Early Puppy Training
Bringing Your Puppy Home
Welcoming a new puppy home is a really exciting time. Puppies are adorable and fun but they are also energetic and time consuming. This is one of the toughest changes your pup will ever have to go through, so every detail counts from the moment you bring your puppy home, a puppy can bring joy and happiness to any home when care and thought is given to its needs so lets make it easy for them by preparing your home to make your puppy on their arrival less stressful for them as they leave the security of their mother and littermates, ready to experience a multitude of new sights, sounds and smells.
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Teaching them to fit in to be a part of your life and the decisions you make for them on their health, nutrition, socialising and training, needs to be just right for them as they counting on you for their future development, behaviour and providing security, love and affection.
The time and effort spent will be returned many times over in companionship, devotion and unquestioned love. Having a strategy will ensure a positive experience for everyone.
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Being Proactive
It's time to puppy proof your home inside and out, you have time to look around your home and backyard, not forgetting what foods and plants you might have that are toxic to dogs. Temporarily remove anything that your puppy might chew, cords rugs etc. until they can be trusted not to chew on them. Check your fencing is secure and teach everyone to shut the gate/s if you have them, they are opportunist, they will see it and grab it and don't understand danger. Puppies often look straight ahead and don't see depth, so help them with steps and stairs and don't allow them to slip on floors.
Choose your veterinarian before your puppy comes home if you haven't had one before and find a dog trainer.
Purchase food, stainless steel food and water bowls as they are chew proof and easy to clean, training harness and everyday collar, soft lead, brush/comb, treat pouch, clicker and pups housing/crates for inside and out.
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Children and the Family
Parents are committed to the mix of their children and the new puppy and shouldn't assume they do not need supervision. Discuss with your children some basic ground rules that everyone must agree on.
Toddlers are the most difficult because they are harder to reason with and are unpredictable and can treat them like a toy.
Never allow the pup to join in running games with children, they will think of them as prey and might being to nip and chasing them will frighten them.
Never allowing teasing, always showing children to be gentle.
Never allow aggressive play and avoid tug of war with a puppy, this can lead to biting and aggressive behaviour.
Never argue about who is going to hold your puppy and never scream at the puppy when they do something wrong, they are not deaf and do not respond well to shouting, never hit or loose your temper at your puppy.
Never wake a sleeping puppy, they need their rest to0.
Always be cautious around meal times and especially with bones, never leave children without adult supervision at the pups meal time or when your child is snacking on food accessible by the pup.
Always communicate well as to who is going to feed the puppy and use identical training words to avoid confusion.
Always sit on the ground to pat their pup teaching them to be gentle and calm.
Teach the children that the pup will explore things as this is natural for them, including little hands and will jump when excited until taught. The best way to teach your pup not to jump is completely ignore the behaviour by turning away and give them no attention until 4 paws are back on the ground, be sure to treat and never reward for jumping up.
They will take their shoes, socks and toys if left around at their level, it's a good idea to get down low on the ground to see what they can see, and use the words "give it" and do a swap with the pups toy ready in your hand. Be very patient.
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Positive Reinforcement/Leadership
Good behaviours are always rewarded, always reinforce this behaviour, they look for leadership from us as their owners. Nipping, barking, jumping, destructive chewing etc, are unwanted and some dominating behaviours, although they early learning behaviours, do not tolerate these undesirable habits, they will become part of their normal behaviour if not corrected. A trained pup will become a trained dog. Discipline does not have to be harsh physical punishment, use an authoritative voice and a sound that will result in immediate reaction. Never call your dogs name in an angry voice or used combined with "NO".
If you decide you do not want your pup to be allowed on the bed or the lounge, it must be all the furniture all the time, do not allow it 'just this once' and then tell them off the very next day. This is very confusing.
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Puppies live in the present which means discipline and praise must be given exactly when the behaviour occurs, so catching them in the act is critical, pair it with positive reinforcement to target the specific desirable behaviour, avoid punishing a puppy who has a 'toilet accident' inside, as they have short memories they will become confused if punished seconds/minutes after an act. Any frightening experience will have a long-lasting impact on your puppy. A good idea is to have a spare lead with the handle area cut open so it won't catch on any furniture etc and have this just for inside use during the time you allow your puppy to be inside with you, that way if pup jumps on the lounge for example which may not be your preferred option for him, you can gently entice him off with the lead and treat rather than trying to yank on his collar or worse, some body part.
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Have a goal in mind and and not just focus on stopping the unwanted behaviour so they learn what to do next time, breaking the cycle if you can, dealing with the end goal in mind. Keep puppy training sessions short
ALWAYS ending on a win-win, positive note, if we train to long, pups get tired and make mistakes.
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Have a routine of exercise, discipline and play, affection and feed schedule. They won't be as distracted and listen to you once they release some energy after having a walk.
Always show your pup you're the pack leader, a pack leader is in control and should be there to lead... own the space.
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Do some research on a good puppy trainer, you don't have to select one as close as possible to you, only to be disappointed at the lack of the quality in the classes, look around so that you find a knowledgeable trainer.
You'll find obedience training a happy family time and most rewarding, an obedient dog is like a child with good manners... a pleasure to have around.
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Vocabulary
Recalling your pup and when praising for good behaviour should always be in a happy enthusiastic tone, sometimes if they have excelled it's worth more than just a small treat, go the jackpot and hand out multiple treats in a row. Use a stern and loud tone when correcting undesirable behaviour, the 2 tones for good and undesirable behaviour should be very distinctive so they understand the good behaviour is happy tones with treats and undesirable behaviour is loud and stern tones with no treats and ignoring the behaviour.
One syllable word is more successful than multiple words or sentences.
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They can learn a lot of commands if simple and consistent, repeat, repeat and repeat the same commands.
If you use their name only for recall and not repeat it and mix it up with other commands all time, you will really notice the difference with a recall, as their name is far more clearer for them when they hear it called in the happy tone and come running, tail wagging.
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Are you bringing your puppy home to another dog?
Consider the needs of any other pets you may have. Do not change the habits of your other pets when bringing your new puppy home, they may feeling it already as this new puppy needs constant attention with house training, 3 meals a day and obedience training etc.
The first meeting is best to be done outside the house as there is plenty of room rather than inside, supervise them both and play for a short period of time and always be near, when you make your way inside, have your puppy inside and have your pups new friend on the outside, they will both be overexcited, but have your puppy focus on you and allow them both to settle seeing each other through the back door/window etc, then allowing short interactions together inside and outside.
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You can't change a dog's position in the pack but you can know the positions in the pack to create balance and harmony. Alpha will quickly assume the leadership role in your family if you don't, alpha dogs like control and are confident, Beta avoids confrontation and risks and does not have the need to challenge, and Omega is always at the back, lacks confidence and is shy, showing the belly, and is still pleased to interact with alpha.
House Training
Remember that preventing problems is easier than solving them. By six months of age, almost all behaviour problems are already in place. Dogs learn each day what behaviour will or will not be allowed.
Early training is a must to teach them appropriate good manners, they love being raised in a structured environment and look to us for security and leadership, if we don't show this, they will.
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A crate provides a safe place for your pup to go for quiet rest time and to prevent undesirable behaviour, where they won't be able to make mistakes giving us peace of mind and a break as well. Using a dog crate to keep pup confined for short periods of time really helps with housetraining.
Dogs do not go to the bathroom where they sleep and good news is they hold it for longer whilst sleeping. As a general rule, pups all go on waking after eating and playing. Watch their behaviour that looks like circling, and sniffing, a yawn perhaps and a whine. We use the command "go toilet" once we have taken them outside. If they do wake in the night, even if it doesn't look like they are asking for it, take them outside anyway. They will start to associate these words with the action offering praise and treats.
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Understanding canine communication is important for dog owners as we handle our dogs on a daily basis.
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Socialisation
It's all about gently exposing your puppy to as many new experiences as possible in a safe way decreasing their fear response and building their confidence ensuring a positive experience. (We have a socialisation checklist in your pack with over 100 different things to expose them to). Most people think puppy socialisation is playing with other dogs and humans and going to the dog park. Dogs that are properly socialised to other dogs and humans will incorporate both species into their social structure and form communication patterns with both species. This helps develop a balanced and well mannered adult dog with lots of skills to deal within the world.
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It is most effective in the first 5-16 weeks of age, so your period of time continues from 8 weeks up to 16 weeks, after this time the impact of this is reducing. Puppy classes will also help puppy behaviours that you may have problems with, they offer a good start in basic obedience with gentle methods, Goldies can be very excitable but are soft natured and easily hurt.
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Dog owners who instruct to socialise their puppies to new places, people and experiences are actually promoting the habituation of their puppy to a variety of harmless stimuli, other dogs can be anxious and fearful because they haven't been exposed enough.
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Goldies are intelligent dogs, so give your puppy plenty of stimulation and company, your puppy's best place is by your side, they are so happy in your company. If no structure is provided they will begin to assert themselves. This is usually seen in the form of growls, nips and other kinds of dominant behaviour as mentioned in above articles. Once our puppies have left our care by the approximate age of 8 weeks they have been accustomed to normal household sounds: vacuum cleaner, dishwasher, music, radio and noises from a PupSchool app we play of fireworks, drills, baby crying, storms and motorbikes and a whole lot more, continue to introduce sounds around the home.
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Just because it's recommended to not expose your dogs to other dogs until their 10-12 week vaccination, doesn't mean leave them inside. Have groups of people over to get them used to meeting new people. Take them on short car rides to help with motion sickness and noisy busy areas with interesting smells and sounds. Most people have a front yard and driveway, practice walking them on the lead and exposing them to the postie on his motorbike and the rubbish truck and have him on the lead when you take out the wheely bin, lay different textures on your floor for them to walk on like alfoil and baking paper, wear a coat and hat occasionally and reward their behaviour with treats. Handle you puppy as much as possible making touching their ears, paws etc a positive experience.
Exercise and Growth Plates
You are able to charge the outcome of their life by what you choose to teach them in the first 8-16 weeks. They have a rapid growth period within their first 18 weeks.
Avoid anything that will exert too much pressure on the puppies joints, such as long walks, abrupt stops while running and bounding down stairs. Until your puppy is around 18 months, try to limit the amount and type of exercise that they are allowed to do. The information is better explained by certified Canine Athlete Specialist Angela Ahern founder of Dog Solutions The Bioknetic K-9.
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The incorrect type of exercise and activities when your pup is growing can have very detrimental effects on their joints. Low impact play and low tug so all 4 paws are on the ground and gentle exercise is great and short walks, but walking on soft sand should be avoided until after their first birthday.
Repeated high impact activities can cause some long term issues such as bad hips or elbows. Minor muscle and growth plate strains can make your dog vulnerable in the future to injuries including sprains etc.
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Not too much exercise, but not too little, so we don't damage their development, ensuring the growth plates develop correctly and normally, keep in mind you want your pup to be an Oldie Goldie. Also would like to encourage you to keep them on the lean side, especially whilst they are growing, they should have a definite waist, keep in mind a lot of dogs we see are overweight, this is not how they should be, it's quite dangerous for their health when in their senior years, please don't let your dog get to this stage. An overweight dog is an unhappy dog.
Keep in mind the types of enrichment, new toys keep them interested and entertained all over again.
