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Permalink Reply by Beth on January 14, 2010 at 5:56pm

To be fair, if you've ever watched puppies play with adult dogs, they do the exact same thing. And the adult dog will correct them, and eventually they get the message and leave, but the next time they play they are right back at it.

Persistence is key, but to a certain extent pup has to mature enough to understand what you are looking for. At 10 weeks, she still has a peanut-sized brain with a ten second attention span. She might understand what you say but that doesn't mean she remembers it.

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Permalink Reply by Lauren and Penny Underfoot on January 31, 2010 at 4:27pm

At what age do you think I can expect to see a little understanding from my pup? So far (got her yesterday) she is only mildly bitey and we have been doing the ignore and distract methods. I know she is too young to really train yet, but I figured starting early and staying consistent can't hurt. However, my children kind of suck at the whole consistency thing and I don't want them giving commands, but they are still learning as well. At what age does a pup really learn who is the master and to be submissive? Plus, she is still missing her mama and littermates, so we don't want to be too hard on her. Poor little thing. :)

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Permalink Reply by Beth on January 31, 2010 at 5:41pm

Those first few days they are not really themselves, because the shock of the move is great even if they seem to handle it well. When we brought Jack home, we were pretty sure he wasn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but it only took a week or so to realize that he was quite clever.

During the first few days, I would mostly work on teaching her her name, and getting a potty and feeding schedule. After the first week you can really start to work on manners, "sit" and "come". Many puppies will stop nipping after just a few days and others take months to get it down. As far as understanding who is the "master", it seems to me that until they are about a year old they don't really fully grasp it. It's a very gradual process, but they are so full of play until that point that you constantly need to go back over stuff they've already learned. They just want to make a game out of everything.

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Permalink Reply by Lauren and Penny Underfoot on January 31, 2010 at 7:05pm

Thank you for the reply, this is sort of what I figured. We have been working on her name and I think she is already getting it, which surprised me a lot. She is a sweetie and is lying at my feet right now, after some hard play in the snow.

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Permalink Reply by Mickey & Mushu & Essa on January 31, 2010 at 5:34pm

Ah, yes, the puppy days. Those tiny teeth are sharp indeed. I remember my hand used to have several scars from Mickey's playful nips. They are partly trying to understand you and partly trying to figure out how seriously they should respond to your command. It does depend on the personality of your puppy as well. With Mushu, she responded to "ah-ah" very quickly. With Mickey, it took a little longer. Eventually, I decided to try a different strategy with him: in addition to say "ah-ah" when he starts to nip, I would reward him with a treat when he actually stops nipping. The first time I did this he was actually startled and turned his head as if trying to figure out what had just happened. It wasn't very long after that when he got the message and stopped nipping me all together. Now I can't even find the scars that were once on my hand. Don't worry and be patient and be consistent. She will get it.

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