Answers to Everyday Questions : How long did it take to teach your dog(s) basic obedience?

How long did it take to teach your dog(s) basic obedience?

8 Responses to “How long did it take to teach your dog(s) basic obedience?”

1. Tenaar said :
   October 26th, 2010 at 9:40 am

   About two weeks. If my dog didn’t listen I’d swat them with a newspaper and leave outside overnight. It worked pretty well.
2. BethanyAS said :
   October 26th, 2010 at 9:40 am

   I usually wait until they can do a command with out a treat and just pats then move to the next command. We’ve had a puppy for a week. she knows come, sit and we just started Lay down. She’s a labradoodle.

   My border collie took one session per command before.

   My shelter mutt took a whole year to learn what my border collie learnt in a month.
3. bjvettech said :
   October 26th, 2010 at 10:28 am

   It took my then 4 month old GSD two sessions of about 3 mins each time to learn to sit. I did it at meal times. Then taught her to drop in even less time, and now she also waits until she’s given the break command. It took a bit longer to teach her ‘out’ when I want her to let go of something, ie a toy or my hand! Lol.
   Our other female GSD was 3yrs old when we bought her and she had no obedience at all. Didnt even know how to sit. It took longer with her, but we got her sitting in about 3-4 sessions and at meal times.
4. Danielle A said :
   October 26th, 2010 at 10:56 am

   I have worked with many dogs. My last dog took me an entire 3 weeks to train (finished before she was 4mnths). SOme of my other dogs have taken up to a year. The time it takes depends on ur type of breed (pointers are highly intelligent and learn very fast.), the dogs nature and of course how u train the dog. The right training method plays a huge part.
5. Anubis*Star said :
   October 26th, 2010 at 11:50 am

   Well, I have a german shepherd, so he learned SUPER fast! I actually have a good comparison for his learning speed.

   Me and my roomates all got puppies at the same time. I had a 7 week old GSD, there was a 7 week old Husky, and we had a 7 week old Pit

   We would always work on training together, but in seperate parts of the house. One would work upstairs, I would work in the front yard, and the other would work downstairs. There were huge windows on the house so we could all see eachother, but the puppies weren’t distracted.

   We clicker trained them first, so we would just say their name and click when they responded. Mine learned his name in about 5 minutes (or at least learned to respond.) The Pit took about 20 minutes, and the husky… well, he took about a week, lol.

   After that, we did sit. My GSD had sit down in about 5 minutes. The husky, about 20 minutes, the pit, about 2 days.

   Next was down. Now, my GSD did NOT like down, so it took about 6 months to get him to do it FREQUENTLY, and its only now, at a year old, that he will do it every time. The husky learned down in about 10 minutes, and I think the pit took a couple days to learn it.

   The next trick was shake. My GSD learned it in two or three tries, so about 1 minute. The husky took about 5 minutes, and the pit doesn’t know it yet (it’s been about a month)

   Next was play dead. We just started that a week ago. My GSD will go from laying down to “dead”, where he puts his head down and stretches out his paws. That took about 15-20 minutes. He can’t do it from standing or sitting yet. The husky can’t do it yet. The pit is still working on shake.

   So I would say my german shepherd DEFINETLY picked most obedience tricks up in about 1 fifteen minute training session. The husky is really smart and learns the tricks fast, he’s just really stubborn, like most huskies, so it takes a while to get him to actually do them. The pit bull is a little slow in the head, lol. He is a huge cuddle bug, it just takes him a little longer on most stuff. But he makes up for it by being cute X)

   The husky and pit bull know only the commands I mentioned here (sit, down, they know come, and shake for the husky). My shepherd knows these, PLUS play dead. He always knows drop it, leave it, and when I open a door, I can tell him wait, and he will sit down and let me through and only follow me when I command him to. He also knows stay
6. Anonymouse said :
   October 26th, 2010 at 12:30 pm

   We’ve had her two or three months now and she can sit (with voice command or hand signal), lay down (only with hand signal and voice command), stay (voice command or hand signal) and stand pretty (hand signal). She’s a little slow on her recall.
   Clicker training is a miracle. Although she did learn sit and stay within the first few days we had her, clicker training reinforced it so much it’s amazing.

   She’s a pit bull/pharaoh hound probably mixed with a smaller terrier.
7. huntingpoodle said :
   October 26th, 2010 at 1:12 pm

   In all honesty, teaching basic obedience must be taught over the lifetime of the dog.

   If is based on the dog’s innate intelligence, willingness to perform for the handler, and consistency of the the training. Even breeds considered bright and highly trainable, can have individual dogs that aren’t too bright.

   Most dogs can be well controlled by their handler to sit, stay, heel, lay down, return when called, and other basic commands with reasonable reliability at the end of a well run 9 week class.

   Obedience is an ongoing process that is never done.
8. wishnuwelltoo said :
   October 26th, 2010 at 2:12 pm

   I train shelties as long as it takes!!!!! Each puppy trains at their own pace, so however long it takes is as long as it takes. I was never taught that you had the right to give up on a dog, if it takes me 9,832 times, than that is how long it will take. I slot 4 months for basic training, but if it takes less or more it doesn’t matter to me. You get out of your dogs what you put into them, so it is worth it.