Introduction
We breed beautiful dogs, and do lots of early work with them, and there should be some helpful ideas in our pages. Our focus is making sure that your pup has had the best possible start for the first 8 weeks, However we are not professional trainers, and it is important that you continue with consistent patient, positive training with your pup, and obtain qualified training advice when needed.
We suggest that you read a book called Puppy Zen, by Mark Vette. It covers the crucial stages in your pups’ life, and the importance of different exposure, socialising and training at each of those stages. This book is available online as an E book, and also in hard copy.
When you are booking in for puppy pre-school, book early, and try to find a school which is run by a member of the National Federation of Dog Trainers. The trainers through this organisation have had extensive training. This is not the case with every puppy school advertised.
If your pup is going to be required to go into specialised training for therapy or assistance work, and if you are very busy as a carer already, then often having pup go to a trainer in a live in situation for the initial work can be well worth while. There is an excellent trainer who offers this service. Linda Cause from Cause and Effect Dog Training is available on 0428 723 076. She also does in home sessions, to help you to get your puppy settled in.
If you are closer to the Gold Coast, and just need a guiding hand, try Animal Stars Dog Training 0419 032 996.
If you come across and excellent puppy preschool or trainer, please let us know so we can add them to our list.
PLEASE NOTE Your pup will not arrive trained. It will have puppy energy levels - think of a human toddler. It does need to be introduced in a way that it learns to behave quietly in the house. It will need to have puppy bite inhibition trained. Pups will naturally do what pups do. They will need to learn how humans want them to behave in a human environment. This isn’t bred, it is trained. It takes consistency. Complete consistency. And Patience. Please do not phone us with a pup several months old which hasn’t learnt to sit, come, stay and not bite or jump up. Please make sure those aspects are trained early, while puppy is still wide open to your ideas. The longer you take to start, the harder it is, and the more difficult to change habits that puppy has learnt.
Our suggestions are:
You have just over a month when puppy arrives to socialise your pup well. This window closes at about 12 - 14 weeks of age. By then, your pup must be confident in a variety of places, situations, and with lots of different people - small, large, with hats, without, and with many different dogs and other species they are likely to meet. Socialise you puppy well, from when he or she arrives home. With dogs, with people. Always control the outcome of interactions, and make sure that the outcome is calm and builds confidence.
Be aware of the risk of parvovirus, and do not expose your pup to places where dogs frequent - parks, pavements, dog beaches etc are off limit until your pup is fully vaccinated. However, this mustn’t stop you socialising your pup. Take pup out to a cafe, and sit them in a small collapsable play pen (about $20 at K Mart). Everyone will wnat to say hello. Explain to people that pup isn’t fully vaccinated, but that you would love them to pet or treat your pup, and would it be ok to use a hand sanitiser. Have a sanitiser there plus some treats (Stay Loyal kibble is fine). By the time puppy realises that all different people bring good things, they will have gained lots of confidence with strangers. Do the same with dogs - dogs which are vaccinated can be great companions. Also chickens, cats etc, the more the merrier.
Introduce your pup to a quiet indoor environment, on a lead, and control outcomes.
Mat train them, so they will quietly sit beside you on a lead
EMOTION TRAVELS DOWN THE LEAD. If you are anxious, nervous, excitable, or always busy, your dog will become so too. If you bring a puppy into a high energy household without proper training, it will also become a high energy pup. If you are calm, and look to reward calm behaviour, your pup will calm down.
REMEMBER THAT WHAT YOU PAY ATTENTION TO WILL INCREASE. If puppy barks when in a crate, and you go to him, he has just learnt that if he barks, you will come. Be careful what you reward.
Crate Train, but don’t use it as a puppy sitting service. It is a training aid.
Pups have had biosensor training, and some early training. This does not involve commands.
Pups have learnt to toilet on artificial turf. This gives them a head start with toilet training, but this will still need to be done.
Read the book “Inside of a Dog” by Alexandra Horowitz to understand what a dog smells, sees, knows and why they behave as they do.
If you are going to a puppy preschool, practicing what they are teaching, and yet not seeing improvement, find a different, more effective trainer. A good trainer will use a variety of techniques based on operant or classical conditioning, positive and negative reinforcement. If they can’t explain those terms to you clearly, it is unlikely to make much sense to the dog either.
Young Pups and training
For an 8 - 10 week old puppy, settling into its new home is a huge change, and there is a lot to learn. Pups learn really quickly. They pick up what works for them, where and how they fit into their new families. How feeding happens and if they have to guard that food or feel anxious while eating, or if the food only arrives after they are calm, sitting and relaxed. It is up to you.
The ages of 7-9 weeks are when pups learn to fear certain situations, so it is really important that they have their confidence built, and feel safe. They need to experience new people, new sights, new sounds, surfaces, other dogs....
If you are not collecting your pup until later, you will need to play catch up. We board and exercise, but do not offer training after 8 weeks.
Initial Introduction to Your House
The key is that from the beginning, puppy learns that your home is a calm relaxing place, so you need to ensure that outcome. Bring puppy inside on a lead, or carry. Dont give them free run of the house until they have learnt the rules, unless you want it to become their play area.
You can’t watch your pup every minute. At times when puppy isn’t supervised, or on a lead and with you, make sure they are confined to either a puppy crate or play pen, or they can play outside for a little while on their own too. Do not let them have free fun of the house until fully house trained, and when they will lay quietly on their bed or mat when asked. If they are too excitable at any time, either tie up over their bed (supervised), or have them with you on a lead, or crate. They must learn that inside space is quiet relaxing space.
Introduction to children
There is a short video following which shows how to initially introduce puppy to children. Notice that there is no petting puppy around the mouth, nose or face. This helps prevent puppy trying to communicate with their mouths.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clEhDngbtIE
Training Puppy on a Clip Station
Clip stations work in a similar way to crates. They give the puppy a quiet, comfortable bed in a space of their own.
A clip station is simply a chew proof lead the puppy can be clipped to for short periods of supervised time. Ours are like a lead, but coated stainless so impossible to chew through. Put a soft bed down for puppy to lie on, and where the dog can watch us, and vice-versa.
They are really useful when for instance your puppy needs to learn to wait patiently rather than asking for treats at the table, or to help them to learn to relax indoors. If you have young children, teach them that when pups are on a clip station, it is quiet time for the pup, and not a time to play with them.
Toilet training
We start early cues for toilet training, from when pups first want to leave their ‘den’ area to toilet. Our pups have learnt to toilet on artificial turf or grass, so if you show them where you want them to toilet (for example, an area on the lawn, or artificial turf toilet on a deck) it will make your life very easy indeed. Many of our pups are trained within a few days - some take a little longer, others just go on a lawn from the beginning. Each one is an individual.
There is a section on toilet training with links to McCann dog training videos.
SUPERVISING PUPPY
If your puppy is running around the house unsupervised, you are setting her up to fail. Accidental messing in the house sets back toilet training each time. The best thing is to aim for toileting to be error free.
Routine
Make sure you take puppy outside for toileting after sleeping, eating, playing and frequently thereafter (we work with hourly for young pups). This time frame will extend as puppy gets older and is trained.
Praise
Never use punishment to teach toilet training. This causes pups to be reluctant to toilet in front of you, and they will start to go off and hide and go to the toilet.
When you take puppy out, make sure you are going with a purpose, with pup on a lead (so it is easy to give a treat or praise as soon as they have toileted). during this time it is important not to play, chat to puppy, or excite them. You are there for a purpose. Play time can happen after they have toileted or in seperate visits.
Tips
Start potty training as soon as you bring puppy home.
Aim for error free house training as much as possible.
When pup first arrives, show them their bed, then lead them to where they are expected to toilet, and wait three minutes gives them time to wee or poo).
Be consistent and patient
Watch for puppy whining, walking or searching, or sniffing the ground, as this can indicate they need to toilet.
Use a crate at nights for the first few weeks. All dogs are born with a ‘den instinct’ which is the instinct to keep their beds clean. Using a crate takes advantage of this instinct. Toilet pup last thing at night and first thing in the morning. Keep the crate next to your bed until pup is going through the night consistently. If puppy wakes, quietly lead outside and toilet as follows, then put back to bed in the crate. Other than commands, do not interact with pup at night - they learn that nothing interesting happens other than toileting, so go through the night sooner than if nights also become a play time.
When you wake up your pup in the morning, dont praise or greet your pup. Quietly lead them to the toilet area, and quietly say the command to toilet once only, when you reach the area. Use a command such as “Go Potty” or “Get Busy” quietly and clearly, and wait for pup to toilet.
As soon as puppy toilets, repeat the command to toilet, give the treat and say “Yes” in a higher pitched sound.
When you toilet them, lead them the same route each time to the yard, as they will soon know what is expected of them.
Set a schedule, as dogs learn routines very quickly
Until puppy is fully house trained, we suggest not giving them the run of the house. Use a lead when inside or puppy play pen. If the puppy is showing signs of being consistent about toileting outdoors, after a couple of weeks, then he may run around in rooms with a door open to a garden, or pet door propped open so he can use it easily.
Accidents Happen. Do not scold your pup, as this will cause them to find somewhere private such a corner in your home which becomes their new toilet. Quietly pick it up, and spray with a urine off cleaner (any cleaner that is not based on ammonia will work). We use a citrus cleaner. Bi-carb and water, enzymatic washing powders or urine off all work well. Take puppy out of the room while you clean up.
PUPPIES AND BITE INHIBITION
Puppies biting and growling is normal behaviour. It is important for pups to experiment with these, so they can learn to not bite or growl at all. When pups are with their mother and litter, they start to learn bite inhibition. If one pup bites too hard, and another yelps, then the fun stops. If they bite their Mum, the lesson will be harsher.
Puppies often play roughly together. Rougher than you want them to play with you, or your children.
There are various approaches that can be used to teach your puppy not to bite.
Have a look online for information on this, and remember if a method isnt changing behaviour in a session or two, it isn’t going to work. It may be the method, or more likely, it may be the way you are going about it or your timing, or consistency. Everyone in the household needs to be on the same page, or you won’t get good results.
In our experience, if puppy nipping is not allowed from day one, it doesn’t develop. If this escalates, you need to address it promptly.
Resource Guarding - growling or biting around food and toys
Dogs evolved to eat quickly and competitively to survive. This instinct is still present in dogs, and pups need to learn that they don't have to compete for food, or guard it. This guardian behaviour can extend to other resources, such as toys and treats, if not trained out. This link is to an article which shows how to modify resource guarding behaviour in adults, and also applies equally to puppies.
Its the most natural thing in the world for your puppy to toilet. They have no choice, and very litter bladder control as youngsters. Very much like human babies, they can’t ‘hold on’, so teaching them where they are expected to toilet is an important investment of energy and time on your part.
The keys to successful toilet training are:
Consistency, Supervision, Confinement, Routine and Praise.
Our pups have had the opportunity to toilet on grass and artificial turf. This sets them up to be very easy to train. However, it is really important that you are consistent about toilet training.