My puppy is 10 weeks old. My husband thinks he's too young to teach commands to?

Is he?

Sorry for so many questions but I am trying to educate myself as much as possible.

thanks!

my pup can sit on command at 9 weeks (no distractions yet)...we are working on others too, but i am waiting for videos from Ed. I would recommend getting these.

http://leerburg.com/120.htm
http://leerburg.com/302.htm

http://leerburg.com/dogtrainingebooks.htm

how did you first teach him? Make him sit?

i held a treat kinda infront of his nose so he got a smell of it then moved it up over his head, which "made" him sit. i marked and praied and gave treat. we did it a few times in a row and then a few more times during the day, every day. now, we can be almost anywhere and if i say sit (even to my other dog) he sits. he has been okay with some distractions ( i have kids so it hard to not have a distraction) but sometimes he wants to just run. then i lightly tap him on his back to get his attention again (like a hey, hello, over here, look at me tap). (i might be doing this wrong...but like i said, i am waiting for the videos too)

Lovella, none of your questions are silly, but I do think you would benefit greatly from Ed's videos regarding your new puppy. There isn't a question you could ask that he hasn't or doesn't answer.

Good luck with the new little guy.

but eventually you dont have to give him a treat each time right?

Thanks for all your patience with all my questions everyone.

No, you do not use treats forever. They are just a good, general motivator when teaching new commands. You can use toys, and play, petting and verbal praise. Once your dog knows the command and begins doing it almost everytime you ask (about 85-100 repetitions over a couple days/weeks- strictly a very general timeframe...) then you begin fading out the treats and using other forms of rewards.

The video is great ad will answer the questions as many times as you want to watch it

See ed's article on marker training: this method will help your dog learn commands quickly.
http://www.leerburg.com/765.htm
podcast on marker training:
http://www.leerburg.com/podcasts/trainyourdogwithmarkers.mp3

Teach your pup ot sit before he gets his bowl of food and water bowl, before you go out the dog before him and down the stairs before him. when playing with him- have him sit before resuming a game of tug or fetch, etc...
Tie in his training is his everyday life and he will be more reliable and learn faster. Don't expect him to behave around distractions or to have a long attention span. He is too young for now, but he can learn in your home or familiar environments and practice for short periods of time are best.
Next teach the "down" command and you can also work on "give" and "come" too. Then just keep on going. Never stop teaching and working with him and he will be great!

Lovella,

Your pup isn't too young. We brought ours home when he was 9 weeks old. By the time he was 11 weeks old he knew "come", "sit", "down", and "crate". All taught using treats for motivation and no corrections. Sometimes, if he thought someone had a treat, he'd run through his entire repertoire. He'd come to you and sit, then lay down, then run into his crate and stick his head out. That was really cute, but he outgrew that.

Believe it or not but my puppy doesn't seem to like treats? It's like he's wary of what I"m trying to give him?! its weird to me!

well, okay... my pup, like I said knows the sit and here, without questions and with distractions...so i thought! He will do them in the house with distractions, but yesterday I was outside with him (on lead) and it was very windy. He would not listen to me for anything! He kept trying to chase and catch leaves that were blowing around. (ya, it was funny) but how do i get him to listen like that? would you give any corrections to a pup that young? (fyi, i am waiting for videos i just ordered so maybe those will help too)