How long and how often should a puppy be trained depends on various factors. One of the most important being age. Very young puppies tend to have very short attention spans so you won’t likely get their focus for too long. As puppies mature though, you will have the ability to gradually start training longer and longer sessions. One of the most important things to keep into consideration is that puppy training should be fun and never boring. Just think of it like the fun days back in kindergarten when you were drawing and building homes with blocks. Following are some tips that answer the question on “how long and how often should a puppy be trained?”
Puppies are Constantly Learning
Fact: From the day you bring your puppy home, your puppy will be constantly learning, and that includes both good behaviors and bad. If you keep your mind focused on this very important fact, you will be more likely to provide guidance so that your puppy will often make good choices.
Puppies are learning with every interaction so they are perpetually in “training.” Play is training. Resting is training. Walking is training and even learning to be away from you is training.
Embracing all these life events as training opportunities is incredibly beneficial in helping a puppy develop into the dog of your dreams. Because let’s face it: by encouraging good behaviors from the get-go, we can avoid the hassle of fixing bad habits that straighten over time and become more and more challenging to overcome.
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Consider that most dog behaviors stem from instinct and learned behaviors that have a history of reinforcement. Anything that the puppy finds rewarding will strengthen and repeat.
So if your puppy finds chewing on the drywall rewarding, you can bet he will be drawn to chewing on it more and more. However, what happens if you offer an interactive toy that is fun to chew on and hides some goodies inside? Your puppy will likely find that far more rewarding and will forget all about the drywall. So yes, help your puppy make good choices and you’ll be rewarded too with desirable behaviors. Win-win!
The Advantage of Training Early
Gone are the days when puppies were trained starting at 6 months of age. Delaying training for this long only led to problems as puppies at this age were at the peak stage of beginning adolescence. Training at this juvenile stage can lead to more challenges, not to mention that, by 6 months, bad habits have solidified and there have been many missed opportunities for training desirable behaviors.
Fortunately nowadays more and more breeders and dog owners are starting to train their puppies from a young age. Knowledgeable breeders start handling their puppies and socializing them from a very young age. They also get puppies used to walking on certain surfaces and hearing common household noises. Some basic crate training and potty training takes place also in their care.
From the day puppies come home and spend their first days with their new owners, potty training and crate training continues. Knowledgeable puppy owners will continue socializing their pups and start some training. Most puppies are 8 to 12 weeks of age when they are sent to their new homes. Puppies can learn some foundation basic obedience as early as 8 weeks of age.
How Long and How Often Should a Puppy be Trained?
How often should a puppy be trained? There are no general rules set in stone on how long and how often a puppy should be trained. It tends to vary on an individual basis. Just like us (think students who can sit in class concentrating on lessons while others are glancing out of the window daydreaming), some dogs can tolerate more training than others.
For instance, how is the pup’s attention span? Is he easily bored? You can generally train your pup as many times as you like as long as you pup is enjoying it and isn’t getting bored. Nothing is worse for a puppy than a tedious training session that is boring or too difficult.
With a puppy of 8 weeks, the attention span should not be too long, it would be therefore be more important doing brief and easy sessions rather than worrying about frequency.
As a rough estimate, a young puppy may do well with 5 to 6 brief sessions a day lasting about 2-3 mins each session. The aim should be doing about 10-15 minutes of training every day in brief sessions spread throughout the day. This would be a good place to start, making sure you end the session on a positive note and always when the pup is still interested. This builds a strong desire to learn.
Making the sessions fun will make them less likely to feel “intense” for both owner and puppy. As the puppy matures and the attention span sharpens, it is possible to do longer and longer sessions.
Variety is the Spice of Life
[adinserter block=”1″]Dog owners may wonder whether it’s best to focus on one behavior and teach it up to the level of mastery or whether it is best to teach a variety of behaviors at the same time. While there is really not right or wrong way to train behaviors (the important factor is that the puppy keeps learning and is eager to do so), with young pups it would be optimal to mix up several different behaviors.
Puppies can get bored easily and they have short attention spans so mixing up different behaviors can help them stay focused. Puppy owners can also take advantage of their pup’s energy levels and plan what to train accordingly. For instance, most puppies wake up with lots of energy or they may get the “zoomies” after finishing a meal. These are good times to take advantage of this energy bursts and train some recalls.
Then, as the puppy gets a bit tired, why not focus more on some stationary exercises such as sit, down and stay? Once they are relaxed more, then you can resume with some more kinetic energy exercises such as polite leash walking. These exercises feature shifts in energy that are more in tune with the pups’ activity levels and therefore can help maintain interest.
On top of training different behaviors, it’s important to also train them with different people and locations. All family members should be involved and take turns asking for behaviors. While training should start in a quite room, it should progress to involve various rooms of the house and the yard and then outside the home,
Although basic obedience is important, with young pups under the age of 16 weeks, it’s important to also focus on safe socialization. Puppy parties are an excellent way to introduce people of different ages to pups. Basic handling exercises are important too to teach the puppy to accept being touched for future grooming and vet visits. Use treats to create positive associations with being brushed, touched and having those paws handled.
Worried About Using Too Many Treats?
Many puppy owners are concerned about using too many treats due to calories or risks for digestive upset. There are several ways to cut out the number of treats given. Here are a few ideas.
You can cut down considerably on the amount of treats by splitting them into very small pieces. A regular soft treat can be broken down into 3 pieces and used each to reward one behavior. Each bit can be at most the size of a small pea. These small bites are often enough to reinforce desired behaviors.
You can also mix in some kibble (if your pup loves it) and give it as rewards every now and then when training in low distraction areas. Tossing the kibble at a distance after your puppy performs a desired behavior provides your puppy with a fun game and a little exercise workout.
For dogs who love to play, play can too be used to reinforce desired behaviors. For example, why not ask the puppy to sit before tossing a ball? Why not call the puppy when you have a brand new toy? Hide it behind your back and when your puppy reaches you, say ‘good boy!’ and reward him by giving him the new toy.
There are also life rewards that can be used to your advantage. Life rewards are anything your puppy loves to do naturally and that can be used to reinforce desired behaviors. Does your puppy love to go out in the yard? Ask him to sit/stay before you open the door and once the door is open release him to the yard. Off he goes to explore! Does your puppy love to go on walks? If safe to do so (your pup finished his vaccinations and vet gave your the OK) ask your pup to sit when you put the leash on and go outside. So many opportunities!
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