As soon as you get your pup, start teaching him how to learn. A seven week old pup is very capable of learning.  It is a very important time frame in the life of your pup. Use it wisely. Puppies cannot learn anything locked in a crate or left in a dog run, so make your pup a part of your family and your life.

Puppy training should be done in small doses with bits of food as rewards- Hold a small piece of cheese over his head and say sit. When he finally accidentally plops his butt down, say good and give him the piece of cheese. This can be done about 10 times in a row or until pup acts bored or distracted. Always stop a lesson before the pup gets bored. If you do this two or three times a day, your pup will know the word “sit” in a couple of days. By then the pup knows “sit” in this setting but does not really know the word thoroughly, such as if he were outside and you did not hold a treat over his head.

Teach “down” using the same principle. With pup in the sitting position, bring your hand to the floor in front of pup and say “down.” He will quickly learn to lie down to get at the tidbit in your hand. It is good for your pup to know the “down” command in order to later lie down quietly in a holding blind or duck blind.

Have your pup wear a soft leather or nylon collar  soon after they are separated from the litter. After a few days, they adjust to having it on. At this point snap a lightweight lead on the collar. Let the pup guide you at first. Do not pull or drag him. Eventually, try to guide the pup or coax him into following you with praise, tidbits and rewards. After several days, the pup should be readily walking on lead. Encourage him with praise and food to stay close to your side. Keep his attention.

Take your pup off leash for walks in the woods or park. This will introduce him to various cover changes, footing, smells and sights. Have him wade thru puddles, navigate ditches and negotiate stairs. This also teaches him to follow you. Since he is in a strange place, he is likely to want to stay close to the only thing that he is familiar with-you. This helps bonding and establishes you as the leader. Sometimes, when your pup gets distracted, hide on him or change your position. When he discovers that you are gone, he will probably get a little worried and start whining or looking for something familiar. Now call and coax him to you and pet and praise him-this can help establish yourself as the leader and the puppy as the follower. You have become his leader and protector.

Have your pup fetch rolled-up socks or other soft, lightweight toys and coax him to you. Kneel to his level, clap, praise and move away from him if he hesitates to come. Most young pups will come when they think you are leaving them. If you have an independent pup, you might start his retrieves by using a hallway in your house to limit his options.If he does not come, you may want to spend a few days on the “come” or “here” command, using the treats as a reward before going back to retrieving.
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If it is warm (water temperature over 50 degrees), pups can swim at an early age. The easiest way is to wade into the water and coax your pup in with you.If he won’t go in, wait and try again in a couple of days. Try playing with him and other dogs in and around the water. He will eventually swim; be patient. He may be 10 or 12 weeks old before he decides to venture in; don’t force the issue.

When your pup is retrieving toys, introduce a thrower to him. Use white or contrasting colored objects. Have the thrower stand 10 or 15 feet away, ’hup, hup’ to get the pup’s attention and toss the object. Release the pup as soon as he wants to go. Only do three or four retrieves at a time, then take a break. Do this once each day or every other day.

Instead of trying to stretch the distance your pup goes on his retrieves, keep them short so as not to tire him. Gradually make the retrieves more complicated. Have a little change of cover, run across a mowed path, angle a safe ditch or cross a large puddle of water. Also try having a person stand short of another person who throws, so he runs past the first person on his way to the object.

Try to get the pup to run at the object and not at the thrower. If he is running at the thrower, then the thrower is too far away. Shorten the distance between you and the thrower and lengthen the actual distance of the throw, so the pup runs at the object and not the thrower.

At some point, a pistol shot can replace the “hup, hup.” It is not that important how you get the pup’s attention. But you don’t want to startle him with the noise of a gun. If you don’t have other dogs that you are working, introduce gunshots at a distance, so as not to startle your pup.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Hunting and Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.