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Time Well Spent June 21, 2024

Always start by training your young dog on his own and where it is quiet, minimising distractions, and focusing on getting your dog’s full attention. Get the basics in – heel work; sit and stay; recall; steady to dummies being thrown around him; retrieving nicely to hand; doing a ‘go back’ from your side for a memory retrieve; ‘go back’ from a sitting position in front of you; simple left and right. Training a dog is not a race, it’s more like building a house. In other words, it is imperative that you get the foundations right. 

Once your youngster is doing these exercises confidently, he is at the stage when it would be a good time to introduce another dog. Ideally, I would ask a friend, who is also training a dog of a similar age and is at the same standard as yours, to come over so you can train the two together. Start by doing really basic exercises, building on success. 

After several training sessions with your friend, and only if you are pleased with the way your young dog is progressing, you could introduce having just one of your older dogs out with him, as long as that dog is steady and obedient and does not whine. Have a plan of what you would like to do before you go out. Both dogs will probably be competing for pole position at heel. Again, start by keeping the exercises simple and unrushed. 

It can be tempting to do a bit of training whilst walking all the dogs together, especially if you are short of time. However, this can prove detrimental, especially if any of the dogs are overzealous and too competitive.