Training Your NEW Puppy.

1. Basic Training

Training your dog should be fun and can be a great bonding experience for the two of you. The most important thing to remember is positive reinforcement.

That means you reinforce or praise any behavior that you want to continue to see from your pet. There are two different kinds of reinforcement you can give to your pet. A primary reinforcer is something a pet doesn't have to learn to like, it is something that it needs to survive, like food. A secondary reinforcer is anything the pet has to be conditioned or learn to like, such as toys, belly rubs or a pat on the head, which are tactile reinforcers. Even your voice with a "Good Boy" (verbal) can be reinforcing. When you are reinforcing an animal it is important to try to do it quickly after the behavior is performed. The quicker you can pair the reinforcement with the correct behavior, the easier it will be for the pet to know what it did correctly. Remember, you are always reinforcing the last behavior the pet has done.

Therefore, if the pet uses the bathroom outside and you take him inside to give him a treat, but on the way he picks up a rock, you may have just reinforced him picking up rocks. In the beginning stages have the treat with you. Then, once the pet starts understanding what the behavior is, you can decrease the frequency of the food reinforcements until they are faded out. Lets be honest, you aren't going to have a treat with you every time your dog sits or lays down for the rest of its life. Instead, you will be replacing food with verbal or tactile reinforcements like "Good Boy" and a pat on the head or belly rub. Keep in mind your pet has a very short attention span. When you are training him or her, keep the sessions short but frequent - around 15 minutes or less - and try to end positively with them doing something correct.

There are three main ways your pet will learn: mimicry, molding and capturing.

Mimicry will occur most often when you have other pets in your household. Your new pet will learn things by watching what the other pets do. This may include how they play with certain toys, or what the best spots to lay in the house are. This could back fire on you, however, if your older pet performs unwanted behaviors like digging or jumping on the furniture.

Molding is when you actually place the pet into a position you would like and say a command. For instance, if you are training your dog to sit, you may place his bottom on the floor then say "sit." When he is in the position, you can reinforce with a treat or lots of love and attention. The more you repeat the procedure, the faster your pet will catch on to what “sit” actually means. Soon, you will be able to say the command and he will know when his bottom sits on the ground, he will get a reward. This kind of training can be used for most of the basic commands like sit, down, stay, leave it, come and heel.

Capturing a behavior is when your pet is doing something unprovoked and you want them to keep doing it, so you reinforce. The main way a pet owner will use this is with potty training. The first time your pet goes to the bathroom outside, you should throw a party (not literally). This should continue until you are no longer having accidents inside. If every time he goes to the bathroom outside, you get so excited, start playing with him, give treats and show him that was the greatest thing in the world he has done, I guarantee he will continue doing it. If he does have an accident in the house, the best thing you can do is catch him in the act. While in the act, pick him up, take him to the place he is supposed to go and let him finish. If he does, again reinforce him. If you don’t catch him in the act and it is some time later, I don’t recommend doing anything. Ignore him and clean up the mess. Then continue on your day. If you just missed him doing it, I personally don’t think there is a problem with showing it to them and saying "NO." Don't shove their nose in it or make it extremely scary but a stern "NO" so he knows something is different and it is not OK. Then again clean it up, ignore him while doing so and then continue on your day. Again, make sure you get very excited and give treats after they go in the correct spot.

Side Story: When I was potty training my dog Mazie, for the first few weeks we would always run inside and give treats after she went to the bathroom outside. We kept the treats in a pantry, which was located near our front entry way. After the first few weeks when I knew she had the concept, I decreased how often she got a treat, until the treats all together were fazed out. For years after, every time she went out the front door to go to the bathroom she would run inside and go straight to the pantry. The look on her face was priceless, as if she were saying, "Don't I get one of these now?" Anyone who says a dog has a short term memory is wrong, or at the very least they are definitely creatures of habit, even if the habit is only reinforced for a short time years before.

Typically, you are not going to want to punish your pet. However, you do want to be able to communicate to them when they are doing something you do not want. This is where the "NO" or "LEAVE IT" command can be effective. If you train your dog to stop what it is doing when you say these words, you can potentially be keeping them out of danger. The important thing to remember is when they do it correctly and stop the unwanted behavior, you reinforce them listening to your "NO" command in the same way you did with all the other behaviors you trained.

2. Socialization

It is extremely important for your puppy to experience all different kinds of situations.

The catch is, you shouldn't be taking them to any parks, beaches or on walks until they are fully vaccinated. Your puppy should have received three sets of shots and be at least four months old.

In the meantime, work on your training at home, and if you have friends or other family members with dogs that you know are fully vaccinated, take your pet to their house or have them come to yours to socialize.

Once your pet is fully vaccinated, you can start taking them to beaches, parks, etc. I also recommend taking them to an obedience training class. I recommend this not so much for the training part, however, that is very important, but for the social aspect of it. Your puppy should learn to be obedient to you while having a lot of distractions. These classes will help tremendously with encountering distractions but still being in a controlled situation. Once vaccinated, I definitely recommend taking your new pup to beaches, parks etc.

The more they go out and are exposed to situations, the calmer more obedient they will be. Keep in mind, however, anytime you take your pet to places where other dogs are, they run the risk of catching diseases and parasites. It is important to keep your pet up to date on vaccinations, and check a fecal sample every year. Keep a close eye out for any vomiting or diarrhea that may occur.

If you are brining your pet into a household with another pet, it is important you let them work out their hierarchy. Most of the time, the dog that was already in the house will be dominant, unless they are very old. It is OK to let the older pet put the puppy “in their place.” This way the puppy will learn where it stands in the social hierarchy. Of course you don't want it to escalade into aggression, then you will have to step in. I have found that unless the older pet is dog aggressive, (in which case you shouldn't be getting another pet anyway) they work it out with a snarl or snap here or there with no harm to either pet.

Side Story: When we got Moose as a puppy, he moved into a house with two pretty dominant females with strong personalities.

He quickly learned that they were the boss of him. They never wanted to harm him, they would just tell him with a snarl or snap that whatever it was he was doing wasn't OK. My boyfriend's family also has a very dominant dog Sierra, who is the only dog in the house. Sierra is known to not get along with other adult dogs that enter her territory. When we took Moose over there for the first time, Sierra was more accepting because he was a puppy, but she let him know when he was doing something she didn't like. To this day if another dog snaps at Moose, he just hangs his head and walks away. He has learned that he is not dominant, and he has accepted it. His day will come to be top dog with the next puppy we bring into the house.

3. Kennel Training

I highly recommend Kennel Training your new pup. I have always kennel trained for the first year or so of the puppy’s life, then I phase it out so they can have free reign of the house when we are gone. A good practice is to train them to go into it on command.

What to use? There are a few different kinds of kennels. The two main kinds are the plastic travel kennels or the metal cages. In the past, I have used the metal cages because they are easy to set up and break down, and the pet can see out of it so they don’t feel so confined. If you have a small bathroom or a kitchen, you can close off these areas and they can be ideal and work just as well as a kennel.

When do you use it? If you are kennel training, you should put the pet in the kennel anytime you are not home. This will eliminate accidents in the house and provide a safe place for the pet, so they do not eat or chew on anything that can be harmful.

How do you train them to accept it? Like I mentioned in the training basics section, you should use lots of positive reinforcement for your pet going into the kennel. it should become their favorite place to be. When they are in it, you can give them treats and lots of love. You can even feed them their meals in their kennel. It should become their den or home.

How Kennel Training Works.... The puppies’ kennel should have water, a blanket or towel and lots of toys for them to play with while you are gone. If they begin tearing up the towel or eating it, you probably want to eliminate that from the equation. In such a situation, you can try newspaper.

Kennel training can help with potty training if you are able to come home from work to let them out to use the bathroom. The idea of the kennel is that it becomes their den. Animals do not like to go to the bathroom in their dens. If you give them the opportunity to go out, they will learn to hold it until then. Of course don’t expect miracles, it will take a little while for them to catch on to this. That is why I recommend towels or newspaper in the kennel to soak up any mess. Also, if you are at work for 8 or 9 hours, don’t expect your new little guy to hold it that long. Den or not, they are going to have to go.

When you leave for work, put or ask the puppy into their kennel. Reinforce them for doing so, then close them up and leave. They are probably going to begin crying. This is totally normal. The important thing to remember is not to go back in for them if they are crying. I promise they are not crying all day you are at work - they will settle down and go to sleep. It may take them more than a week to get used to the idea. Establish a routine and the crying will stop. Never let your puppy out of the kennel if they are crying. Wait until they are calm and then reinforce them for being calm by letting them out.

The way I see it there are three options for where the puppy can sleep at night: on their own bed on the floor, on the bed with you or in the kennel. My least favorite option, at least for when they are small, is on the floor on their own bed. My reasoning for this is because you will have no idea what they are doing all night. They may be wandering the house, chewing or having accidents in the house. All are counter productive to the time you have put into training them during the day. Remember a puppy is like having a kid. You wouldn't leave your one or two-year-old alone to do whatever they want would you? Option #2 is having the puppy sleep on the bed with you. The pros and cons of this are the puppy is close, so if he gets up or moves around, you will know what is going on. If you are a light sleeper, this could be a good option because you can still keep track of the pup without having to confine them in a kennel. The cons, however, are big; you probably aren't going to get much sleep. Every time he gets up, you should take him outside to go to the bathroom in case he needs to go. If you can function on little sleep, it is an option. Another con is the pup could fall off the bed. If you don’t wake up when he wakes up, and he tries to figure out a way down, he could get hurt. My favorite option is kennel training at night too. I think having the kennel in the bedroom is a good place for it to go. For the first week or so you will probably not get a lot of sleep. They will be crying and upset that they don’t get to be with you. Once they get the routine down, they will calm down and realize that the kennel means nap time. Don’t forget to still give them lots of toys to play with and water. If they sleep in the kennel at night, it should carry over to kennel time while you are at work, being nap time as well.

As your puppy gets older, I absolutely recommend fading out the kennel. When you feel they are well trained, don’t chew on things and are using the bathroom only outside, you can start having them spend more time out of the kennel. Usually around the time they are a year, if training has gone well, they should be able to have free reign of the house at night and while you are at work.

4. Chewing

Ah, chewing - a puppy’s favorite past time. I am just going to give you a few tips on how to correct them if you have a chewing problem.

Chewing can be a dangerous past time for your pet. If they eat something bad for them, they can get sick or even be poisoned. Not to mention if they eat something that causes an obstruction in their stomach or intestines, you are looking at a very expensive surgery.

Chewing is one of the only times you will use a punishment. You want them to know that picking things up and chewing on them is not OK. This is very important for their safety. All puppies like to nibble - this is a great time to start teaching them that nibbling or chewing is not OK. Using the "NO" command will go a long way with this. It is important to be firm with your command. Don’t say it in a playful voice - it should shock them a little bit. You can also add in a tap on the nose with the "NO." You in no way want to hurt them - the key is to startle them a little.

If every time they nibble on you, you follow through with these steps, they will stop. Make sure once they stop and are calm, you reinforce them again.

If a pup is chewing on something you don’t want them to, like a shoe, try this method. Pick up the shoe and show it to them while saying "NO." Replace it with one of their toys that is OK to chew on. When they start playing with their approved toy, reinforce them.

If you are out for a walk and your pet tries to pick something up, give them a quick tug with the leash and say "NO." Continue walking. Reinforce with verbal praise or a treat when they are walking correctly.