Just curious, during a training session, how many commands do you work on? I'm guessing it increases over time, but looking for a puppy rule of thumb. If my sessions only last two or three handfuls worth of treats / a few minutes, can I reasonably cover 3 or 4 things? Or should we focus on one thing and wait for another session to move on to something else?

Greta is almost 15 weeks. We probably do 2-4 sessions /day depending on how much energy we have (her more, me less, ha).

Depends on where you are in the training process with that individual command as well as what exactly you're teaching. When I'm first working on attaching a verbal cue to something that behavior gets its own individual session so the dog is super clear on what the cue is for.

Otherwise I mix and match. So we'll do some heeling wall work and then flip the dog into a front and work on attention. And then maybe on the bench to work some positions, etc.

I want at lest a beginning of an understanding before I add another command but that also depends on the individual dog.

I've had a few dogs that I could probably recite the encyclopedia to and they could repeat it the next day.

Other dogs and it could be a slower process.

I'm doing it like Cathy describes. This works well for my dogs.

A question I have about the recall training. I started to train it in separate sessions and with little distance, with both a verbal and a whistle command. They're not yet trained at a longer distance. (Of course on walks never off-leash, this only in the yard.)

I'm unsure whether I should go on training the recall in separate sessions, as I think this must be boring for the dogs. I've started to train it now in the beginning of every session about 5 times. Then follow other exercises. Between those I insert now and then 1-3 recalls.

When during the day they are more or less near to me and not ocuppied with something more interesting I also recall them occasionally. This mostly works well.

Would you criticse something about this procedure? I'd appreciate much.

Once this happens like a reflex I want to start again with the long line in the yard with some unavoidable little distractions. How would anyone of you increase the difficulty? I've already tried with the long line, but they didn't bother about my recall, when they had something else in their crane. . So I went back to the beginning.

I am a freak for basics and fundamentals, and building on the solid foundation that fundamentals support. I start EVERY training session with something basic that the dog already knows, then move quickly to the specific behavior(s) that I have planned for that session. This gives the dog a successful, enthusiastic beginning, reinforces the basics, and gives me a chance to polish any sloppy behavior that may have evolved (ex; sloppy or slow sits).

FOR ME, in the sport that I participate in and the way I communicate with my dogs, the "sit", "look", and front position after a recall are important, and this provides an excellent foundation to begin training other behaviors. I start a puppy by luring sits and looks. After a few successful sessions, I add in the "look", proof the "sit", maybe try a little duration on either. After just a couple of minutes into the session, I have built on the fundamentals, and I can transition easily from the front/sit/look into some heeling, long downs, distance work, or whatever.

Great Duane! I'm a freak of fundamentals too meanwhile, for I've learned quite a bit out of my errors and this, folks, thanks to all of you who participate here often. In the beginning I often misjudged what the dogs had understood and rushed a bit or now and then a lot.

I'm still sometimes unsure when I can increase the difficulty but have become much more aware of it thanks to the reaction of the dogs. If I commit the mistake of rushing I can read my dogs now better and can easily go the necessary steps back. I think once or twice trying something which is too high a level can do no harm If it is an exception and I'm not so dumb anymore to continue like that.

Although I don't go into sports I train those things you mention, Duane. Sit in front after a recall, sit or down in heel pos. between the legs from behind or from front, Flip to heel (left) flop ( right), spins (left), twists (right), rotate around me backwards. "Look" I also train regularly. It seems to me very important to have this just for a normal walk. This is my level until now, though far from perfect, I still have to repeat,, generalize and proof slowly under more and different distractions.

Tell me, do you train tricks too? I don't mean for opening a circus, just for fun and it helps the dogs in body awareness and thinking too.

Thanks for your answer, it confirms I'm on the right way more or less and have to go on with patience.

To your previous question, I am always working recall, training session or not, regardless of what I am working on. I vary distance. I might be heeling, release my dog for romp/free time, then unexpectedly throw in a random recall. I do this a lot.

Yes. I train many behaviors for fun, to keep my dog from getting bored. Some sport people have criticized me for wasting time on behaviors not required, but I do not find that they interfere with my sport training. I also develop drills to focus on specific aspects of some behaviors, and I will repeat those drills frequently, even if they do not pertain to a specific discipline that I am working on.

Well, thanks so much. Though I have not reached your level it is great to have a guideline to follow, as I think on principle our atitudes are on the same page. Very fascinating to read how you're going on with your dogs.

I would agree with Duane on this.

Re enforcing what has been trained is something we all do constantly.

There doesn't have to be any real function to what you add to their training but the games, tricks, etc add variety and fun to the dog's and your life.

So true! The dogs have fun and I at least as much.