Hi -
New forum member here, first question.
My mixed-breed "shepard type" shelter puppy is 14 weeks; (I've never had a purebred "anything" but have had some wonderful dogs).
I'd like to discover his abilities and train him to his best potential. I've never seriously trained a dog before - they've always seemed to just fit into my life without any problems.
What I've seen here (and on the puppy "8 to 8" tape) is more of a tendancy to allow the puppy to be a puppy and reward their natural drives to shape behavior (as opposed to using a lot of correction in the early months). Do I have it right so far? Makes sense and has been effective - we got a slow start as I also had his litter mate who now has a new home. So far we have good sit, come, working on down and a short stay.
My concern is in not losing any "windows of opportunity" (and realizing we may have, already). I gather, from my reading, that we should be working on developing prey drive and bite work. Tracking? How solid should one skill be before progressing to another or should we be doing more things "concurrently"? What skills or behaviors should I expect my puppy to be capable of at what age (generally - as I realize this will vary by temperment, intelligence, my skill, etc.)
As we're exploring an unknown gene pool, which tapes would you suggest to help me determine his potential talents? I was thinking of "Bite Training for Puppies", "The First Steps of Bite Training" and "Basic Dog Obedience" for starters.
Oh gosh, I see I've asked a whole bunch of questions, but the more I learn here, the more I realize I need to learn. I really appreciate your willingness to share your hard-earned knowledge and experience.

Regards,
Patti Kuvik
Vail AZ

Though I always supplement my learning with books and videos, I have found I learn the best (and my dog <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> ) with the aid of a good set of classes/instructor. Things like my timing, what's a correction, level of correction appropriate, praise (what it is, when to use), proper leashes, collars, etc.

Otherwise, I'd say the fact that alot of early puppyhood is allowing them to have the joy of puppydom with some gradual guidance and instruction from you. The more I read the more I see how PLAY is vital. Playing tug and having me be the center of the fun world of my dog is my goal. And when I'm the most fun person to be with, the learning/attention/focus comes from that. Think alot of Schutzund early training has tons of towels/tugging and play included for those reasons.

Reading a good book right now called 'Building Blocks for Performance, Give Your Puppy a Head Start for Competition' by Bobbie Anderson w/Tracy Libby that is really excellent with good sense and ideas for puppies at a very early age and growing. http://www.cleanrun.com/category.cfm?Category=233 talks about it.