The Dog Blog

 

Putting your puppy early into a group training class is a wonderful way to get started with training and socializing your puppy. It is never too early to get started-puppies can begin training at six weeks old. There is no better time to get started with the socializing and basic obedience training of your puppy.

Once I started taking my puppies to group training classes I saw that my dogs grew up to be much better behaved than the puppies I had previously neglected training until they were much older. I had two very aggressive dogs prior to using group training classes. Unfortunately, I didn’t even start training them until they had already had enough time to develop aggression issues. However,I have never had a problem with the puppies that went to a group puppy class.

While your puppy was still in the litter with his siblings and the Mama dog, he was constantly getting lessons in doggy manners through his interactions with the other puppies and Mama. Whenever a puppy gets too out of line-perhaps he is playing too aggressively-the litter mates will gang up on him, or Mama will put a stop to his boisterousness by grabbing him by the scruff of the neck or putting a paw over him to hold him still. For example, the Mama will grab him by the scruff of his neck and hold him still till he relaxes and submits. Puppies normally will learn their guidelines in this way. Puppies are like kids, and they need some guidance to learn how to behave.

Once you have taken your puppy away from the litter he no longer has the benefits of socializing from his Mama and siblings, so it is up to you to make sure he is exposed to enough other dogs and people to not grow up with an aggression problem towards strangers. Dogs are social animals and need companionship to be happy. It turns out that a dog that is kept confined and has no social interaction with other dogs is much more likely to become an aggressive anti-social type of dog. I think that because my 2 earlier aggressive dogs had grown up away from other dogs and strangers that their aggressive instincts became unbalanced.

Naturally, getting your puppy started early with group training classes is also a great way to begin the basic obedience training. You will learn the basic commands and hand signals for teaching your puppy new tricks and continuing your puppy’s socialization at the same time. The dogs I had earlier had problems with were obedience trained-just didn’t have a clue in a social situation. A well balanced pet needs to know how to behave in all situations, not just at home.It makes sense that a puppy who had the continuing socialization of group class will be more comfortable around other dogs and strangers as he gets older.

Little puppies of only six weeks old can already learn a lot of the basic obedience tricks. You should check out the amazing videos on YouTube of little puppies doing all kinds of tricks to see how early they can learn.

If you follow this one important tip and bring you puppy to a group training class you will be glad you did. Check out the puppy training classes in your area, and find one using only positive reinforcement techniques. Not only did the early puppy group training do the socializing and training I wanted my puppy to learn, but we also had a lot of fun going to the classes.

Click her to read my complete review of Secrets to Dog Training to learn more about their program.

I also have many more free helpful articles with dog obedience training advice and special tips for solving dog behavior problems. Please click here to visit http://www.BehaveDoggy.com.

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