2golden doodles, one 9 mons one 21 months. Train together? Separate? Both have the basic commands sit, stay, down, stand and watch over past month we practice w "yes" marker.
Working on engagement... It's an eye opener ... Love DVDs and training philosophy.

Welcome!

Are you asking whether to train each dog, one-on-one with you? YES.



That said, there is often a dog audience when one of my dogs is having a training session.

With marker training, in fact, the "audience" is very eager, waiting and hoping for their own turns.

I have 3 dogs. I train them separately but when they learn a behavior sometimes we perform it together. One of my dogs learned two behaviors by watching the other dogs learning. They are eager for a turn. They each know (now after training them) to take turns.
You will have a blast with them. One thing we all do together is going to our mat. I tell them mat and they all run to their own mat. They love it!
Sharon

Thank you (-: Yes, that was my question.I have also noticed when one is watching, it's all she can do to wait her turn. I like the suggestions regarding going to the mat, we do practice together sometimes as when heading out the door, "sit"
Thank you for the quick input.
m

With a 9 mo old (still a puppy) I would be doing mostly 1 on 1 with it. Working on manners when together would be more of my goal right now as opposed to actually training them together. By manners I mean being able to walk on a leash together, not jumping up or on each other, waiting patiently while having leashes attached for a walk together, walking quietly with no pulling,walking in alot of new envirments that creats a level of distractions etc.

I also have a rule that: when we are walking we are WALKING..not stopping to sniff, pee etc. We WALK. I make sure that they get to do that stuff BEFORE we walk & after we walk...NOT while we are walking. Just my way.

You want to train for success not set the dog up for failure. A puppy having to do alot of obedience with another dog sitting right there can be overload of high level distraction for most pups. When the manners have beconme solid, I would use walking on leash for some together OB. Like sitting when you stop walking or you sitting down on a bench & asking them to down next to you,that type of thing. At least that is how & start my pups 'working' together.

My dogs go to the field with me every day together & I work them together & individually while there doing OB(heeling, long down, send outs, doggie calesthetics etc), retrieving balls, doing touch pads etc. But I don't expect a puppy to have the level of focus to do that with that kind of distraction. It's take very solid OB & engagement for a dog to maintain a high level of focus with other dogs around. You work on building focus/engagment with the level of distractions gradually increased over time.

Make your expectations realistic for the puppy.

I agree with it being too much for a puppy. You have to adjust your teaching to your dogs and their abilities. BUt one day, they may be ready to work together as well as separately.
What fun! Sharon

What Anne said, now that I think of it, is often my course with a new member:

"Working on manners when together would be more of my goal right now as opposed to actually training them together. "