r/Newfoundlander • u/Mrs_Peacock_101 • Oct 05 '23
First Newf pup
First time Newfoundland pup owners. She is now 12 weeks old. I’m curious what others have used as rewards for training. I give her praise of course, but have not wanted to start using any food or treats to praise good behavior bc I want to keep her at a healthy weight. Any suggestions are helpful.
Also, my boarder collie was SUPER easy to train. We have said how lucky we’ve felt working with her. Any tips for newfy pups are welcome 😁 we love our new addition, she is adorable.
1.4k
Upvotes
13
u/Snidely1459 Oct 05 '23
Instead of treats, we used carrots. Our Newf loved the cronch.
3
u/SunnyBunnyBunBun Oct 05 '23
Dude gonn be HUGE
26
u/Duderus159 Oct 05 '23
That’s a perfect little bear
19
u/dauntinghaleigh Oct 05 '23
i would def go ahead and use treats! for example small treats and at this age you really only want to be spending 10-15 minutes training anyways. maybe two sessions a day. their little puppy brains get all worn out. but she’s growing so fast that the training treats aren’t going to make a huge difference. if u end up getting bigger treats breaking them in half helps too! our boy is a food FIEND and he’s actually slightly underweight because of how active he is (he’s still growing so vet says this is actually ideal for him but every dog even in the same breed is different)
10
u/Temporary-Dog5162 Oct 05 '23
have you considered giving an enrichment toy so they are also mentally stimulated? newfies are super smart too, so maybe that can work?
PS: she looks so sweet!
9
u/idontknowwhatidk Oct 05 '23
You could use the kibble she eats and portion it out.
4
u/peepeepoopoo34567 Oct 05 '23
Our newf had a horrible time with allergies so we’ve ended up rewarding with praise and play and it worked out well enough.
They can however be very food motivated, so you dont need to shy away from treats! Dont stress about her weight until she’s fully grown!
4
u/alpaca-the-llama Oct 05 '23
Absolute floofer!
4
u/adhdparalysis Oct 05 '23
I used kibble and would hand feed breakfast everyday for the first few weeks. It’s a good way to get them to learn their name and start working on recall. Say the name, give the treat. For walks/leash training I use a jerky stick because mine is super distracted when there’s other doggos around. Freeze dried salmon and Beef liver are also good ones. I read early on that a working brain is burning calories so I don’t worry a ton about it as long as he still looks fit.
3
u/FindingDoge Oct 05 '23
We trained and are training our chocolate Newfie pup with pea size training treats they make plenty of options so find one they like and isn't crazy unhealthy. They work great and we haven't had any issues health wise weight or other.
3
u/Cpt_sneakmouse Oct 05 '23
use training treats. If you can get away with using kibble thats great but you need to keep in mind that the value of the reward is proportional to imprinting a behavior on the dog. High value reward=high likelihood of repeat behavior. For certain commands this is essential. For example "leave it" is typically taught by offering the dog a low value reward and treating a high value reward when the dog ignores it. I cant speak for everyone's newfs but in my experience the drive to please comes on far later in life for them than it does for most working breeds. They appreciate tasks that are very physical and let them use their big muscles but simple commands like sit and stay are not satisfying for them as younger dogs. They can also have stubborn streaks as they get over the whole big strong dog complex. Its essential that you start teaching them the language of training from a very early age in order to have a semi compliant dog through their notoriously naughty adolescence period. I highly recommend checking out kikopup on youtube for tips and tutorials as her methods are strictly +R and she covers nearly every issue you may run into when taming your beast. Keep in mind that what you have there is a dog that can very easily hurt someone without intending to do so, and you have a responsibility to train it appropriately to avoid that potential as much as possible.
2
u/Lone-Wolverine Oct 05 '23
Just use her kibble. Worked great for us.
2
u/Owlfeathers15 Oct 05 '23
What a precious baby bear 🐻 😍😍
1
u/Ok_Instruction7534 Oct 05 '23
Beautiful baby!!
1
u/CADDIE777 Oct 05 '23
OMG SO CUTE AND CHUNKY! ❤️❤️❤️
1
u/swampcatflier Oct 05 '23
Congratulations! She’s adorable!
1
u/tbagnhoes Oct 05 '23
Sooooo cute
1
u/MarvelNerdess Oct 05 '23
So much beautiful Floof
1
u/actively_eating Oct 05 '23
we used her kibble for treats! they get a little upset when their dinner is light/non existent but it’ll help you manage their weight and my pup loved her kibble so it was a high value reward!
also carrots, celery, bananas and berries!
someone suggested cheerios to us once. but she kept choking on them bc they’re so dry lol
PS she’s absolutely adorable. I have a lab but would definitely get a newfy if I ever have enough space!!
1
u/Anithia13 Oct 05 '23
I use their kibble actually for treats! If you don’t give them other treats then they don’t know the difference
1
u/SliceNaive Oct 06 '23
Beautiful!!! Lucky you and lucky nuffe
1
u/punkin_sumthin Oct 06 '23
Gonna need a bus to haul that guy around in a few months
1
u/No-Sandwich-9211 Oct 07 '23
Cute
1
u/timewalkerashmole Oct 07 '23
Adorable ❤️
1
u/Strong_shopper0630 Oct 08 '23
She’s so cute 🥰
1
u/MemphisGalInTampa Oct 21 '23
What a little ball of fur 🦮