Many people are reluctant to start training their dog at a young age. Often people think that it’s better to wait until their puppy is older and maturer before commencing training. The reality is that sooner you can begin training your puppy the better. A puppy can respond to training from as young as about 7 weeks old. This article outlines some of the issues involved in training a puppy.

The first thing to remember is that dogs are pack animals. Thus, your little puppy will immediately start trying to work out his or her position in their pack; ie. your household. If you allow your puppy to rule the roost, you’re giving out the message that he or she is the pack leader. The longer you allow your dog to stay in this powerful position, the harder it will be for you to assert your authority once you decide to start trying to train him or her.

Some people feel that starting to train a puppy at a young age will take the fun out of having a puppy. This is not true because much of the training techniques used for training puppies can be carried in the context of play. Whilst playing you need to wait until your puppy displays a good piece of behavior. For example, you may be throwing a toy for him or her to chase. If he or she collects this and gives it to you, this should be rewarded by a treat or loads of praise. Eventually, you could introduce the command ‘fetch’ to this game.

Remember that puppies have short concentration spans, just like children. It’s important, therefore, to take training at your puppy’s pace. If you start putting too much pressure on your puppy to respond to commands, you may meet resistance.

It is also important to be really patience with your puppy. If you start getting irritable or aggressive whilst training your puppy, you could end up with a very nervous and unpredictable dog. Try to ignore bad behavior (unless your puppy is going to do something dangerous) and focus in on good behavior. Initially, all displays of good behavior should be rewarded.

A further crucial element in training a young puppy is setting boundaries. You need to let your puppy know from onset what behavior is acceptable and what is not. It’s no use letting your puppy run mad all around your home, jumping on everything in sight for a period of time, if this is not how you want your dog to behave in the long-term. If there is anything you don’t want your dog to do, discourage this behavior from the start. So, for example, if you don’t want your puppy to climb on certain pieces of furniture, keep lifting him or her down. If your puppy then approaches the furniture without jumping up on it – praise this behavior.

This article has highlighted that puppies can begin to respond to certain training techniques from as young as around 7 weeks old. It is suggested that puppy training should begin as early as possible. When training a very young puppy, the bulk of the training should be carried out in the context of play. Puppies should be aware of what behavior is acceptable and what is unacceptable from the beginning. If you start changing the rules as your puppy gets older you’ll cause a lot of confusion. Hence, the key message is that the earlier you start to promote positive behaviors in your puppy, the easier it will be to train him or her.