When To Start Obedience Training

Dear Adam:

I have a 4 1/2 month-old Doberman Pinscher. Got him at 9 weeks of age and trained him to sit by command and hand signal by 11 weeks for the most part. He comes when I call and heels and goes down somewhat, but I'm sure if I practice the information in your book he will come around. He seems to be very intelligent. I'm wondering: At what age do you think I should start training? And I was also curious about the "Development of Perfect Attention" I would like to know how to do that exactly (to get him to watch me like the competition dogs do) and what the "Halti" and the "Promise Leader" is and does?

Thank you for your time,
Kevin

Dear Kevin:

You can start the formal obedience training (correcting your dog when he disobeys commands) when he is 4 months old... or whenever you see his adult teeth start to come in.

As for teaching your dog to work like a competition dog, I would strongly recommend you take a look at Terri Arnold's video on the subject, at: http://www.dogproblems.com/terriarnold.htm

I think that we've only got a few left in stock, and when they're gone, we won't be restocking. Not that it isn't a great video (it is... Terri is one of the best at obedience competition training) but the bulk of the people who come to dogproblems.com are not into obedience competition... So her products aren't really in line with what our target market is looking to buy. (In other words... get it while it's hot and we've got it in stock!)

As for the Halti and Promise Leader... these two items are virtually identical products. They are designed to CONTROL and RESTRAIN the dog... not to TRAIN THE DOG. This is why we don't carry these products. Any time you find yourself RESTRAINING rather than RE-TRAINING... you know you're using an inferior technique.

That's all for now, folks!
Adam