Eight Steps To A Perfect Puppy
1. Reward good behaviours as they occur (shaping).
2. Use lead bonding to establish control and attention.
3. Behaviour management, not punishment is the key.
4. Food and attention are your most powerful training tools.
5. Ignore, (rather than correct) attention getting behaviours.
6. Use positive reinforcement as a teaching tool.
7. Create a motivator toy for successful training.
8. Prevent problems by registering for a puppy class
Lead Bonding
What is Lead Bonding?
Simply keeping your dog with you on a lead in the house. The reason is so you can have "instant communication" - quickly rewarding good behavior or gently managing undesirable behaviors.
How does it work ?
Dogs learn best through immediate feedback. When the goal is to eliminate undesirable behaviours, the bonding line gives you a way to instruct your dog on the correct behaviour without pushing, patting or raising your voice. Using a longer line in the house or outside gives you the control to direct behaviour whether they are close or at a distance.
For example, you pup bounds across the room and starts chewing the leg of a table. You quickly command "OFF" and pop the line gently once to first stop the action. Now you have your pups attention, immediately praise. Now you have several choices to encourage good behaviour. You can redirect his attention to an appropriate chew toy or call him to you to praise him for settling down on the floor next to you.
Where can I use a bonding line ?
I suggest lead bonding several times a day both in the house and in the backyard, if the pup is getting too reved up with the children. Another suggestion is to use a line when working in the kitchen, the line establishes excellent behaviour at the table. When the pup jumps up, give a quick and gentle "OFF" command, a pop of the line and then praise him when he lies down. A longer line is recommended when you are watching television to give your dog some freedom to romp and play. NEVER leave a lead or line on your dog unsupervised or when the dog is in his crate. The use of a bonding line helps to eliminate all types of problems like housebreaking mistakes and destruction.
Lead bonding - Setting the stage for good behaviour
Using this bonding technique enables you to be close to your dog when he randomly does wonderful things like lying down, looking at you and sitting quietly under your chair while you are eating. Rewarding these "random" behaviours with a quick touch and praise, will ensure that they occur more often. When your dog is relaxed and resting at your feet, touch and praise him, add a command word like "Good Settle". Your dog will soon learn the meaning of the word "settle" and will eventually respond to "settle" when you request it. Lead bonding is a great training tool. It facilitates quick learning and sets your dog up for success. With puppies, lead bonding will help establish behaviour, right from the start.
Still have questions? Call us. Puppy People offers individual consultations and puppy training classes that can solve housebreaking and other puppy problems.
FIRST STEPS TO PUPPY TRAINING
Puppy training is fun. The key to working with puppies is to remember they have short attention spans. Make the training sessions short. Run your pup through a few training sequences for a few minutes several times a day, rather than long periods of intense practice.
Food is a great motivator. Food aids in getting and keeping puppy attention for short times. Pups learn to follow the food and that makes it easy to position the pup in various training positions for example sit, down and stand. Use a training treat that can be eaten quickly such as very small pieces of beef jerky or rollover. Your pups regular food shaken up in a small bag with some grated cheese also makes a delicious training treat. Remember, food gets attention initially and can be phased out gradually as it is replaced with other rewards like praise and toys.
TRAINING TIPS
- keep the food VERY CLOSE to the pups nose, you want to lead the pup through the exercises by moving the food treat very slowly in front of their nose until they assume each position the instant that your dog responds, praise in an enthusiastic
- tone using the command word eg. GOOD SIT OR GOOD DOWN.
- encourage all family members to practice to obtain greater control, speed and number of exercises in each sequence
- keep practice sessions short and positive, good practice times are: before dinner, just before a walk, prior to play, and when you first arrive home and your pup is happy to see you.
- encourage the children to increase their handling skills by having a contest to see who can do the most positions in a short training sequence (10 - 15 seconds)
SOLVING NIPPING PROBLEMS
Nipping and biting problems are often related to your pup or dog testing your authority to see how far they can go. It's important to begin training as soon as possible so that your puppy will know that the family, not him are "leading the pack". Daily training on a few basic, simple training exercises combined with some "lead bonding in the house" which help you to end nipping and biting challenges quickly and effectively. When puppies are teething they are constantly mouthing because there gums are often sensitive and they want something in their mouth. With puppy mouthing, give your pup lots of appropriate good chew toys in addition to teaching these commands.
TEACHING "OUCH" & "OFF"
Teaching your pup not to nip and then to stop challenging you is a two part process. Let, your pup know, (in no uncertain terms) that it hurts when he nips you. With an exaggerated tone and direct eye contact, growl "OUCH" in a firm voice as soon as his teeth touch you. Immediately praise and use a follow up command like "Gentle" repeated in a very relaxing tone. This exercise works well, especially with puppies. Timing and voice tone are important.
Second step is to teach your dog to stay off on command. This will soon be understood for grabbing pant legs and chasing feet. The command we use for this exercise is "OFF". Using a food lure, teach your dog to back away from your hand when you say "OFF" and to move forward and take the food when you say "OKAY". Start increasing the time your dog has to wait until given permission to take. When responses are reliable, use an open hand with food on it for "OFF" commands. Once learned, this exercise can gradually be applied to everyday situations.
GO TO MAT
Teaching your puppy to "go to a mat" as a resting place is a wonderful way to teach stay as well as giving your pup a familiar and comfortable resting place when at home or visiting.
Your dog will be a welcome guest just about anywhere once you can send them to their mat and have them remain there through dinner or while friends are visiting. We use the "go to mat" command all the time and we take our mats everywhere. During classes our dogs stay on their mats and another way to get your dog to relax on a mat is to use a "settle down" treat.
Pet stores have ready made "dog mats" that can be easily washed and come in different sizes and we recommend these. However a blanket, bathmat or piece of carpet will also make a good resting place. Place your pup on lead about 10 feet from the mat. With a food treat in front of your pups nose, point toward mat, command "GO MAT" and walk slowly toward the mat Command your pup "DOWN" on the mat then praise and release with "OKAY".Practice frequently, move mat to different parts of the house and gradually increase the amount of time your dog spends on the mat.
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