# At what age can i send my dog to training



## jelliott724

I am getting a GSD puppy from a friend of mine who's dog had puppys. He will let me have her as soon as I want her(i was thinking maybe 6weeks.) My question is what is a good age to send a puppy off to a training camp? I talked with a trainer who said he could take her at 7-8 weeks old and would keep her for a month and teach her basic commands like sit,stay,down,come and also would work on crate training and house breaking he said the puppy would be with a trainer everyday and even stay at there house. does this sound about right? if not what would be a good age to send them?


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## sagelfn

Do not take your puppy any sooner than 8wks and do not let your friend give puppies any sooner than 8wks. They need to be with their litter and mom to learn important dog behaviors.

Why not take a puppy class WITH your new puppy. Training is just as important for you as it is your puppy 

Your breeder should be working on some of this stuff while the litter is still in his care.


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## Jack's Dad

My opinion only.
6 weeks is too soon. Should be at least 8 weeks. It would probably be better to have someone teach you to train than take the puppy away. It also sounds like you are not ready with regard to vaccinations etc... Puppies are a big job and you need to be prepared.

There are others on here who have much more experience than I and will give you sound suggestions. Good Luck


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## Freestep

FYI - In many states, puppies legally must be 8 weeks of age to go to a new home.

Why not train WITH your puppy? Puppies are not computers, you can't expect someone else to program a pup for you and have it come back perfect if you don't know how to keep up the training. The most important part of training a puppy is actually training the OWNER. If you go to training classes with your pup, you'll have much better results, it'll be fun for both of you and will help build the bond that is so important.


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## Castlemaid

Do not take puppy at six weeks. Puppy should be good to go no sooner than 8 weeks, but only if puppy can stay with the mom and littermates until then for learning bite-inhibition and other important doggy social behaviours that are crucial for their well-being and smooth intergration into a family. If all the pups are gone at six weeks or sooner (I hope not - poor pups!), then don't take the pup. I don't mean, don't take the pup at 8 weeks, I mean, don't take the pup, at all. In some states, it is illegal to sell a puppy that is less than 8 weeks old, that is how important it has been found to leave a puppy with its littermates and mother for healthy mental development. 

Do not send you puppy away for training. Puppy needs to bond with you, and you can learn along with your puppy. Teaching, bonding, cleaning up oops accidents in the house, crate training, playing, loving, cuddling, getting accidently bitten by a small pup with sharp teeth that gets over-excited in play is all part of the fun of having a pup. 

There is no magic that a trainer can do on a pup this young that isn't straight-forward positive training with treats that you can easily do yourself. And puppies this young don't get trained in a month, their brains are too small, their attention span too short, their ability to be consistent and not get distracted not developed yet. What you can do (easily) is start on building the basics with your pup, basics to build on to have a trained pup as you go through puppy classes and basic obedience classes with your pup. Probably a lot cheaper, way more fun, and more beneficial for you and your pup than sending him away for training. (And sorry, but the whole concept of 'sending' a 7 to 8 week old puppy away to training just blows my mind!


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## neiltus

If your going to pick up this dog at 6 weeks to go to a training camp, you might need to attend to learn-up as well.

Before you start taking dogs from friends take some time to read and search on the forum. There are a number of excellent threads to look at regarding health issues, your ability to manage a pup/dog, feeding, training, socialization, etc.

You should read some in all these areas before taking a GSD home. Your free dog could turn into a 5K dog in a matter of a year or end up in a rescue...

There is a book called GSD for dummies if you don't like searching the forum (forum is better info IMO)


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## Jessiewessie99

In many places its illegal to send puppies home earlier than 8 weeks.

Why are sending your future pup away to training? It is much better to train WITH her. It helps with the bonding.


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## selzer

Lucia said it best. Pup is young, too young at six weeks. Should be with the litter for two more weeks. 

You need to train your puppy. It is not a good idea to let someone try to train a pup this young. You will have no idea what they did with the pup. And without you doing the body language, commands, hand signal, then the pup will lose it all -- any that he might have retained anyway.

And unless the trainer is doing careful socialization and positive training, they can do damage to the pup. 

Lastly, there are some breeders who start training pups in the litter. Personally, I would not buy from a breeder who claims a pup is trained in any way prior to eight weeks. I really do not want them to do any training, any formal training. Nothing wrong with them taking them for a ride in the car, or introducing them to a crate, or even sitting for a treat, but stay, heel, down, come -- that should be you really. I guess what I worry about is a breeder being heavy handed with a pup to prove that they are trained.


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## ponyfarm

Why would you want to send the puppy away just after you get the little guy? Puppies are so much fun...you don't want to miss that, do you? 

And, it should be 8 weeks old. Dont let your friend get rid of the puppies at six weeks just because they don't want to mess with them any more! Still need their mom.


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## VomBlack

I agree with everyone else. I would much rather use those crucial few weeks (after the pup comes home at *8* weeks) with my new dog, play with them, socialize them and really just set up a good bond with the puppy. There's no pressure for a pup to have all their basic obedience down by 12 weeks, you can go to a puppy class, you both can work little by little.. for me training with my dogs it's always great to have a dog pick up on what you're teaching them, but one of the biggest bonuses of working together is the working relationship you form from learning from each other.


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## tsteves

Kona is 13 weeks now. We started a 6 week training course with her at 12 weeks. We got her at about 8 weeks. We spent the first few weeks bonding and socializing so that we could get to know each other before training started. My husband and I both attend her training sessions. In my opinion it is better to go to a class where they focus on teaching you to do the training. Not only will it help your pup to retain all of the information but it is great for bonding as well.


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## vat

All I can say is I agree with everyone else.


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## Lauri & The Gang

Dog training is more about how YOU can train your dog.

It it time to spend with the dog, building a bond that will last the dogs life and make you and the dog a team.


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## Jax's Mom

Out of curiosity, how much does this basic training and housebreaking cost?


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## tsteves

Jax's Mom said:


> Out of curiosity, how much does this basic training and housebreaking cost?


From what I have seen most "puppy kindergarten" courses are about $100. But i guess it would probably depend on where you are located. 

We are doing her puppy course at the local PetSmart since the trainers are amazing. One has two wonderful GSD's that I can only hope Kona will grow to be like and the other is so great with Kona and so knowledgeable on most breeds. We will see how this goes to see if we do our future classes there or go to the puppy school that is a little farther away.


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## AgileGSD

Getting a puppy at 6 weeks isn't the end of the world. Most people don't consider it ideal. 

I would not suggest you send your puppy away for training. Sending a puppy away for housetraining is not generally all that effective. You'll still have to housetrain him when you get him back, as he will be too young to generalize that he can't potty in your house and will need to learn your schedule. IME crate training tends to go a lot smootherif you crate the puppy right next to your bed. So far, in doing this I haven't had any puppies cry through the night. Puppies cry at night because they are scared and lonely, crating next to your bed tend to take care of that. You can gradually move the crate further away as the puppy gets older. It's also great for housetraining because you'll know if the puppy has to go out. 

For basic obedience - teaching puppies to sit, down, come when called and do tricks is pretty easy using positive reinforcement. And it's great for building a bond between you are your puppy. I have had my puppy for two weeks and he already has learned: sit, down, come, high-ho (stand on back legs), begining of leave it, jump onto a contact board, bounce between two flippedover wading pools, retrieve a toy from a wading pool with water, jump into a box and lie down and more. He rarely has accidents in the house (and when he does, it's my fault of course) and sleeps through the night. Like all training this stuff needs to continue to be practiced and built on but it was all very easy to get him to do using positive reinformcement. And as a bonus, it provided bonding that sending your dog away to training never could.


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## spyla

form the breeder @ 8 weeks would be ideal, as far as training you first need to bond with the dog. Do basic stuff like house training and simple commands and after 4-6 months you can send the dog off to training. Lot of people will have you believe that you have to train the dog yourself only. Not everyone has the skill or time to do it. Most important thing is to build the bond before he goes for training and then keep it up after he comes back from training. generally trainers take a month to train cost is $400-$700. 

I think petsmart training is good if have the time to follow through with the all you learnt at the class and spend the time at home to go over it.


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