Puppy and Adult Rotty

[VON KIRCHER]

As many of you know we have Mira, 11 weeks, and Happy, 8 years old. They are both wonderful and play wonderfully as well.

Can I get some advice on Mira's Training? We will get her into puppy classes eventually, but is there anything that should be done now. She already knows sit, stay and come. Our only problem is that when they are playing she does not listen to us, as she is so interested in Happy.

I don't want to create a situation where she is bonding more with our older girl than us. Should our training with her be strictly one on one with out the distraction of Happy?

As a side note, should we nip in the bud the play growling Mira does? Basically if I get her "riled" up she will do this growling sound, but she is obviously playing.

[jbach]

Originally Posted by VON KIRCHER

Should our training with her be strictly one on one with out the distraction of Happy?

I'm no expert here but I can answer this one. Especially at a puppy age, the training should be one on one. This works well with older dogs too. Crate one while working with the other. This way you get more "bang for your buck" in a 1 on 1 situation.

[flyballmom]

I agree...the puppy "training", which IMO should be minimal and stress free at this age, should be one on one. I'm in the same boat as you Nathan, with my now almost 16 week old and my 7 year old. They LOVE to play together.....but I make sure to spend lots of one on one time with Blitz, and TRY to limit their playtime, which can be difficult to do. Blitz is in puppy class now, so things are a bit more structured...still, at her age I wouldn't expect her to recall easily from playtime. I have not squelched any play growling...if she's growling at me in a playful way I either play back or offer her a "trade." If she's play growling at another dog I expect the dog to put her in her place. If she's pissy growling at me I tell her "ah ah" and she gets a crate time-out. So far this seems to be working well for us.

[VON KIRCHER]

Originally Posted by flyballmom

I agree...the puppy "training", which IMO should be minimal and stress free at this age, should be one on one. I'm in the same boat as you Nathan, with my now almost 16 week old and my 7 year old. They LOVE to play together.....but I make sure to spend lots of one on one time with Blitz, and TRY to limit their playtime, which can be difficult to do. Blitz is in puppy class now, so things are a bit more structured...still, at her age I wouldn't expect her to recall easily from playtime. I have not squelched any play growling...if she's growling at me in a playful way I either play back or offer her a "trade." If she's play growling at another dog I expect the dog to put her in her place. If she's pissy growling at me I tell her "ah ah" and she gets a crate time-out. So far this seems to be working well for us.

Thanks Beth and JBACH. I had a feeling this would be the advice. Beht could you PM me where you are taking Blitz for puppy classes?

[Mary Bouchard]

I would also do some fun stuff with the two together giving equal attention to both.


We have three and the whole family works individually with their dogs then we play tag and throw in some fun commands and make sure they work together and play together well.

[lcarothers]

I also have a pup (6 months) and a soon to be 2y/o, on June 1st!

I agree individual training is important, that is the 1st building block in their training. But I also give at least 20 min each day to working the dogs in unison, somedays even more short periods when they're letting me know they want to work (I think most of you know what I mean by that, somedays they are more receptive to learning). I believe its important to have them learn to respond to the same command at the same time, while dealing with the distraction of each other.
This is not easy, but I believe it must be done so that you have a well behaved pair in public.

Please note I did attempt to rush them on a 2 dog lead, and got wonderful advise from this forum concerning my misguided notion that they could work together while Rosie is only 6 months old. (NOT!)
They are currently on 2 leads while at the beach (our favorite public place), doing well most of the time, but we still get the occasional tangled leads (I'm sure you all can get a mental picture of those messes!)

I am not an expert by any means, but chose to have my dogs taught the ability to behave in unison in certain situations.

I began the sit, stay, down training together when Rosie turned 12 weeks old.
We have progressed to lead training together at 5 - 6 months. They are doing better than I expected.

[SABELLESMOM]

I believe individual training is in order and will be the most rewarding.

That said, there is one suggestion. If you would like your pup to come when called 100%, every time, even when playing with Happy...make it inforcable. It will also "call her attention back to you" which you'll want to have anyway.

When playing in the yard, have a long lead on her. For most of the play time, it can just lay on the ground. Then, every once in a while, pick it up and call her. She will probably want to ignore you and comtinue playing. You encourage her slightly with her leash, and gently "make" her come. Praise lavishly and treat!

I mention this because I had one pup who DIDN"T come 100%. This was my solution and it worked. Eventually, since dogs are situational learners, you cut the leash in half, work for a while...( the idea is they feel they "have" to come because the leash is on and you can enforce it)...then in half again as long as you have success, until you have nothing but the little clip left! (then off with the clip)