9 Week Old Pup

[wm1977]

Hello,

This is my first time posting on here. I have been reading a lot of posts and there is a lot of great info out there. I could not find an answer to a question I was having about my new pup so I though I would throw it up here and see if I get any replies.

We just picked up Mika from a great breeder in Sacramento and she's been good so far. Some normal puppy antics but overall a very sweet girl. I was having a hard time getting her to come on command so the vet we took her to get her second round of shots suggested using turkey hotdogs as motivation. Well it worked freakin' great. After getting one piece she instantly would come, sit, and down (lay) which I though was good for a 91/2 week old. The problem is that now that she knows that we'll give her treats for doing what we say, that seems to be all she wants. If I call her name she'll run over and expect a treat to the point of climbing on me and smelling all over. When she realizes that there's no treat, she goes on about her business. If I call her back again she'll hesitate because, I assume, she know's she might not get one this time. So I guess my question is... is it ok to train a dog with these treats knowing that they are the only reason she is listening? Now maybe after a few weeks we can take away the treats but do you think we'll get the same obidence?

Any help you could give would be great.

[hokisteph5]

I'd start varying when she gets a treat. When I had Samson in puppy k the trainer recommended giving a treat three times when teaching a new trick/command and then not giving a treat. As you know, that way the dog doesn't come to expect a treat every single time you ask them to do something.

The amount of times doesn't really matter, you just want to keep things a little random. Some paperwork I had in the class that ended last week talks about there being three stages to dog training. I can't remember the first phase, but the last two are "transition" and "maintenance."

In the first stage, though, you want to reward more and not less since the commands are new.

ETA: I forgot to congratulate you on discovering what motivates your girl.

[rencook]

My guy-at 14 weeks old, still works for food-about every tenth time or so, I tell him to "come" and just give him a good boy-or a toy. At this age your really want to have them associate good things with coming to you-you can wean the treats off later!
Also, do not worry too much about commands at this point-make her have fun and socialize, socialize-there is plenty of time for the "real" stuff in a few weeks-let her be a puppy!

[BostonRott]

Dogs need constant re-inforcement at first, and then when the behavior is about 80% reliable, change over to random re-inforcement. When not feeding, be sure you give lots of happy voice and play. Randomly re-inforced behaviors hold up best over time.

Find yourself a copy of "Smart Trainers, Brilliant Dogs" and enjoy reading through it. You'll learn a lot and this exact topic is covered VERY well.

[wm1977]

Thanks a lot for all the replies everyone. This is a great site.

[rottcrazed]

She is a BABY - you have to keep that in mind. 9 - 10 weeks old, you are expecting an awful lot from her. You can certainly train her now, getting started teaching her in all different areas, but to expect in a couple of weeks to have a puppy responding without motivation is expecting too much.

It is a good thing to have a food motivated dog, so use that to your advantage and once she has a good foundation laid (which does not happen in 2 weeks), then you can start to see what she really knows by intermittently giving her the treats.

9.5 weeks, I am really happy if my puppies know their name, walk on a leash, respond to simple commands like 'sit', 'stand', etc... and retrieve a toy for fun. Progression should be a little slower than what I think you are expecting.

Enjoy the puppy in her, it is here for such a short itme.

Kristi