Unfortunately, starting a pup in the past was based on his physical development, not his mental ability. Hence the old wives’ tale of the seven- to- one ratio, the dog of one year being compared to a boy of seven years, etc. Scientists have shown that this seven- to- one ratio is only a physical comparison between man and dog, and has nothing to do with the mental development of dogs. What I’ve seen would make a mental ratio more like eighteen- to- one. A one- year- old dog can perform on his level of work as an eighteen- year- old boy can on his level.
But in order to get the year- old dog performing as his maximum potential, the desire to learn and the correct learning attitude must be instilled in the dog. Therefore, it’s only logical that the dog should come to you with no problems, and the trainer should have control over his development from the beginning. Sensitive or bullheaded dogs are not born; they’re made. Eager workers are also made. Luck is not a factor of training. Neither the professional nor the amateur trainer has time to waste. So often in the past the professional though he was saving time by waiting until a pup was six months or a year old before he started to train the dog. He was waiting to see what potential the dog would show naturally. This may have saved time, but much talent was wasted. The amateur trainer should never wait. He’ll most likely have only one dog and will in love with it, and if he waits, months before starting training he’ll end up with a dud.
This new scientists finding leaves no doubt about it: A puppy should ne taken home and started in his training at the exact age of 49 days.
If a puppy lives in a kennel too lone with no human contact and training, you’re adding a great big unknown factor to your training problem when you take him home. Many kennels are recognizing this and are giving the puppies of a litter "training and play" periods. This helps to a degree, but is not enough. Your pup should be taken away from his litter mates on the 49th day. During this seven- week period the dog got a sense of competition in the litter, but social order- or what the scientists call the pecking order- hasn’t as yet had time to form his personality. Staying with the litter can be almost as damaging to his future ability as a learner as the lack of human contact can be. All litters develop this packing orer. Here is where the headstrong bully and wallerflower personalities develop. Either one can be a hindrance in training.
Seeing- Eye dogs receive the most rigorous and exacting training of any dogs. For years it was believed that breeding was the answer to supplying puppies for training. The breeding of the very finest Seeing- Eye dogs produced litters from wich 20 percent of the puppies had the ability it seem, to go through the rigid training to become Guide Dogs. In recent years, the demand for these trained dogs has been greater than the supply. Dr. Scott and his team of workers sought and found the answer to the supply problem. It was a new approach to training. That new method is acceleration.
Scientific study showned that there are five critical periods of a pup’s life, five phases of his mental development. The shocking thing is that they all take place before the dog is sixteen weeks old. By this time the dog’s brain has reached its adults form and size but, of course, without adult experience. So, instead, instead of waiting for the puppy to grow up so it could be trained, Dr. Scott’s work proved that it was actually harmful to delay. Starting the training early under the new acceleration program, the experiments produced 90 percent success in litters of the same breeding that produced 20 percent under the traditional methods of training. Many observors first though outstanding success might be because of the exacting conditions of the scientific training procedures. When the accelterated training menthod was put into actual practice in Seeing- Eye kennels and training programs, one full year’s program outstripped the laboratory results- 94 percent of all litters successfully completed the rigorous training. This certainly is proof that early training can produce hitherto unbelievable results.