Thread: Training Methods

No haven't had much to do with the VolHard puppy training methods.

But Maxx, to try and give overall rounded advice on here on how to correctly bring a young working puppy up, would take a book in itself.

There are many good books DVD's out there on raising working dogs. Maybe someone here can make some suggestions?

i do have the leerburg dvd's but it's from 8 weeks my main intereste is prior to that time!

a friend of mine did mention the nueorological method (can post link if anyone else wants to read up on it?) but that's for the first 14 days and i've heard about this before... so will be giving this one a definate bash. but there is still heaps of time to go about it.

i know that as much socialiszation with kids AND noise is important etc. but just in general?

l like to leave the mother in till 7 weeks, the pups need to learn there are limits and consequences, and better she should introduce that than me. l handle the pups enough to get them use to human touch smell etc, but dont over do it till they are getting mobile. l seperate them totally at the same time l remove the b###h, because they have learned pack interaction, but after that age they get to scrapping litter mates too seriously. Then they are just bought up as rough house farm pups , always with limits and educated to understand "no". Then l introduce them to what they are allowed to work, and the rest is put off limits, but get them to interact with these things in a matter of fact manner. l am not a desensitizing enviro person, l rather look for a dog that is just not scared of a plastic bottle, than have him so used to these things you dont know. l mean they are still exposed to all that goes on around the place, but just not bathed in that stuff since young. l like calm dogs that light up to do their job because they thrive on it, so dont do any rag work or such, come time l test to see if they want to do the job l have them for, and if they want to enough and we have built a line of communication, l show them l am in charge of when and where they do it, but leave the how to them. Doesnt suit many today, but just an old fashioned approach that suits my temperament.
l always separate my pups from their littermates at 7 weeks, and have them only interact with me till 12 weeks, about every life lesson l have to teach them is done by then. And l let them out with other dogs, always test if they respond to me amongst the others, if it is immediate they are now free to join the pack , if not l keep them apart a little longer and hone up focus. But if you have got a good rapport in those important 5 weeks , it usually stays.
Tony

I believe in socialisation, socialisation and more socialisation, as early as possible in their lives. Vets tend to be of the opinion that they shouldn’t go anywhere until their vaccinations are completed, but I have never had a problem, providing you keep the pup away from dogs you don’t know, or dogs which are dog aggressive. Let’s face it most serious viruses are air-borne, or can be brought into the area on somebody’s shoes, so if it’s going to catch anything there’s not a lot you can do. Usually the dam’s immunity covers the pups until their vaccinations anyway.

I also leave formal obedience until the pup is between 10 and 12 months. I like to let them be pups and gain their confidence naturally until that age (within reason). The only thing I do insist on is an immediate recall, which I imprint straight away (7 weeks), apart from that I just let them experience as many different sounds, sights, and loud noises etc as possible. A good CD to imprint them early is “Sounds Scary” (there are two CDs) – fireworks, Thunder, Gunshots, etc. http://www.SoundsScary.com . I play this on low volume which gradually increases until it’s quite loud (but not deafening!).

To quote the makers of these CDS:

“By introducing puppies to a gradually expanding repertoire of sounds at a gradually increasing volume, during the time up to the tenth week of life, they will be less sensitive to sounds in the environment and will learn to ignore the irrelevant sounds in adulthood”.

Hope this helps.

Peter

PS I should add that although I said no formal obedience, I do use food (positive reinforcement) to introduce a pup gently to heelwork, sit and stay. I don’t train the Down until they are round about 3/4 months as I think it’s too submissive until the pup can handle it. I also use a bite-rag straightaway (seven weeks on) which graduates to tugs until they start to teeth, then I stop all bitework until they’ve finished teething.