- When you bring your puppy home, especially after a long and rather tiresome car journey, let him rest in your established 'den' whether it be a crate, puppy pen or kennel. Leave some toys and maybe a handful of kibble or meaty treats in his bed with him to make the experience all the more positive when he wakes up.It is inevitable that he may begin to 'demand' to be let out once he wakes up but DO NOT bow down to his wishes. Let him learn to occupy himself. Treat it like his own 'den' not as solitary confinement.
- Once YOU are ready to let him out from his crate... let him explore, do not forget he has gone through a huge transition from the comfort of his own maternal pack to a new emotional/surrogate pack for which he has no real commonalities with at all. Humans & dogs are very different in respects to their physical and emotional/mental state of being.
- Engage in a game with him of either fetch or tug. Do not listen to the misconceptions of tug creating aggressive/dominant tendancies as long as he is taught 'leave it' efficiently (Something I am sure to cover in a later posting, if my poor memory serves its purpose!) then you will not have any of these issues. By awarding him the tug article and making him release when you ask to, you are creating a relationship based on mutual respect of eachothers needs and boundaries. Possession is 9/10th's of the law in the canine world so make sure you crack this one early!
- Do not let him follow you EVERYWHERE around the house, have a room(s) that he is forbidden to go into unless INVITED by you. This will enforce the idea of boundaries/limitations. Get him used to being left on his own from an early stage even with you in the home to prevent separation anxiety developing. Leave him in his crate, pen or kennel for 10-30 mins at random intervals throughout the day. Again, if one demands attention, you ignore it... he will learn to occupy himself soon enough but please be patient it is tedious I know.
- 10-20 mins after he has a big drink or meal take him outside and once he relieves himself you give a command & praise such as 'toilet, potty, go pee, wee wee, go leak' and the same after his meals. Give him every opportunity to succeed at messing in the garden and lessen his chances dramatically of failing. He may have the odd accident, this is forgiveable. DO NOT RUB HIS NOSE IT, this is out-dated and teaches them nothing. He will soon learn to hold it in and give his own unique signal to wanting to go to the toilet. Excuse messing in the crate during the night, he will soon learn to avoid it due to his clean nature.
- If he steals a sock, kitchen cloth, childs toy, shoe/slipper etc avoid scolding at all costs encourage him to bring it back to you or replace it with one of his own toys. He will soon learn through swapping he gets a more desirable reward.
- Do not work your life around the puppy. The whole idea of having a dog is through a time in your life where it is convenient to do so and slots in suitably to your life. He will soon learn your routine very quickly.
- When guests come round please instruct them to not 'touch, talk or make eye contact' with the puppy till he has calmed, naturally he will be rather excited at the prospects of new guests visting. This tells the puppy that guests do not mean instant attention, they are like my leaders who will give me attention when they see fit, once he is calm call him over and engage in a game with him with plenty of praise to make it easy to distinguish giving attention to settling down. If your puppy happens to be in his crate/pen/kennel when guests come round and he barks ignore him till he is quiet and then let him out to investigate and then the same 'no touch, talk & eye contact' rule still applies.
- It would be in your best interests regarding socialization that you take the puppy out in the car with you a few times, gently break him in regarding how long the journey is. Start with a quick trip round the block a few times, always crated in the boot if possible. Carry him into a few shops when running errands and let people fuss him. (It is advised that one does this preferably after their first vaccination.)
- Get him used to loud noises, drop a few pans, books, turn the tv up loud suddenly. As many loud and surprising noises as possible. Most puppies from responsible breeders will already be semi-prepared for this sort of thing.
- Teach him his name. Make it extremely positive when he comes to you and always say his name when he does so with either food/toy reward and lots of fuss.
- Do not let puppies climb stairs, most can climb up very easily but climbing back down proves to be more testing. To avoid a tumble and potential injury please put a baby gate up at the base.
- When feeding I would strongly suggest sitting in the kitchen on a stool or on the floor with the food bowl in your hands and constantly stroke the puppy while he is eating and put your hand in his bowl, this will prevent any future problems regarding food possession.
- Get him used to wearing a collar & lead ASAP, buy a very cheap puppy collar and lead from a pet stop and let him wear it around the house. Having a foreign object round his neck will cause slight confusion and discomfort but he will soon get used to it.
- When it comes to bedtime put him in his crate/pen or kennel 20 mins before you're due to go to bed giving him time to settle down for the night after letting him outside for his final toileting till the next morning. Give him a few treats and a toy or 2 in his 'den' to make him a little more comfortable and put the radio on low volume, turn the light off and leave him to it.
I hope this is most of what needs to be covered to provide you with an essential guide. I will look forward to hearing any of your suggestions for my next post if I do not come up with one beforehand.
Bye for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment here.