# Training at 3 months of age?



## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

You can train puppies from their earliest stages on, as long as you keep the training age-appropriate. At 3 months, a puppy can absolutely be trained to come, to sit, to lie down, to stay for a short period, to fetch, etc. You can also work on stopping the biting at that age. Lifelong fundamentals of training need to be laid from the earliest stages onward.

The important thing to remember is to keep it all positive. A puppy should be "punished" with a few seconds of being ignored and nothing harsher than that. When she bites, stop playing for a few seconds. Go completely still and silent; biting means she wants to play with you, so when you take that away, you give her an outcome other than the one she wants. Then give her an appropriate thing to take out that urge on, like a toy, and praise her when she gnaws on that instead of your hand.

Remember that she has the urge to mouth and chew, and that's not a bad thing. You're just trying to get her to chew on the right kind of thing. Eventually, she'll learn that biting you makes life boring and biting a toy makes you more exciting. It does take a lot of patience, but it works.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I don't think you should wait until during or after the teenage stage; in fact, quite the opposite. You have about 4 months to get that puppy where you want her, so that when she hits teenage-hood at about 6 months old you have something to fall back on. 
I would work very hard (yes, positive, however) on training and manners, and the sooner the better. 
JMO, by the time a puppy hits teenage stuff they should know sit, down, stay, drop it, leave it, come, etc. and have basic manners such as being able to walk nicely on a leash, not jumping on people, and certainly not mouthing people.
Would you wait until a human child was 12 or 13 to start teaching basic manners? I sure hope not!


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I'll second what hotel4dogs said and add that some things are much _easier_ to teach when the puppy is in that crucial sensitivity period (8-14 weeks). "Come," for example, is easier to work on outdoors when the puppy is a little more nervous about his surroundings and more likely to look to you for safety and comfort. Once he hits 20 weeks and gets all brave, it's more difficult (but not impossible) to ingrain "come" strongly.

Those things you teach in a puppy's infancy and youth can become core skills they respond to on a very deep level.


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## my4goldens (Jan 21, 2009)

When I bring a new puppy home training starts. Hopefully when the puppy has been with its litter the breeder has begun training too. And the Mama dog has done some training on her own, such as bite inhibitance. Thinking back I brought the three older dogs home at around 7 weeks of age, Raider stayed with his litter till he was around 8 1/2 weeks old. Raider I think was the only one of the four who never really had an issue with nipping. Not sure if that was due to him being under his Mama's guidance or he just wasn't a nipping puppy. He was also trained to sit on a whistle blast, I was amazed that such a young puppy could do that. Training a puppy is a blast. They are like little sponges, soaking stuff up so fast it amazes you. I think if you wait till they are 7 months old or so you have missed a real opportunity to form a foundation for their adulthood. And it's all about playing while training a puppy. You don't want to be heavy handed or harsh with them, they are indeed just babies. Short training sessions, several times a day. You can teach them how to wear a collar, walk on a leash, sit, down, stand, stay. They can learn to wait for their food, wait to go out the door. I even loved the housetraining, might sound weird but I really bonded with them all on those cold dark nights standing outside saying, go potty, go potty, oh, please go potty. Oh, my all this talk of puppies makes me yearn for sweet puppy breath. I love training puppies, so much fun.


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## kgiff (Jul 21, 2008)

I've started taking my puppies to puppy kindergarten at 10-12 weeks of age. Classes are the perfect way to start getting them socialized and used to working around distractions.

They usually regress and need a reminder in their adolescent stages of the obedience they know. 

I can't imagine waiting until they were 7 months to begin training them.


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

BlueCheese said:


> hi i was wondering if it's too early for a 3 month old puppy to be routinely trained at home by a trainer. I heard that it is best to train a puppy during/after the "teenage" stage (7 months ?) but i can't stand her biting because now her teeth are really sharp.


Get after it!

Start training your puppy at seven or eight weeks. Teach them their name, sit, and here for starters. Treats and lots of praise early on..


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