How best to prepare your young dog for advanced training.

To give your young dog the best chance for success during advanced training, your pup should be well "Socialized".

Socialized means, "having been made to behave in a way that is acceptable to a particular society, and behave in a way that is acceptable to a particular Breed standard."

"Socializing" is a balancing act that requires taking what your dog already has, and developing what is needed. This of course requires loving them and caring for them. But just as important, this requires teaching and enforcing behaviors with appropriate levels of discipline. For instance, if you have a crazy pup, you probably should be teaching and enforcing behaviors like quiet, sit, stay, and healing while on a leash. If your pup is shy and withdrawn, you probably should expose him/her to experiences that will get them out of their comfort zones. For example you could expose them to loud noises, or enviroments like thick brush, water, or mud. If your dog is emotionally stressed by something, wait for a few weeks and casually re-introduce the senerio again. If you don't succeed at first, keep at it. Avoiding situations that make your dog nervous or show fear, is the oposite of socializing.

Below is a simple list of skills that puppies should be socialized to. Keep in mind that all discipline should be age-appropriate.

No barking or biting: Young dogs want your attention; thus, they bark and bite as puppies. Every time a pup either barks or bites, he should get an appropriate correction with the command "quiet" or "no". Cute at first, but annoying for everyone else.

Retrieve: Every Lab needs their retrieving instincts developed early. Throw anything to build the desire to retrieve. If the young puppy does not show a desire to fetch, do what you can. Throw food or treats, or throw his favorite toy. Build from there.

Swim: Your Lab should enjoy and be comfortable in water. Make water fun. Swimming is best learned as early as possible. Puppies don't splash around when they get into water, they just swim. Seeing a puppy swim like an old pro is awesome. Go slow and pick warm water. It is best to convince the puppy to swim out and grab something. But if that doesn't work walk out and encourage your pup to come to you. If your dog is emotionally stressed by water, wait for a few weeks and then causually re-introduce the senerio again until the pup gets into water. Some pups get in the water pretty quickly, others may take weeks.

Sit: Teach your pup to "Sit" until he/she is released. You can use food to help teach him to sit. At first, have him sit for a short time. Gradually increase the length of time he is to remain on the command "Sit". After he learns the verbal command "sit", enforce the command with an appropriate level of correction. Use treats to keep him sitting until you say "Free". Only give treats (you can use dog food as treats) when he successfully sits until you release him.

Leash introduction: Puppies need to have experience with a leash and collar. Use appropriate leash corrections to convince your pup not to pull on the leash, bite at it, or bark with frustration because of it.

Developing skills with appropriate discipline is loving them, and teaches the dog how to listen and learn.

A trainer's biggest worry (which usually causes increased training time and fees) is recieving a dog that has been ignored for long periods of time, or a dog that has been kept in the same enclosure with other dogs during his formable stages of development. It is vital that the pup understands and accepts you as his friend, caretaker, and authority figure - not other dogs.

"Socializing training" should start at 8 weeks of age, or as soon as you get them home, and should be nearing completion at 7-8 months of age.