Puppy Kindergarten and other stuff

I am enrolling Maggie in puppy kindergarten. It starts in September and I figure it won't hurt. Anyone else go through puppy kindergarten? Thoughts?

Also, in the meantime I would like to work on the command "stay", but I am having trouble with this because she gets so excited. She sits on command and can lay down on command. How did you guys teach your corgi this?

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Permalink Reply by Amber Rich on August 4, 2010 at 2:08pm

With the "stay" command it helps to be really close to your corgi and take only one step back or to the side. If your corgi moves with you she is not ready for you to move around that much. Do this and slowly take 2 steps and 3 until eventually you should be able to walk a circle around her and walk to the other end of the room. Be consistent and praise lavishly when she stays (even if you only took one step). I hope that helps! Treats are a must, of course, for good behavior! :)

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Permalink Reply by Betts on August 4, 2010 at 2:35pm

I thought puppy kindergarten was excellent. We took turns handling different puppies, introduced them to children, learned basic commands and had playtime every 10 minutes or so. Stay was the last command we worked on, and I thought it was the hardest.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on August 4, 2010 at 3:05pm

We LOVED puppy kindergarten, both Bertie and Ethel went. Personally, my favorite part was freeplay, as there's nothing better than a pileup of puppies, but they learned a lot too (and I got great guidance on training too). And as commented above, stay is tough, and requires very small steps and loads of patience. At first you are pretty much rewarding for sitting, then very very slowly rewarding for staying as you move further away or walk around. Eventually, not only can you walk to the other end of the room and back, but you also "proof" the stay -- attaching a long lead, and giving a little tug, but the pup mustn't respond unless you give it your code word for "okay, break!" Takes a looooong time.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on August 4, 2010 at 3:06pm

How old is she? Many dogs are not really ready for a longer stay til they are around a year old and start to get their wits about them.

Many people, myself included, try to expect a longer "stay" than the dog is ready to understand when first training. No matter the age of the dog, when you start training "stay", I have them stay for only about 1 second, while I'm standing right there.. Count it out "one thousand one" then say "Ok, goood girl!!" and treat/click/praise, whatever you do for reward.

When they master 1 second, then try 2. Then go back to 1, then do a 2-second for two times and a 1 second for one, etc. Mix up the times. Gradually add seconds. The difference between an adult and a puppy is with a pup, you'll keep the stay short (at least I do, others are perfectly capable of training young puppies to stay for long times, but it's beyond my ability! lol) until pup is more mature. With an adult, you can keep adding seconds steadily. Just remember to mix up really short ones with longer ones, so the dog does not anticipate the release.