# Interested in competing in obedience trials with my pup & a question



## JTurner (May 19, 2013)

My pup and I (Black lab/German shep mix) have been training since he was 9 weeks old, now he is 8 months old. We have signed up for courses beginning with basics then intermediate, and then finally to advance akc obedience. How often should I train him a day? I have heard 3 mini lessons per day works best. Luckily he is extremely intelligent and loves to learn! Hoping to sign him up for a beginner novice trial in the fall.








<3 him to pieces


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## Shep (May 16, 2013)

It depends on how much time you have, of course, but you're probably on the right track with three a day, maybe no more than five minutes each. You can get quite a bit of training accomplished during commercials while watching TV (have the dog do a short stay, work on attention, etc.). At his age, you don't want to insist on too much focus for too long a time, so the short, fun sessions work well. I have to fight the urge to do a major, huge 45-minute training session once a day, but it's really better to break it up. 

Good for you for pursuing obedience with your boy! It's fun!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

In addition to a few short training sessions, try to incorporate it into your daily activities. It's easy to do 3 training sessions in your kitchen with a dog who is excited to work, but it's a whole different thing when you ask for obedience behaviors on a walk or at the pet store. You don't need to make every walk into a long training session, but throw in short stretches of heeling, or stop and ask for a sit, or a stay, etc.


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## Poly (Sep 19, 2007)

JTurner said:


> My pup and I (Black lab/German shep mix) have been training since he was 9 weeks old, now he is 8 months old. We have signed up for courses beginning with basics then intermediate, and then finally to advance akc obedience. How often should I train him a day? I have heard 3 mini lessons per day works best. Luckily he is extremely intelligent and loves to learn! Hoping to sign him up for a beginner novice trial in the fall.
> View attachment 73610
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> 
> <3 him to pieces


You've gotten some very good advice here. You'll be in this mode for some time. BN is a good goal to shoot for. 

When you are both ready to move on, your training sessions will become more intense and concentrated on whatever activity /activities you are training for. They will tend to last considerably more than five minutes and you may not be able to do multiple sessions per day. For example, if you are training for competition obedience, agility, and tracking - each of them at multiple levels - it would be impossible and sometimes inadvisable to follow the 3X3 rule. But for now, it would be a good rule to follow.

Good luck and stay positive - this type of training is usually a challenge as you move to the higher levels of competition. Try to keep it fun as much as possible.


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## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

I don't have anything else to add to the excellent advice you've gotten. I will ask if you've considered doing rally with you boy?? I love to use rally for young, green dogs so they get comfortable in the ring while you're honing and proofing for prime time in obedience. If you've gone through an RE with your boy by the time he's ready for his CD...stewards, judges, and ring procedure will be old hat to him. Just a thought...


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## JTurner (May 19, 2013)

MrsBoats said:


> I don't have anything else to add to the excellent advice you've gotten. I will ask if you've considered doing rally with you boy?? I love to use rally for young, green dogs so they get comfortable in the ring while you're honing and proofing for prime time in obedience. If you've gone through an RE with your boy by the time he's ready for his CD...stewards, judges, and ring procedure will be old hat to him. Just a thought...


I am considering Rally, but first I need to get through basics & intermediate obedience. He listens to me so well everywhere except for the training center-when I bring him there he acts like I haven't trained him a single day of his life-it is extremely frustrating-I even get blisters on my hands from the leash when he goes there, but I guess patience is key! I would love to do agility, but it consists of so many expensive classes. I aim for 3 10-minute lessons a day.


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## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

The worst time for baby boy dogs starts at about 8 months and it lasts for about 5 months. I swear they lose their brains...and you have to just be patient and remember this doesn't last forever. It's so important to keep training short, fun and exciting. 

My boys started rally training at 6 months old and I back off of formal obedience until they are between a year and a half to about 2. By formal obedience...I mean like Novice Obedience/CD stuff. I let them be scattered puppies and let them grow up some before I get more serious about precision and accuracy. Ocean who is 18 months just got his RN and we'll be working on his RA soon. He gets a little worried in the obedience ring. I really need to use rally to show him there's really nothing he needs to concern himself with and the obedience ring is FUN!!!!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

MrsBoats has some great advice. Watson's brain took a vacation at about 6-7 months and now at almost 10 months it is just starting to come back (probably a little earlier than her timeline since he is a smaller dog than her rottweilers and development can go along with size). Just be very patient and consistent. I don't let him blow me off, but if he's not responding to a cue I will help him and guide him until he does it right, but knows that he must do it if I tell him. So if I say sit and he ignores me, I'll step up to him, get eye contact, and give the hand signal again, etc. Just a lot of basic stuff and keep it fun. I've found that even though my boy became terrible with basic obedience commands, he really enjoyed trick training during this time because it was fun, different, and I had low expectations for each session. Keep working with him and he'll grow out of that stage.

I would definitely recommend you check out rally as well. I know my dog will be ready for rally well before he would do well in an obedience competition. He can do the exercises, but he doesn't have the steadiness to be precise and completely focused yet. Rally allows you to encourage your dog and give him feedback as you go, which is great for young dogs.


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## Shep (May 16, 2013)

Your pup is exactly the right age to have no attention span! He will get better as he matures. My 14-month old Border Collie boy is just barely beginning to be able to watch me and pay attention when we train outdoors (he's great indoors!). Just hang in there and don't ask for too much too soon.


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## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

Shep said:


> don't ask for too much too soon.


This is a common mistake a lot of people do...demand too much too soon from a dog too young. A great trainer I used to work with said to me once - "You won't a dog until they are about 3 years old." That is so so true...especially with boy dogs.


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## MonteCristo (Apr 19, 2013)

MrsBoats said:


> The *worst time* for baby boy dogs starts at about *8 months and it lasts for about 5 months*. I swear they lose their brains...and you have to just be patient and remember this doesn't last forever. It's so important to keep training short, fun and exciting.
> 
> My boys started rally training at 6 months old and I back off of formal obedience until they are between a year and a half to about 2. By formal obedience...I mean like Novice Obedience/CD stuff. I let them be scattered puppies and let them grow up some before I get more serious about precision and accuracy. Ocean who is 18 months just got his RN and we'll be working on his RA soon. He gets a little worried in the obedience ring. I really need to use rally to show him there's really nothing he needs to concern himself with and the obedience ring is FUN!!!!


_Bolding mine_. I wish this was better known. I got Sydney at 9 months, and tried training her, and she was absolutely useless. Couldn't even fetch. I finally gave up and just decided I had a defective dog and I had to love her for the loveable scamp she was. And right around her second birthday, she finally grew a brain! It was amazing, lol.


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