The answer
On film the answer is "when they're young", and the reason given is not that puppies learn faster but that older dogs have more to unlearn. Standing in a store with Clark Kent, a Cane Corso puppy about six months old, Kelton told a shopper that dogs form habits through conditioning, that the conditioning is strong, and that most dogs reach the company at about fourteen months having practised their bad habits for six to eight months, which makes the work harder. That is the whole of the on-film statement: one trainer, one conversation, stated as a general rule. What can be inferred, not stated, is that the cost of waiting is measured in rehearsals: every month a dog repeats a habit is a month the trainer later works against.
What to do
Start before the habit has had months of practice. Kelton's own words: "it's always good to get them trained when they're young. You avoid a lot of bad habits" (watch 09:59). The film gives no instruction beyond that; there is no filmed age threshold to aim for.
What the trainers say
Yeah, it's always good to get them trained when they're young. You avoid a lot of bad habits.
You get classical conditioning that happens, like Pavlovian conditioning is what it's called. And it's very strong. And so they get habits.
And most of the time, people bring us their dog, and the dog's like 14 months old. And they've been practicing bad habits for like six, eight months. And we're like, that's going to be harder.
How it looks, dog by dog
Clark Kent
The remark comes out of a store conversation, not a lesson, and Clark Kent is being worked on heel and down between exchanges. His own record shows what an early start still leaves: the mouthing is put down to teething and play rather than an entrenched habit, and the go-home lesson claims he usually stops on his own or on one 'nope'. Whether starting young is why that went well is not something the footage can show.
On film
And most of the time, people bring us their dog, and the dog's like 14 months old.
about six months give or take no mouthing nope nobody nope he's still teething
point now with us he'll you know if he starts mouthing because it's just like his second nature
Why it works
Stated: conditioning forms habits, and it is strong (watch 10:04); a dog that has practised a habit for six to eight months is harder to train (10:12). Inferred, not stated: the difficulty scales with how long the habit has been rehearsed, not with age as such, so an older dog with few bad habits would not carry the same cost. Kelton names the process 'classical' or 'Pavlovian' conditioning; habits built by a dog repeating a rewarding behaviour are usually described as operant learning, so the label is his shorthand for 'conditioning is strong' and should not be read as a technical claim.
Common owner mistakes
- Waiting until the dog is around fourteen months, by which time the habits have months of practice behind them. Stated as the common pattern, not shown in a particular family.
On film
And most of the time, people bring us their dog, and the dog's like 14 months old. And they've been practicing bad habits for like six, eight months.
Watch at 10:12 ↗
Questions owners ask
Is my puppy too young to train?
The film does not set a lower age. The one statement on the subject argues the other way: train young, because you avoid a lot of bad habits. Separately, the trainers treat a young dog's working pressure as lower as policy (see start-high-not-low), so young does not mean trained the same way as an adult.
On film
Yeah, it's always good to get them trained when they're young. You avoid a lot of bad habits.
Is it too late to train my older dog?
Nothing on film says it is too late. What is said is that it is harder: the usual dog arrives at about fourteen months with six to eight months of practised habits, 'and we're like, that's going to be harder'.
On film
And most of the time, people bring us their dog, and the dog's like 14 months old. And they've been practicing bad habits for like six, eight months. And we're like, that's going to be harder.
The lesson
The goal
Understand why earlier training is easier: the cost is in months of rehearsed habit, not in age itself.
Watch out for
- Letting a young dog practise a habit for months on the assumption that training starts later.
Check yourself
According to Kelton, what makes training a fourteen-month-old harder than training a puppy?