jones
Posted : 9/7/2006 4:06:33 PM
This is really a personal decision about weighing the risks and benefits of early classes. There is less of a risk of disease in a controlled environment like puppy class, but there is still a risk (when not all pups are fully vaccinated). The school near me took pups at 8 wks and so we were there by the time mine was 9 wks.
That said, from my experience I would say the primary purpose of going at that very young age is socialization more than training. Puppies that young have the attention span of fleas and though they certainly can begin to learn, it's not like at 4 or 5 or 6 months any bad behavior's going to be set in stone (far from it). You have plenty of time for training, less for socialization. However, if you prefer to socialize your pup in other ways that can work too, as long as you make the effort to do it.
I don't regret our early puppy K in the least, but most of its benefits were in areas other than strict obedience training - it was useful to me to hear about other puppy owners' experiences, I learned a lot about training and body language, I learned to be patient and tolerant with my puppy, I bonded with my puppy, and he got to play with other puppies. In terms of *learning commands* I think we got more out of our subsequent homework and follow up "graduate puppy" class.
Hope that helps!