Expecting a gsd pup in August.

After reading several articles here I am sold on the puppy dvd and will be ordering it. So if my questions are covered in the dvd, please feel free to answer "covered" in the dvd.

I am mostly concerned about the first few days until the pup begins to understand his role and ranking. My goal is to lay the foundation from day one.

1) Whining in the crate or acting like a madman to get out.

I understand from reading the articles that, I'll ignore this protesting until the pup learns to remain calm in crate.

My question: I wake up early in the morning to take the dog outside to relieve himself. As soon as he notices I am out of bed he is likely to get excited (past experiance). I don't want to reward this excitment by letting him out of the crate, but I also don't want to force him to wait any longer than he has too, or do I?

2) If... I am training him to wait for me to go thru the door first, am I being fair to the dog by instructing him to sit and stay, when he's got to go?

Thanks,

Jim

Assuming you are going to be bringing home a 8 week old pup, I'd recommend getting up every 2 - 3 hours during the night and quietly, matter-of-factly take the pup out to potty and then put him quietly back in the crate. If he is in there 7 or 8 hours he WILL be frantic to get out and you will feel pressured to get him out. My first priority would be to focus on potty training.

Role, ranking etc... is going to be developed over time. You will have a brand new baby in the house and his needs have to come first.

Will someone be home with this pup during the day for a while?

Yeah, don't start off with the pup that way. Good manners can be started from day one, but the whole door thing as you describe it is like expecting a kindergarten age child to give you a book report on Moby Dick.

Teach the door stuff after you have a nice "sit".

Simple manners to teach right away are more about discouraging the pup without use of an aversive, while rewarding thing you want when the pup does it on his own. For example, ignoring a puppy who is jumping on you and then playing with him when his feet are on the ground.

You can start really teaching other stuff around four months, after you have taught the beginings of basic obedience.

Don't worry about rank. It will only start you off on the wrong foot.

Barbara, It will be just him and me. I am semi retired on disablity and will be spending lots of time with him. I can't imagine him being alone for more than four hours at a time, expecially for the first few months. After raising two labs I finally understand what it means to put my companions needs ahead of mine.

Lauren said "Good manners can be started from day one, but the whole door thing as you describe it is like expecting a kindergarten age child to give you a book report on Moby Dick".

Thanks Lauren.

A lot of people drive themselves crazy with trying to teach things that are too complex for a young puppy to learn.

The door opening while a puppy is in a sit stay is an enormous distraction for a little guy. Just for example, a tough distraction to a puppy in holding a sit is if you simply take one step backwards

Simple consistency gets you a whole lot further along. Things like redirecting mouthing, ignoring barking or jumping, and so on.

It helps to remember that most of puppies really wont have any attention span at all until at least four months, some much later.

You will be amazed how fast he can learn if you use fun, positive training methods to teach him stuff. Definitely check out the marker training information on the site.

An 8 week old GSD pup is like a little sponge just waiting to be imprinted with whatever you want to show them. They really are so much fun to train.

At this age !!!ALL!!! training should be as a game.
To much demanding will do nothing but crush the puppy. Even a good strong pup shouldn't be subjected to any real pressure to learn at this age.
Marker training, marker training, marker training!
It absolutely can't be beat for a new puppy, or an older dog either.

 Quote: jim gustitis

.... I am mostly concerned about the first few days until the pup begins to understand his role and ranking. My goal is to lay the foundation from day one.

Hi, Jim,

I hope everyone got it across to you that this is like saying "I will have a newborn infant in a few months and plan to show him who's boss from Day One."

This is so far from what you need to focus on with this baby dog that it's in another universe.

As Barbara said, potty training (training YOU! :grin comes way before any of that stuff, which will all flow from a good relationship with the dog.

"Assuming you are going to be bringing home a 8 week old pup, I'd recommend getting up every 2 - 3 hours during the night and quietly, matter-of-factly take the pup out to potty and then put him quietly back in the crate. If he is in there 7 or 8 hours he WILL be frantic to get out and you will feel pressured to get him out. My first priority would be to focus on potty training."

You don't ever want the puppy to be inside when he has to potty. All that does is start a habit you do not want to address. Life will be so much better for both of you if the puppy is where he needs to be (outside!) every hour or so at first while you learn his body schedule (as well as every 2 or 3 hours during the night for just potty).

When you wake up early for him to relieve himself, it will be no more than a couple of hours since the last time, but you will still quietly but quickly get him outside.

Trust me on this. Smooth potty training will make your life so much better. Just suck up the many interrupted nights and the many trips outside all day and you will never be heading a post with "poops and pees in crate."

"If... I am training him to wait for me to go thru the door first, am I being fair to the dog by instructing him to sit and stay, when he's got to go? "

You're WAY ahead of yourself with an 8-week-old baby, as the puppy experts have mentioned.

PS
You lucky guy!

 Quote: Bob Scott

At this age !!!ALL!!! training should be as a game.
To much demanding will do nothing but crush the puppy. Even a good strong pup shouldn't be subjected to any real pressure to learn at this age.
Marker training, marker training, marker training!
It absolutely can't be beat for a new puppy, or an older dog either.

YAY BOB!

Jim, DVDs 219 and 220 are bibles for you, IMO, and I'd get them now to watch a few times before the puppy even comes.

You will have a perfect mindset!

JMO!


eta
http://leerburg.com/219.htm
http://leerburg.com/220.htm

Edited by Connie Sutherland (04/13/2011 11:19 AM)
Edit reason: eta

Connie and Bob, thanks for taking the time to help put things into perspective.