When should I start training my dog
Training a dog should start as early as possible.
As soon as a young puppy has the focus to follow movement and is skilled to take a treat from your hand, you should start the Teaching Phase!
Teaching means to make him understand which behaviors are worth while doing and which ones are NOT.
The behaviors we do want him to do are positively reinforced, the behaviors we don’t like him to do are being ignored. Yes, just ignored- not punished!
Punishment will always create negative feelings about you and training itself.
The puppy at youngest age is usually very receptive to any kind of stimulus coming from you. He is NOT distracted by much, all he is interested in is YOU!
If you can- getting a dog as a puppy- you definitely have to take advantage of his dependency. It creates huge eagerness to interact and learn.
His high desire to be with you can even be ex potentiated by having toys and food not being available, unless You give it to him. That does not mean to put the food dish down (yes it came from you!) – It means to actually feed him from your hand only!
The same applies to playtime. The toy should not be thrown, him fetching and never coming back!
It should be attached to a string, that you always hang onto and interactively play with him.
Once you have created the image of you being soooo important to him, you can actually start to teach him to do some obedience behaviors in order to obtain his reward.
Yes it is a myth when they say “puppies are too young to start training”, especially if they are referring to obedience training. Those who make that kind of statement, seem to still be stuck with the good old “yank and crank” method of dog training.
The puppy age is exactly where they are most receptive!