She isn't too young, by 6 months Louie knew all sorts of tricks (we still can't get a heel on leash though ) I got told the other day when regaining control of a Louie that had sped off and ignored my command to greet another dog - to use the excuse that he is young.. I don't use it because at 14 months old he should know his commands and I should have them properly in place - it has nothing to do with his age, although it factors in - I have still taught him, but on some cases you need to go back to the drawing board and re train it again. I can tell you one thing - it is easy to train ONCE, no matter how hard you find it at the time, never should you wish to train it TWICE - and that goes for everything.

These people who tell you these things - jot them down or tell them "Thanks I'll remember that" then ignore it and forget it.. there are some weird people out there, and I'm sure they'd mind if a dog upwards of 25kg came bounding over to them - or worse sat and waited to pounce on them - jumped on them.. then they'd ask you why she wasn't trained earlier..hypocrites.

Take cheese or hot dogs with you - if she sniffs, tell her good girl but after I don't know 3 minutes - start walking - use a long line for this... if she doesn't come with you, go back put a hot dog or cheese under her nose and lure her away and say "lets go" when she leaves the smell and follows you.. If you start clicker training - you can click and treat when she leaves the smell to follow you - but click the action of leaving the smell... At first - as with any puppy, go overboard on the praise of doing something good.

The strangers - let her sit and wait, then as soon as they are passing - distract her with treats or train in a simple "watch me" - to do this put your treat up to your eyes and say "watch me" when her eyes are on yours or on your face - give her the treat - a clicker is useful here as it gets the action spot on time (if your timing is good) - once the stranger has passed - walk away saying "lets go" Remember praise = squeaky high voice, commands = firm but gentle voice and if you do have to use a no = a firm raised voice (I call it the Mum voice).

If she jumps up - simply turn your back and be boring.. same with people who enter your home - ask them to turn their back and be boring until she wanders off, only when she is being polite does she get attention..

At training class, they will probably get you to do a stranger greeting test, this is where your dog has to sit at your side - ignoring the other person/dog and stay there until you leave.. don't worry about this though.. not everyone does it right first time. Well done for looking - but make sure you ask to watch the classes first.. if they don't allow it - avoid it completely. You need to watch to see if that method of training will suit you and your dog.

I made the mistake of not watching two classes and the way the trainers taught was horrendous! One used squirt bottles and chokers and were shouting commands rather than saying them - you should be able to control a dog with a whisper and shouting commands is not the way to go. Especially as they were shouting "BED!" - I wouldn't want to go to bed if you shouted at me like that! And there was hardly ever any incentive to do so - they just had to do as they were told - same with the second class I went to join - the dogs had to do as they were told, no treats, no praise until the exercise was done - whereas I praise the whole time - because how else is the dog supposed to know what it's doing good or not? Praise is easy to cut down on too. What didn't surprise me is that in the second class there was an EBT - she was not going to listen.. wrong class for her IMO.
Third time lucky - a nice positive class - treats galore, happy trainers and a stress free way of training (sometimes )
I think I've covered everything...sorry for the mini rants along the way lol

I recently heard of a "popular" trainer in North London that does this - huge black mark IMHO and degrades anything good that the person does.

At 4 months the pup is a baby still. Babies need gentle exercise really, not walks. A sniff about, a chance to socialise and explore, some bonding and learning games with mum... that`s enough really.
Why not start again and see her as a little one that needs to be educated, rather than an animal that needs to be tired out?
So teach lead work - in your garden is fine. And your road is as exciting to her as your park, because everything is new and interesting. Road work is brilliant for training - all those chances to sit nicely at kerbs, to practice not jumping at people , all those different sights and smells.
It`s very easy to skip straight to the way we act when the dog is grown and trained but when starting out with a youngsters we tend to forget that everything is new and everything needs to be learned.

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