Am I setting myself or doing it right?

Gypsy22

Our puppy is 12 weeks old (approximately...she is a rescue puppy). She's doing pretty well on the housebreaking, except for chewing up her papers when she gets bored or excited and the odd 'missing the paper' incidents.

My question is about getting her to come to me so we can go out. I feel like I am constantly 'luring' her with food to come down the stairs and go out. I know the books tell you to praise and use food to get them to obey but will there be a time I can (gradually) cut down on food and just praise or will she ALWAYS expect treats for 'listening?'

Am I setting her up to be a mooch? She thinks I ALWAYS have a treat or snack for her. If I don't, she won't listen. After walking her umteen times a day, the last thing I need is her sit on the top step and balk at me at 6 am/10pm...

She already knows 'sit' so I can get her to that when she is getting too wild or pulling on the leash (separate issue).

What is a good age to start 'training' to obey? She is going to be a big dog, so any help would be appreciated.

Inga

She is only 12 weeks old. I don't think that giving her treats to come and a lot of praise each time is a bad thing. Keep up the good work. Keep training sessions short and sweet always end on a good note, better to train any obedience 3 times a day only 5-10 minute sessions. You will be able to cut out the food when she is obeying because she understand and knows what you are expecting of her. Even my older dogs get treats occasionally for doing things right. As they say," would you want to work for free?" 12 weeks, I hope you are not getting sick of it yet, she has a long road ahead of her but if you are fair, and consistent you will start to see little bits of progress soon. Stairs are hard for a little baby. Heck, I have a Rottweiler pup and carried him down the stairs until he hit 48 pounds. ( I was trying to save his joints) Give her time and be patient. It will be worth all the effort.

Gates1026

I dont think that you are setting yourself up for anything bad at this point, 12 weeks is pretty young. I think that eventually you will want to turn the food into a reward rather than a lure. You want the behavior that you want to be given to you before you show the food reward.

You may want to start trying to get your pup to associate a word or phrase with the action of coming down the stairs. Later you will be able to ask for her to come down the stairs and then give her the reward. After you can get that on a pretty consistent basis, you can start to phase out the food reward. Baby steps!

Then again, you may not want to listen to me at all......I have a 7 month old pup who wont go down the slippry stairs in the house we just moved into. We are working on it, but he really doesnt like those stairs.

Curbside Prophet

Learn as much as you can about what motivates her behavior and you won't have to depend on treats to have a good dog. Yes, the dog needs a long history of positives for a given behavior to learn it, but once you learn what else you can reward her for good behaviors, you're well on you way to having the dog you want when she's older.

Some of my dog's non-food rewards include playing chase, being chased, tug games, scent games, sniffing trees, going for walks, socializing with other dogs and people, agility exercises, chasing squirrels, digging for buried toys, exploring new places. These are all rewards I can use to keep and maintain good behavior. But using food gained me access to those behaviors quickly and now, when I needed them.

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