Training Puppies
Your new pup has arrived and the household is all excited. It is
important before the pup arrives to establish the ground rules with the
family. Obviously house rules and manners for the pup need to be defined
i.e. Is the pup allowed in the house, if so which rooms, who will feed and
oversee training etc. You must have uniform rules so that consistency is
maintained and the pup does not become confused. After the pup has the
general rules in its mind you can start with the basic retrieving
training.
Most queries I receive are from owners who want to correct problems now
the dog is older, so lets get it right first time around. Then all we have
to do is re- enforce it from time to time.
As a general rule if you want your dog to retrieve.
No tug of war games with the pup. This will make the pup reluctant to
give up the retrieved article.
No Ball they will soon learn to drop the ball and chase it as it rolls
down the path.
No sticks or foreign objects to retrieve. (However in the early
training an article they love to carry is OK. A dog that has retrieved
sticks in their endeavours to please you while retrieving may pick up a
stick instead of the required item.
Keep it short and simple.
Now the fun begins. We must not do any formal training with our pup.
All training should be done in a playful manner. I have found the best
place to train a pup is while you are on the floor or ground. Do not tower
over him. Most pups love to jump on you and bite your ears, take advantage
of this time and bond with him and slip a little training in. By now there
will be an object in the house the pup loves to carry. Using this object,
tease him with it, excite him, and let him grab it. The sit, come, hold
and give, fetch command can all be introduced in this playful period. The
object the pup is to retrieve should be a suitable size and weight. He
will become bored quickly so don't over do it, and make sure the pup is
not tired before you start.
PUPPY TRAINING FOR OBEDIENCE
The building blocks
It is important for puppies to start learning household rules and basic
etiquette from the moment they come home. Having said that, it is even
more important that the dog is raised in a positive environment where it
obeys out of a desire to please you rather than out of fear. A fearful dog
will not be nearly as pleasant a dog, and will not learn as much or as
quickly as one that's treated as a member of the family from the start,
that includes a measure of discipline, understanding and love. There is an
awful lot of "teaching" that can be done in the guise of games
for the pup, and we all know they love to play!
Toilet training
Toilet training should not be difficult. This trick is not in punishing
the accidents but preventing them from occurring. Puppies need to go out
after eating and playing and immediately upon waking. They should be taken
out immediately after these events, 5 minutes later is too late.
They should also be taken out every 20 or 30 minutes that they are in the
house. This should ensure that the pup is given plenty of opportunities to
perform in the required area and reduce the chances of accidents occurring
in the house. When the pup is in the desired area (try an encourage the
dog to stay in the one area of the garden to make avoiding "the
landmines easier") encourage it to perform by using a simple word in
a gentle tone. Make sure it's a word that won't be used in another context
(the guide dogs use "quick" which has numerous other
applications and can be confusing) and repeat it until the pup performs.
When it performs make sure you tell it what a clever puppy it is... even
if you have had to wait 10 minutes in the rain! Don't just lob the dog
outside and hope for the best, it will most probably hang around the back
door and wait to be let back in. Should an accident occur in the house, do
NOT "rub the dogs nose in it", hit the dog (with a newspaper or
anything else), or reprimand the pup harshly. Make some disapproving
noises along the lines of "Yuck, I'll need to clean that up" as
you take the pup outside. I don't believe in repeating the chosen word as
you put it out, it's clearly not going to perform (having just emptied on
the carpet) so why give it a command that you know will be ignored?
Putting the dog out with a few quiet disapproving words will help to let
it know that the action was unpopular, the isolation (which doesn't have
to last long) will reinforce the words. Remember that if the dog had an
accident in the house it means that you didn't take it out often
enough. Be more diligent and the training will take care of itself, pups
will naturally prefer to go to the toilet outside.
Recall
This need not be taught in the formal obedience competition sense of
making the dog come in, sit and then be sent to heel. For the
household dog all that matters is that the dog reliably returns close
enough to be put on lead whenever called. Like everything else we do with
the pup, we take this in nice small steps and try to build on success
rather than push to the point of failure. Have another member of the
family hold the puppy while you show it the food bowl (complete with
food!) and walk away a short distance. You call the dog while the other
person lets it go, praise the pup and allow it to have the food when it
arrives. You can use a favourite toy or small food treats to encourage the
dog to come to you throughout the day. Always try to do it with young pup
when he is already paying attention, this increases the chance that he
will come. Make sure you call him in an encouraging tone and bend down to
make yourself a less dominating shape. Always praise the dog when
he comes. Never call the dog to you to reprimand it for something
else, coming to you should always be a pleasant experience for the dog (if
you must the, go and get it). Increase the degree of difficulty of
the recall slowly. At first do it only in the house or yard when you have
food or a toy and the dog is paying attention. Then try it when the dog is
wandering vaguely around but not absorbed in another activity, then
graduate to having the toy or food available intermittently (vary the
availability of it to keep the dog on it's toes). Then start calling the
dog when it is busy with something else, then move to the local park and
go back to no distractions and regular reward etc. Take it slowly, the dog
should be praised for success rather than berated for failure. Be sure to
build good foundations for future behaviour.
Sitting for food
Whenever you are feeding the pup, make sure that it sits before eating.
This is just a quick way to teach the dog a little self-restraint and
respect for people. With very young pups 1 raise a piece of food quickly
up past their noses above the level they can reach (of it's too close
they'll jump at it) as 1 say "sit" in a commanding but not
threatening tone. This will tend to raise their head, and the bottom will
hopefully fall to the floor. As soon as this occurs (don't make pups wait)
praise the dog, release it with a command like "OK" and put the
bowl down. As the pup gets older start to wait a bit before praising and
eventually get the dog to stay while the bowl is placed on the floor.
Lead training
It is important that the pup not associate any nasty experiences with
you, so we don't want to get involved in the old "hooked fish"
dragging of the petrified pup routine. The simplest way to lead train the
puppy is to let the pup do the work. Attach a very light lead to the pups
fixed collar and let it drag it around for a while under supervision,
never leave the lead on when the pup is left alone in case it gets caught
and he chokes. Pup will probably chew on it for a while and step on it and
trip over a few times. But after a couple of sessions of about an hour he
will pretty much ignore it. This works really well if you have another
dog, they will play and get the lead tangled and the pup will learn that
the lead is just part of life without having anything nasty happen. Do 1
or 2 sessions a day of this for about 3 days before you try to lead the
pup anywhere. Initially make sure the pup is going in the direction you
want. Maybe have another family member put the food down as you approach
with the pup on lead. He'll be less concerned about the lead than his
dinner! Have the pup on his lead and use a toy in your free hand to get
his attention to stop him trying to move away and hence dragging against
the lead. Again, it's easier to avoid the problem than fix it, associate
his early lead experiences with pleasant things and all should go well.
Leave it!
This is essential as an early puppy lesson. How many times has the
puppy picked up something he shouldn't have? After all, they are Golden Retrievers!
It's much easier to teach the dog to "leave it" than chase
him and make it a game in his eyes, and most probably damage the item as
well. Once again we go for the "softly, softly" approach. There
is no need to be excessively harsh with your treatment of the pup to teach
"leave it", or grab things roughly from him. Goldens should have
a tender mouth and as such it should be treated gently. Ensure that the
pup always has a number of his playthings available to reduce the chances
of. His looking upon forbidden items as toys, these items should be as
varied as possible. I.e. things that roll, squeak, are soft or hard,
rattle etc. If the pup should grab something that is not his do NOT
reprimand him, or grab it from his mouth. Quickly pick up one of his
own toys and try to make a swap. Make the item you are holding seem really
inviting, make it move while saying "Ohhhhhhh, looky what I've
got. This is Muuuuch more fun!" in a really endearing tone. Most
times the pup will drop what he's got to grab your item. The pup will
eventually learn which are his items and which he should leave alone. As
he seems to get the hang of the swapping. game, introduce the "leave
it" command. Tell him to "leave it" whilst initiating the
swap routine. Remember that pups need to learn and explore, if you have
items of value around... keep them away from the puppy. Young pups can't
be expected to learn all the rules of etiquette instantly, any more than
young children can. There is a period when they are learning the
rules, and you must be patient and vigilant during that time. It's no more
his fault for picking up something you left lying around than it is when
he has an accident because you forgot to take him outside.
Don't jump
The pup should be encouraged to keep all four feet on the ground, not
only to protect people (remember pups grow up ... big!) but also to
protect the growing bone structure from too much stress. This is easily
achieved by crouching down when greeting the pup so there is no need for
him to jump. Keep you hands low to encourage the pup to remain at that
level. If the pup jumps, there is no need to reprimand it ... remembers we
want all of p
Pups experiences with us to be positive. We need to find a physical way
for the pup to be discouraged from jumping, without being too rough. The
old "knee the dog in the chest", "pinch his front
feet" and "stand on his back toes" routines are out. The
trick is for the pup to learn that one of the facts of life is that people
are a funny shape and if they jump up they will encounter discomfort, just
as they learn not to walk off the edge of the veranda because that big
drop hurts. If we reprimand the dog at the same time as giving the
physical discomfort, the dog will think we meant to harm it. So if the dog
jumps, put your knee or arm out in such a way that you are not moving it
towards the dog, but he runs into it. If you hold the limb still and keep
quiet, the pup will accept it as one of nature’s peculiar ways and learn
to avoid the situation, by staying at floor level.
“Recall” Coming when called
Background
Many of us, especially those involved in obedience, think of a recall
as a specific exercise where the dog must stay, then come when called and
sit in front, then move around behind the handler and sit at the left
side. However for most dog owners a recall is the action of the dog
stopping whatever it's doing and returning to the owner.
This applies whether you are walking the dog at the park, participating
in a retrieving or field trial, out shooting on a swamp, or calling your
dog for his dinner.
It is important that the dog should learn to come immediately when it
is called for a number of reasons:
* To stop it from harassing other people/dogs in
suburbia
* To ensure it doesn't interfere with another dog
that is working in competition (Field Trials)
* To stop it from getting into miscellaneous trouble
(e.g. running on the road)
* To make sure it doesn't get shot in rural areas for
chasing stock etc.
* So that it comes back to you after retrieving an
item, be it game at a Field/Retrieving/Obedience trial, or it's frisbee
at the park
* as a compulsory exercise in Obedience Trials
The bottom line is that the dog comes when called is not going to be a
public nuisance or a danger to itself or others.
The usual scenario
The owner takes the dog for a walk and lets it off the lead at the
local park. The dog happily runs around and has a sniff until it sees
another person (or dog). The dog then shoots off to the other person to
see what they're up to. The owner calls the dog, which has suddenly gone
completely deaf and can't hear the call! The dog is now jumping all over
the other person who is, justifiably, unimpressed. The dog’s owner is
completely embarrassed by the dog’s behaviour and gets more threatening
with the commands. Finally the owner catches the dog, puts it on lead and
proceeds to correct it both verbally and physically to punish it for it's
performance.
Does this sound all too familiar?
The dogs train of thought
Lets look at the above scenario from the dog’s point of view:
He's having his sniff, the only bit of freedom in his daily walk, when
he sees someone new. We all know that someone new in Golden Retriever
language means "Someone who hasn't had the pleasure of playing with
me yet!” So the dog goes zooming over to get acquainted with this new
playmate. He hears the owner calling and thinks, "I have two options.
1 can go and play with this exciting new person, or 1 can go back and be
put on lead (by my boring owner that 1 see all the time) to be taken back
home". Naturally, the dog takes the first option and keeps going.
While he's "playing" his owner is getting angrier and the dog is
starting to get worried about the consequences of returning. "Oh boy,
she sounds really mad now. If I go back I'm going to cop it".
Eventually when he's caught and gets corrected he's thinking, "I knew
this going back on lead business was trouble. As soon as the lead goes on
I'm in strife. Next time 1 won't be caught".
The secret to recalls
There is only one reason that the dog does not return to its owner
promptly. Pay attention here, it's the most important point in the whole
article:
The dog has to want to come to you more than
Anything else in the world
Read that point again please, it's really important. The reason
dogs don't come back when you call them is that you are not
interesting enough to them. Doesn't the truth hurt? You are boring to your
dog and he'd rather be doing something else (anything else) than being
with you. OK, we're done with the nasty bits now. Take a deep breath and
find out how we're going to fix the problem.
Training for beautiful recalls
The bottom line is that we have to make coming to us the most enjoyable
thing the dog can do. Obviously this will mean different things to each
dog and owner. However we can make some generalisations and also offer
some Do’s and Don’ts for all dogs. Note that there is no "quick
fix" when you come to recalls it's a matter of completely retraining
the dog. The more bad habits he started with, the longer it will take to
fix them.
One of the reasons that dogs don't come when called is that they are
only ever called when one of two events occur: It's time to go home, or
something exciting happens (a dog, or person arrives) that they then miss
out on. They make a negative association with the recall. You need to
break this cycle by calling the dog when only pleasant things will occur.
Try taking the dog to a safe area (a fenced, footy oval is perfect) and
letting it off lead. Plan to spend an hour at the designated area. Bring a
whole variety of doggy bribes, these can be food or toys. Whatever your
dog likes best is what we're after, if that's his big fluffy Humphrey B
Bear toy ... then so be it! The idea is to let the dog run off some steam
for a while, so just let him run free for 5 or 1 0 minutes. Then call him
in, be prepared that he will act as usual and probably ignore you. Do not reprimand
the dog for failure to obey. At this point we're trying to make it fun
for him, so find a way to encourage him in. Raise the pitch (not the
tone!) of your voice, do some star jumps, throw yourself to the ground
suddenly, throw his toy in the air. Whatever it takes to get him to come
in, even if you have to make a complete fool of yourself Remember that a
dog is always more likely to come in if you are not so tall, kneel down
and encourage him with open arms. When he eventually arrives, reward him
big time. Make out that he's just won CRUFTS and the National Retrieving
Trial Championships in the last 5 minutes! Use your food or toy and make
out that he's the cleverest dog on the planet. Yes, even if it took 15
minutes to get him to come to you. To start with we take ANY progress as
an earth-shattering win. This should be less painful with a puppy as they
are naturally more inquisitive and also have not learned the negative
associations to start with. Having made a big fuss of the dog, allow him
to run free again and keep repeating the whole procedure at regular
intervals. He should be more responsive as time goes on, as he's teaming
to make new, positive, associations with the whole business. It might help
to change the command if he seems to droop whenever you use the old one.
Try "Here" instead of "Come". As he comes in more
regularly, praise him verbally and get him to sit before using your other
reward. Occasionally snap the lead on him when he's sitting, praise him
and then take the lead off again and release the dog. Obviously sometimes
when you snap the lead on, it's time to go home. But make sure that's not
the only time the lead goes on, or again the dog will come to associate
the lead with the end of his freedom and rebel against it.
DO
* Praise your dog and make a fuss of him when he comes.
* Remember that you must build up slowly. Take slow steps to
success. A dog that comes to you today for the first time on a vacant
footy oval is not going to come to you tomorrow in a park full of
other dogs.
* Write down a list of the steps you need to undertake and the
order in which you will tackle them. I.e. come in the back yard, come
at the park with no distractions, come at the park with another dog in
the far distance etc. This serves two purposes: it gives you a clear
direction, and gives you something to tick off when you're happy with
the item (thereby allowing you to 'see' your progress).
* Use an extendible lead when you are ready to start training
amongst distractions. Don't use it to correct the dog, just to stop
him from nicking off. Keep calling whilst allowing the dog to only
move in your direction. He still needs to make the decision to come in
so don't reel him in like a fish.
* Sometimes let the dog know you've got his reward
and have someone else hold him (or get him to stay if he's reliable).
Walk a reasonable distance (start with 30 feet) and clearly display
the reward whilst calling the dog. Let him leap up and grab it from
your hand when he arrives. This exercise should speed him up. Increase
the distance to increase the speed. Don't do this too often from a
"stay" or he will start to break all his stays.
DON"T
· Don't ever reprimand the dog when it comes to you.
· Don't ever call the dog to you for punishment for any deed
(go and catch him if you must punish).
· Don't think the problem is "fixed". You must continually
train the dog to expect positive things from you, to ensure he does not
revert to old habits. Vary when he gets the reward so he never knows
whether to expect it or not. Dogs are optimistic, if in doubt they'll hope
you've got the reward! Also vary the reward to keep him guessing!
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