So you have a new puppy. Now what do you do?
This is a primer: there is a lot more involved in raising puppies and dogs than be covered in a short article ... and beware: many dog "experts" have very little idea about training dogs.
Steps
Behavior- Discourage your pup from biting too hard. All puppies bite and it should be considered a normal part of puppy behavior and play. Your job is to teach your puppy that human skin is very fragile and there must never be more than the merest lightest touch of puppy teeth on it. If you do this job well, should your dog ever bite through extreme fear or pain he is far likelier to just scratch than if he is left uneducated.
- Learn your puppy's reactions. If the puppy growls, snaps or bites, this is his way of saying he is not happy or comfortable with what you are doing. Don't be tempted to escalate the problem by becoming aggressive back, instead remove all confrontation from the situation, this time you will probably have to back off. In future do not put him in the situation where he feels he has to growl, instead learn what those situations might be, avoid them where possible and where this isn't practical or safe, teach him to associate these things with pleasant rewards. If you ever attempt to punish a dog for growling, all you may achieve is removing the growl, i.e. the warning that your dog feels threatened. Although that warning is gone, he still feels threatened, so he will move on to biting, this is why sometimes dogs appear to bite without warning.
- Give and get respect. A lot is spoken about this, a dog must respect and obey his owner, but that respect must be earned. You cannot, and should not, beat your dog into submission, you will not earn his respect if you smack him or hit him. You will earn his fear.
- Keep your rules and boundaries consistent at all times, if he's not allowed on the sofa, then he's never allowed on the sofa. If he is allowed on the sofa but expected to get off when asked 'off' then he must get off the minute you say the word, not after five repetitions and a yank on his collar. Mean what you say, give him motivation to comply (treats, rewards), prevent him from doing the wrong things (and prevention as they say is better than cure), be firm and be fair. Your dog will feel confident and secure and know exactly what to expect from you and he will respect you. You are aiming for a relationship somewhere between 'team leader/team member' and 'friends'. You are the one with the big brain, so use it. If you think a method sounds a good idea, mentally put yourself in your 'team members' place, i.e. your dogs, and see if it still seems a good deal from there. If it doesn't, pick a different method.
- Keep your rules and boundaries consistent at all times, if he's not allowed on the sofa, then he's never allowed on the sofa. If he is allowed on the sofa but expected to get off when asked 'off' then he must get off the minute you say the word, not after five repetitions and a yank on his collar. Mean what you say, give him motivation to comply (treats, rewards), prevent him from doing the wrong things (and prevention as they say is better than cure), be firm and be fair. Your dog will feel confident and secure and know exactly what to expect from you and he will respect you. You are aiming for a relationship somewhere between 'team leader/team member' and 'friends'. You are the one with the big brain, so use it. If you think a method sounds a good idea, mentally put yourself in your 'team members' place, i.e. your dogs, and see if it still seems a good deal from there. If it doesn't, pick a different method.
- Dogs are dogs. Accept this, understand this. They are not humans, children, cats, fluffy toys, they are dogs. This means they have desires and urges and needs and for a harmonious life, you need to fulfill them.
- Take into account the job your dog was bred to do - owning a working Border Collie when you have four children under the age of 5 and two of them have ADHD is a bad idea. Border Collies are bred to react to small fast moving objects, they have an inherent desire to keep these 'objects' (sheep, ducks, your children) in one place, or to drive them by nipping at the heels. They are incredibly reactive and in an environment such as the fictional one painted above, they will go completely bananas, nipping children and obsessively herding them, unless you are willing to find some activity that will replace spending 5 or 6 hours + on a hillside herding sheep.
- Research dog breeds to find the one that will suit you, there are many breeds out there, almost certainly there is one to suit everyone if the owner is willing to adapt the dogs natural instincts and drives and channel them into an acceptable activity.
- Research dog breeds to find the one that will suit you, there are many breeds out there, almost certainly there is one to suit everyone if the owner is willing to adapt the dogs natural instincts and drives and channel them into an acceptable activity.
- Take into account the job your dog was bred to do - owning a working Border Collie when you have four children under the age of 5 and two of them have ADHD is a bad idea. Border Collies are bred to react to small fast moving objects, they have an inherent desire to keep these 'objects' (sheep, ducks, your children) in one place, or to drive them by nipping at the heels. They are incredibly reactive and in an environment such as the fictional one painted above, they will go completely bananas, nipping children and obsessively herding them, unless you are willing to find some activity that will replace spending 5 or 6 hours + on a hillside herding sheep.
- Give the puppy enough "toys" and he should leave your stuff alone. Put the toys in a box, and put your own "toys" away where he cannot get them. Choose a range of toys, some that require only your puppy (Kongs stuffed with food, Iqubes, Intellibones etc), and some that require your interaction such as balls and ragger ropes.
- When you have had enough of a game, spread your hands and say "Enough", turn around and walk away. Puppy will soon learn what "Enough" means.
- If he grabs something of yours, distract him and and swap him for one of his own toys in its place.
- Never make a fuss or chase him. If you do, he will learn that seeking out your belongings and haring off with them instigates a great game.
- When you have had enough of a game, spread your hands and say "Enough", turn around and walk away. Puppy will soon learn what "Enough" means.
- Watch your children and your pets. Children and puppies sounds fun, but the reality is a bit of a nightmare. Children move fast, are high pitched, unpredictable and often on face level with puppies/dogs. Their interaction must always be supervised, puppy play can go too far, children can accidentally (or purposefully) torment and hurt puppies, and puppy teeth are extremely sharp. The only answer is to never leave your child alone with the puppy, as puppies, like your children, love to play and their games are extremely rough and boisterous.
- Don't get two at a time. Two puppies? No. Never acquire two puppies together, especially two of the same gender and breed.
- As puppies, they may bond together so strongly they are not interested in you, which makes training far more than double the work of one puppy.
- As adults they may fall out severely, and in the case of bitch puppies, dangerously to the point where one will kill the other. Stick to one puppy at a time, get the first puppy well trained and to a sensible age (minimum of 18 months, older for a larger breed), and then consider the next puppy. Even then, avoid going for same breed/gender, try to find a breed that fits nicely or at least the opposite gender.
- It's often tempting to think that two puppies will keep one another company whilst you work but this is a bad plan, as I said previously, they will bond to one another and you will struggle to train them both to respond to you, and to interact nicely with other dogs. Imagine twin toddlers left to their own devices for 8 hours a day!
- As puppies, they may bond together so strongly they are not interested in you, which makes training far more than double the work of one puppy.
- Puppies should be taught to at least tolerate and ignore other household pets, although common sense says never to leave them alone together. Teach your puppy that you are more interesting than the pet rabbit/cat/chickens, and never give him the opportunity to chase or harass other pets.
- If you have young children, they must be taught to handle the puppy from the beginning. They must understand that the dog is not a plaything and that the dog is never to be teased or tormented, even accidentally.
- To house-train the puppy, never let him have the opportunity to toilet indoors. If you can achieve this for just a few weeks, and couple it with taking your pup outside every hour and after all meals, walks, training sessions, play sessions and sleep periods, rewarding extremely well when he toilets outside, you will quickly have a dog who is reliably and solidly housetrained. Punishing a dog for going in the house is an ineffective method of training this, they will learn any number of messages, but these are never 'do not toilet in the house', they are "do not toilet in front of me for I will punish you" which can lead to dogs running away and hiding to toilet, and "if I find a mess I will punish you" which generally causes dogs to cover up mess with household objects, eat mess and can also make any separation anxiety issues far far worse.
- Provide more formal training; basic commands such as sit, leave, down, etc can be taught using food rewards and hand signals, introducing the command when the dog understands the signal. It's very easy and avoids confusion. Simply lure the position you want (for sit, show the dog a small treat and then move your hand and the treat back over the dogs head so he has to sit to keep looking at it, immediately give the treat, as he gets the idea, introduce the word 'sit'), and then reward and then introduce the command. Another great method is clicker training where a click sound marks the exact behaviour you wanted, and tells the dog "yes, that's correct and you will get a treat". This is great in a number of ways, one is that the click always sounds the same, unlike your voice which will give away tiredness, anger, frustration etc, the other is that its much much faster to click and then give a treat later, than it is to try and give the dog the treat the very instant it performs the behaviour.
- Around food, you must make sure your puppy is happy to have you close by. There may come a time when you need to take something from him, you may have children who will walk past him as he is eating.
- To achieve a dog who is happy and friendly and relaxed about people being near his food you must:
- Never snatch food from him
- Never hit or shout at him (even if he growls). Instead always make humans + his food = more food. Hand feed him, put your hands in the puppy's food dish whilst it is eating if he is happy with this to start with.
- Never snatch food from him
- To achieve a dog who is happy and friendly and relaxed about people being near his food you must:
- Pay attention to their diet. Dogs are primarily carnivorous scavengers; their diet is meat and fat (though smaller breeds also eat insects). The only vegetable matter they consume in the wilds is the partially-digested stuff in the entrails of their prey. Failing this, they eat the dung of these animals.
- Dogs have rather peculiar digestive systems, in that puppies are born without the enzymes necessary for digestion. This is why the mother regurgitates her food for the puppies. This ejecta contains the bacteria that the puppies need to populate their stomachs and guts.
- Many dog owners see the mother throwing up her food, but stop the puppies eating it as it is, to the owners, nauseating, but if the pups are not permitted to eat this regurgitated food, they never develop the enzymes, so that they are unable to digest their food properly!
- If your puppy displays a pica - in other words, a craving - for the dung of other animals or tries to eat grass, you must take it as a sign that it is lacking in digestive enzymes and is seeking them in the dung and grass. As dogs are carnivores, they do not have the enzymes required to digest vegetable matter: they get these from the partially digested food in the stomachs and guts of their prey. These particular enzymes are expelled almost immediately after the vegetable matter has passed through the dog's digestive system.
- Most proprietary dog food is made with a high proportion of vegetable matter and starch. They are formulated by veterinarians who know little about the canine nutrition and are employed by a food manufacturer to ensure the food won't kill the dog.
- Many people also think that "if it's good enough for me, it's good enough for my dog". It's not! Just as you would not think of eating the contents of a herbivore's stomach, and just as you would not permit your children to eat the dung of other animals, do not expect your dog to thrive on the food you eat.
- Dogs have rather peculiar digestive systems, in that puppies are born without the enzymes necessary for digestion. This is why the mother regurgitates her food for the puppies. This ejecta contains the bacteria that the puppies need to populate their stomachs and guts.
- A large dog will have reached its full height by two years of age, but will continue to fill out for another year. Do not try to put weight on an immature dog, he should be allowed to fill out in his own time, excess weight too soon will cause joint damage.
- Feed a good brand of food (that's an article in itself) or feed a raw natural diet, never over feed a dog, slightly underweight is far better for his health than slightly overweight. Never 'free feed' or 'ad lib' feed your dog as this is a sure fire way to cause any number of behavioural issues such as food guarding, food saving, fussy picky eating. It also prevents you from knowing immediately if your dog is off his food as you don't know for sure how much he ate or when he ate last. Instead offer meals twice a day and give your dog just 10 minutes to eat. If he hasn't eaten in that time, remove the food and put it away. A strict regime like this will ensure your dog eats on time, every time which is far more healthy for his digestion, dogs are scavengers, not natural grazers and shouldn't always feel 'full'. If you do this however, do make sure you feed a very good quality diet, and do be aware, the price you pay for commercial dog food is not a good indicator of its quality. Ensure that your dogs have access to clean water at all times.
- Feed a good brand of food (that's an article in itself) or feed a raw natural diet, never over feed a dog, slightly underweight is far better for his health than slightly overweight. Never 'free feed' or 'ad lib' feed your dog as this is a sure fire way to cause any number of behavioural issues such as food guarding, food saving, fussy picky eating. It also prevents you from knowing immediately if your dog is off his food as you don't know for sure how much he ate or when he ate last. Instead offer meals twice a day and give your dog just 10 minutes to eat. If he hasn't eaten in that time, remove the food and put it away. A strict regime like this will ensure your dog eats on time, every time which is far more healthy for his digestion, dogs are scavengers, not natural grazers and shouldn't always feel 'full'. If you do this however, do make sure you feed a very good quality diet, and do be aware, the price you pay for commercial dog food is not a good indicator of its quality. Ensure that your dogs have access to clean water at all times.
Tips
- Select toys your dog will like, regardless of how they appeal to you. Varying textures within the same toy are often liked, toys that are designed to be pulled apart or stuffed with food go down a storm too. Avoid toys that can cause harm such as sticks that splinter, cooked bones that can splinter or cause impactions in the gut.
- Use the tone of your voice to tell him how you're feeling. A deep voice when you want the dog to stop what he is doing, a firm voice when training or commanding: make a game of it and you will get a lot more out of puppy than bullying him. A happy, higher pitched voice when he's doing as you wish. Whistle to him when you want him to come. Whistling travels a longer distance than calling, and it won't make you hoarse.
Warnings
- Research the breeds that you like well before purchasing, otherwise you may find that although your dog looks pretty, his needs cannot be met in your home. Small dogs often need far more exercise than their appearance would suggest and some of the smallest breeds are terriers, bred to be stubborn, independent and fight for their lives, they do not suffer fools. Some of the larger breeds are more biddable and 'soppy'. Long haired breeds need a lot of grooming, but many of them shed much less fur than short haired breeds. Consider adopting an adult dog that already has the personality and behavior you would like. Do your homework!
- Never give your dog chocolate, this can make them very sick as it contains theobromine, which is poisonous. This can kill small dogs outright with a large enough dose, but is also an accumulative poison, building up over time. Put the chocs away! Other potentially dangerous or poisonous foods include grapes, raisins, macadamia nuts, onions.
- Never leave children unsupervised with dogs, a toddlers face is at roughly the same height as a dogs face and dogs do not like being stared in the face, and toddlers like to closely examine everything they see, this is a recipe for disaster. If you are leaving the room where the dog and child are, take the dog with you.
- Never allow children to tease or torment dogs and learn enough about dog behaviour to know what will and will not upset a dog (cuddles, eye contact, waving food around, all very bad things to do to a dog).
- Don't use physical violence on your dog- don't rely on smacking as a training method. It's poorly understood by dogs; they repeat the behaviours they find rewarding, remember that and use it to your advantage. Do beware trainers who advise you to smack or yell at your dog, imagine if your boss or your partner treated you that way, you wouldn't have a good relationship with them, and your dog is no different. Last of all you will need to remember that training a dog takes time, effort and pacints. A well trained dog is a happy dog. Dogs just want to learn and obey.
Related Contents
- Healthy Food for Dogs
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- Free training Course for Dogs
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- Turn your dog into an Obedient, Loyal Pet In Just 5 Days
- Free training Course for Dobermans
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