It has been so exciting having a new puppy after 10 years and this time I am raising a puppy with a tool box of new puppy information that I have acquired as a dog trainer and researcher.
Dog-human attachment first then Socialization. For the first two weeks after bringing Sydney home. My main focus was for Sydney to learn that I was his secure base from which he can learn to explore the world. This was based on John Bowlby's work on attachment theory in mothers and babies. A theory that developed from Konrad Lorenz work on imprinting in geese. What it means is that a child, and in this case, the puppy, develops into an emotionally healthy adult, capable of forming stable social relationships, based on the availability and responsiveness of the caregiver.
To incorporate this idea with Sydney, we stayed close to home for the first week while he learned about his new family. The second week we started to explore; going out for short visits to friends and family; having people over; we then added in cats and kids; and at three weeks, we added in a short visit with my friend's older, stable dog. In every new situation, I would watch for signs of stress, or overexcitement, and step in to give Sydney some support. NOTE: if you are not sure of how an older dog will react to a puppy, be safe, and put a baby gate or leash between them and start slowly
2. Good Sleep Habits - At 8 weeks of age Puppies need 20 hours of sleep a day. What is often not discussed, is that good sleep habits are an important skill to teach your puppy. When the feeling of sleep pressure starts it can cause physical stress in puppies - their cortisol levels spike - which is why they get bity, crazy and zoomy. Puppies learn to direct that spike of overtired arousal, to chewing of furniture, or bedding, random digging in crate corners, before crashing into exhaustion, asleep behind the curtains, sofa, or under the table. If they have fallen asleep once in a spot they will seek that spot the next time. This is why it's important to teach them where to fall asleep, by putting them in their spot when you see the signs of a tired puppy. That spot, may be a crate, a puppy pen, or for us the car. Why the car? we expected to spend time traveling lots with our puppy.
What is also really important to know is that those sleeping spots will soon be the CUE to go to sleep. For example, after a few weeks of following this routine, if we put Sydney in the car, he would immediately settle and fall asleep.
3. Management, management, management.
Management is setting up the environment to prevent future behavior problems, while you are teaching the puppy how to live in the human world. Puppies are learning so fast, they are busy sniffing, chewing, tasting; they are easily stimulated by movement; they can torment other family members with their sharp puppy teeth - making the puppy pen the best thing we implemented for Sydney. The puppy pen floor is covered with a rubberized matting; the pen is held firmly in place with a 2 x 4 base; a crate in the corner; and for the first few weeks, a framed pee spot with a pee mat, just in case. In the puppy pen he could chew, dig, or play with anything in that space and we didn’t inadvertently reward that behavior with attention by trying to stop him from doing the ‘wrong’ thing. Owners who say ‘no’ and gently push the puppy away are creating more value in the puppy doing that behavior - such as chewing that plant, or biting those pant legs. I could put him in the pen, and sit beside him reading a book, ignoring the bity, overtired puppy, while teaching him to settle. We kept our pen in the main part of the house, to teach him to see me moving around, maybe sweep the floor - something that is quite stimulating for Sydney.
Other important management ideas I used;
To prevent Sydney from biting my ankles, or pant legs, I wore a pair of tall rubber boots out in the yard and then when Sydney would start to chase them and try to bite them I could ignore his antics and not inadvertently add to his ‘fun’.
Finally, to prevent our young puppy from learning to bark out the window, we covered the windows with a film to prevent him from seeing the activity. This is especially good for those guarding breed dogs, who may come by it more naturally to bark and prevent danger from coming in the house.
4. THE Interrupter - Up until 12 -16 weeks puppies will quickly become crazy, bity things and Sydney was no exception. I don't mean when they bite your hand by accident, or when they nip in excitement - I mean when he got tired, or overexcited by play, or if too much was going on around him, Sydney would switch into a berserk crazy thing, essentially having an emotional meltdown. In these moments, there was no redirecting him to toys, or feeding him cookies to settle him. Instead, we would calmly pick him up and place him in the puppy pen for 5 seconds. This was not intended as a punishment, nor as a time-out, it was an interrupter, and when he sat (a sign his brains where back on board) we opened the pen door and out he'd come out.
If he came back to reengage with biting, back inside he would go. If he did it a third time, I took this to mean he was overtired, and I would put him back inside the pen but this time with a frozen Kong or Licky MAT. When he got to be 5 or 6 months old, we could give him his Kong and put him in his pen when we went to work, with no fuss, no chewing, no barking, he’d just go to sleep.
5. Departure Routines - To add to his learning to be alone and to prevent any future issues with separation anxiety - we taught him early, that the Kong, and the radio coming on was the cue for sleep. When we came home, we would turn the radio off, then let him out of the pen or crate. Adding the radio came to predict not only us leaving but that we had returned and he was coming of out of his puppy pen. Too often we try to sneak out of the house while the puppy is sleeping, rather than teaching them to get used to you leaving.
6. You will say 'no' at least once. For me, Sydney was chewing on the electrical plug, and fear of him getting electrocuted, had me shouting NO, and rushing at him in a panic. But if you hear yourself repeatedly saying NO for other reasons, other than life or death, then it might be time to train. For example, bending over to tie my shoes, Sydney took it to mean it was play time and would jump at my head. With some pre-planning I put treats at the entrance to the house. Then as he approached, I would toss a treat, BEFORE he made contact, and off he'd run to chase the cookie - he'd come back, I would toss another -all while slowly tying my shoes. Eventually, he both outgrew the attraction of jumping at my head, and learned to sit and wait patiently.
7. PUPPY WALKS
They could hardly be called walks prior to 5 months of age - they are exploring adventures -using a LONG LINE of 15 feet. We worked on a few things, such as games to encourage him to follow us - pulling meant we just stopped and he'd fight the tension and then would give up and start to follow us again. This is how we start to habituate them to a leash. The shorter the leash, the more likely you will be teaching them to pull on leash.
8. MAT TRAINING - Teaching a young puppy that the MAT is the place to go for food is really simple, almost instinctual. Starting with a simple hand feeding of his meal on the mat, then to anytime we were cooking in the kitchen we would put a piece of food on that mat - carrots, broccoli, pieces of chicken, Sydney quickly learned that hanging out on the mat was the best place to be.
BUT where it really paid off was when he grew tall enough to put his paws on the counter. Most dogs will become curious as to what it is you are doing at the counter, they can't see from their position on the ground. For Sydney, when he jumped up, I would say a calm ‘no’ and push the food further out of his reach - then he would sit and I would say ‘Yes’ and drop a piece of food on his mat. This is where he would stay, patiently waiting for his next food reward.
9. High energy breed…we got an Australian Shepherd and I cannot tell you how many people told me he must be ‘really busy’; ‘It will take a lot to tire that dog out.’; ‘They have lots of energy.’ And on and on. Rather than aiming for tiring him out, which for him only leads to a more hyperactive dog - We worked on teaching him some self-control starting with default sits around things that Sydney wanted; red-light, green-light games; sniffing enrichment games to redirect that energy; and opportunities to run on a long line - knowing that for him the ability to RUN is really rewarding.
10. Get a New dog; Get a New dream. It's hard to let go of the memories of your last dog or dogs - for me it was Sophie and Max. They were amazing dogs and it's hard not to compare Sydney to either of them. It'd be great if he was sweet like Sophie and worked like Max but at the age of 6 months we have no idea how he will grow up or what he might be really good at. Rather than set certain expectations for the future for him, I set the goal of teaching Sydney his house skills, while dabbling in a bit of everything - a little RALLY to improve his leash skills; some fun sniff it games to improve his confidence; a GO SAY HI class to improve his social manners. Where I will go with him, I cannot say…maybe a tracking dog.. or herding… or maybe he will earn the title of Best Pet Dog.
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