Training Gus has been fun and rewarding. He tries every morning to run with the big dogs, but he is only 10 weeks old and doesn’t get far. One day he will, in about three months I think. He is bright and responsive and knows his name (very important) and makes good eye contact, all good omens for training.

Like most young dogs, he is distractable and his attention span is not long. We use every opportunity for positive reinforcement training. When the dogs run up head, I noticed that Gus stops and waits for us to catch up, and then he sits down. This is the perfect chance to teach him how to sit, since we can anticipate it and mark the behavior with a command.

When his butt hits the ground, I praise him enthusiastically, “good sit,” and sometimes give him a treat, but usually don’t.

Gus is like the border collies, attention and enthusiasm is enough. We are three-quarters of the way there. Good trainers say it takes about 2,000 repetitions before a dog fully internalizes a command and few people have that kind of patience and long view.

I use treats occasionally just to keep him focused. He loves food.

The idea of positive reinforcement training is that you praise a dog when he demonstrates the behavior you want, rather than coerce and badger him or her into doing it. Few words, no shouting or pulling.

Training should never be tense or forced, young dogs have very limited abilities to focus, five minutes is the max for Gus right now, usually it’s much shorter. But he is a very trainable dog, he will get there. The challenge for me is to be positive and patient, the two p’s. I also have to be observant, timing is essential.  And consistent.

When his butt hits the ground, he gets the reward, food or voice. And he is really getting it. Gus can’t run with the big dogs yet, but he can sit. Come and see.