by Rick Hall » Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:20 am
Pinched from a recent primer I wrote for someone with a similar question on how I brought my young pups on (and am too lazy to rewrite):
For me and mine, the first couple months are the most important, as that's when it's easiest to condition a foundation of good habits and avoid the inadvertent conditioning of bad ones that would later need broken. Unlike the pros, who have to deal with whatever issues come through their gate, we get to start with a virtually clean slate and can, for the most part, substitute force of habit for the pro's dependence on physical force.
To create that all important force of habit, think of Pup's response to commands as a balance beam, with correct response on one side and incorrect response on the other. Every time you manage to get a correct response its weight is added to that side of the beam. But by same token, every time Pup manages a incorrect response its weight is added to that side of the beam. And, in very large part, Pup's response to a command will depend on how the weight of past experience has been distributed. With our the goal being to invoke enough proper response to create strong force of habit and so little improper response that Pup never becomes fully aware that not obeying the command is even an option, much less a potentially worthwhile one.
If you reread my second PM, you'll see that we begin with the cornerstones of "come," "sit," and the various iterations of "good" and "bad" about as soon as a pup joins our family. (Having the foundational cornerstone of "come" at least fairly well in place, for instance, may well help Pup get his first retrieves right, by telling him what to do with the bumper, instead of running off or laying down with it.)
But having just reread it, myself, I see that while I spoke to corrections, I left out the far and away more important aspect of conspiring to find as many ways as possible to create enjoyable associations with each command - other than "bad/no/leave it/etc". Ie: "come" and "sit" can be associated with the pleasures of eating, going outside, ear rubs, retrieving and so forth. And we'll begin those positive associations in puppy-sized increments, like when Pup is already so inclined, say by calling a pup that's already coming, and avoiding doing so when he's distracted by something that might be more tempting until we've have the weight of lots and lots of positive responses on our side of the balance beam.
Our job is to find or create as many opportunities as we can for Pup to enjoy getting a command right, while avoiding the likelihood of Pup getting it wrong.
But corrections for getting it wrong are also important and never easier or more effectively made than when Pup is small enough to be readily walked down. If, for instance, a "come" we're sure was heard is blown off, it's my job to utter a harsh word, go pick Pup up and physically carry him to where he should have come. If I'm diligent about that when Pup's too small to outrun me, he'll never learn that he can - and, worst case, stay in place and wait for me to come give him a fussing or that and a finger flick on the bridge of his nose, or some such, when he screws up. After which, I'll give him a chance to redeem himself and be loved up for correct response to the same command.
I'll note that it's important for me to incorporate harsh and/or loud tones along with physical corrections, as well as otherwise avoiding them, so that such tones will, through association, become corrections in their own right. Thus, through association, my "Ut" comes to carry the same weight as a collar trainer's "nick" and my "Hey!" becomes a "burn". But when times come, as they most certainly will, when I'm not in a position to insure compliance or otherwise make successful correction, I must bite my tongue, rather than repeat an ignored command or verbal correction, rather than weakening them through repetition that only reinforces the possibility of non compliance being a viable option. Later, when I'm in a better position to gain compliance, we'll make a point of looking for opportunities to reinforce getting it right.
Again, the thing we're most concerned with during Pup's first two months, and for the rest of his life, is finding enough ways to make getting things right easy and enjoyable enough that doing so becomes force of habit that's stronger than whatever temptations or forces might be working against us.
If you think I'm wrong, you might be right.
