Dog Needs at all stages :
Ages and Stages, Needs at Each Stage :
Each stage of a dog’s life has specific characteristics and learning needs for him. If you approach “puppy raising” with the same attention you do “child rearing,” you can be a much more effective leader and have a better-behaved dog. This section will detail the various stages of a dog’s “growingup” and how we can teach all of the important skills and concepts to ensure that our dogs will not only be great companions, but safe and mannerly members of society as well!
1- Puppy Raising, Puppy Praising :
Puppyhood—the season of adoration.
While this is a stage that requires meeting our puppies’ immediate needs, we must be careful not to spoil them. Puppyhood is very similar to the infancy and toddler stages of parenting a child. The important part about this stage isn’t so much what the puppy learns skill-wise, rather what he experiences about his environment and his leaders! This is the most impressionable stage in a dog’s life and attitudes about his environment and leaders are imprinted on the brain as it grows. Ready to be a good leader and teacher? Age: This stage ranges from two months to roughly five months of age.
GOALS FOR PUPPYHOOD
Confidence in Environment. Your puppy must learn to be confident with the things in her environment. Socialize her in a positive way every day to different places, textures, objects, people, noises, etc. A good rule of thumb is to take her to at least three different places per week.
Confidence in Self. Your puppy must learn confidence in herself. The more good direction you give, the more she can succeed. The more she succeeds, the more you can praise her. The more you praise her for accomplished tasks, the more confidence she will gain. Give no less than ten simple tasks per day to have her earn praise and confidence.
Confidence in Leadership. At this early stage, your puppy is gathering impressions of how you act as her leader and primary caregiver, but she is also developing a perspective of humans from the examples you set while raising her. How you behave and interact with your dog sets the stage and tone for the rest of the relationship. Keep your behavior positive and trustworthy to gain her confidence.
New Object Acceptance. Help her to investigate things and to accept new objects with good direction and praise. Praise her for following your lead. Expose her to many different objects with a positive outcome each time. Touch the object you wish for her to investigate and praise heartily when she shows interest.
Accepting New Challenges. Have her do many small tasks so she can earn praise for each. Doing tasks and earning praise will help her gain confidence in doing new things under your direction. She will also learn to accept new challenges without fear.
Acceptance of the Crate and Boundaries. Using the crate and other methods to limit your puppy’s freedom will help her develop an acceptance of boundaries. If this is not achieved during her first several months, she’ll have a difficult time developing acceptance of confinement and boundaries later in life.
Learning to Fly Solo. Your puppy must also learn to be comfortable being alone. Small periods of crating in a quiet room away from the family will help her develop this confidence. Frequent breaks in between crate sessions will help her see that it’s only temporary and it’s not abandonment.
Learning to Chew on the Proper Toys. Keeping the proper chew toys available, using proper redirection techniques, and having the appropriate chew toys will teach chewing etiquette. Proper chew toys are described in Section Four.
Learning the Concept of Housebreaking. A proper housebreaking schedule will help her learn the concept of where and when to “potty.” A good schedule will teach your puppy where and when.
EXPECTATIONS FOR PUPPYHOOD :
1.Life is all about ME!
Me, me, me! Expect nothing less than that from your puppy! Basically we are their servants in this stage. Their needs mimic the immediate needs of an infant or young toddler. Keep in mind that it has nothing to do with your puppy being bratty—it’s just his immediate needs that need tending. Do tend to them right away.
2.Love, love, love.
Yes, since this is the stage of adoration, you will easily fall in love with your puppy. Take lots of pictures, but be careful not to overindulge and spoil your puppy. This will be the most difficult part of raising your puppy, but is essential in creating a cooperative, good dog!
3.While there are fundamental skills you can begin to generate in puppyhood, you are really in a “holding pattern” of sorts. Your puppy is just too young for formal obedience training in this life stage. Your job now is to prevent errors, teach concepts, and keep puppy safe until she can learn her obedience skills at five months of age.
EXPLORATION Your puppy is in a natural stage of exploration and this is usually done with her mouth. Exploration is actually a positive thing since that means your puppy is eager to learn about her environment. Be careful to remain positive in how you redirect this drive so you don’t squelch a natural instinct that is a learning process.
4.Puppies act on instincts.
Puppies come equipped with only their canine instincts and are acting strictly on what they know genetically. They are not in control of their emotions, nor do they preplan actions. They just act on their instincts until we teach them to resist urges. Do not punish, but redirect them and remain patient!
5.Limitations:
Puppies literally have no selfcontrol at this stage.They tend to do whatever pops into their little minds.This is part instinct and part lack of self-control. Don’t expect your puppy to make good choices or to always be well behaved.
6.Trying to “break” your puppy of instinctual behaviors (like mouthing) will not work.
You can teach your puppy to stop using her mouth to communicate when you teach her an alternate method of communicating. Until then, attempting to use “quick fixes” to curb these behaviors will only serve to diminish your puppy’s confidence in you as a leader. Techniques for dealing with teething, nipping, and mouthing are described later in this chapter.
7.Puppies have a limited attention span and can only “behave,” or rather, be kept out of trouble, for a limited amount of time. As they grow and as we teach them, they do develop an attention span. It’s important to know now that they can only concentrate for short periods of time.
8.Once your puppy’s mental battery has worn down and repetitive, improper behaviors begin, any attempt to redirect will be futile. Take your puppy to the crate for rest.
9.Your puppy can learn the housebreaking routine, but his body cannot “hold” all of his bodily functions no matter how much he may want to do this. At roughly four and a half to five months of age, your puppy’s body will catch up in development and be able to control his flow of urine from the body. Very frequent potty breaks will help this routine.
10.Get Real! Keep your expectations realistic. Puppyhood is the stage where we must be completely responsible for our puppies. Do not expect your puppy to behave like an adult dog. Know her limitations and work with them into the next stage of learning.
11.While your puppy’s mental needs are
small right now, her learning capability is
great. The mental needs are small because her rest
needs are much higher in comparison. But the lessons
she is learning through observation and environmental
response to her exploration are great.
She needs to get positive feedback from learning—
both from you and from the environment.
12.View every time you are with your puppy as a learning session. These sessions need to be positive and well guided to ensure success. If she’s not supervised well or is only “half supervised,” her chances of getting into trouble are greater. Making continuous mistakes and continually getting scolded is not fun or positive for anyone!
13.Keep your puppy’s “learning sessions” short. Learning is exhausting for a puppy! They are trying to learn how to live in a human world and this generally means that none of their “doggie skills” are applicable (rough play, food guarding, mouthing, etc.) His learning and “unlearning” must be in small doses.
14.Crating your puppy for periodic breaks will keep her learning sessions small and will not mentally exhaust or frustrate her. A tired or frustrated puppy will not learn well or eagerly. Crate time will help her recharge for the next session.
15.Exploration at this stage is usually curiosity driven and not genetically driven (e.g., hunting instincts) and therefore probably won’t cause repetitive nuisance behaviors at this stage (see chapter 12). However, an “ounce of prevention” is truly worth more than trying to “pound the cure into her.” Prevention, by supervising your puppy as she explores, is critical in maintaining curiosity and safety at the same time.
16.Your puppy’s physical needs come in
short bursts. A small walk up and down
the block is fine for a youngster. If you do a walk
that is too long, your puppy will sit down and
refuse to walk. You may even need to pick her up
and carry her home! Keep your walks short and
build time and pace slowly.
17.Don’t take your puppy jogging and expect her to keep up with you for a great distance. Keep the runs short in duration. Running on a long leash is fine if done in a soft, grassy area, but high-impact jumping or running should be avoided until your dog is one year of age. Their bones are still developing and you don’t want to risk injury or impairment of proper development.
18.One or two small walks per day along with one or two short runs in puppyhood is a rather general, but appropriate “recipe” to meet your dog’s physical needs. Keep in mind that the balance will be different with different breeds so make adjustments accordingly!
19.Your puppy’s social needs are extremely
important right now. This is probably the
most important need to fulfill at this stage
because she is forming all of her impressions
about the world right now. Preplan many social
activities at this stage so your puppy gets proper
exposure to as many different people, animals,
environments, and objects as possible.
20.In the case of social exposures for your puppy, “the more the merrier” doesn’t always apply. Never sacrifice quality for quantity. Control the exposures to other animals so they don’t scare your puppy. Visit new places during off-peak times so they will not be overwhelming. Use food to introduce new objects. The more positive learning experiences your puppy gets, the faster she will learn good social skills.
21.All too often it is tempting to treat puppies to a magic carpet ride, picking them up to either carry them from one point to another or to immediately try to reassure them if something (a loud noise or quick movement) startles them. While we must be aware that there may be certain times when picking them up may prevent harm and a negative learning experience, we must also be willing to allow puppies to experience new situations to their fullest potential. If we act as if there is something wrong with every new or different situation, our puppies will take our cue and assume something is wrong as well.
22.Give them a “safety net.” When it comes to navigating steps or getting in and out of cars or up and down stairs, assist your puppy. Since we don’t want their little furry joints to become injured, we must develop a sense of how much assistance to provide while still allowing them to acclimate to their environment. We can assist our puppies in these learning situations by offering the same type of “safety net” that we offer when we place our hands under a toddler’s armpits to “unweight” them as they learn to walk.
23.Rip Van Puppy: At this stage, puppies
need more naps than most people
expect. Napping in a quiet crate, in a quiet room,
will help them recharge their little puppy batteries.
When a puppy is well rested, he will take
direction from you better, mouth you less, learn
things more cooperatively, and have more fun
playing with you. Rest recharges the battery, but
nothing recharges the battery like sleep. Sleep
occurs during nighttime when the dark reduces
stimuli and your puppy can slip into a deep sleep.
24.Rest needs are high during physical growth spurts. Puppyhood is the stage where the most physical growth takes place. When your dog experiences a physical growth spurt, her energy may decline and she may sleep nearly constantly. Don’t worry—after the growth spurt stops, she will be back to full activity in no time!
25.Probably the most frequent complaint of
all clients is “my dog jumps on people.”
One of the problems is that we accidentally nurture
the jumping from the start by picking them
up while they are jumping at us. The “proper” way
to pick up a puppy (so as not to nurture the jumping
problem!) is to turn the puppy away from you
first, then pick her up with one arm under her
chest and armpits and one arm supporting her
rump. Do not pick her up when she is facing you
or climbing on you. Recognize the early request
for a cuddle but turn it into a positive pattern
starting on the first day!
THE NAME GAME! SOCIALIZE YOUR PUPPY TO HER NEW NAME
For this exercise you will need two people. Both people need to sit on the floor facing each other six or eight feet apart. Have a long leash on your puppy. One person has the loop end of the leash and the other person has the puppy. Hold the puppy so he faces the person with the loop. Have the person with the loop call the puppy’s name. Person Two may need to push the puppy towards Person One. Person One reels the puppy in with the leash. When your puppy gets to Person One, praise and give a treat. Make sure to only use your puppy’s name and praise. Give a treat every time. Repeat this exercise at least ten times per session. The lesson we can teach the puppy is “when I hear my name and come running, I get a cookie.” You will need to repeat the practice session at least four times a week. Children can also assist in this exercise with the parent’s immediate supervision.
26.After your puppy appears to recognize her name, you can try a different exercise. Take your puppy outside on the long leash. Wait until your puppy becomes interested in a scent or is wandering around. Call her name (only her name) and motivate by patting your legs and repeating her name. Reel her in if necessary. Praise and give a treat for returning to you. Repeat this exercise ten times each session.
27.While you are raising your puppy, you can use her name to divert her from improper behaviors and redirect her to you. If you find your puppy starting to chew on a plant or leg of a chair, call her name in a cheery, positive tone and she will leave the object behind and eagerly trot over to you. Praise and give her a treat.
28.Don’t worry—your puppy won’t learn to chew things for a treat. Her attention span is so short she will only remember her name and the treat. This diversion/redirection will only work if you keep your puppy’s name positive! (Remember, reprimand will not teach her a lesson at this age. The desire for discovery will override any “social lesson.”)
Earn It and Learn It
29.Begin simple daily manners by having your puppy sit to have her leash put on, sit before she is served her meal, sit for treats, and sit at doorways before exiting. This will not only promote etiquette but will also get her in the habit of cooperating with you on a daily basis.
30.There are basic skills of sitting, downing, and walking on a leash that your puppy can learn during this stage. Working with you, taking direction, earning rewards, and “learning to enjoy learning” are all accomplished by doing these exercises at this time.
Teaching the “Puppy Sit”
31.With your puppy at your left side, place your right hand on the collar and your left hand on your puppy’s rump just above her tail. “Roll” your puppy’s haunches under with a tuck of your left hand. As you’re rolling your puppy’s rump under, gently apply upward and backward pressure with the collar. As you’re placing the puppy into the position, say “SIT.” When the puppy is there, cheerfully say “Good SIT!”
32.Do not push down on your puppy’s pelvis and never use force when teaching SIT! Your puppy’s rump should roll right under her as you slide your hand down and over her tail. If you curl your hand gently under her buttocks while you do this, she will automatically roll her haunches under for you. Teaching the “Puppy Down”
33.Begin with your puppy in a SIT by your left side. Place your left hand on your puppy’s upper shoulders and back, with your right hand underneath your puppy’s front legs, palms up. With a sweeping motion, move your right hand forward as you gently push your puppy’s front feet forward and out from underneath him. While doing this, apply gentle, steady pressure downward on your puppy’s shoulders as your puppy slides softly into the DOWN position. As you place the puppy into the position, say “DOWN.” When the puppy is there, cheerfully say “Good DOWN!” Teaching Your Puppy “Follow-the-Leader” Skills and Leash Etiquette
34.At this point it isn’t important for your puppy to walk directly at the HEEL position. It is more important for her to learn to happily accept walking on a leash somewhere near you. This means no excessive pulling or dragging behind.
35.Begin by calling your puppy’s name and saying, “Let’s go!” Pat your leg, encourage your puppy with your voice, and praise her for following.
36.When your puppy becomes distracted, gently tug on the leash, saying “No,” then say “Here!” When she responds, looks at you, and follows you, praise her heartily!
37.If your puppy is a puller, turn away from her to get her attention. You may have to make several turns in each session to teach her to stay by your side. Do not expect her to hold a true HEEL at this time in her life. Just concentrate on having her learn to look for you.
If your puppy bites at the leash when you walk, give her a toy to carry on the walk. This will avoid a “tug-of-war” situation. You can also spray a bitters spray on the leash before each walk to discourage her from putting the leash in her mouth.
Ages and Stages, Needs at Each Stage :
Each stage of a dog’s life has specific characteristics and learning needs for him. If you approach “puppy raising” with the same attention you do “child rearing,” you can be a much more effective leader and have a better-behaved dog. This section will detail the various stages of a dog’s “growingup” and how we can teach all of the important skills and concepts to ensure that our dogs will not only be great companions, but safe and mannerly members of society as well!
1- Puppy Raising, Puppy Praising :
Puppyhood—the season of adoration.
While this is a stage that requires meeting our puppies’ immediate needs, we must be careful not to spoil them. Puppyhood is very similar to the infancy and toddler stages of parenting a child. The important part about this stage isn’t so much what the puppy learns skill-wise, rather what he experiences about his environment and his leaders! This is the most impressionable stage in a dog’s life and attitudes about his environment and leaders are imprinted on the brain as it grows. Ready to be a good leader and teacher? Age: This stage ranges from two months to roughly five months of age.
GOALS FOR PUPPYHOOD
Confidence in Environment. Your puppy must learn to be confident with the things in her environment. Socialize her in a positive way every day to different places, textures, objects, people, noises, etc. A good rule of thumb is to take her to at least three different places per week.
Confidence in Self. Your puppy must learn confidence in herself. The more good direction you give, the more she can succeed. The more she succeeds, the more you can praise her. The more you praise her for accomplished tasks, the more confidence she will gain. Give no less than ten simple tasks per day to have her earn praise and confidence.
Confidence in Leadership. At this early stage, your puppy is gathering impressions of how you act as her leader and primary caregiver, but she is also developing a perspective of humans from the examples you set while raising her. How you behave and interact with your dog sets the stage and tone for the rest of the relationship. Keep your behavior positive and trustworthy to gain her confidence.
New Object Acceptance. Help her to investigate things and to accept new objects with good direction and praise. Praise her for following your lead. Expose her to many different objects with a positive outcome each time. Touch the object you wish for her to investigate and praise heartily when she shows interest.
Accepting New Challenges. Have her do many small tasks so she can earn praise for each. Doing tasks and earning praise will help her gain confidence in doing new things under your direction. She will also learn to accept new challenges without fear.
Acceptance of the Crate and Boundaries. Using the crate and other methods to limit your puppy’s freedom will help her develop an acceptance of boundaries. If this is not achieved during her first several months, she’ll have a difficult time developing acceptance of confinement and boundaries later in life.
Learning to Fly Solo. Your puppy must also learn to be comfortable being alone. Small periods of crating in a quiet room away from the family will help her develop this confidence. Frequent breaks in between crate sessions will help her see that it’s only temporary and it’s not abandonment.
Learning to Chew on the Proper Toys. Keeping the proper chew toys available, using proper redirection techniques, and having the appropriate chew toys will teach chewing etiquette. Proper chew toys are described in Section Four.
Learning the Concept of Housebreaking. A proper housebreaking schedule will help her learn the concept of where and when to “potty.” A good schedule will teach your puppy where and when.
EXPECTATIONS FOR PUPPYHOOD :
1.Life is all about ME!
Me, me, me! Expect nothing less than that from your puppy! Basically we are their servants in this stage. Their needs mimic the immediate needs of an infant or young toddler. Keep in mind that it has nothing to do with your puppy being bratty—it’s just his immediate needs that need tending. Do tend to them right away.
2.Love, love, love.
Yes, since this is the stage of adoration, you will easily fall in love with your puppy. Take lots of pictures, but be careful not to overindulge and spoil your puppy. This will be the most difficult part of raising your puppy, but is essential in creating a cooperative, good dog!
3.While there are fundamental skills you can begin to generate in puppyhood, you are really in a “holding pattern” of sorts. Your puppy is just too young for formal obedience training in this life stage. Your job now is to prevent errors, teach concepts, and keep puppy safe until she can learn her obedience skills at five months of age.
EXPLORATION Your puppy is in a natural stage of exploration and this is usually done with her mouth. Exploration is actually a positive thing since that means your puppy is eager to learn about her environment. Be careful to remain positive in how you redirect this drive so you don’t squelch a natural instinct that is a learning process.
4.Puppies act on instincts.
Puppies come equipped with only their canine instincts and are acting strictly on what they know genetically. They are not in control of their emotions, nor do they preplan actions. They just act on their instincts until we teach them to resist urges. Do not punish, but redirect them and remain patient!
5.Limitations:
Puppies literally have no selfcontrol at this stage.They tend to do whatever pops into their little minds.This is part instinct and part lack of self-control. Don’t expect your puppy to make good choices or to always be well behaved.
6.Trying to “break” your puppy of instinctual behaviors (like mouthing) will not work.
You can teach your puppy to stop using her mouth to communicate when you teach her an alternate method of communicating. Until then, attempting to use “quick fixes” to curb these behaviors will only serve to diminish your puppy’s confidence in you as a leader. Techniques for dealing with teething, nipping, and mouthing are described later in this chapter.
7.Puppies have a limited attention span and can only “behave,” or rather, be kept out of trouble, for a limited amount of time. As they grow and as we teach them, they do develop an attention span. It’s important to know now that they can only concentrate for short periods of time.
8.Once your puppy’s mental battery has worn down and repetitive, improper behaviors begin, any attempt to redirect will be futile. Take your puppy to the crate for rest.
9.Your puppy can learn the housebreaking routine, but his body cannot “hold” all of his bodily functions no matter how much he may want to do this. At roughly four and a half to five months of age, your puppy’s body will catch up in development and be able to control his flow of urine from the body. Very frequent potty breaks will help this routine.
10.Get Real! Keep your expectations realistic. Puppyhood is the stage where we must be completely responsible for our puppies. Do not expect your puppy to behave like an adult dog. Know her limitations and work with them into the next stage of learning.
YOUR PUPPY’S NEEDS
Mental Needs
12.View every time you are with your puppy as a learning session. These sessions need to be positive and well guided to ensure success. If she’s not supervised well or is only “half supervised,” her chances of getting into trouble are greater. Making continuous mistakes and continually getting scolded is not fun or positive for anyone!
13.Keep your puppy’s “learning sessions” short. Learning is exhausting for a puppy! They are trying to learn how to live in a human world and this generally means that none of their “doggie skills” are applicable (rough play, food guarding, mouthing, etc.) His learning and “unlearning” must be in small doses.
14.Crating your puppy for periodic breaks will keep her learning sessions small and will not mentally exhaust or frustrate her. A tired or frustrated puppy will not learn well or eagerly. Crate time will help her recharge for the next session.
15.Exploration at this stage is usually curiosity driven and not genetically driven (e.g., hunting instincts) and therefore probably won’t cause repetitive nuisance behaviors at this stage (see chapter 12). However, an “ounce of prevention” is truly worth more than trying to “pound the cure into her.” Prevention, by supervising your puppy as she explores, is critical in maintaining curiosity and safety at the same time.
Physical Needs
17.Don’t take your puppy jogging and expect her to keep up with you for a great distance. Keep the runs short in duration. Running on a long leash is fine if done in a soft, grassy area, but high-impact jumping or running should be avoided until your dog is one year of age. Their bones are still developing and you don’t want to risk injury or impairment of proper development.
18.One or two small walks per day along with one or two short runs in puppyhood is a rather general, but appropriate “recipe” to meet your dog’s physical needs. Keep in mind that the balance will be different with different breeds so make adjustments accordingly!
Social Needs
20.In the case of social exposures for your puppy, “the more the merrier” doesn’t always apply. Never sacrifice quality for quantity. Control the exposures to other animals so they don’t scare your puppy. Visit new places during off-peak times so they will not be overwhelming. Use food to introduce new objects. The more positive learning experiences your puppy gets, the faster she will learn good social skills.
21.All too often it is tempting to treat puppies to a magic carpet ride, picking them up to either carry them from one point to another or to immediately try to reassure them if something (a loud noise or quick movement) startles them. While we must be aware that there may be certain times when picking them up may prevent harm and a negative learning experience, we must also be willing to allow puppies to experience new situations to their fullest potential. If we act as if there is something wrong with every new or different situation, our puppies will take our cue and assume something is wrong as well.
22.Give them a “safety net.” When it comes to navigating steps or getting in and out of cars or up and down stairs, assist your puppy. Since we don’t want their little furry joints to become injured, we must develop a sense of how much assistance to provide while still allowing them to acclimate to their environment. We can assist our puppies in these learning situations by offering the same type of “safety net” that we offer when we place our hands under a toddler’s armpits to “unweight” them as they learn to walk.
Rest Needs
24.Rest needs are high during physical growth spurts. Puppyhood is the stage where the most physical growth takes place. When your dog experiences a physical growth spurt, her energy may decline and she may sleep nearly constantly. Don’t worry—after the growth spurt stops, she will be back to full activity in no time!
BASIC PUPPY MANNERS
THE NAME GAME! SOCIALIZE YOUR PUPPY TO HER NEW NAME
For this exercise you will need two people. Both people need to sit on the floor facing each other six or eight feet apart. Have a long leash on your puppy. One person has the loop end of the leash and the other person has the puppy. Hold the puppy so he faces the person with the loop. Have the person with the loop call the puppy’s name. Person Two may need to push the puppy towards Person One. Person One reels the puppy in with the leash. When your puppy gets to Person One, praise and give a treat. Make sure to only use your puppy’s name and praise. Give a treat every time. Repeat this exercise at least ten times per session. The lesson we can teach the puppy is “when I hear my name and come running, I get a cookie.” You will need to repeat the practice session at least four times a week. Children can also assist in this exercise with the parent’s immediate supervision.
26.After your puppy appears to recognize her name, you can try a different exercise. Take your puppy outside on the long leash. Wait until your puppy becomes interested in a scent or is wandering around. Call her name (only her name) and motivate by patting your legs and repeating her name. Reel her in if necessary. Praise and give a treat for returning to you. Repeat this exercise ten times each session.
27.While you are raising your puppy, you can use her name to divert her from improper behaviors and redirect her to you. If you find your puppy starting to chew on a plant or leg of a chair, call her name in a cheery, positive tone and she will leave the object behind and eagerly trot over to you. Praise and give her a treat.
28.Don’t worry—your puppy won’t learn to chew things for a treat. Her attention span is so short she will only remember her name and the treat. This diversion/redirection will only work if you keep your puppy’s name positive! (Remember, reprimand will not teach her a lesson at this age. The desire for discovery will override any “social lesson.”)
Earn It and Learn It
29.Begin simple daily manners by having your puppy sit to have her leash put on, sit before she is served her meal, sit for treats, and sit at doorways before exiting. This will not only promote etiquette but will also get her in the habit of cooperating with you on a daily basis.
30.There are basic skills of sitting, downing, and walking on a leash that your puppy can learn during this stage. Working with you, taking direction, earning rewards, and “learning to enjoy learning” are all accomplished by doing these exercises at this time.
Teaching the “Puppy Sit”
31.With your puppy at your left side, place your right hand on the collar and your left hand on your puppy’s rump just above her tail. “Roll” your puppy’s haunches under with a tuck of your left hand. As you’re rolling your puppy’s rump under, gently apply upward and backward pressure with the collar. As you’re placing the puppy into the position, say “SIT.” When the puppy is there, cheerfully say “Good SIT!”
32.Do not push down on your puppy’s pelvis and never use force when teaching SIT! Your puppy’s rump should roll right under her as you slide your hand down and over her tail. If you curl your hand gently under her buttocks while you do this, she will automatically roll her haunches under for you. Teaching the “Puppy Down”
33.Begin with your puppy in a SIT by your left side. Place your left hand on your puppy’s upper shoulders and back, with your right hand underneath your puppy’s front legs, palms up. With a sweeping motion, move your right hand forward as you gently push your puppy’s front feet forward and out from underneath him. While doing this, apply gentle, steady pressure downward on your puppy’s shoulders as your puppy slides softly into the DOWN position. As you place the puppy into the position, say “DOWN.” When the puppy is there, cheerfully say “Good DOWN!” Teaching Your Puppy “Follow-the-Leader” Skills and Leash Etiquette
34.At this point it isn’t important for your puppy to walk directly at the HEEL position. It is more important for her to learn to happily accept walking on a leash somewhere near you. This means no excessive pulling or dragging behind.
35.Begin by calling your puppy’s name and saying, “Let’s go!” Pat your leg, encourage your puppy with your voice, and praise her for following.
36.When your puppy becomes distracted, gently tug on the leash, saying “No,” then say “Here!” When she responds, looks at you, and follows you, praise her heartily!
37.If your puppy is a puller, turn away from her to get her attention. You may have to make several turns in each session to teach her to stay by your side. Do not expect her to hold a true HEEL at this time in her life. Just concentrate on having her learn to look for you.
If your puppy bites at the leash when you walk, give her a toy to carry on the walk. This will avoid a “tug-of-war” situation. You can also spray a bitters spray on the leash before each walk to discourage her from putting the leash in her mouth.
