Hi everyone,
What things should I realistically expect from my 15 week old puppy. In my opinion she is a very good pup, the only work she needs is to be taught not to jump up on people, I have broken her of jumping on my 3 yr old nephew, she is very good with him now. I know to pinch the toes, I just haven't stopped her from greeting me at the door when I come home. She knows "sit" and "no" and "cage". Other than that though, what can you really expect from a puppy so young?

-Jennifer

Use this time to set a foundation for future, formal training. Have short, positive training sessions using games, lots of praise and even treats to teach her things. You can use modified versions of children's games such as follow the leader and hide and seek. Remember that she's very young still. Also, if you catch her in the act of performing a wanted behavior, give the command just as she's completing the behavior (i.e just as her butt hits the floor, you say "sit) and then praise (good sit).

This is the time to work on bonding, potty training, crate training, and creating a good foundation.

first-i haven't had a pup for 20 yrs (but i'm really only 24), but my boy in the one week i've had him, has learned to sit. i treat/praise him for a sit, though he doesn't associate the word with the action yet. he associates the action with "good stuff". and that's ok at his age.

i'm just not sure what to do next!! really, he doesn't get a food treat every time, though he'll "sit" pretty consistently w/out one, and even sit at unexpected times to see if he'll get a treat/praise--which he does sometimes.

so far, i've found that ed's marker training is the way to go, and that, once a behavior is established, random rewards are REALLY effective. my pup "sits" every chance he gets, and gets a food reward about 1/10 times. it's kinda funny seeing him try the behavior so often...

ok, i'm done training--he'll "sit", and i don't lose any face. i've trained the dog, right??? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Yeah, right! And if you believe that I have some very nice real estate out on the salt flats that I'll sell you. rofl. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I don't know ann, when my last 2 males were puppies i didn't treat them 1/10 of the time, i got my youngest at 4mo old and fun obedience is how he ate his meals for a few mos. I'd get the bait bag, fill it and do recalls or whatever exercise we'd do that session, then i slowly weaned him to the ball, now he's almost a yr old and i make him do multiple exercises and still use treats once and awhile, he's very obedient, but when he was little i'd treat him a lot more than 1/10th of the time, this is what worked good for me, it might not be for you,
AL

At this age, I teach puppies how to learn.

I lure them into a sit and teach them what a command from me sounds like. I teach them a marker. I teach them to understand that when I say a command, and I let them do an action, I will tell them if it's right with the marker.

I teach them to problem solve by using a clicker and doing some target training. I will never use this again later on in their life, but while young it's a good 'game', and it gets them learning to 'cooperate' with you. It also gives YOU, the owner, an insight on how the puppy learns, which is VERY important. Puppies learn different ways. One of my dogs...all she needs is me to show her what I want, and she'll get it. The other one needs me to guide him through what I want and telling him every step of the way if he's doing it right.

I teach the puppy to look to me for direction, not at my hand with the food. This is done by giving him the food ONLY if he's looking at me first. I also teach the dog's name. He learns that whenever I say his name, I need him to do something, or I'm about to give him something. (This is also why I normally don't 'baby talk' a puppy the first few weeks, I want him to understand clearly what I want from him. I don't want him responding to 'cutey baby pie' instead of his actual name. When he gets older I degenerate, but by then he understands a few words and can pick them up within a sentence <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

I teach the dog to recognize "command" words, in other words, LISTEN to me! This is so I don't have to 'wean' a dog off of food in the future. The moment he understands what 'Sit' means the first time I teach it, I hide my hands behind my back, say "sit", and sort of...coax him into sitting. By the second day he'll usually be sitting on the command alone, waiting patiently for the marker to 'release' him (this is no more than a second or two at a time...I gradually increase the time before I give the marker, I don't really teach 'stay'). The dog learns to recognize what I want from him and that a reward may or may not come in the future, but that is not the important thing.

Anyway, this is really helpful in the beginning stages of 'true' obedience work in the future. I can simply guide the dog and use my voice to tell him if he's doing things wrong or not. It leads to quicker learning and a better communication between both of you.

For now, with my young pup, I'm more concerned with tracking than obedience, & thats when he eats breakfast (on track), but my purpose is different than a lot of people on the board since I'm into scH. For now, it's scent pads & little puppy footstep to footsep baby tracks.

The marker training is amazing isn't it. It makes me feel guilty for all the poor dogs that went before this one.

My breeder told me that even motivational training can reduce drive since you "have your thumb on the puppy". I am not sure I buy that since I try hard to make it 100% motivational at this point. All I am really after for now is a livable situation in my house; Sit, Here, No and of course YESSSSS! are about it though I use other command words as part of the praise when he is doing what I want (good Packen).

I get lots of laughs when the little alligator is dragging my sweats down and growling like a demon. I expect this to go away in a few months, and if it doesn't, well Dr. Dogtra to the rescue.

But for now, growl gator growl! Just no pooping in the house; which by the way hasn't happened yet thanks to Ed's crate routine.

The op never mentioned sch, so she's probably not concerned with tracking, by the post it sounds like she was talking about basic ob.
AL

Thats probably so. Also, if not schutzhund dog, then probably a lot more obedience is put on earlier than I would.