Hello guys,
What is the correct age to start correctin your puppy after a learning phase. I never start correcting a puppy until 8 months but I run into people ocassionally that do it as early as 6 months

Depends on the dog and the level of correction.

With marker training you have to decide if the pup truly understands what you want.

You have to realize if your actually teaching the dog properly.

Is the reward truly a reward or is it to the point of being a bribe?

To many dogs a correction can be nothing more then loosing the reward yet another dog may need to use a physical correction.

If the dog acts confused, shuts down, gets aggressive then the correction may be to soon or to strong.

Yeah. I think we have to expand on what is a "correction."

Because I start correcting behavior from day 1.

Corrections come in many forms. Denying attention or reward is a correction. When a puppy jumps up on you and you turn you back--that is a correction. When you wait for the pup to be quiet before opening the crate door, that waiting is correction. When the puppy gets to the end of the leash and you turn and walk the other way, that is a correction. That's why it's not really possible (IMO) to train a dog with "purely positive" rewards. Because even that school of training allows for the withholding of reward---and that, by definition, is correction.

A correction is anything that you do that sends a signal to the dog--"what you are doing right now isn't working for you, try something else."

Reward is any signal that says--"what you are doing right now is exactly right." Could be cheese, could be touch, eye contact, going through the door, or getting the bowl of food.

If by "correction" you mean a collar pop--then again, I think this comes with a very wide continuum. Adjust the correction to the dog and the infraction. A little tug on the collar for a pup who is lagging behind is different from the correction you'd give an older pup who lunges at a cat.

Long answer to say--I don't think you should be worried about hard and fast rules about age and corrections. There aren't any hard and fast rules. Train the pup standing in front of you, using the least amount of correction to accomplish the result.

duplicate post.

Ditto to the comments by Bob and Tracy. In our situation, I seldom correct our dog during training sessions, unless you consider a negative marker to be a type of correction. I don't. My corrections are more for unacceptable behavior, which can begin at any age. Things like aggressiveness, guarding food or toys, charging out of an open door, going ahead of me up or down stairs, staring, lunging, biting, etc. need to be corrected early on, regardless of age. As for training, getting a command wrong gets the dog a negative marker and a chance to get it right. The only correction she would get is if she displays some unacceptable behavior during our training but the training itself is always positive.

Thank you guys! I guess what I meant was physical corrections. It was more about the right age or to to place a prong collar for a puppy. I personally don't like doing it until they are 7 to 8 months.

I think that was about the age in which we introduced our mal to a prong collar. Due to her fear aggression issues, especially with other dogs, we needed the "power steering" that the prong provided in order to manage and help shape her behavior.

 Quote: Greg Meyer

I think that was about the age in which we introduced our mal to a prong collar. Due to her fear aggression issues, especially with other dogs, we needed the "power steering" that the prong provided in order to manage and help shape her behavior.

Interesting Note Here, Greg:

My female rescue is also Restraint Reactive against other dogs, but NOT when she's wearing her "good-girl" COLLAR -- One great side effect of learning Never to Bark at all while wearing her state-of-the-art Educator BARK-LESS Ecollar is that it also prevents Restraint Reactivity toward strange dogs ... She put 2 + 2 together on Day One and decided that "acting out" onlead (or in the car) is COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE for her with that collar on !!! It only took Adobe one (maybe two) Lowest Level stimulations to EXTINGUISH ALL defensive / offensive Restraint Reactivity, and after the first day, I keep it turned all the way down to B Mode which is just a Vibration-Only setting (indoors whether loose or crated, I appreciate Guard-Duty barking, so NO COLLAR then & she does Not Hesitate to BARK there)

 Quote: Christian Cruz

Thank you guys! I guess what I meant was physical corrections. It was more about the right age or to to place a prong collar for a puppy. I personally don't like doing it until they are 7 to 8 months.

My now 11 1/2 yr old GSD has numerous titles. All were done with NO physical corrections.

The club I belonged to didn't allow them and I wanted to see how far I could take it.

The people at the club that were successful with the method were people that understood or learned to understand dogs.

I saw a number of failures simply because there was no leadership/maintenance skills.

I don't believe marker training OR correction training can really teach that to someone who is only teaching the dog what they have been told to teach it.

Understanding the dog and knowing how to maintain it in daily life is needed regardless of training methods.

Depends on the size and strength of the dog vs owner and the situation. I use it for walks where I think it may be a safety issue for an ill timed pull.

Not at all for formal or obedience training. There are too many variables with a puppy or a dog and the older you get, you realize Less correction is more with a puppy.