Denali Posted June 12, 2004 Report Share Posted June 12, 2004 I just got my BC, Denali, yesterday. She is just over 3 months old. I was just wondering what a good age to start teaching commands such as down, stay, sit, etc. She is pretty good with a crate already. She will go in and sleep, and last night she didnt whine a bit... so long as i was in the room. I moved the crate into my bedroom, and she slept sound with the door shut all night that way. Im working on socializing her, and she seems to be doing good so far (except she tried to nip a nosey lab). Oh yeah, one more thing... when will they start chasing balls, etc? If i throw something like a tennis ball or a chew bone or anything, she just looks at me like shes saying "yeah right". Any training tips would be greatly appreciated, thank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKM's Mom Posted June 13, 2004 Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 Start teaching the basic commands now. Use the positive methods of training, and make sure you keep the sessions short. At 3 months, your puppy may not be following the ball when you throw it. Roll it slowly on the ground right in front of her. If she doesn't have much prey drive she may not find the ball interesting yet. You can use a ball on a rope to make it "come alive" and entice her to chase it. Since you just got her, she might be adjusting to her new home and will chase balls later. Congrats and welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaelinTess Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 Tess was totally uninterested in balls when she was little. What she loved (and still loves) were squeaky toys. She was interested enough in those to run after them, grab them, and then run off. It was a simple matter to start running away when she picked up the toy. She carried it right to me. I then went and got a ball-shaped squeaky toy. (: She would retrieve that, and now we are up to regular balls and she does great most of the time. She does not always bring the ball all the way back, but usually that is because she is all tired out (she is only 10 months old and we only play fetch for 5-10 minutes or when she wants to quit, whenever is sooner). I keep the balls hidden away from her so they are interesting to her because she does not get them all the time. Allie & Tess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PartnersPal Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 My pup Annie is just turning 4 months next week. She was totally uninterested in chasing balls at first. This was particularly distressing because my previous BC was a natural retriever and was chasing and retrieving balls at 7 weeks and couldn't get enough, but not Annie. I got a small kong and tied a string to it (about 5 foot long) and would throw it down in front of her and then jerk it lightly so it would move. You need to be careful not to jerk it too hard or you will pull it out of the dogs visual range and out of sight is out of mind for most pups. Anyway Annie started chasing it. The idea is to keep it just out of their reach so you stimulate the prey drive in them. Occasionally let them catch it and get in a few chews and then pull it away again, like it escapes. I played with Annie and found that she had great prey drive, but she still would not go after a ball. It wasn't until she was about 3 months old and I started rolling frisbees on the ground for her that she really took off. Something about the frisbee really excited her over the ball. I think that dogs will develop their own favorite toys and I was happy that Annie liked frisbee chasing because that was really what I was into. My previous BC really like balls better but would chase and retrieve a frisbee if a ball wasn't offered. Keep working wiht your dog, they'll catch on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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