When should I start things with 8 week old puppy? For instance Heeling on leash, using a prong collar, etc.

Thanks.

As far as I remember you should not do this kind of work with your pup until around 6 months depending on what your aims are for the dog, and certainly do NOT use a prong collar on your dog at this age (others are better qualified than I to answer this specifically).

If you haven't already, get Ed's videos on "your puppy 8 weeks to 8 months" and "Basic Dog OB" and this will guide you very nicely.

Between 8 weeks and 6 months I tried very hard NOT to correct my dog unless it was something I deemed to be pack related.

I worked only on Come, Sit & Down using motivational methods (mainly food as I didn't realise his prey drive potential at that time as I was (still am) a n00bie) and he has progressed very nicely.

Another video I can recommend while I'm talking about prey drive is "Building Drive Focus & Grip" which I found has made a difference in the way I understand playing with my dog.

HTH

John

Matt-
Good video suggestions by John. The Puppy video shows a little on imprinting a young pup with food.
Start the imprinting right away with food. Do the sessions a few times a day but make them very short....2 minutes at the most! It's ALL positive at this point...NO corrections.....but only give reward when he is in the right position. Use it to lure him into a sit and associate the word and reward when he does it. They catch on very quickly.
I dont know what you are going to do with him but you can also start bite training with him with the rag and also tracking with scent circles if you have grass........all I have here is snow right now!!!

Have fun,

Pat

So should I start walking him on a leash with out a prong collar?

No prong. The only time I would is as he gets older and he incists on pulling then use one but only let him correct himself..ex. when he pulls he hurts himself...it's not a correction directly from you.


Pat

8 weeks is too young for a prong. You risk shutting him down and could interfere with building a trusting relationship at this point. My older female, now six, never used a prong during training. She did fine with other training collars. Maybe later--but again it depends on the dog. Don't expect too much from the baby just yet. Take the time a and build a good foundation.

So just walk him on a regular leash? Should I try teaching him how to heel?

Only if it's fun, involves food or toys, and you don't overdo it. I generally don't even call it teaching 'heel', just imprinting for later heelwork. If you mean teaching him to walk at your side always out on walks, I don't do this with pups, too much trouble when I'm just supposed to be having fun with 'em. The prong usually fixes that when they start to pull when they're older anyway. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I may change my mind when my upcoming puppy drives me completely insane, but unless I find a real good reason to do so, I don't plan on correcting my pup with a prong or ecollar until at least 10 months of age, and if she seems to be doing good without it, I'd like to avoid it till 12 months old. I like the idea of motivationally training a dog. I made the mistake of using a choker on my GSD at 5 months because of some bad advice, and being hard on him for not heeling properly etc, I still sometimes get the feeling that my bond with him would be stronger and his drive would be higher if I hadn't listened to that idiot trainer and had the same attitude with him then as I do now. But because of that, I'd rather error on the side of motivation rather than physical correction simply because I love watching dogs who WANT to work with incredible drive to do so.

I've backed off alot on my GSD's obedience too, we have short sessions multiple times a day of "real" training, but when I take him for a walk I'll let him mark his spot on every tree he wants to, sniff everything, be a general annoying lil knucklehead, but when I tell him to heel, he goes to heel position, I heel for a minute or two then release him again. I'll do some sit/down in motion, walk 20 or 30ft ahead of him n call him back into heel, n he enjoys hauling butt to get to my side, then we heel for 20 seconds n I release him again. I think it keeps things more fun for the dog on walks, walking a dog is supposed to be a fun experience for the dog, not a military drill. I know a dominant dog shouldn't pull or walk ahead of the handler, but I have ZERO dominance issues with my boy so it really doesn't bother me, as long as he can heel when I ask him to and his obedience is good when I give him a command.

I am a big advocate of letting a puppy be a puppy and avoiding letting your pup do things wrong so you don't have to stress out and correct him/her in the first place. Young pups shouldn't really be walked on a sidewalk for long periods of time either, the best exercise for a pup is on grass, if you have a fenced in yard and the bugs are out where you live, let the puppy chase the bugs around the yard and play with the pup. My GSD loves dragonfly season <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Doubt you can go that long. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> But yeah, motivational training in my experience produces better results. The only thing is it takes a while for the owner to get the hang of it, to be able to 'agree' with the dog on the signals and body language so the dog 'understands' what it is you're trying to teach him without all the jerking and stuff. The good old jerk method is certainly more user-friendly. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> My hard-headed pup sometimes needs a pop on the leash once in a while, but using it to 'train' him would be stupid as he will lose interest and try to defy me...while if I use motivation I can see him attempting to get the right tone of voice from me, and doing what I like more and more as he understands what it is I want. I also don't like the dog to view 'field' obedience as something serious...it's always play for us. I heel, then break it and chase the dog/let him chase me or play ball, then heel again, etc. It's kind of like the 'rules' in the game. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Anyway, as I see it, motivation training is a struggle for communication; compulsion is a struggle for control.

I always let my dog go ahead of me. Otherwise I would forever be yanking him back. He's a dominant dog, but I haven't had problems with him yet, simply because if I want to STOP going that way, then we WILL stop going that way, and the only reason he gets to go ahead anyway is because I let him.