O.K. so you guys know I'm getting a new rottie puppy. I'm getting exactly one week from today. I was reading the thread about including the rest of the family and that brought up a question. We currently have our 3 year female lab sit for food or going out or in the door but we didn't know about marker training with her. I'm planning to marker train the new puppy so do I wait to ask him to sit for going out or food until train him with markers to sit or do I make him do that immediately?I guess since I haven't trained with markers before I'm thinking it will take alot of time to get each exercise down so getting him to sit for food or going out would have to wait a while.

Thanks,
Kory

IMHO, a new puppy won't be "training" for a while. I would use food lures to get her to sit, lay down, stand, and come to you, but the formal stuff can come later. Teaching a new puppy how to interact with you, getting them on a schedule, and establishing pack structure in your house is going to take precedence over training any commands for the time being.

You say, "... I'm thinking it will take alot of time to get each exercise down..."

Not with markers. Basic obedience commands can be taught in very little time, usually just a few sessions, after the marker is loaded, which you can do during the time spent luring with food as a youngster.

I recommend the Michael Ellis Building Drive and Focus set, plus the Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months DVD. They will outline just about everything you need to know on raising a well mannered, socialized, obedient, happy pet.

Big ditto to all that David said, maybe with the addition of the basic "marker starter" for folks brand new to marker training. http://leerburg.com/219.htm

Here it is in a nice combo: http://leerburg.com/combos.htm#4013
The Power of Training Dogs with Markers DVD
The Power of Training Dogs with Food DVD
The Power of Playing Tug with Your Dog DVD


Or http://leerburg.com/combos.htm#4016
Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months DVD
The Power of Training Dogs with Markers DVD
The Power of Training Dogs with Food DVD
The Power of Playing Tug with Your Dog DVD

 Quote: David Winners

IMHO, a new puppy won't be "training" for a while. I would use food lures to get her to sit, lay down, stand, and come to you, but the formal stuff can come later. Teaching a new puppy how to interact with you, getting them on a schedule, and establishing pack structure in your house is going to take precedence over training any commands for the time being.

You say, "... I'm thinking it will take alot of time to get each exercise down..."

Not with markers. Basic obedience commands can be taught in very little time, usually just a few sessions, after the marker is loaded, which you can do during the time spent luring with food as a youngster. ....

And you are going to have so much fun ..... !

Absolutely NOTHING like watching a pup's light bulb come on and have fun at the same time.
!!!Markers all the way!!!!

I guess when I got power of training with markers I should have gotten one of those combos. I do want the tug video and the 8 weeks to 8 months video. It seems to me the power of training with food would be pretty similar to power of training with markers wouldn't it? I've always played tug with my dogs but probably not correctly and I defenitely want to figure out how to get them to out the toy better.

David,

So I guess when I first get him I can lure him into a sit or down just at various times and charge the mark that way? Not necessarily the way it's shown in the video? Well, now that I think about it that doesn't seem right because if I lure him into position with a treat, then I don't have the pause and reach for the treat like in the video since I already have the treat in my hand

Does that Michael Ellis combo replace the Bernard Flinks "Building Drive and Focus" dvd?

All I have is flinks!

 Quote: Kory Fox

David,

So I guess when I first get him I can lure him into a sit or down just at various times and charge the mark that way? Not necessarily the way it's shown in the video? Well, now that I think about it that doesn't seem right because if I lure him into position with a treat, then I don't have the pause and reach for the treat like in the video since I already have the treat in my hand

IMHO, I wouldn't worry about combining the "charge the mark", phase with teaching any specific behavior. Just "YES," CLICK, or whatever your positive marker is going to be, followed immediately by the food or toy.

"YES," treat. "YES," treat. "YES," treat. with some space in between. Now don't mark any bad behaviors. Make sure he is doing something acceptable at the time, but at first, don't worry about pairing the mark with anything specific.

After a couple of days, you will see him start to respond to the mark, looking for his treat. Then, you can start pairing it with the sit or down, but don't worry about rushing it.

At first, I just lure the dog into a sit, and let them have the food, as soon as their butt hits the floor. Same with a down or recall. I just treat and praise and have lots of fun. Later on, after the dog starts to respond to the mark while chargeing, you can start to mark those behaviors you like, such as sit, down, come, anything that you want the dog to do. Mark and reward. It's simpler than it seems. You will get in the habit of marking when your pup does something good pretty fast, just be sure to have those treats ready.

I suggest feeding your dog entirely through training. It doesn't take a lot of marks to go through an entire day's food requirements.

I don't do formal training sessions like most trainers, I just train throughout the day, sometimes in little blocks, other times I will just mark and treat for a good behavior and then move on.

There are others on the board with a lot more experience marker training than I have. This is what has worked for me, but others may have a more efficient approach. YMMV with my advice.

 Quote: David Eagle

Does that Michael Ellis combo replace the Bernard Flinks "Building Drive and Focus" dvd?

All I have is flinks!

I certainly would not replace one video with the other. They are both full of good training and tools for your trainer's toolbox. There is no such thing as bad information, it's all about how you interpret that information, and what you do with it afterwards.

I think the Michael Ellis videos are outstanding, and I suggest that anyone interested in marker training watch his videos.