to be a certain number of months to be trained. Imagine my surprise when I took Sailor to a puppy class at 8 weeks. She learned to sit, drop, come and walk nicely on the lead before she was even housebroken, which was about 12 -13 weeks. Stay and heel took just a little longer.
So basic behavior can definitely be taught when the puppy's age is measured in weeks. When she was very little, we'd mix training and play. So it was sit, chase a ball, come, play tug, stay - go get it. She really thought the obedience stuff was just another part of the game.
Puppies are not able to hold a straight sit, so you can see adult dogs that slouch a little bit on one hip when sitting and you know they learned sit very young. It's only a problem if you want to do competition obedience. For a pet puppy, a sit is a sit and every sit is a good sit.
There are a lot of post here on house training. Yes, the puppy does need to be mature enough to have bladder control for the amount of time you expect him to 'hold it'. So there is an age component that helps with reliability of behavior. While he is developing the physical control, you manage his behavior to prevent him learning the wrong thing - peeing in the house. Crate training is generally the best way to prevent the wrong thing, as no normal human can actually watch a puppy 100% of the time.
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