# Where to start?



## Carolyne (Mar 13, 2012)

Have been reading a few puppy books and posts on here about training. It's all very overwhelming!

Where is the best age to start training? Which commands first? 

Our pup will be 8 weeks old when she come home. Should we start with toileting training first? Alongside "sit"? Maybe even "down"? Or is that too much?

Re loo training - are puppy pads a good idea or not? Planning to try and lead her to the garden every hour and then reward her when she does the buisness - but not to punish if she wees/poos in the houseIs this right? Am I expecting too much to start training on this at 8 weeks old? Was hoping she'll be a smarty pants and be trained fairly quickly!! 

The other training such as sit/down/leave etc .. is it best to just work on 2 or 3 commands or vary it up a bit and do a few?

Which are the most useful to train first (I can see "leave" being very useful). Also like the idea within another post of "sniff" and "enough" for when out on a walk.

Any tips and tricks from your first few weeks of training would be really appreciated.

(by the way our pup hasn't been born yet .. we're still soooo excited though!!)


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

Puppys are spunges. they soak up everything. she will learn new things every day(not always something you wanted her to learn) teach anything you want. she can learn lots at one time but toilet training can be hit and miss. sit will be the first thing she will learn because its the easiest thing to learn.


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## DONNA (Jan 7, 2011)

Hi congrats on the new puppy.

I only used puppy pads at night just incase he was caught short (lasted 2 weeks then he started tearing them up so went cold turkey and he's never wee'd or poo'd in his crate)

You will get the odd accident but taking him out every hour seemed to work for us.

Yes train as much as you can" sit" is usually the first thing offer him some cheese as a treat .I still struggle with "leave",i think at first we did sit,down, stay and recall.

Once he can go out id enrole him in a puppy class you'll get lots of great tips there.


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## Janev1000 (Oct 4, 2011)

I agree with Donna and did the same things. Sometimes a puppy has already learnt 'sit', like ours, as they have often learnt it from having adult dogs around at the breeder's house. I think you will get a feel for how quickly your puppy is learning and how much you can add to that. Puppy classes are definitely recommended as although you can teach these things at home, they need to be able to learn to concentrate on the same commands when there are distractions around them - and it's great fun meeting all the other dog owners!


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## Sezra (May 20, 2011)

You start straight away with the new puppy and make a list of basic commands that you want to teach. I would start with sit, stay, leave, and a recall command. I say 'Daisy come' (and she ignores me). Recall is the most important thing to practise alongside bite inhibition. If you think of when you are out with your dog the most important thing is that they come back to you. This is needed for politeness to other dog walkers, to stop them from running off, to call them away from other people etc etc. I was told 80% command training should be recall. I think Daisy is deaf however or going through a pretending to be deaf adolescent stage!  You need to keep commands simple (one word) and also be aware of your body language that you use.

Bite inhibition is the other important thing to to focus on. Puppies are very mouthy and you need to teach them that it is not acceptable. Have you read Ian Dunbar's book? It explains the difference between a dog with good bite inhibition and not. A dog maybe be non aggressive but put in a situation where it feels uncomfortable or threatened may end up biting. What that bite is like will depend on how it was trained as a puppy. I don't want to sound like I am being scary! 

Obviously toilet training is pretty handy  but like Kendal says they are like sponges and you can teach them all of these things alongside eachother.


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## designsbyisis (Dec 27, 2011)

Sezra said:


> Bite inhibition is the other important thing to to focus on. Puppies are very mouthy and you need to teach them that it is not acceptable. Have you read Ian Dunbar's book? It explains the difference between a dog with good bite inhibition and not. A dog maybe be non aggressive but put in a situation where it feels uncomfortable or threatened may end up biting. What that bite is like will depend on how it was trained as a puppy. I don't want to sound like I am being scary!


Off I run to google Ian Dunbar 

Our first commands were sit, wait, come (he blows hot & cold on that), down and toilet.


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## Mogdog (Feb 6, 2011)

Sit and recall training were our first things, as well as toilet training. Early recall training will pay dividends for later walks. 

After that walking to heel, stay and down ... these will be taught at training classes ... also general manners are worth teaching early on. There is some good information on the Cockapoo Club of GB on this :-

http://www.cockapooclubgb.co.uk/manners-maketh-hellipcockapoos.html

Good luck


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## kathy40newpup (Mar 15, 2012)

Good information I was wondering the same thing. Where to start. Thanks


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## JoJo (Mar 2, 2011)

Lots of puppy care, training & information on My Dogs Life, ready for my new puppy owners  ... 

May be useful for new cockapoo puppy owners -

http://www.mydogslife.co.uk/category/puppy-buying-care/puppy-care/


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