CKThunderstruck
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Nov 2015
Location: Western North Carolina
Posts: 84 |
Babies are crazy. The best thing to do is just let them be a puppy! At 8 weeks I start with lead breaking, Walmart has great light weight cheap leads you can use, just a little along. I also start benching them around 7-8 weeks but don't expect them to put it together and keep it together. Just work on one thing at a time. If you want her to hold her head still, just focus on that. If you want her to hold foot placement, don't worry about head or tail. It's fun and cool to have a 10 week old puppy that is a bench pro, but that's also the quickest way to break one. The last thing you want is it to see a bench and dread what's coming. You can show them starting at 6 months but anymore I don't even start until they're a year or more. I just recently showed my Plott male for the first time and he was I think 15 months. That depends on the dog too, I have a 10 month old ALH female who has been a knock out her first two shows as far as handling. You just don't really want to expect to win big with a puppy, especially if you plan on showing at big events.
The most important thing though is to have fun, both you and the dog. If either of you start getting frustrated, just stop. Don't push it, it won't do anything but frustrate you even more. It's easier to slowly train a dog than to rush into it and have it resent the bench and then start all over again.
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Effrem & Haley Creasman
Thunderstruck American Leopard Hounds
Sylva, NC
creasmankennels.weebly.com
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