I know dog/puppy threads are way overdone, but I promise I did a pretty comprehensive search and couldn’t satisfy my curiosity.
So…I’m trying to train my yellow lab puppy. For a 10 week old, he does pretty good when I tell him to “sit” or “get in your box” (crate). He also gets lavishly rewarded when he does such.
I am anxious to teach him more, so please share with me some of the commands/tricks you taught your dog(s) and how you accomplished this.
Yikes. There’s so much you can teach your puppy to do!
The best advice is to go take him to puppy kindergarten. Look for a training school in your area - I would recommend a clicker-training class. They’re BUNCHES of fun! That way, you’ll learn how to train your dog and then you can expand on the techniques you learned.
Start with the basics: sit, down, come, stay, settle. What you’re trying to do is shaping a behavior. Provoke the behavior in the pup and reward him for it. Again, puppy kindergarten with a trainer worth his or her salt will give you all the basic training models and techniques you need to go beyond the basics.
You can later train your puppy to carry objects, to find your keys and bring them to you, to “do the recycling” for you… it never really ends!
Good luck with the pup! If you let me know what area you’re in, I can help you find a training school.
Wufs and wags,
Elly n’ the dawgs
I never had any use for training classes as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort, but many folk disagree with me. IMO, you know better than most schools how you want your dog to behave, and how you want to interact with him. Moreover, far too many people think that simply attending classes is sufficient. They are mistaken.
Also, many MANY folk disagree with one of my main recommendations - that is - get your pup used to walking off leash, as well as on a leash. Which can be VERY easily reinforced. When he is young, he will tend to follow you instinctively. And he will be too slow to outrun you.
With a lab, you are going to want to toss a ball for him. I always consider it so sad when folk say they cannot let their dog off a leash because it would take off. Note, I always carry a leash with me. If I encounter another pedestrian, depending on how I view the situation, I have my dog heel to my right side, or sit out of the other person’s path, or I put on the leash. But the leash is to accomodate other people - not because my dog or I need it.
IMO, the most important thing is to spend a lot of time with your pup - down on the floor. Try to think like a pack animal. You want to express your constant love for - but unquestioned dominance over - your pooch. So if you are watching TV, get down on the floor. Cuddle with the dog. Pet him all over - to get him used to allowing you to touch any part of his body - teeth, paws, groin, etc. Very important for if he gets sick/injured, needs medication, etc.
A couple of really easy ways to convey dominance are to gently hold your dog’s mouth shut - even possibly putting your mouth over its muzzle. Or lift his front legs off the floor. Then, when you clearly set forth the proper dominance, show him how much you stil love him.
You certainly shouldn’t kick or beat your dog, but a swat across the hindquarters is not verboten. Again, look at how wolves interact. Hell, you are more likely to hurt your hand than a healthy lab’s rump. Having said that, of course, in the vast majority of cases positive reinforcement is preferable and far more effective.
I have never had a need to crate train my dogs. Instead, they sleep on the floor next to my bed. I also prefer to keep my dogs off the furniture. If you start off when they are young, they don’t miss it at all. And it really makes your dog more welcome in other peoples’ homes.
On that topic, take your dog as many different places as possible. Get your dog used to the way you expect him to act in various places/situations. As long as you are clear, consistent, and predictable, he will try to please you.
I also strongly recommend using commands that come naturally to you. And teach your dog to do exactly what you wish. For example, IMO the most useful command for a big dog in a house is “move.” You don’t care what he does, you just want him to get out of your way. Very effective if he is begging at the table, under your feet, annoying a guest who does not like dogs, etc. A variation is "other room."
My dog does not fetch, instead she responds to “bring it here,” “where’s your ball,” and “get a toy.” “No” and “drop it” are pretty essential commands. And “sit” and “stay” can be useful - including having them sit and stay at a distance while off leash. If he tends to jump, you might work on "down - tho “No” can serve as well. Oh yeah - tho I said she heels, she actually responds to “right here” instead.
That’s about all I need my dog to do.
Having posted that whole thing, I just remembered a couple more “commands” I use. “Hey!” is a pretty good all purpose attention getter. I usually give my dog a free rein so long as she isn’t doing anything worng. When I call out “hey!” she looks to me to see if further instructions will be forthcoming. I feel a dog knows when it is pushing things. “Hey!” lets them know you realize it, and usually they will self correct with no need for a further specific command.
Other commands I use all the time are “Wait up” or “Hang on” and then “Okay, let’s go.” Say I’m walking or running with my dog off leash. We come to a street. Generally, she will wait for me. If there is traffic, or if she looks distracted, I’ll call out “hey!” and she’ll definitely wait for me. Again, it is simply because over years of consistency, she knows not to enter a street withut my approval. If there are cars, I’ll tell her “wait up” or “sit”, mainly as a courtesy to the drivers who do not know how well she is trained. Then, when it is tim to cross, I’ll say “Okay, let’s go”, and she runs across the street without dawdling.
I think this explains what I was trying to get at as far as teaching your dog to do exactly what YOU want him to, and use commands that come naturally to you. Most (but not all) schools do not accomodate such personal preferences.
Anyone can feel free to post horror stories about how quickly a well-trained dog can burst into a street after a squirrel and get smooshed, etc. All I can say is this forum is IMHO, and I am providing mine. Also, such horrors have never happened to me over the past 20 years of consistent dog owning, during all of which I lived on relatively busy streets and walked and ran my dogs off leash at least twice a day. Maybe I’ve just been consistently lucky, but I doubt it.
Final disclaimer, my preferences and experience are with goldens and golden mutts - which I believe are similar in many ways to labs. I am sure many other breeds would not respond to the types of training I suggest.
Dinsdale, it’s nice to meet a fellow dog lover/trainer. I have had my dog for almost seven years now and people will still go out of their way to tell me that she is the best-behaved dog they have ever seen. I trained her myself, to do many of the same commands that you discussed.
I had a great deal of success with crating myself. Of course, I lived on the third story of a building when my dog was a puppy, so I found it especially helped just to keep her from peeing through the night, since I was very reluctant to go down in the middle of the night.
I have never tried a clicker, but I use many of the same voice commands. One of my favorites also is “Go around” Which I taught her after hiking with her and needing to go over fences. When I tell her “Go Around” she knows that there is another way, and she goes to look for it. “Up and Over” is another one that is just for fun. I had a blue heeler that could jump five feet in the air, and it was great to tell him to jump over stuff just to watch people’s jaws drop.
I found that teaching my dog the “Dig” command helped me to teach her when not to dig. The same worked for “Speak.” For some reason, teaching her to do these things on command helped her to learn that it was not OK to do them without permission.
As far as discipline goes, I’ve found that because dogs are very social pack-oriented creatures, they respond very well to social discipline. If you act disgusted, dissappointed or really let them know they are BAD through your words, tone and posture, it can be very effective. Physical discipline is a secondary tool, to be used in moderation. And my last piece of advice is to be as consistent as possible. Use the same command each time, don’t switch around or your dog will be confused. Use the same hand signals as well. And enjoy your puppy!!!
Please post work…been having trouble.
Thanks for the responses…I was thinking more along the lines of teaching him to walk or talk though 
Kidding.
I do prefer to train the boy myself, barring any strange behavioral problems, in which case I would take him to someone more qualified.
Dinsdale, your suggestion about getting on the ground and playing is really cool. I’m not squeamish so I just get on the ground and nuzzle and play like I’m part of the team. My wife thinks I’m crazy.
You mention a clicker. I’m sure it can be a good tool in some hands. But the only person I know who used one is a woman who has 2 standard poodles she trains for obedience trials. She is a friend of my wife’s and the mom of my kid’s friend, so I occasionally stop by to drop off or pick up my kid. or she will stop by our house with the dogs.
In my opinion, they are potentially wonderful dogs, that she has turned into neurotic messes.
For example, she says they have trouble with men, citing examples of trainers. So she likes me to stop in when dropping off my daughter. They never have any trouble with me. So when I enter the door, they come up to me, sniff my hand, and welcome a pat on the head. But before I can pat them, she clicks the clicker, and the poor dogs are supposed to come to her for a treat or such silliness.
When I have dealt with them in her absence, they are really cool dogs, very smart. They play with my dog very happily, and listen to me well - even tho I see them infrequently and know nothing of the type of training she uses. They come right up to me, and welcome my rough-housing, while readily accepting my dominance. But in her house she has them wearing diapers due to “nervous piddling.” Very sad, IMO.
Of course, it is very important to her that her dogs pick up a rubber dumbell on command, or somesuch, which has absolutely no relevance to the way I deal with my dogs.
But that is only one experience.
And I just realized this is MPSIMS rather than IMHO, so I will do my best to keep my comments mindless and pointless…
Ghanima - sounds like you have a lot of fun with your dog. I have always admired Aus cattle dogs, tho I have never really known any other than one heeler/lab mix.
I may be totally off base, but I think of how you see pictures of puppies, wolves, etc. You don’t see one puppy sleeping all off by itself. Instead, their all piled up in a mass, preferably right next to mom or dad.
So in my ignorant amateur point of view, I think just the closeness plays an important part in establishing the relationship. Even if you are just reading or watching TV and the pup is sleeping, what could be neater than reading or watching TV with a snoozing pup on your lap or next to your leg and under your arm. Dogs are such odor-centered creatures, I think that having the pup constantly smell you, and be confortable and secure while smelling you, helps a lot.
Also think of various things related to showing dominance - which is far different from “dominating” the dog. Factors like keeping your head higher than the dog. You probably don’t want to spend a lot of time on your back with the pup on top of you. Even in play, exposing the belly and mounting send certain signals. Don’t let your dog show ANY aggressiveness to any other person, kids, etc. Even tho it can be fun to have a stupid pup gnaw on you, don’t let it get used to playing with its teeth on people.
But I am a lawyer, not an animal behavior specialist.
If the puppy already understands “sit”, here’s an easy next step.
Put the puppy on some kind of a low, stable platform - a wooden box, large footstool, or very low table. Give him the “sit” command, then tell him to “stay”. If you like, accompany the command with a hand gesture (I’ve always used a raised hand, palm toward the dog). Take a step away…if he gets down from the platform, put him back on it and repeat the exercise. He’ll get it pretty quickly. Don’t get more than a few steps away at first. Call the dog, and reward him with attention when he responds.
After a (very short) while, you’ll be able to eliminate the platform and increase the distance. He’ll also begin to repond to the hand signal alone. I’ve trained my last 2 dogs (a Golden and a mutt) to come, sit, down, stay, and fetch/drop using hand signals.
Keep the sessions brief, and make it fun for the dog.
And just a comment on the “dominance” thing…Dinsdale touched on it. Dogs are pack animals - the dog needs to see you as the pack leader, the alpha animal.
I’ve never had one, but I’ve known several, and Labs have a reputation for being very receptive to training. Have fun!
One other thing I’d do while training your dog… oops! I mean your Canine-American… while giving the commands, also do hand signals. Like for “Stay” put your hand up in the stop position. “Come”. Wave your hand like you’re waving someone across a room to come toward you.
My wife trained our previous Sheltie with hand signals and when he got old he became deaf, which is not uncommon in old geezer Canine-Americans…
Having the boy hand signal trained came in very handy at that time.
Regarding hand signals, I found that without thinking I tend to use my hands somewhat when I command/talk to my dog. In fact, it is almost hard to say “Come here” without an accompanying signal (assuming your hands are free). My last dog went deaf - but the punch line is that I walked him off leash all of the time and did not realize it for some time. He was in the habit of looking to me for signals, and he pretty much knew how I wanted him to behave. he continued to listen to me at a distance while off leash, so it never crossed my mind that he was deaf. It was not until I dropped food on the kitchen floor, and realized he did not come running as he usually did. A couple of trials of sneaking up behind him and saying “Want a biscuit” confirmed his deafness. The worst thing about his deafness was our kids, who were young at the time, would unknowingly surprise him. Not a good thing with a toddler and a 100# dog…
I was thinking this a.m. - just about the only other command I use is “Come here.” And for emphasis, I use “Now” and “Right now.” My dogs almost always respond to a single casually spoken command. They ALWAYS respond to a gruffly growled or barked “Right Now!”
Now the important question, when are we going to se pics, and what are you giving your beast for x-mas!
InterruptingCow…
That’s a great suggestion on how to teach the dog to stay. I’ve been working with him on that one a little bit w/o a lot of success and haven’t really been able to think of a good way to teach him. I’ve been just telling him to “stay” when he’s already in a sitting/laying down position and then I slowly step back. I can make it about ten feet (sometimes) before he comes over. The platform may help him “get the idea.”
Also, the labs do seem to be easily trainable. I didn’t mention it in the OP, but I also have an 8 week old female chocolate lab. I had my wife bring the boy out front and I (and a handful of Ol’ Roy doggie biscuits) worked with her on “get in your box!!” (crate) for about 15-20 minutes. At the end of our session, she was actually getting in the box on my command with little or no steering from me. Although it will take several more sessions to get her 100% consistent, it’s pretty cool to see results that quickly.
“Gentle” is a good one, if you’re giving them treats. It didn’t take our boys long to catch on to that one, I’m told, though I wasn’t here. All it means is no snatching treats from people’s hands, you must take them carefully. Since a reward is built into it, and our lab is EXTREMELY food-motivated, it was not an issue.
House rules, as well as specific commands, are highly useful. The only two I can think of that we have formalized are “no dogs jumping on people without invitation” (Rusty likes to stand up while we hold his paws sometimes, which is fine when he’s been invited to do it) and “when people are eating, dogs must either lie down or leave the room.” There’s also “no dogs on the furniture” but that one’s being slowly slightly modified as Rusty is busily working on Dean to convince him that he’s a lapdog and needs lots of extra cuddles. He’s a golden, so of COURSE he’s a lapdog.
And I have to say this – an 8-week-old chocolate lab? Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww…
Whiterabbit,
From New Orleans? I’m in NE Louisiana, a different state, but…
Anyway, the “gentle” command would be useful for me…how did y’all teach that one? My boy gets so excited when he gets the Ol’ Roy biscuit that he nearly bites my fingers off, and he has some sharp little teeth.
Yeah, my chocolate girl is a cutie…had her for about 2 weeks now.
I taught my dog to “speak” one afternoon. I know it isn’t a really valuable thing to know, but it’s a neat trick. I did it by saying “speak” and then barking at her. After doing it a few times, she started barking with me when I gave the command, and I would reward her greatly.
She knows “sit” “lay down” “come here” “shake” and “speak”. I’ve got to try TheInterruptingCow’s “stay” training. My dog REALLY needs that.
If two dog trainers ever agree on a way to train a dog, call me.
Really.
The go-to-a-class advice is sound for anyone who is new at training. The idea is that it’s a GOOD place to START. Once you know how to train your dog, you can extend that to new stuff you want to teach. Nothing has been said, so far, that a trainer in a class situation couldn’t have taught you. Also, the upside is that you will get feedback on what you’re up to. Dog training doesn’t start/end in class. But it’s a good way to get feedback.
As for clicker training, you’ll find as many supporters of it as you’ll find people who think it’s silly.
We use it as part of the way we train service dogs. So, I’ll assume a lot of it works. The clicker is simply a way to mark a correct behavior right at the moment it occurs as opposed to saying “good dog” or some such. With anything requiring precision, it’s an excellent tool to train with. It also shapes, in young pups, what we call “thinking dogs” - dogs who try out things while in training to see if you’ll respond with a correct-behavior-click. When training for scent discrimination, for example, it’s the most valuable tool ever: the dogs will actually TRY to figure out what you want them to do rather than wait for you to show them or physically manipulate them. I have had incredible success teaching targetting with clicker training, same goes for the down-on-recall, scent discrimination, and all sorts of tricks.
With dogs as eager to please and as curious as labs are, we’ve found it certainly speeds up a lot of the training process.
Regarding the gentle command: if you give puppy a treat and he is all excited and nips, I’d suggest you put the treat in your hand, close your fist, and present the treat to the dog from UNDER its chin. Holding it up above will naturally make him want to reach up and grab. Under the head, open your hand, no nipping.
At least that’s what I teach in classrooms when we do the “how to behave around animals” demos 
Whee.
Elly n’ the hounds
Alias, on the contrary! Speak can be REALLY useful if you have a barky dog. It’s easier to teach a barking dog the “Quiet” command if it knows its opposite. Honest!
Mika was a barker when on the job. She was to be a working animal, so we had to find a way to control her behavior. I taught her to speak - bark on command - rewarding her with a click - “Good speak!”-treat cycle at first when she’d stare at me and bark (something she did naturally). While she chewed her treat, I’d reward her with a “Good quiet!” and praise the living hell out of her.
Soon, she learned that keeping her mouth shut was a “Quiet”, and that this was a good thing ™. She got treats for barking on command. So, all in all, it was a good value proposition for her…
Well I don’t have alot of useful knowledge, I’ll just tell you what my dogs can do.
Oreo: she’s half black lab and some other things mixed. Like chow chow. Anyhoo, she is extremely smart, and learned almost all the tricks in a week. It only took me twice to house break her. I know alot of people would disagree with me, and call me a dog abuser, but i spanked my dog. On the butt ofcourse, but not always with my hand. I used the belt too, but I didn’t have to use it much. She knows though, when I say “I’m going to get the belt” and she stops whatever it is she’s doing wrong. Of course she’s full grown now, and very behaved.
I taught her to sit, stay, roll over (and that was a HARD to teach her), sit up, shake and high five. Ofcourse she understands all the commands like No, Move, Come Here, Potty, Kitty, Where’s your Ball. I found tho that she learned those commands w/out me really having to teach her. Those are common words you’ll use all the time, and your puppy will understand what they mean over time. Atleast that is my experience.
Twix: He’s our german shepard/rotwiller mix. We’ve only had him a year, but it is harder to teach him tricks because of his seizures. It has affected his learning. I was only able to halfway housebreak him. He can hold it all night, but when we leave him home he’ll go on the floor. A vet told me it’s because of his seizures. They make him clingy, where he has anxiety while we are gone. Anyway, we have taught him to sit and shake so far. We are in the process of teaching him to lay down.
I find though, in teaching them certain tricks, the thing that worked best for us is to show them the trick, and then give them a treat even if they didn’t do it on their own. Eventually all you’ll have to say is SIT and they’ll do it. Then give them the treat. After a while all you’ll have to say is the command and they’ll do it. Then just cut out the treat, and praise them instead.
I know this is long heh but I love my babies. I’m one of those that allows my babies to be on furniture. They even sleep in our bed. and no, they are not small .
Helpful? probably not, but for for me to write
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Elenfair *
**If two dog trainers ever agree on a way to train a dog, call me.
That seems to be the most consistent aspect of training. I guess it all depends on the dog’s personality, the owner’s personality, patience level, what you are trying to teach, etc.
Elenfair, can you recommend any good books on training?
A whole different state? Heck, I’m the one on a different planet, or so I thought.
I think “gentle” involved yanking said treat back with a “NO!” and maybe a wap across the muzzle. (Not a punitive wap, an attention-getter.) I’m told it only took a couple of days for Isaac (the lab) to catch on; he’s a smart pup. He’s particularly good at it, too, he nearly drops them sometimes, he’s so careful. Rusty’s not quite that good, but he can be trusted to take treats without taking fingers along with them. I can only imagine the pain of seeing a treat and then having it taken away! “How do I get it? How do I get it? I must get it! Ohhhhh…no grabbing? That’s half the fun! But…I must get it!”