From decades of experience raising and training Rottweilers, we know that these questions are most often asked by future owners, which is why our goal is to explain in detail why the 15th day of a puppy’s life is the ideal start of training.
When?
From the 15th day of life.
Why?
Because it is a unique moment in the life of a Rottweiler puppy, when it simultaneously possesses features that will later disappear as well as features that it will further develop.
This unique, but short-lived, balance is the basis for easy, humane and permanent adoption of desirable behavior.
In this regard, development of the puppy is divided into 3 periods:
– neonatal period,
– transition period,
– period of socialization.
In the neonatal period (from birth to the 14th day), Rottweiler behavior is reduced to primary reflexes: searching for food (the mother’s breast) and the sucking reflex, which disappear when the puppy develops its sense of sight and sense of hearing.
The transition period (from the 15th to the 21st day) begins with the development of the senses of sight and hearing, and ends when the sensory system is completed. At the beginning of the transition period, the primary reflexes are gradually lost and completely disappear with its end. The primary reflex reaction disappears, because the puppy uses sensory organs instead.
During the period of socialization (from the 22nd day until the end of adolescence), the Rottweiler puppy is able to develop an increasingly complex system of communication and adopt the rules of hierarchy (in the litter or human family).
To conclude, the transitional period is the ideal start for Rottweiler training, because it is during this period that the primary reflex and sense systems change. Only in this period both factors works simultaneously, which is why this time is ideal for the gradual introduction of training.
How?
We start basic training from the 15th day of life of our Rottweilers. Puppies adopt learned patterns based on humane scientific methods of the Pavlovian reflex type. The method relies on the capacity that the puppy has exclusively at this age – a tendency to reflex reaction and receiving information through the senses.
We apply proven scientific methods, of the most humane type, so-called Pavlovian conditioning. Ivan Pavlov was a pioneer of behaviorism and teaches us about the conditioned reflex that establishes a connection between two phenomena through the learning process. He used a bell and we use a sound ball.
Facts: -Classical conditioning is the simplest form of learning. The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov studied it the most and established almost all the principles of conditioning. Learning using a conditioned reflex consists in connecting two natural (unconditioned) and previously neutral stimuli. By establishing a conditioned reflex, the neutral attraction becomes conditioned. In this way, the conditioned stimulus causes a response (conditioned reaction) that was previously associated only with the natural stimulus.
– Conditioning is the most common form of learning for young children up to 3 or 4 years of age. By means of conditioning, children acquire almost all vegetative and hygienic habits. Later conditioning is rarer and more difficult.
This is how we strengthen reflexes of Rottweiler. In our case, it’s food and sound. From the eighteenth day of the puppy’s life, we start a healthy complementary diet.
We use the time when the mother of the puppies spends time outside the room specialized for giving birth. The mother needs another space to fulfill her physiological needs, eat and take a short walk. During this short period, we feed Rottweiler puppies with high-quality puppy formula using sterile feeding equipment (bottles and pacifiers).
During feeding, we use a toy- little sound ball. The baby Rottweiler associates feeding with the sound signal of the ball. This is how a dog develops a bond with a person and an object. In this way, we form trust between human and dog at an early age.
That’s why our Rottweilers master the entire training quickly and easily, considering it a game.
BENEFITS:
1. A puppy or young dog will easily and without conflict fit into a new family, including animals.
The reason lies in the fact that early training involves balanced learning – from the mother and from the breeder at the same time.
It is especially important to point out that the term “Rottweiler socialization” is not exclusively related to human work with the dog. On the contrary, the period of socialization in the development of Rottweiler means the possibility of the puppy to adopt the hierarchical rules of its kind that it learns from the mother and other puppies in the litter. Early training uses the puppy’s ability to gradually receive information from the human, through a strong affective bond with the person who takes care of him.
The puppy is at an age when it still relies on primary reflexes, but also uses the sensory system (transitional period from 15-21 days). Rottweiler puppy simultaneously learns the rules of its species – it allows dog to be dog, and the rules of life in human society. Through the parallel affective connection with other dogs and humans, the Rottweiler forms a complete positive behavior.
Note: this type of socialization should not be confused with professional socialization, which will be the subject of one of our next columns.
2. Positive behavior is not based on food as a reward
That is one of the goals of applying the proven method of the Pavlovian reflex. By associating feeding with the sound of the toy, the food loses its importance over time and the Rottweiler puppy forms an inseparable bond with the object that produces the sound. With this, the puppy overcame the basic need for food (which it will satisfy independently of training) and formed a more complex relationship by focusing on the object. It is a unique humane basis for more complicated training (retrieval, tracking, bite-work).
3. Without punishment, stress and pressure.
This approach excludes the need for behavior correction.
There is no behavior problems, because the dog in its early development is gradually introduced to the correct way of communicating both with animals and with people. The hierarchy of new exercises progresses by building on what the Rottweiler has already learned.
It establishes an ethical standard for working with Rottweiler, and states that methods should be effective while also excludes aversive experiences for the animal.
4. Concentration
A Rottweiler puppy that is not socialized at an early age has the capacity to learn, of course. But it can be difficult to keep his attention as long as it can Rottweiler who has been introduced to the basics of training through our practice.
Early training with the use of the Pavlovian reflex guarantees that the Rottweiler is already focused on the object and sound (sound ball toy) at 4 weeks of age. Already at that age, the little Rottweiler will give priority to the person and the object in relation to the environment. And that is, in fact, complete concentration.
5. Understanding
By this method, puppy Rottweiler is given the chance to understand and build confidence in using natural communication with humans. The affective bond that arose in the transition period of the Rottweiler’s life, has already directed the dog towards man. Such a connection develops in the direction of a deeper understanding of human behavior and the desired actions that are the goal of training.
EXTRA BENEFIT FOR FUTURE OWNERS
“When to start training?” – one less question on the list of future owners.
The puppy Rottweiler has already started training with a breeder who uses this method.
OUR PRACTICE
In the Puppy kindergarten, Rottweiler puppies are fed by listening to the sound of a ball. Then they form a permanent basis for further work.
Later puppies moved from kindergarten to our Puppy school, where they learn ring dressage. There they happily enter the ring, and pass this level with a sure step. Here our Rottweiler puppies already independently use the previously established connection with the human and the object.
Finally, young Rottweilers are ready to move to our Puppy academy and a higher level of training. Now with a sound signal we move to a bigger ball. Young Rottweilers are fearless, self-confident, with a full, strong bite and through play, they become a serious working dogs even as a puppies. It is now easy for them to understand the basics of working on obedience, tracking, attack and defense.