puppy class Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Smart Dog University

Puppy Training: Lesson of the Day – Chewing

September 18, 2012

Our puppy chewing days have hit their peak. Siena’s puppy teeth have started to come out and the chewing has begun. I’m gearing up for a few tough weeks where the puppy chews on whatever she finds.

I’m fairly laid back about chewing. Nothing’s a real emergency to me — or at least I don’t let Siena know how important it is to me when she chooses one of my things to chew on. We’ll have more about how to get stuff away from your pup when she steals things, but let’s focus on just one problem at a time (the chewing problem) per post.

Chewing is Normal
Here’s the deal on chewing: puppies do it. A lot. Puppies need to chew. If you accept that going in, you’ll come out of this period with more sanity. Puppies explore their world with their mouth. Puppies also chew because they’re bored and can also chew when they’re stressed and/or scared. It’s going to happen, here’s what you need to know to keep your stuff safe.

Puppy-Proofing
Get down on your hands and knees and crawl around. Parents of two-legged kids do this all the time so they are sure their house is child-proofed. If you have a puppy, you’ve got to to the same thing. Go ahead, get down on the floor and take a look around. Put everything up that’s chewable, pullable, tuggable — basically, put anything that’s not nailed down up high.

Puppy Approved
Have five different toys for your pup. The toys should have different textures and densities. Your pup is going to seek out the toy that fits his needs best. Because puppies are teething, their needs change from day to day. The toy that feels so good on their gums today is going to hurt like the dickens tomorrow. If you see your pup chewing on your wrought iron lawn ornament, make sure you have a hard toy available to him indoors. If you see your pup chewing on the sofa, you need to get a soft, plush toy in your pup’s mouth.

Too Many Toys
Most people have too many toys available to their puppy. Your puppy can play with one (or two) toys at a time. If you have 10 toys laying on your living room floor, that’s too many. I have a stock pile of toys and I’ve divided them into two bins. One set of toys is on the floor and the other is in the washing machine. Too many toys can lead to boredom, but rotating the toys into your pup’s environment helps prevent “toy boredom” and keeps all the toys fresh and clean.

Chuck the “No!”
If you read my post on how and why I don’t use the word “No!” with my dogs, you probably guessed that — even for chewing — I don’t use that word. You’re not giving the pup any good information on what to do.

What To Do With A Chewing Puppy
Be sure your pup has those five chew toys available to him and then…

Praise your pup when he’s chewing. I know it might seem silly to tell your pup “good pup” when he’s quiet and minding his own business, but it really helps teach your pup to seek out his own stuff to chew.
Play with your pup when he has one of his chew toys. Make that toy come alive so your pup not only enjoys chewing it, but also likes it when you approach him when he’s got something. This will come in handy later, when we talk about pups who steal your stuff.
Call your pup to you when he’s looking interested in chewing the carpet or other undesirable object. Praise him when he comes to you and reward him by making one of his approved chew toys come alive!
Supervise your puppy. You can tether your puppy, put him in his crate, or gate him in the same room with you so you can keep your eyeballs on him all the time. If you’re not supervising your puppy, you can’t be mad at him when he chews a hole in the drywall.

With this information, hopefully your pup will chew less. Drop us a line and let us know what’s worked for you and your chewing puppy!

Service Dog Training: Going to the Bathroom on Command

September 17, 2012

In service dog training, it’s important to be able to tell your dog that this is bathroom time and to hurry up and go to the bathroom. One of the many “first things” we teach our service dogs is to go to the bathroom on cue. We use the words “Hurry up,” to tell the dog that the clock is ticking – this is your chance to go to the bathroom.

This is an essential skill for the service dog, but I find it helpful to teach the family dog to go to the bathroom on cue, too! This is great when it’s raining and you don’t feel like standing in the rain with your dog ’til he decides it’s time to go; for when you’re in the car with your dog and you stop at a rest stop; and for anytime you want to tell your dog that time is limited, he better go to the bathroom now if he needs to go.

How to Teach Potty On Command
It’s super-easy to teach your dog to go to the bathroom on cue. First, decide on a word or phrase. I like “hurry up,” or “do your business,” but you can use any word you want. Next, take your dog outside on a leash. Just as he starts to go to the bathroom, say your cue. All you’re doing at this point, is just pairing the word (or phrase) with the action of going to the bathroom. Say your word when your dog starts going to the bathroom (no matter if it’s #1 or #2). Try to get your words in just as he’s starting to go.

Praise quietly and enthusiastically (too much enthusiasm might make your dog stop mid poo or mid pee!). I don’t use food for this – it just seems to get in the way and muddy the process.

Continue pairing the word with the deed for about a week or two every time your dog goes to the bathroom. Long about the beginning of Week 3, say the word just before your dog does his business. Praise quietly and enthusiastically just like you did before.

Finally, around Week 4 you can start saying the word to cause your dog to go to the bathroom. If you did your homework in the first three weeks, when your dog hears those words, he should start to do his business! Unless, of course, he doesn’t have to go.

Now, you’ve got yourself a really cool tool to tell your dog that this is his chance to go to the bathroom.

Have you taught your dog to go to the bathroom on cue? Please leave us a comment with the word (or phrase) you use.

Dog Training: Ask the Trainer – How to Teach Your Dog Without the Word “No”

September 12, 2012

Siena is our 13th service dog we’ve had a hand in raising. And she’s the 13th dog that doesn’t know what the word “no” means. How can that be, I hear you saying. She must be a monster if you don’t say “no.” She, like the other dogs we’ve raised, are very well behaved and don’t find any valuable information in the word “no.”

I don’t use that word in my training. I don’t need it and here’s why:

“No” doesn’t give the dog any information whatsoever as to what he should be doing. Here’s the thing — unless your dog is dead, he’s always doing something. He’s sleeping. He’s barking. He’s sitting. He’s chewing a bone. He’s running. He’s laying down. He’s doing something all the time.

A living thing can’t exist without doing something. So, the smart dog owner says to herself “What can I teach my dog to do that’s acceptable to me?” [Hint: what the smart owner does not say is: how can I get my dog to stop doing x.]

It’s 100 times easier to teach your dog what to do than it is to get him to STOP doing something. Because in order to get your dog to STOP doing something, you’ve got to insert something ELSE — remember, only dead dogs do nothing.

Here’s my hint to you: it’s a whole lot easier to simply teach your dog what to do than to waste time thinking about how to STOP something.

An example may help illustrate this idea. Let’s say your dog jumps when people come to your house. Almost everyone says “how can I get my dog to stop jumping” and all they do is work on getting rid of the jumping. It’s frustrating — to you, to the dog, and to your guest. Because trying to stop the jumping the hardest solution to a very simple problem.

If you’re a smart dog owner, you’re thinking: what else can my dog do so he won’t jump on people. Forget about stopping the jumping. Focus on what your dog can do — that you can reward — that will get you to your solution. There are so many things your dog can do instead of jump. Here’s a partial list:

sit
lay down
go to a specific spot (his bed or crate, for instance)
run to his toy box to grab a toy
go belly up for tummy scritches
perform a cute trick like dancing or begging
touch the guest’s hand with his nose
the list is endless.

So instead of saying “No!” repeatedly, you can simply teach your dog to do any one of these behaviors, reward him heartily, then sit back and wait for your guests to tell you how well-behaved your dog is!

Great Dane, Siena, has learned how to put her front paws up on the counter. This is not a good thing. She’s not very tall now, but she can still reach the countertops! Give her a few more months and she won’t have to get on her hind legs to reach, she’ll be able to simply stand on all four feet with her chin on the counter. Instead of saying “NO!” everytime her paws hit the counter — which would be such a downer — I’m either ignoring her and then praising her like crazy when she finds nothing and gets down on her own or I’m redirecting her to put her feet on the floor (then adding in that praise). In addition, I’m reinforcing her for sitting while I’m doing food prep. Amazingly [from her perspective] food jumps off the counter and onto the floor only when she’s sitting. She can actually make food jump into her mouth if — and only if — she sits politely when I’m prepping for dinner.

Voila! I’ve got a dog who lays down quietly while dinner is being prepped. It really is that easy!

Siena’s our 13th dog and I’ve not used “no” yet. I challenge you to think of something else for your dog to do instead of saying the word “no.” It’s a crutch you don’t need. I promise.

Introducing A New Puppy – Siena, Great Dane Pup

August 27, 2012

Our latest service pup in training has finally arrived! Her name is Siena and she’s a Great Dane.

We were taken by surprise Friday afternoon when we were told we might have a pup that weekend. It had been too long without a pup as it was, so there weren’t any complaints from us!

We’re so used to a new puppy to train that it felt like eons since we’d had a pup, even though Caysun was turned in only seven weeks ago. This pup, Siena, is being raised for Service Dogs of Virginia, the organization for which we’ve raised most our pups. We’re fortunate to have found such a fabulous organization with which to work.

It’s very exciting to train a pup — Siena is our 12th service pup and we’re thrilled to have another Great Dane in the house. Our last Dane, Talos, went on to do great things with his new partner and we’re hoping sweet Siena can follow in Talos’ footsteps.

Siena is 11 weeks old and we’re working hard to get in all the puppy socialization before the 18 week mark, which is when the socialization window closes for pups.

What that means is: I’ve got my work cut out for me! No, really, what it means is that you have to get your pup out and about to expose to in a happy and fun way to a variety of things before they are 18 weeks old. At 18 weeks, pups become less like sponges — they stop accepting everything as normal and begin to look at new, unknown things as potentially scary.

Siena hasn’t seen much in her 11 weeks — almost everything is new to her and she hangs back a bit. Thankfully, once she’s seen something once, she integrates it into her repertoire as if she’d never thought it was strange.

We’re very excited to have another pup and we’ll be sharing a lot of puppy training stories as well as puppy socialization and puppy training ideas!

Depressed Dogs – Vacation’s Over

August 20, 2012

Yes, it happens to dogs, too. My guys are sad it's Monday. Specifically, they're sad they're not on vacation anymore.

Here's some of the fun we had last week:

Lily enjoying her "fishing time."

Our view most days….

It's nice to just get away and leave your worries in the dust. Or in the wake. Or whatever. It was good.

Tango is never without his bumper.

This dog LOVES his bumper. He's never without it at the lake.

Vacations…nothin' better.

We had our own private island. Except that it wasn't ours. And it wasn't private. But it might as well have been — we had it all to ourselves every day for vacation.

Sleepy Nemo

Even Nemo was worn out and had to take a power nap in the boat between swimming holes.

Well, it's back to reality today. But it sure was nice to spend our vacation with the dogs. At least we're all feeling a little sluggish and mumpy-grumpy together today.

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