Bringing a new puppy home is a wonderful time! It’s full of soft puppy breath, snuggles, wagging tails, and watching your puppy learning to be an adult dog. It’s almost perfect, but then the puppy biting starts. Puppy biting is one of my most commonly received questions from new puppy clients, so I thought I would take a minute to write up a survival guide for this completely normal phase of puppy development.
Category Archives: Training Artcles
When Can I Stop Using Treats?
Like it or not when it comes to obedience we have a working relationship with our dogs.
If we work at it we can create something that more like a partnership where we are working towards the same goals and both of us are equally motivated.
DON’T BE THE BROKEN POP MECHINE.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Kennel Training
Kennel training is something I recommend to all my clients with young puppies and most newly adopted dogs. Kennel training fast tracks the house training process and provides your puppy a safe retreat.
How to pick a kennel, teach your puppy to go in on cue, teach your puppy to stay in his kennel and how to relax in his kennel.
Early Puppy Development
A puppy’s first 16 weeks can influence its behavior more than most people realize. Puppy brains are very special. The results of many behavior studies and EEG measurements demonstrate that a puppy’s brain is better equipped to learn about new experiences with less repetition and to retain those memories and early learning experiences longer. The ease with which they learn begins to decline noticeably around 14-16 weeks. This is when the “critical period of socialization” window closes.
Fitting and Sizing a Muzzle
Fitting a muzzle on your dog is more than just knowing their breed and weight. The better fit a muzzle is the more comfortable your dog will be. If your dog is comfortable he can focus more on training.
Muzzle Myths
“Muzzles have done more to protect owners and their dogs than legislation ever will”, a quote by Dr. Mugford.
Muzzles provide peace of mind if you are worried about a dog’s reaction which helps the owner remain calmer.
My dog never did anything like this before
Imagine that there is a child on the playground that routinely taunts, makes fun of, and intimidates the other children. How long would you wait before you interrupted this behavior? How long do you imagine this would go on before it would at some point escalate to something physical? Dogs are the same, but far too often owners misinterpret the body language that clearly say’s “I’m a bully and I’m looking for trouble.” I often will watch dogs play at the dog park and I will hear loving owners excuse their dog’s behavior by saying things like “He just likes to play rough.” or “That’s how he plays.” Much like the schoolyard bully is having fun at the expense of others a dog who is practicing bad behaviors may be playing or having fun.
Fearful Dogs
Fear can be managed and healed, but not trained away. There are skills that you can use to help your dog when scared, but fear will continue to lurk deep inside your dog’s amygdala. Your job is to help your dog recover from fearful events quicker and experience fearful events less frequently.
First Introduction Between Dog and Baby
I want to make sure that when we come home with the baby it is a happy time for the dog and a safe time for our new baby.
Beyond Enrichment: Give your dog a job. Daily Doggy Chores
The more you can include your dog in the process the more he will feel included.