My family might be adopting a 1 year old Doberman named Duke. He is very gentle with the babies (who absolutely love him) and he is energetic and playful. He was never trained before. Only to refresh himself outside. I'm not sure how we can train him… are there any experienced trainers, breeders or doberman owners that can give any suggestions ASAP? Thanks!
TheNatureGirl

At one year, he is his own person. He will be happy to work with you, but you will have to work to communicate what you need him to do. There are many methodologies for training adult dogs and they will all work with Duke. The only secret is to be consistent and work with him constantly. From Duke's perspective, training sessions should be about fifteen minutes on old stuff then one new idea then fifteen more on old plus new, three times a day. Let him run in between times. Don't worry about overloading him, he WILL wear you out.

Thanks catsmine. We wanted to teach him to sit, lay down, jump up, and how to play with toys since he is a little flinchy. I'm assuming his previous life was very loud and crazy, or maybe the other dogs in the shelter just bark too loud (he is very quiet).

This is from the Dogs forum sticky on training your new dog --

Sit.

Some dogs will learn ot sit almost immediately, others take a little more encouragement.
Take a small piece of your dogs favourite treat or use a toy.
Hold the treat above the dogs head and move it over them while saying the command "sit"
This will make the dog look up and backwards at the treat and many will naturally sit down.
As soon as they sit down give them the treat and lots of praise.

For dogs that will not sit just by doing this you can place your hand on their back just in front of their tail and gently push down while holding the food over their head.


Drop.

First teach your dog the 'sit' command.
Once they are in the sitting position, slowly lower the treat down to the ground just in front of the dog while saying the command "drop".
Most dogs will lower their head and the front legs will follow.

For dogs that do not drop straight away try moving the food away from their nose on the floor so they have to stretch after it.


Stay.

First teach your dog the 'sit' command.
Tell your dog to sit while standing right in front of them.
Hold out your hand in a 'stop motion' and take one step backward while saying the command "stay"
Hold this for 5 seconds and then give the dog a treat and praise.

Next repeat the first step but then take 2 steps backwards.
Hold for 5 seconds and then praise.

Eventually you should be able to work up to moving far away from the dog before giving them their treat and praise.

If your dog breaks the "stay" then go back and start again.


Come.

First teach your dog the 'stay' command.
Attach a long leash to your dogs collar (or a lightweight rope if you do not have a long enough leash) then tell them to stay and walk backwards away from them while letting the leash out.

Once you are a good few steps away from them say the commad "come" and gently tug on the lead, telling them that you want them to come towards you.
Once your dog reaches you give a treat and praise.


Shake hands.

First teach your dog the 'sit' command.
Once they are sitting gently take your dogs paw in your hand and lift it up while saying the command "shake"
Let the dogs paw go and praise them, withhold treats until they do it on their own.

With a bit (a lot in my case) of practice some dogs will learn to lift their paw on their own into your hand.

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Originally Posted by TheNatureGirl

We wanted to teach him to sit, lay down, jump up, and how to play with toys

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If he's from a shelter, it make take awhile to work up to the schedule I outlined. You will find megabytes of material on the "treats" method of training, such as Wondergirl's post. Skittish dogs respond well to it.

First and foremost, give him all the cuddle time you can to get him over whatever bad experiences he has had. Socializing an animal bred to win when confronted by groups of bandits is paramount.

Quote:

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he is a little flinchy

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My concern is that he is flinchy and in a shelter. Is it possible he was abused? If so, the training may take a back seat to teaching him he is in a safe home.

Thanks for the mini lesson Wondergirl! Really helpful. And catsmine, I will definitely show him how lovely our family and house is. J_9, it may be possible that he was abused in his past home. The shelter workers aren't sure yet because he was just transferred from another shelter. Thanks to all who responded😊really appreciate it!

Since he is a shelter dog he will need to be socialized before beginning to train him. He will need to know that he can trust you. Trust will be your first step in training. If he was abused this can take some time, so be patient.

I'm a bit worried. After reading your recent post about adopting a kitten, and your worry that you wouldn't be able to afford just a basic checkup for the kitten, I'm wondering why you're adopting any animals at this time.