If you are receiving this from me then,
oh joy…you have a typical puppy
Again,Oh, Joy! All the behaviors you
are experiencing are normal for a puppy. All the "problems"
you are experience are all solved through management, reinforcement
of the behaviors you like, and instructive reprimands (time out's
--withdrawing attention) of those you dislike-100% of the time.
Yes, 100% of the time. Therefore, constant supervision and consistency
are paramount! Remember that every waking moment she is learning
and being trained, equally important, keep in mind she is a BABY.
Treat her the same you would a toddler. Look on the bright side…you
can crate your puppy when you want to go to a movie or out to
dinner…you can't do that with a toddler. Remember to always
be attentive to what you are reinforcing.
Your puppy is a lucky. She has you. Your positive attitude is
what every dog (and dog trainer) hopes for. I look forward to
seeing and helping your relationship develop.
Things to think about
Make sure that you provide her with sufficient exercise and mental
stimulation-4 walks per day, walks/rides to all destinatins, the
dog park, the market, play at home, stuffed Kong, tricky treat
ball or busy buddy and request compliance training.
The next few months of training are incredibly important and will
define the parameters of the relationship. Your puppy is being
trained 24 hours a day. The one big mistake we make with dogs
is believing that they understands when we are not proactively
training.
She is being trained from the moment she wakes up to the moment
she falls asleep…So this is the most important time in her
life. You are teaching her what the next 15 years or so is going
to be like. Think about what her life will look like in a year
and prepare her for it now. You may want to sit down and think
about that and the house rules for your puppy. A few of the questions
to think about are:
When the friends come over how much
time will they spend with your puppy? One hour, 30 minutes? (Remember
she will not be a puppy for long, the small and cute factor disappears
quickly)
How much time will you spend with your
puppy during the day? Is it possible that your life may change?
(yes it IS possible) Make sure you teach her to be alone.
Where will she be when you are eating
dinner? Under the table? In her crate? What about when friends
visit? Or when you bring her to family/friends houses? Remember
you want her to be welcome wherever you go. Prepare her for different
sscenario's that may occur. (I vote for the crate and as she matures
onto her comfy bed) When and where will she be given leftovers
from dinner? When given leftovers, remember to subtract that amount
from her daily ration
What sort of interactions/activities
will you engage in with your puppy? Will you take her on walks
on errands everyday? Or a few times a week? Remember life is uncertain
and you want to prepae her for the road ahead.
Will she stay home for more than 5
hours some days? (See home alone training)
These are just a few. Keep in mind
you are setting the precedent for the rest of her life.
We can go over some of these together
and decide the best way to systematically train and prepare her
for real life.
Basic Doggie Courtesy
Real Life Training
When possible take her with you on your daily errands-a walk to
the nearest café, market, and/or other stores as often
as possible. In the car intermittently reward her with a piece
of her kibble or other yummy treat. On walks and around the house
practice sits and downs. Remember to bring along her kibble and
treats, as she will be distracted with the wonderful world in
front of her. Practice training at home, keeping the training
sessions short and sweet. Keep her attention by praising effusively
and being as animated as possible.
When meeting people both at the house
and out and about practice a sit, or a simple stand on all fours
while getting attention. Every once in a while crate her when
people come over. This will prepare her for the occasion when
a visitor is not thrilled at meeting your soon to be dog…go
figure! Most likely she will be so excited to see a new person,
sitting or staying in the crate will be the LAST thing on her
mind. Keep a stash of rare and never before seen chewies. When
the visitors enter the house
4 Kennel up (or whatever word you choose)
4 Present the chewy,
4 And lure Your puppy into the crate.
I would recommend doing this often when people come over and for
no reason at all. You can take her out in five minutes or so subsequently
taking the chewy away and then introduce her to the new person.
For puppies happiness to see someone is expressed through jumping
up, giving a lick and a nip and possibly a chase…Your puppy
has no idea that for the human species, this is not a basic greeting
procedure practice. It will take some effort but through persistence
and management, soon she will learn the proper way to say hello.
This will also teach her to settle down when people visit.
This is real life training and cannot be underestimated.
Home Alone Training
Being Alone is not natural for dogs
If you ever plan to leave Your puppy home alone you must begin
training alone time while you are home. Remember NEVER; EVER leave
her unattended while she is free in the house… Start with
short sessions in the crate with a stuffed Kong.
Your puppy is lucky as there so many opportunities for her to
accompany you during the day. Continue to bring her with you when
convenient. Leaving her home for short periods during the day
is also important, as this will teach her to be comfortable staying
home alone.
Otherwise, while at home when you cannot supervise her intermittently
leave her in the x-pen area. This will ensure that she does not
have to follow you EVERYWHERE when you are home. It's nice having
her follow you everywhere, but you don't want her doing that forever
(it gets old fast when she is 3 years old and still following
you every time you go to the bathroom, get a drink from the kitchen,
wash your hands, answer the phone…you get the idea). Ideal
times to crate Your puppy are endless… While watching TV.
Paying bills, talking on the phone, eating dinner etc…Having
her in the crate while you are home allows her to experience short
absences, instead of one long scary one.
Housebreaking
Location, location, location
Any accidents Your puppy has had are a matter of being in the
wrong place at the right time. Dogs are naturally clean animals:
given a choice, they will urinate and defecate away from their
sleeping and eating areas. However, it is not obvious to puppies
that carpets and floors are inappropriate elimination sites. They
must by systematically taught to discriminate indoors vs. outdoors
and to exclusively use the latter. The key to house-training is
getting a solid history of rewarded trials in the desired area.
Make sure you establish a reward history
for Your puppy by taking her out to the same place on leash at
frequent intervals and rewarding with exuberant praise and a treat
when she has eliminated. A small area outside is the best spot.
Keep a container of treats in the area so that you can immediately
reward her for elimination in that area. There must be a training
effect with an immediate reward, as you will later be reprimanding
for any elimination inside the house-- you don't want her to associate
that with you. The dozens upon dozens of times you have rewarded
her for going in front of you while outside will make later reprimands
easier to interpret. You can also reward her with a walk and a
play session either with a toy, or with you. When she puts the
connection together, you will notice that she will eliminate more
quickly. These are the laws of learning in action, and dogs are
loyal to them. By no means should you reprimand after the fact.
Puppies must have immediate (within 1 second) consequences (reward
or reprimand)
Focus on providing immediate consequences
for Your puppy
Avoid accidents inside at ALL COSTS. Every accident inside is
one you could not reward outside, you catch inside and must reprimanded
which sets you up as the bad guy, And one you failed to catch
inside which gets the habit rolling.
When you have established a strong reward history, you may now
reprimand for any mistakes indoors while you are present. If there
is a mistake, you must catch it in the act. Any later and you
could be reprimanding something else. Say Your puppy pees then
takes a few steps and sits down and you reprimand, guess what
you just reprimanded--sitting. ! Be extra conscious of what you
are reinforcing and what you are reprimanding!
If you have done a good job at rewarding outside elimination,
it will take between one and three reprimands to finish the job.
That is if you catch three in a row. Big mistake, if you catch
one, miss one, catch one, etc…housebreaking will become a
protracted process
The Potty Training Procedure
Housebreaking laws...keep this page handy
Make sure you have treats on you when you take her out to pee.
Buy a leash that you can leave on her while she is not confined
to the crate.
Decide precisely where her bathroom will be in the yard. Bring
her directly to that spot.
Go there regularly: first thing in the morning, last thing before
bed, 10 to 20 minutes after meals and water, each and every time
she comes out of her confinement, and frequently (every five minutes
or so) during playtime.
Cheer Your puppy and reward the moment she goes in the appropriate
place.
Cheer and reward at the right moment, Cheer and reward at the
right moment, Cheer and reward at the right moment
Confine to one room: never, ever give her access to more than
the kitchen or easily cleaned area
Pick up food and water-do not allow free access to food and water.
This is the key. If you control "in-put' you are better able
to predict "output"
Supervise whenever she's uncrated, especially if she's "full".
If you must take your eyes off her, even for a minute, crate her
or bring her with you.
Interrupt mistakes immediately with a fast verbal reprimand. Catch
her as she starts to go, not afterwards. After interrupting her,
hustles her outside to the bathroom area: praise if she finishes
there. Then clean up the indoor mess
Never punish late: if she made the mistake 1 second prior, you
are too late. You must catch her in the act to reprimand effectively
Catch her in the act of doing it right: follow these rules so
you can be the good guy most of the time.
Mouthing Exercises!
Your puppy's life depends on a soft mouth!
As you have experienced a puppy is simply a vehicle for a mouth!
Puppies are programmed to bite. In a litter of puppies they bite
each other continuously. But when one bites the other too hard,
the bitten puppy will yelp and stop playing. This is how they
learn to inhibit their force of bites. Probably one of the most
important things you must teach Your puppy is to have a soft mouth…if
you forbid Your puppy from biting before she has a consistently
soft mouth she may grow up not having the appropriate bite inhibition.
The best technique for hard bites is to remove the thing that
your puppy wants most…YOU! First set yourself up in the long-term
confinement area or other are that you can leave quickly. As soon
as you feel a hard bite dramatically yelp OUCH! and remove yourself
from the pup's presence either by leaving the Your puppy-proofed
area or putting her into it for a penalty of 10 to 20 seconds.
After the penalty phase is over, resume where you left off without
a grudge. Expect to repeat the process four or ten times before
seeing a change in behavior. The important thing here is the pup
learns that there is an immediate consequence for the hard bite:
Being without a playmate and ALONE! Repeat several times.
Handling Exercises
This is a great couch potato exercise!
Even though Your puppy does not seem to have any handling problems
with the family, I suggest you practice handling her all over
at different times of the day during different activities. such
as during play, while she is sleeping, eating and chewing.
Touch Your puppy all over. If you find a sensitive place, proceed
slowly with yummy treats. Touch followed by (not at the same time)
a treat until she is begging for more. The key is to work slowly,
and if you even suspect Your puppy is a little intimidated or
uneasy, go right back to square and this time, work even slower.
Have friends practice collar grabs and light body grabs. remind
me to as people to do this in class with Your puppy!
Food Bowl and Object Exchanges
A high priority!
Many dogs are possessive of their food bowls (money) and valued
objects (diamonds, luxury items). It is your job to teach her
to like and feel confident about having people around. So for
the meantime, never let your Your puppy eat alone. Sit with Your
puppy while she eats his meals. Even better feed her in installments.
Measure out her food and every few seconds or throughout the day
approach and put a handful inside, while she is eating practice
some handling, pick up the food bowl and put it back down with
a special bonus inside: some wet food, a tasty treat, a piece
of food, some leftovers, anything nutritious and good. When Your
puppy has her Kong or a chew toy say give or drop it, take the
toy, then give a treat, and then give the object back.
Effective use of Time outs
Or Reward Removal/Reprimands
Time outs (TO) teach the puppy that certain behaviors result in
an abrupt and annoying temporary loss of social contact and control
over the situation. You will be removing Your puppy from reinforcing
(things she seems to be really fond of doing) situations. It is
simply the loss of what Your puppy wants most now. It could be
chewing on you, a ball, a food treat etc. The important factor
of a "time out" is its immediate delivery. If you are
playing with Your puppy and she jumps up or nick's your fingers
to get at the toy then you must give her the immediate consequence
-put the toy away, eat the treat yourself (if using something
you would like to eat, of course ), leave the room, etc.
We decided that the x-pen is a good time out area. You can also
use a bathroom or other area that is puppy proofed.
Time Outs or Reward Removal
Make sure that you correctly identify and mark the inappropriate
behavior:
You catch Your puppy doing something you don't like
Tell her "wrong!" Or "enough," TOO BAD"
whatever-- followed by a dramatic verbal bridge of displease ("ok,
that's it! I'm outa here DOODLE HEAD! You have crossed the line!")
Repeating your make believe horror until you have arrived at the
time out location which should take no more than 3 seconds until
you can either leave the room or place her on a (TO)
Wait 10 + seconds or so
After the penalty phase is over, resume where you left off without
a grudge. Go back to her and in your most happy, wiggly-giggly
voice start playing (or what ever she was doing before the timeout
commenced) again. The important thing is that Your puppy's learns
that there is an immediate consequence for her actions. Being
without a playmate and ALONE!
Repeat several times or until you notice a marked difference in
the behavior.
More important, don't neglect Your puppy's good behavior --playing
properly with you and her toys, settling down, greeting you with
all four paws on the ground, remaining quiet in the crate, etc,
Praise her effusively for these things most of the time and instructively
reprimand unacceptable behavior. sit exercises
Every waking moment Your puppy is learning
what works and what does not work in her world. It is an amazing
time of discovery for her (and you). If left to her own devices
she will make her own choices. Now is the only time that you can
easily teach what you will accept and what you will not accept.
Later unacceptable behaviors are habits, and we know how hard
habits are to break as adults.
Your puppy's To Do's!
From just a few feet away Say "
Your puppy, Come! " (if she does not begin to approach run
up to her and lure her towards you with a treat)
While saying "goooood dog, goooood Yeah!!!!" cheer Your
puppy every step of the way
As soon as s/he reaches you, grab collar,
Now give the treat. Take another step back, "Come".
Repeat taking a few more steps back each time.
Other ways to practice
Practice recalls with two people standing 6 feet apart. call your
puppy between the two of you.
In the house, call your puppy from another room.
How to teach Your puppy NOT to come
Call her to you when:
She is playing in the park and you want to leave.
From other dogs,
Sniffing in the yard (in short don't call her from having a good
time.
Never call Your puppy to you to do something unpleasant, like
clipping nails, cleaning ears, isolation...BIG MISTAKES.
Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, DON"T LIE. Simply
go get her for these things.
Handling
Throughout the day lightly grab her by the collar or by a body
part, praise and then give a treat or throw a favorite toy. Touch
Your puppy all over. If you find a sensitive place, proceed slowly
with yummy treats. Touch followed by (not simultaneously) a treat
until she is begging for more. The key is to work slowly, and
if you even suspect she is a little intimidated or uneasy, go
right back to square and this time, work even more slowly.
Practice collar grabs and body grabs throughout the day. Remember
to follow the body grabs with praise and a treat.
Following and Hiding
Fun Game...
Actively ask Your puppy to follow you with a mighty "LeT'S
gO" as you are walking quickly in one direction; then exclaim
1) "this way!" and change your direction. If Your puppy
begins to turn left then you must automatically go right. Whatever
your puppies direction, do the opposite. If she is going slow
then speed up, and vice versa!
Her following abilities can be substantially improved by hiding
each time she either gets too far ahead or preoccupied behind.
You are teaching her to keep at least on ear, eye or nostril on
you all the time.
In short
Say "LeT'S gO"! and walk quickly in one direction
Say "This way"! then change direction
Chase Game... DOGS LOVE THIS.
Remember to practice LOTS OF SITS AND DOWNS while playing this
game.
Begin by saying "Oh My!"
Or some other exclamation that signifies the game is underway.
Now run from Your puppy…arms flailing, screeching with joy.
Next signal Your puppy that the chase direction is about to change
"I'mmm gonna get you" and chase her"
Repeat.
Remember to let Your puppy know consistently
with the appropriate cues and in order:
Verbal … "I'm gonna get you", or whatever you choose
Action …the act of changing direction
Always make sure you control the game and not the other way around.
Practice lots of sits and downs during this game!
Sit, down and Stand
Practice these various positions throughout the day for various
life rewards.
Concept of life rewards
(THIS IS KEY, important, critical, vital, significant)
make Your puppy work for life rewards through request compliance.
In a puppies world the reinforcements are endless! You, food,
other dogs, people, smells, grass, play, toys, and on and on and
on! From now on, ask Your puppy to sit or lie down before and
during all enjoyable activities. This is her way of saying "please
and thank you"! This is basic doggy courtesy and it is your
way of communicating that you are a BIG part of the fun and not
an obstacle to the fun.
Take it and Leave it and Gently
Offer Your puppy a food treat with a cheerful "take it"
repeat several times…"take it, take it, take it,"
now in a closed hand or between two fingers say "leave it"…Now
WAIT...and wait, and wait, until Your puppy withdraws her muzzle
or looks away on her own. Do not repeat the command; simply wait
for it to happen. Eventually she will withdraw, when she does
say "take it" and offer the food treat.
Remember warm your dog up by doing several "take its",
then ask for a "leave it", or "don't touch"
and simply wait until you get a split second of the dog withdrawing
its muzzle from your hand. As soon as she breaks contact say "Take
it"...you are on your way!!!!
Jumping Up and Off
Begin by praising Your puppy effusively for all four paws on the
ground. As soon as she begins to jump up say "off" and
then FREEZE... not a peep from you until she is once again all
4 on the floor. Immediately praise like crazy--after several repetitions
you can begin clap, flail your arms in short THROW A PARTY FOR
Your puppy BECAUSE she has ALL 4 PAWS ON THE FLOOR!
Repeat at least 10 times a day.
Have Fun! Puppies are the best
Copywrite@ Fawn Pierre
To contact Shamrock
Kennels Write to ****** Fred and Kathy
Rowlette Shamrock EJRT
Kennel
Albion, Maine 04910 Call us ****** Tel.# (207) 437-2034
