I like for pups to just be pups until 3-4 months old and usually sometime around 4 months old your pup develops awareness to its super powers: incredible scent ability, increased speed and motion detection ability. All of these enhancements promote curiosity and independence. Soooo it’s time to start some fundamental command work. This is Chippewa’s third 5-minute lesson in 5 days so I’m very pleased with his cooperation. He’s been showing more and more independence, typical of this age bracket so I need to step up to the plate now. Depending upon time of year I like to tremendously decrease bird exposure and increase command training between 4-6 months old. The pup has had at least 10 runs in the training fields to see what his raw genetic potential is over the past 4-6 weeks. He has the goods, now obedience work will ratchet up to put some governing qualities into the equation. In accordance with command cooperation we will work our way back to field work. Transitions are usually smooth if timed correctly. So these 5-minute drills will be the afternoon routine when done with clients for the day at least 4 days a week for the next month or two. With young pup intros to commands I like to use a little food reward at this stage since they are so easy motivated by it. As the pup progresses I transition to earned praise for emotional reward. This preliminary work is also the only time I like to use a retractable leash for training. Makes for easy handling in the capacity of these exercises.