People often ask me "when should I start training my puppy"? Well two things come to my mind but first I have to ask "What is your definition of dog training"? In my definition of training, dog training starts as soon as he was born. He started his puppy training from the female that produced him and then by me the day that I picked him up from the breeder.
Secondly my definition of training is not teaching him to do tricks. My definition of dog training is behavior modification. I modify a dog's behaviour in order for him to be a competent and responsive member that can fit into society. There is no specific age to begin training. However if you are talking about dog obedience training whereby the type of training can be too stressful and overwhelming for a young dog then I suggest you wait until the dog is around six to eight months old. Again the same principle that I have alluded to in some of my other articles is "you must know your dog" to see whether he is overstressed or not.
Your puppy is being trained all of the time. He responds and reacts to the vacuum cleaner starting, to people yelling and to other dogs barking and so on. Training is happening all of the time. What you do with him as he is encountering these experiences is what will modify him in preparation for the future. If you grab him and pick him up every time he runs to you in fear then you probably will be creating a fear biter when he is older. However when he is younger he learns that the vacuum cleaner is not going to hurt him and that he may not like the sound of it but he is not threatened and can tolerate it.
If you provide an environment that includes an abundance of leadership and guidance you can create any behaviour you want in a dog. Think about it, if the dog lived in an environment whereby no one was around to give him guidance then he would make up his own rules in order to survive.
There are in my mind two types of training. As I mentioned before there is the "environmental" type dog training, whereby the puppy gets used to noises, socialization and general good manners. The other type of training and I think that this is what people are thinking when they ask me at "what age should I start training my dog", is the more formal or specific type of dog training. To answer this question, I don't believe there is a specific age. I must repeat it again, it's about "knowing" your dog well enough to determine if he has this inner strength to learn and be excited about his obedience training. If you know your dog well enough, you will know if he can handle the more rigid type of training or not. If you have determined that indeed the dog is ready for this type of formal training then the next concern is "what is his attention span"? When does he start to lose interest and then govern your obedience training activity accordingly.
Good Luck
Raymond
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