Your New Puppy

Once or twice a week I am asked by clients thinking of (or they already have) getting a new puppy. I strongly suggest training. Immediately. By training I'm referring to both bathroom (okay, so they don't have a bathroom per se but...) and obedience training. I also direct interested pet owners to the extremely helpful free pdf book that Dr Ian Dunbar wrote. For more wonderful reads go to James and Kenneth's website.


"Before you get your puppy" was written by noted animal behaviorist and Director for the Center of Applied Animal Behavior Dr. Ian Dunbar. Informative and an excellent read, even if you have a puppy.

Most people are unsure of what training their puppy needs and how to go about it. Most importantly, you've got to start training early. The earlier, the better. The earlier you begin training, the quicker you can nip bad behavior in the bud. Such behaviors as jumping up on people (very common), begging for food at the table, aggressive behavior...all can be cured by stern, verbal commands. Notice the use of the word "verbal"....it should go without saying that you should never hit your dog. If you have to hit a dog, you don't deserve to have one.

To illustrate the fruits of successful training (okay, so they're my kids), check out a
a socialization video on www.noseprints.net which clearly illustrates why you need to train your fur kid.

Back story on this video: We were getting ready to shoot a segment on socializing your pet. Before I could even begin the segment, a little girl wandered in to frame and illustrated, without dialog, it is so important to socialize your dogs. Bishop was still young and used to have a problem knocking little kids over. He used to get so excited seeing someone his size and bulldoze them over. He wasn't being mean, he's just a slab of hyper beef that wants to play. So we were worried (okay, our attorneys were) when we went out to shoot, fearing the worst possible scenario of a class action lawsuit by a troop of kids visiting from out of state. However, this didn't materialize and we were pleasantly surprised.

This clip also shows you why you want your kids not to jump on human kids.




As far as crate training...yes, you will want to do this. It is important to pay attention to your dog's behavior. Once you recognize that they are asking you to go to the bathroom, you won't have any problems rewarding them and positively reinforcing their behavior. I give you my two bullies, Bishop and Big Tuna as examples.
Big Tuna was wonderful from day one. She had a few accidents but generally she knew to walk to the door. She never barks or really says anything but sort of hovers near the door and flashed us a look that we quickly learned was her "I'm dying here...is someone got to let me out or do I have to drop a present in your shoes?" face. Mr. Bishop? Oy...that's another story. At first, you would think he simply did not care if he peed or barked (yes, "barked" in our household is shorthand for "barking out a biscuit" or #2) in the house. It took a couple of years....yes, you read this correctly...YEARS...to train him. Now he merrily walks over to the knotty alder doors and digs his claws into the door, stripping the seal and stain from the door in the process while flashing us his best "you've got three seconds to get over here and open this door or buy me a set of opposable thumbs" look. Bottom line: all dogs are different. Some are fine and come readily assembled out of the box (Big Tuna) and others, well, they're special (Mr. Bishi).

What I'm trying to say is just observe and realize that a young puppy cannot hold "it" for a long period of time. Probably every three hours they'll have to go. And the myth that they won't go in their cage? Yes, it is their safe haven and most like to go into their cage to lay down...but, if they have to go and they're locked up, guess what? They're going come hell or high water. Never fully understood this saying but it appears to fit here.