We just adopted this new guy, he's 2 years old, gets along with our female husky and our kids, and is a big sweetheart. He's polite and seems eager to please, but doesn't know any commands other than "no" and coming (sometimes) when called. (No sit/stay/don't pull on the leash so freaking hard etc) Our female was incredibly well behaved and trained when we adopted her, so we are a little clueless as where to start. I know I can look at some of these other threads for tips, but my main question is WHEN...ie how long do we give him to get used to our household before we start training?

Thanks!

I would start right away. It won't hurt, and it will build your bond! As long as you plan to only do positive training (ie I would stay away from prong collars and stuff at first maybe) you should do fine.

I agree, training is fun and also starts to build the bond right away. One of my favorite quotes about training is "Even if you're not training, you're training." A beginning obedience class is a great place to start.

Unfortunately, everything you do with Doggie is training him - intentionally or not. So from first minute, think of what behavior you want to encourage.

We adopted a 15 mo old from the local shelter - the gave us a prong collar to use. Without it, there is no way I could have managed the big boy (58 pounds). With it, I walked hime 5 plus miles per day (2 -3 walks per day) and it really helped cement our bond.

Other training - immediately with sit, stay when feeding - was self preservation. He would come bounding over to me, leap up (several bowls of kibble went flying in the wind  ). So, I would push his big ole butt down, bowl of kibble in left hand, tell him "sit", use hand signal, then "stay" then put his food down. Training went on from there. He loves his kibble and all training is shaped using kibble so its a fun, friendly time for him (I say good boy and pat him but I think he just tolerates that - it s the kibble that counts  )

Enjoy your new dog!

Yip, I agree! Training starts Straight away!