Puppy Training 2

Living with a puppy – A dog owner’s guide

By Virpi Leskinen

PART II

Through play come results

Puppies are playful and burst with energy the whole time they are awake. They need a lot of time to play with you, and in fact your overall relationship forms through these early experiences. However, learning motivating and fun ways to play with your puppy isn’t necessarily easy, and sometimes it requires some practice to find a type of play that both you and your puppy find rewarding. Playing with your dog builds the foundation for later obedience training. It can include chasing balls and tug toys, throwing Frisbees etc. anything that your dog likes. In order to find out what your dog’s preferences are, you need to experiment with different toys and play structures.

In chase type of play, a toy (for example any old rug works just fine) is moved along the ground away from the dog, until the dog shows interest in the toy. The toy should never be forced to the dog’s mouth, but instead the dog should be encouraged to actively chase and catch the toy. When this happens and the dog grabs the toy in its mouth, you can begin the tug. It depends on the dog how intense the tug play can get. Some dogs find challenging and rough tug play very rewarding, whereas others prefer less intense tugging. You should also let the puppy win the tug often, so let go of the toy when the puppy is trying its hardest to get it.

When tugging with your dog, the way to get the toy back is to “steal” it from the dog when it tries to improve its bite. The other option is to trade the toy for a tasty treat or another toy. For most dogs, also playing with two similar toys is highly rewarding, and provides an easy way to teach the dog to release the toy when asked. However, the dog should always enjoy playing with you, and it is clear that if the toy is stolen away from the puppy every time, it soon learns that it is no use bringing the toys near you. Throw yourself in the fun of the play wholeheartedly! The playtime should also end when at its highest peak. This way the puppy remains active, and the play times do not lose their special meaning. Prefer short play sessions throughout the day to playing for an hour once a day.

Initiate and end the play clearly. The dog may have its own toys available for its own individual playtimes, but playing with you should be always done with a special toy. This toy should be kept away, and it is you who brings this extra exciting toy on sight when the play time begins, and takes it away when the play time ends. This way playing with you becomes a special treat and a useful tool for teaching different commands and tasks. In the end, whole training becomes like a one long play session for the dog. The dog is eager and motivated to obey because it knows that it has an opportunity to get the best possible reward: to get to play with the owner as a part of the training!

Learning New Skills

You still remember the concept of classical conditioning from your high school psychology class? And how the Pavlov’s dogs were used as an example of it? When the theory of classical conditioning was created, Pavlov rang a bell every time before he fed his dogs. Only after a few repetitions the dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell to food, and when hearing the sound they started to salivate, despite the fact that food was not necessarily present. Teaching your dog new skills isn’t much more complicated than this. You are to guide your puppy in a way that makes unwanted behavior non-rewarding (no reward, ignoring the dog) and wanted behavior rewarding and pleasant (praise, rewards, attention). New skills are reinforced through repetition.

So you want your puppy to come when called? Recall should then be associated with something pleasant such as a treat. First you can let the puppy to sniff a treat in your hand, take a few steps away from the puppy and call it. As soon as your puppy comes to you, praise verbally (“Good boy/girl!”) and give the puppy a treat. Only after a few repetitions, the puppy realizes that coming when called means tasty treats and verbal praise.

But what if the dog does not come when called, despite your training efforts? It might be possible that your puppy is not properly conditioned yet, maybe there have been too few repetitions or maybe the reward you are using does not motivate the dog. Start again from the beginning, and reward the dog truly and wholeheartedly. Reward your puppy immediately and joyfully every time it comes to you, no matter how upset you are about something the puppy did a moment ago (for example spread the garbage on your kitchen floor). Learn to keep your head, and always remember that the puppy associates your praise or punishment only with its very previous behavior.

Good manners right from the beginning

It is best to teach the puppy what you consider to be good manners right from the beginning. If you do not want your dog to nap on the couch, you should never allow your dog on the couch. If you want your dog to walk nicely on a leash, you should start teaching the puppy to walk nicely on leash the moment the puppy arrives at your place. Do not postpone training, and let the dog adopt unwanted behaviors.

Teaching your dog manners requires some ”eye” for dog behavior, in other words situational sensitivity as well as fast reactions. However, patience is also a virtue in dog training, and puppies usually learn the wanted behavior through an adequate amount of repetitions. Be sure to calmly and clearly communicate to your puppy how you want it to behave. Communication takes place through guiding the puppy with your hands, a leash, or using your tone of voice, verbal praise or punishment. But be sure to also guide your puppy calmly and persistently, the way a trustworthy owner would do. Remember to reward your puppy every time it offers a desired behavior or when complex behaviors are in question, makes at least some kind of an effort.

The puppy’s young life is filled with interesting and at the same time unwanted phenomena. In order to train your dog to be an environment proof, well-mannered adult pooch, it is your responsibility to guide it through challenging situations instead of unfairly letting the dog take care of itself. Again, it should still be remembered that puppies do not internally know any of our society’s or your personal rules. Every single one of them has to be taught to the puppy from scratch. If you are able to guide your dog through unpleasant situations as well, your life together will be smooth. In order to be able teach your dog unpleasant consequences of unwanted behaviors, you two should already have a good relationship. In other words, the dog has to be able to trust you completely when it comes to taking care of the pack. If your dog does not respect or look up to you, it might even act aggressively when your interests collide, but punishing your dog physically in this type of a situation is the easiest way to permanently ruin your overall relationship. Instead, you should delve more deeply into creating a trustworthy and fair but firm status of the responsible one; and through different kinds of exercises, reinforce your position in the eyes of the dog.

However, teaching the puppy new things should always be done as positively and pleasantly as possible by using praise, treats, and play as a reward. The fastest way for the dog to learn new skills is to give it an opportunity to try through trial and error independently how to gain rewards. As an example of an exercise you can put a treat in your hand, take your hand above the dog’s head when the dog most likely drops its rear end to the ground in order to see the treat better. As soon as the dog does this, you open your palm and praise the dog verbally. The dog associates your hand with the behavior quickly, and starts to offer sitting as soon as it sees you hand in a fist. This is when you can add the verbal cue for the behavior. This way the dog learns through repetitions to sit without any physical restrain or guidance from your part. This way also the learning is more profound, and the dog internalizes the new skill fast. Soon the dog starts to offer varying behaviors in different situations. Your task is to reinforce and reward the wanted behaviors and ignore the unwanted ones.

The owner’s or handler’s personality, skills, and the dog’s individual traits determine the most efficient training method for each dog. Visit local dog training clubs, ask advice from more experienced trainers, and watch how other people train their dogs, but keep in mind that there are as many training methods as there are trainers. For your beloved pet, choose only methods that are fair, humane, and motivational!

Less words, more results

A lot of owners explain their every single thought to their dogs. But if you talk to your dog constantly, the words simply lose their meaning. The dog becomes deaf to the constant flow of words, and the actual cues and commands are hard to recognize. The dog also learns that it is normal to hear praise words firing one after another from the owner’s mouth, and when it comes to a moment to really reward the dog for something it did, the owner has no tools left. Praise, such as “Good boy!” should have clear and profound meaning to the dog. These words should mean that the dog knows its worth in the eyes of the owner. So be wise to save your words, so that they do not lose their meaning.

Maintain the word “No” as an unquestioned command that makes the dog stop whatever it is doing at the moment, for example chewing an electric cord. “No” should be used rarely and pronounced sharply and firmly enough. After saying “No!” you usually need to guide your puppy to do something more interesting. You may for example trade the electric cords to a proper chew toy. One important means for saving this big word for real situations is to puppy-proof your home so that all valuables, furniture, house plants and electric cords are kept away from the puppy’s teeth, and your home contains only items that are not too valuable to suffer some minor injuries that derive from the puppy’s innate need to use its teeth. Puppies need to mouth and chew things, including human hands. By teaching the puppy little by little and guiding it to chew and mouth appropriate things such as chew bones or toys, the destructive times will soon be over. It is also important to provide stimulations for your puppy using different kinds of activities (scent work, tricks, stimulating toys), and take it to the outside world to experience new things on a regular basis. Always be consistent with your puppy. What you allow should be always allowed; what is not allowed should never be allowed.

Of course your dog also has innate genetic traits, weaknesses and strengths, depending on its genetic output and breed. You should never choose a dog based on its looks or appearance. A hard driven field line sporting dog isn’t an ideal match in a family with small kids living in a small town house, and in the same way a tiny toy breed isn’t the choice for a person looking for a dog capable of strenuous physical challenges. There are dogs for everyone’s unique needs, and even within the same litter, the characters might vary greatly. One puppy might be somewhat timid and reserved which means it needs a lot of socializing exercises, whereas another, more confident and dominant puppy might need clearer guidance and stricter rule structure when it comes to reinforcing the owner’s status. Learn to recognize your puppy’s special qualities and traits. Take advantage of the strengths and minimize the weaknesses though proper training.

Learning new skills is most efficient when there is no distraction, and in the beginning training can be done, for example, in a large room at home. When new skills are tested in the backyard, on the street or in the puppy class, the bar raises and the new skill should be first introduced in a slightly easier form. The dog should always be motivated to work with you, and the puppy should be rewarded every time it succeeds.

Dogs learn all the time, not only on those brief moments that you define as training sessions. Therefore it is utmost important to remain consistent in all you do and demand that the dog performs tasks it already knows. Be sure to remember though, that the dog cannot ever perform better than what you have been able to teach the dog. So if you feel you are stuck in training or teaching your puppy, the first place to look is a mirror. You should think hard and carefully about what you as a trainer or owner could improve.

Dog training is rewarding. Doing things together with your dog improves your overall relationship and reinforces your status in the eyes of the dog. As the dog becomes more obedient, it is accepted as a well mannered dog citizen of our society. It is even possible that you get involved in dog sports or other activities, such as obedience trials, search and rescue, agility, lure coursing, conformation shows, water work, or even canine freestyle! There are plenty of activities to choose from; only the breed and traits of your dog set the boundaries. Who knows how far you will get with your new puppy! Good luck with everything!

Dog Training

MORE Dog Adoption Tips

MORE Dog Toys

Find a Dog

Navigation

Puppy Training 2

Related Content