[Docphil91]

Hey ya‘ll first time poster here... We recently got a male pup with the intention of him eventually working in either a service animal or protection animal All dependent upon his personality. Both of his parents are working dogs. Mom was/is a service animal and dad is a protection dog who also does cadaver work For a local search and rescue agency. He has great drive, very very focused on me regardless of whatever activity we are doing, and he is a great listener. He is only 11.5 weeks and is already involved in Training for his obedience, he started basic nose work and is killing it. But.... he is a massive baby haha. He very vocal and is a whiney little bugger. He will of course whine when he goes into his crate for his daily alone time (stops after about 3-5 minutes so this is good), at night he sleeps through the night in crate next to my bed just fine but when we socialize him on busy areas like stores, main streets, etc he whines allot. Or when i put him situations to purposely make him work on heights and such his is not shy about telling me he doesn’t like this. I will always continue the activity until completion but i was curious if this is normal and will cease as he grows.
thanks yall
-Phil

 

[Jorski]

Sounds like stress reactions. He is very young, I would think you may need to slow down a bit and find small incremental challenges that don't trigger that response while he builds confidence. Or perhaps you can employ a distraction like a food, a toy or a behaviour that stops the reaction and allows you to reset and then move forward.

My dog was dog reactive on leash when I first took him to the park. Each time I would give him a small leash correction, call him and ask him to sit, then gave him a treat and a pat. In a small number of repetitions it completely stopped.

 

[Pawsed]

I agree that you are moving too fast. He IS a baby. I would be very careful with working him on heights, in that he shouldn't be jumping off of anything at his age.

Totally off topic, is that Acacia tile flooring? We are putting that down on our kitchen floor in the next couple of weeks, so it caught my eye.

 

[davewis]

Maybe start with baby steps:
1. Different-sized pieces of PVC pipe as obstacles he has to crawl over. He learns to climb and struggle. You can wrap the pipes in different materials to change the textures.
2. A 6-foot long 2X6 piece of lumber that you mount 2 or 3 inches off the ground that ask him to walk along. He learns balance and awareness of his paws.
3. A short obstacle course of a couple of 3 foot long pieces of 3/4 PVC pipe laid parallel. Then have him step over the pipes. It is really funny to watch them figure out where they need to put their paws so they step over the pipes.

 

[Docphil91]

Ok, i understand. In regards to his height training. He is not jumping off anything yet. usually what will i am looking for is his willingness to simply try. A do nice i see him place his paws on the structure i will give him a boost up and away we will go. So for example currently he is learning “climb” we employ climbs at the home so he can have some alone time on his climb and he knows not to leave the climb until we give him the command “free” it allows us to separate him form our other dog when they need space or we have A quest coming over and i want them to not jump on the guest or whatever haha. I do struggle with this whole slow concept. I like to go fast.... my wife tells me the exact same thing that he is a baby and as such needs to be treated like that. as far as socialization goes though at least with people since he is not complete on his shots yet i dont feel like i can slow down with him. He needs to understand from the very very beginning that people are always around us and we dont need to react to them unless given the ok.. all in all he is a puppy and i am extremely patient with him, i will take the advice as to the slowing down on height training but in my defense he is also fairly high speed haha usually as long as i am right there by his side he will do almost anything i ask wether its reluctant or happily haha he is an awesome dog. vocal, but truly awesome.
I keep hearing about all these people talk about the critical first 16 weeks and i am feeling stressed to get so much crammed into these early stages. Haha

 

[Docphil91]

I agree that you are moving too fast. He IS a baby. I would be very careful with working him on heights, in that he shouldn't be jumping off of anything at his age.

Totally off topic, is that Acacia tile flooring? We are putting that down on our kitchen floor in the next couple of weeks, so it caught my eye.
[/QUOTE

Sounds like stress reactions. He is very young, I would think you may need to slow down a bit and find small incremental challenges that don't trigger that response while he builds confidence. Or perhaps you can employ a distraction like a food, a toy or a behaviour that stops the reaction and allows you to reset and then move forward.

My dog was dog reactive on leash when I first took him to the park. Each time I would give him a small leash correction, call him and ask him to sit, then gave him a treat and a pat. In a small number of repetitions it completely stopped.

so how would you suggest i continue to work on his people skills? I employed this same methods without the leash correction but a simple redirect and reward when dealing with people. if he whined i would get his attention and then reward him for sitting upon command. It works but like you said he is still so young so that sit and attention span is about 3 seconds then its starting all over again haha

 

[davewis]

I keep hearing about all these people talk about the critical first 16 weeks and i am feeling stressed to get so much crammed into these early stages. Haha

Then, at all costs, don't watch youtube videos. Some of the professional trainers trying to sell their service have videos of their dogs behaving perfectly at 11 weeks. My guess is that 95% of the video they recorded was quietly erased. The 5% remaining doesn't tell the whole story.

Other times they start a brand new skill one moment, then jump ahead 3 weeks in time for the next shot. The dog is working perfectly.

I think of it a bit like piano lessons. I go to two lessons a week to learn how to be a dog trainer. I implement what I have learned, mistakes and all, for a few days with my dog.

Then I go back and get another lesson.... Hopefully with some good feedback to minimize the mistakes.

It is nowhere near as efficient as skilled and experienced train working directly with the dog. But, for the next 10+ years I will be the guy handling him on a daily basis.