Trying to understand about the 1st 4 months and pretty much no training. I have a 12 week old dog and I get the mouthiness, but he is biting and thinks its a game. He is persistent and it just is not okay. we try diverting him with a toy or chew toy, but many time he just ignores those and goes back to trying to bite you. How do you correct this… or should you? He is now getting board with the bully sticks already. He is smart, doing really well with potty training.
I have always been tormented by the question, is it possible to rage and play like a dog with a Doberman puppy under the age of one year? Will this have a good effect on them, or will they bite the owner more? I have a dog, but it is of the Bichon Frise breed and is not suitable for playing with a Doberman at 6 months old. However, that's exactly how we played with her. Yes, she bites, but not really. She plays, runs, takes your hand in her mouth and jumps away, rushes around you. And she likes it more than throwing toys. Is this suitable for a Doberman? (I really want him to have fun)
This was an eye opener. I have a 4 month old and have been trying to train her like an adult for the past month. Now I know why she is the way she is! 😅
Seriously…You were so right when u said that no other videos have said and explained this and the age expectations the way u have done…after 4 German shepherd pups this is so true to their mind set. Thank you. I think I needed your refresher course to help me with my current strong willed 4 month old pup. Now I don't feel so overwhelmed and expecting too much too soon.
I have a 5 month old Bernerdoodle (been with us for 2 months now) who simply won't relax or hang out on her own for any amount of time in the evenings. Ill feed her in the evening at around 7, take her out for a walk and from the time we are back from the walk till bedtime, she will not leave me be, even to eat or make dinner or anything. I can't sit on the sofa for a minute without her demanding my attention. Even when she's tired, she won't go sleep unless i go to bed too – this can mean sometimes i have to be in bed at 8+ which is just ridiculous! Ive hired 2 trainers and neither of them have been able to give me any practical advice on how to handle this. My bernerdoodle is not crate trained (i'm working on it though!) and she hates having the door closed on her.. she will bite, paw, bark etc… so i can't put her in my room and just close the door, neither will she stay in there.. Its starting to cause some tension in the house amongst family members as its getting quite frustrating. How can i teach her to settle down or to relax on her own? Has anyone had a similar situation? Please help! 😩😭
OMGosh! I have been putting way too much pressure on my 3.5 month old puppy with the leash! And its been sooooooo frustrating! I have had some serious puppy regret with the nipping, biting, chewing, and walking. I thought you had to get training done very soon or you'd have problems later. Please do more puppy content.
this was super helpful. I have a 4 month old rescue puppy and tried to jump into socializing. sounds like that might be a little premature. love you breaking down the stages!
Littermate syndrome. Is it a thing? Any advice on how do stick to this schedule with 6 puppies? I adopted a dog that came as a stray to my house. She was pregnant. I am fostering puppies until homes can be found. They are 15 weeks old now and becoming aggressive with each other. The girls are smaller than the boys and usually the aggressors. I am now keeping them separate when I cannot monitor them in a 4-stall kennel and 2 portable kennels/cages so they are together in one building, but separate. Thanks!
is there a video about age approprate socializing ? Especially when you have only one dog? For example: is it necessary, that the puppy has daily contact to other puppies or well behaved grown up dogs ? When do i interfere to protect my puppy? Would you recommend contact only to dogs, that you know in the first yiear?
This is new to me and I’ve been exposed to more dog professionals than your average person. Apparently I’ve messed up already. Our new puppy is 6 months and I started a little leash training using your method. She has shown great improvement. Do I need to cut that out completely until 12 months? We have a 6 year old dog too who is very well trained. They get along but the puppy is too much most of the time and our older dog gets frustrated with her. I’ve been managing them some and also letting my older dog tell her no some. We have 3 children so I had to do some training because the kids are not chew toys or litter mates to tackle!
Hi ! I love your videos! I am all for happy chappy dog training, but sometimes you just have to get serious! Question though: my (four month old – who would have thought) is supposed to become an assistant dog for me. In the assistant dog community it‘s quite common to train the puppies early, so you can start training the actual skills with them. WDYT? Does this apply to stb working dogs as well?
THANK YOU! I am so against crates because it traumatizes an animal and I have always said that YOU are the puppy's new pack and so they should sleep with you! You are the first dog trainer I've ever heard say to let the puppy in the bed! I don't use crates for potty training! I think they are abuse and most trainers are promoting them!
Ensuring that the puppies have a secure environment is so important. I agree with that but I also think this timeline is very breed specific. I have a cairn terrier at 3 months he is great on the leash and seems to enjoy short training sessions. I don’t think he’s “out of his mind” which I guess is a good thing.
Thank you so much for this video about age appropriateness and developmental milestones. My dog is turned 1 soon and I wish I'd seen this video earlier. She did Basic Obedience classes at 9 to 10 months. There was a noticeable surge in her strength and stamina and bursts of energy around 11 months so i started running with her more and simultaneously being a whole lot more focused on getting her to walk nicely on leash and not pulling, charging, wandering around. Training her to walk nicely is actually how I found your channel only just this week! Your channel is very helpful. I watched your loose leash walking videos and tried it yesterday and it worked. Thank you very much for these videos!
Hi Joel! This video was a HUGE eyeopener for me. I have a 7 month old Doberman/Labrador, and I've been watching training videos…all walking away feeling like I am doing things wrong while feeling quite defeated. I've been very discouraged. I usually see videos of trainers using puppies/dogs that are already trained, and it makes me feel like my puppy is completely out of control, and he'll never be like one of them. This video let me know that my puppy isn't bad; his brain is going through changes at different stages. I now know what I can expect from my puppy as he grows, and that I can relax a bit, and just enjoy him right now. I already have him doing some basic commands, and he's learning so fast! Thank you for these videos. They are game changers!
Amazing video on raising pups. My wife and I are raising European Doberman. He is 8mo right now. We’ve had challenges to say the least. This video reassures many of us, parents, we’re on the right path. Thank you
I appreciate this video! I have been searching for age appropriate training as this is a difficult subject. I have had puppies who I did zero training with and struggled later on down the line. And I have known people to train puppies from as young as 8 weeks and end up with amazing dogs. So when I got a new puppy, I wanted to get it right this time. She's 3 months old right now. And she's learning some basic manners. But I will work harder to ensure she feels safe. I think she feels safe in our home based upon how she's always happy. But she seems scared of the rest of the world. I don't have other dogs she can interact with. And we had a scary incident in our neighborhood when a pitbull and german shepherd came charging at us. So socialization with other dogs is going to be very challenging.
My dog sprints whilst on leash and goes flying in the air. We only bring him in one back yard mostly, everywhere else he’s very chill. And we can’t have him off leash because there are gaps. He also consistently bites things he shouldn’t, he destroys his beds, blankets bites metal, even with toys because despite trying to get him invested he doesn’t. And we have chewing toys
I have a 3 month old Golden Retriever so I really appreciate these videos to figure out the age appropriate training! I've been trying to watch a bunch of videos how to get her off to a good start, but the majority are all over a year old.
Did I understand correctly that a Vizsla at 9 months with the current state…. Lulu isn’t afraid of anything in particular. She happily engages with other dogs and people. She comes when called, even if being much closer to a new dog than to me. She will wait going in and out of the house if I tell her to. She still mouthes quite a bit. She really wants to jump up, but catches herself sometimes. She will check on me reliably when walking loose and stay close-ish when told to. She walks loose lead 40% of the time. Her main struggle is being highly excitable. If anyone gives her attention she gets super happy, which overwhelms some people and pleases others …. I should consider her doing fine and only be tougher on her in a few months for the mouthing and jumping?
I’m loving this content. Making me think I need to back off my focus on training a stray puppy I’ve been trying to help. Having been involved with SAR Dog trainers and also showing GSDs myself, it seems a bit alien to let puppies go so long without intensive training. SAR dogs are worked pretty hard as puppies. 🤷♀️ I’m hoping I haven’t screwed him up too much by expecting so much more. 😣
Could you please do a video on the puppy stage up to 8 weeks? I got my dog at 5 weeks (I was told) but I think she could have been younger. Had to take her as she was not in a good home and I was worried problems could arise there. I later learnt that the litter was severely teased by children in the neighberhood to make them aggressive. She was a very difficult young dog with agressive, dominant and reactive behaviour. Not agressive anymore. She did not have safety in the first say 5 weeks, and must have missed important conditioning with mother and siblings. How can one make up for that?
my puppies hat the leash and they are only 11 weeks old, i shouldn't be pushing the leash you said but im not allowed to have them off of it can someone advise me i dont want them to hate the leash and have a bigger problem later on they are brothers from the same litter
Thanks! As a pet sitter who works with all ages, this is incredibly helpful. I’m sending you this “thanks” because I don’t have the words. Also I am taking care of a year and a half golden retriever for three weeks.😅
Wow!! I found your video when I needed it most!! I just got a 9 week old Weimaraner and I’ve been looking for information on what should I be teaching my pup at this stage. You should consider creating more content expanding on each of the growth stages. That would be so helpful to so many people!!
I have a question, for anyone who can answer it for me, I know that giving your dog treats to reinforce positive behaviour is good, but my question is?? What do I do to "tell my dog" thats bad behaviour don't do that, obviously im not going to hit my dog so what punishment do I exercise to let him know that that's bad behaviour, I don't want to traumatize him or be a bully,, any suggestions,,,, … Lost for punishment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know pretty much most of this, Been training and enjoying the company dogs for decades. But it is SOOO helpful to hear it and refresh myself. Incorporating ideas from others has excelled my training. Love these videos.
My 3-month-old miniature schnauzer is full of energy, but boy, does she love to nip, bite, and lunge! 😅 When she gets a bit too feisty, I've found that ignoring her or gently putting her in the playpen for a timeout sometimes works. We've got some awesome chew toys to redirect her attention, but sometimes she still goes for our feet out of the blue! Thank goodness for frozen Kongs, though—they give us a blissful 45 minutes of peace each day. My poor hands are covered in little teeth marks! 😬 Lately, we've been extra vigilant—if those teeth touch human skin or clothes, it's an instant ignore. And if she teeths the kids, it's a quick timeout in the playpen for her.
39 comments
Trying to understand about the 1st 4 months and pretty much no training. I have a 12 week old dog and I get the mouthiness, but he is biting and thinks its a game. He is persistent and it just is not okay. we try diverting him with a toy or chew toy, but many time he just ignores those and goes back to trying to bite you. How do you correct this… or should you? He is now getting board with the bully sticks already. He is smart, doing really well with potty training.
I have always been tormented by the question, is it possible to rage and play like a dog with a Doberman puppy under the age of one year? Will this have a good effect on them, or will they bite the owner more?
I have a dog, but it is of the Bichon Frise breed and is not suitable for playing with a Doberman at 6 months old. However, that's exactly how we played with her. Yes, she bites, but not really. She plays, runs, takes your hand in her mouth and jumps away, rushes around you. And she likes it more than throwing toys. Is this suitable for a Doberman? (I really want him to have fun)
This was an eye opener. I have a 4 month old and have been trying to train her like an adult for the past month. Now I know why she is the way she is! 😅
Seriously…You were so right when u said that no other videos have said and explained this and the age expectations the way u have done…after 4 German shepherd pups this is so true to their mind set. Thank you. I think I needed your refresher course to help me with my current strong willed 4 month old pup. Now I don't feel so overwhelmed and expecting too much too soon.
I have a 5 month old Bernerdoodle (been with us for 2 months now) who simply won't relax or hang out on her own for any amount of time in the evenings. Ill feed her in the evening at around 7, take her out for a walk and from the time we are back from the walk till bedtime, she will not leave me be, even to eat or make dinner or anything. I can't sit on the sofa for a minute without her demanding my attention. Even when she's tired, she won't go sleep unless i go to bed too – this can mean sometimes i have to be in bed at 8+ which is just ridiculous! Ive hired 2 trainers and neither of them have been able to give me any practical advice on how to handle this. My bernerdoodle is not crate trained (i'm working on it though!) and she hates having the door closed on her.. she will bite, paw, bark etc… so i can't put her in my room and just close the door, neither will she stay in there.. Its starting to cause some tension in the house amongst family members as its getting quite frustrating. How can i teach her to settle down or to relax on her own? Has anyone had a similar situation? Please help! 😩😭
This really opened my eyes. Thank you!
I have a three month old Boston terrier. Man, I was treating him like he was an adult. Thank you for all the tips.
OMGosh! I have been putting way too much pressure on my 3.5 month old puppy with the leash! And its been sooooooo frustrating! I have had some serious puppy regret with the nipping, biting, chewing, and walking. I thought you had to get training done very soon or you'd have problems later. Please do more puppy content.
Danke für den guten Ratschlag. Wir haben einen Continental Bulldog Welpen. Er wird durch dieses Wissen ein besserer Freund werden.
Would you say if I have a 3 mo puppy who is very calm but a little nervous, I should avoid the real world to help him feel safe?
this was super helpful. I have a 4 month old rescue puppy and tried to jump into socializing. sounds like that might be a little premature. love you breaking down the stages!
Littermate syndrome. Is it a thing? Any advice on how do stick to this schedule with 6 puppies? I adopted a dog that came as a stray to my house. She was pregnant. I am fostering puppies until homes can be found. They are 15 weeks old now and becoming aggressive with each other. The girls are smaller than the boys and usually the aggressors. I am now keeping them separate when I cannot monitor them in a 4-stall kennel and 2 portable kennels/cages so they are together in one building, but separate. Thanks!
is there a video about age approprate socializing ? Especially when you have only one dog? For example: is it necessary, that the puppy has daily contact to other puppies or well behaved grown up dogs ? When do i interfere to protect my puppy? Would you recommend contact only to dogs, that you know in the first yiear?
This is new to me and I’ve been exposed to more dog professionals than your average person. Apparently I’ve messed up already. Our new puppy is 6 months and I started a little leash training using your method. She has shown great improvement. Do I need to cut that out completely until 12 months? We have a 6 year old dog too who is very well trained. They get along but the puppy is too much most of the time and our older dog gets frustrated with her. I’ve been managing them some and also letting my older dog tell her no some. We have 3 children so I had to do some training because the kids are not chew toys or litter mates to tackle!
My goodness so much good information. Thank God for you brother.
Hi !
I love your videos! I am all for happy chappy dog training, but sometimes you just have to get serious!
Question though: my (four month old – who would have thought) is supposed to become an assistant dog for me. In the assistant dog community it‘s quite common to train the puppies early, so you can start training the actual skills with them.
WDYT? Does this apply to stb working dogs as well?
THANK YOU! I am so against crates because it traumatizes an animal and I have always said that YOU are the puppy's new pack and so they should sleep with you! You are the first dog trainer I've ever heard say to let the puppy in the bed! I don't use crates for potty training! I think they are abuse and most trainers are promoting them!
Unfortunately i got my gsd at 14 months and he had no training aside from being gouse broken. Been having to catch up. Thabks for insight
Ensuring that the puppies have a secure environment is so important. I agree with that but I also think this timeline is very breed specific. I have a cairn terrier at 3 months he is great on the leash and seems to enjoy short training sessions. I don’t think he’s “out of his mind” which I guess is a good thing.
Thank you so much for this video about age appropriateness and developmental milestones. My dog is turned 1 soon and I wish I'd seen this video earlier. She did Basic Obedience classes at 9 to 10 months. There was a noticeable surge in her strength and stamina and bursts of energy around 11 months so i started running with her more and simultaneously being a whole lot more focused on getting her to walk nicely on leash and not pulling, charging, wandering around. Training her to walk nicely is actually how I found your channel only just this week! Your channel is very helpful. I watched your loose leash walking videos and tried it yesterday and it worked. Thank you very much for these videos!
Hi Joel! This video was a HUGE eyeopener for me. I have a 7 month old Doberman/Labrador, and I've been watching training videos…all walking away feeling like I am doing things wrong while feeling quite defeated. I've been very discouraged. I usually see videos of trainers using puppies/dogs that are already trained, and it makes me feel like my puppy is completely out of control, and he'll never be like one of them. This video let me know that my puppy isn't bad; his brain is going through changes at different stages. I now know what I can expect from my puppy as he grows, and that I can relax a bit, and just enjoy him right now. I already have him doing some basic commands, and he's learning so fast! Thank you for these videos. They are game changers!
I wish I had found your channel 10 years ago. We have a 10 year old Welsh that could have used this training, but as you said, she is who she is now.
Amazing video on raising pups. My wife and I are raising European Doberman. He is 8mo right now. We’ve had challenges to say the least. This video reassures many of us, parents, we’re on the right path. Thank you
I appreciate this video! I have been searching for age appropriate training as this is a difficult subject. I have had puppies who I did zero training with and struggled later on down the line. And I have known people to train puppies from as young as 8 weeks and end up with amazing dogs. So when I got a new puppy, I wanted to get it right this time. She's 3 months old right now. And she's learning some basic manners. But I will work harder to ensure she feels safe. I think she feels safe in our home based upon how she's always happy. But she seems scared of the rest of the world. I don't have other dogs she can interact with. And we had a scary incident in our neighborhood when a pitbull and german shepherd came charging at us. So socialization with other dogs is going to be very challenging.
My dog sprints whilst on leash and goes flying in the air. We only bring him in one back yard mostly, everywhere else he’s very chill. And we can’t have him off leash because there are gaps. He also consistently bites things he shouldn’t, he destroys his beds, blankets bites metal, even with toys because despite trying to get him invested he doesn’t. And we have chewing toys
I have a 3 month old Golden Retriever so I really appreciate these videos to figure out the age appropriate training! I've been trying to watch a bunch of videos how to get her off to a good start, but the majority are all over a year old.
Did I understand correctly that a Vizsla at 9 months with the current state….
Lulu isn’t afraid of anything in particular. She happily engages with other dogs and people. She comes when called, even if being much closer to a new dog than to me. She will wait going in and out of the house if I tell her to. She still mouthes quite a bit. She really wants to jump up, but catches herself sometimes. She will check on me reliably when walking loose and stay close-ish when told to. She walks loose lead 40% of the time. Her main struggle is being highly excitable. If anyone gives her attention she gets super happy, which overwhelms some people and pleases others
…. I should consider her doing fine and only be tougher on her in a few months for the mouthing and jumping?
I’m loving this content. Making me think I need to back off my focus on training a stray puppy I’ve been trying to help. Having been involved with SAR Dog trainers and also showing GSDs myself, it seems a bit alien to let puppies go so long without intensive training. SAR dogs are worked pretty hard as puppies. 🤷♀️ I’m hoping I haven’t screwed him up too much by expecting so much more. 😣
Could you please do a video on the puppy stage up to 8 weeks? I got my dog at 5 weeks (I was told) but I think she could have been younger. Had to take her as she was not in a good home and I was worried problems could arise there. I later learnt that the litter was severely teased by children in the neighberhood to make them aggressive. She was a very difficult young dog with agressive, dominant and reactive behaviour. Not agressive anymore. She did not have
safety in the first say 5 weeks, and must have missed important conditioning with mother and siblings. How can one make up for that?
Great video
my puppies hat the leash and they are only 11 weeks old, i shouldn't be pushing the leash you said but im not allowed to have them off of it can someone advise me i dont want them to hate the leash and have a bigger problem later on they are brothers from the same litter
Thanks! As a pet sitter who works with all ages, this is incredibly helpful. I’m sending you this “thanks” because I don’t have the words. Also I am taking care of a year and a half golden retriever for three weeks.😅
Wow!! I found your video when I needed it most!! I just got a 9 week old Weimaraner and I’ve been looking for information on what should I be teaching my pup at this stage. You should consider creating more content expanding on each of the growth stages. That would be so helpful to so many people!!
I have a question, for anyone who can answer it for me, I know that giving your dog treats to reinforce positive behaviour is good, but my question is?? What do I do to "tell my dog" thats bad behaviour don't do that, obviously im not going to hit my dog so what punishment do I exercise to let him know that that's bad behaviour, I don't want to traumatize him or be a bully,, any suggestions,,,, … Lost for punishment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know pretty much most of this, Been training and enjoying the company dogs for decades. But it is SOOO helpful to hear it and refresh myself. Incorporating ideas from others has excelled my training. Love these videos.
Just the video I was looking for without even knowing ❤
Is it possible for a 4 year old Belgian malinois to be broken ok the jumping and nipping?
My 3-month-old miniature schnauzer is full of energy, but boy, does she love to nip, bite, and lunge! 😅 When she gets a bit too feisty, I've found that ignoring her or gently putting her in the playpen for a timeout sometimes works. We've got some awesome chew toys to redirect her attention, but sometimes she still goes for our feet out of the blue! Thank goodness for frozen Kongs, though—they give us a blissful 45 minutes of peace each day. My poor hands are covered in little teeth marks! 😬 Lately, we've been extra vigilant—if those teeth touch human skin or clothes, it's an instant ignore. And if she teeths the kids, it's a quick timeout in the playpen for her.
Can you make a puppy chasing and biting feet and ankles video, how to correct it