For the new puppy
- Build your puppy’s self-confidence and ability to cope with the world without needing you by his/her side at all times. The young pack animal needs to feel confident in your capability to provide and protect. He/she will grow into a self-assured animal if their place and position of minimal responsibility is regularly acknowledged. Puppies and dogs that become over-dependent on their owners will develop behavioural problems. Prevention is always more successful than cure
- The tie-up or restraint exercise stops the puppy from being able to be at your feet the whole time you are at home. It will eventually produce a dog that is confident to be tied-up and left alone, even in an unfamiliar scenario.
Start at the easiest possible level: tie the puppy on a short lead (approx 40 cm) to the leg of the chair you are sitting in. Experience will also show the puppy that any fighting or struggling against the lead (or you, at the end of the lead), is futile.
When the puppy has become accepting of this situation of restraint, you can move onto the next level. If your puppy is strong enough to pull the chair over without you sitting in it, you will now need to tie the lead to the leg of a table or something else strong enough to hold the pup. Sit just out of reach of the puppy – when the puppy is accepting and calm in this scenario, step up to moving around the room, then leaving the room, etc, etc.
Always build on success – our aim is to avoid the puppy ever becoming panicked – we want to build confidence.
Tie up exercises can last anywhere from two minutes to two hours – just remember to take toileting requirements into consideration. Also, vary the location of the exercise.
Freedom from the restraint exercise must only be granted when the puppy is behaving perfectly. Aim for once a day.
- Greetings on your return home or on getting up in the morning should be calm. In fact, at least twice a week, ignore the puppy for the first ten to thirty minutes, acknowledging him/her only once they have calmed down and given up demanding your attention.
- Puppies will benefit from learning to accept that there will be times when they will be excluded from the pack, by being placed in the laundry, bathroom or backyard, not only when you go out, but also for periods of time when you are at home. Aim for once a day.
- Sleeping independently of the other members of the family will further build a puppy’s self confidence. Best options include: closed into the laundry/bathroom or other small room; another enclosed area; or a crate. If you feel you want your dog in your bedroom at night, keep it to only one night per week until the puppy is an adult and then always have at least one or two nights per week independent for the remainder of the dog’s life.
- Have the puppy hold a sitting position while meal is placed on the ground and await the release command, “okay” (followed by two claps), before allowing puppy to eat the food. You can use a piece of food from the bowl to hold the puppy’s attention and then drop it back into the bowl after giving the release command.
- Tidy up puppy’s eating habits and improve food motivation in readiness for training the puppy with food rewards. Meals are left down for ten minutes only. If there is any food left after ten minutes or the food is completely untouched, it should be removed and nothing further offered to the puppy until the next regular meal-time. If the puppy is ten weeks of age or older and still receiving three meals per day, consider cutting to two meals per day. Once over six months of age, consider cutting to one meal a day
- Prevent the puppy from developing aggression over his/her food. When feeding raw, meaty bones, give the puppy some small portions, then walk away. Return to give him/her more. When feeding regular dog food, save some tasty scraps to add to the bowl after the puppy/dog has already started eating. At least four times per week and continued throughout the dog’s life.
- Commence or formalise the “sit” exercise. Remember, you are not only training the puppy to sit on command, but also to hold that sitting position until you end the exercise with the release command, “okay”, followed by two claps of the hands
Once the puppy has sat, praise the behaviour and then give the puppy a treat of food from the fingertips of your right hand. Use your voice, the food, the lead or anything else to get and keep the puppy’s focus and attention on your face and further pay him/her for holding that sitting position and paying attention to you.
Use the lead to block the puppy from successfully leaving the sitting position.
The praise, “good dog”, is always given before the delivery of the food treat, to build an association between the two. The term, “ah-ah”, is to indicate to the puppy that his/her current action will not be rewarded or successful in any way. Example: if the puppy lifts his/her front feet off the ground in order to get to the incoming food reward, “ah-ah” and you quickly withdrawing the food, will result in the puppy holding the sitting position in order to draw the food reward back in.
Once the release command has been given, gently or playfully push the puppy out of the sitting position.
- Aim to achieve at least one training session each day. However, each training session should be no more than three minutes. You want to finish the session with the puppy begging to do more, so that the next time, the puppy will be keen and enthusiastic.
- Get your puppy out and about in the big, wide world. This is the critical time for the puppy to have good experiences with all types of people and animals.
Avoid allowing the big, goofy, friendly dog from galloping up and scaring your puppy. Other dogs must always be on lead and under control when your puppy meets them, particularly on the first occasion.
Off-lead dog parks are not a good place to take your puppy.
Your puppy should always feel able to escape from anything frightening – if their flight path is blocked, they may resort to aggression or intimidation. Your reaction to their fear should be very off-hand – do not try to console - the puppy may interpret your consoling voice as praise or as you also being nervous. Keep the lead loose so that the puppy does not feel that it is cornered without an escape path.
Copyright Steve Austin/Vicki Bourke |
