This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Tip of the month. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
In the “old days” most trainers and clubs only admitted dogs into their classes once they were at least 6 months old. However, the positive methods that are used to train dogs today make it possible for even very young puppies to enjoy and respond enthusiastically to training and most puppy classes allow pups to come to class from ten weeks of age.
Despite the fact that there are so many puppy classes around these days, there is still a fairly large proportion of people who do not think it is necessary to make use of these classes to train or socialise their pups. Some believe that formal training and socialising is unnecessary, while others intend to pursue the matter once their dogs are more mature. Problems with this are as follows:
1. Puppies are like little sponges: they learn constantly, regardless of whether we have a plan to train them or not. The only difference is that when we have no plan, the pup learns things that it shouldn’t or ends up training us instead!
2. Pups are far more receptive to socialising (learning to cope with new people, dogs and experiences) before they are 4 months old. If a puppy has not learned to get on with other dogs at an early age, admitting him to a class full of dogs when he is older can be very difficult.
3. When we train a young puppy we are starting with a fairly blank slate and are able to easily mould the pup’s behaviour. On the other hand, when we begin to train an older dog, the dog is likely to have already picked up bad habits which are often very resistant and take a long time to disappear.
While I am always glad to help people with their older dogs and I always enjoy seeing the wonderful changes which training can bring about in these dogs, I would urge people not to wait when it comes to these matters. Training should be seen as an investment in the dog’s future and not as a cure for a problem that has been allowed to develop. If we teach our puppies what we expect from them right from the start, we will make life easier for them and for ourselves in the long run!