This really depends on what "being a puppy" means to you. If this means playing, enjoying, snuggling and affection as PART of the puppy's experiences, well then yes. If this means, you do not expect perfection or for a puppy to act like an adult dog, that is an absolutely correct mindset. If that means you are aware that your new puppy (or dog) needs to be protected from things in our domestic environment that they don't understand, then that is also a yes. Your puppy is now learning about an domestic environment and how to treat humans (and other animals as well).
Environment plays a big role when your training your dog. Dog training usually begins in a non distracting environment. Later on distractions are used in order to further train your dog to planned upon goals. In the beginning non distracting environments are largely controllable by simply training inside in a quiet room without anyone around. The unexpected distraction (spouse, kids, knock on the door, car driving up) may happen, but they are not expected or planned for. For those who also reside in your home, you can let them know not to disturb you when you are training. In those instance, you just have to shoo whoever came in away (or settle the dog after the truck leaves) and find your training footing again to end on a good note. As you move forward to distractions, environments can be somewhat controlled or predicted for dog training with good planning. Non distracting environments can have creative distractions added to them on purpose.
Getting your first dog or puppy is such an amazing time for most people. Like some other pets (like parrots for instance) they need our support as much as we need theirs. You can revel and enjoy the cute loving nature of your dog or puppy. Many, especially first time dog or puppy owners, make some mistakes that are avoidable if you know about them. The mission of this blog is to help dog and puppy owners with information like this. Btw, dog trainers make mistakes too, because not all dogs are alike. They have very individual personalities. At another time, we will address those too. In the meantime, here is some general advice on mistakes to avoid. In the first series for this article, I am going to go over new puppies for new puppy owners, as this article will be too long otherwise. Later on in the month, we will go over adult dogs and rescue adult dogs. The Reliable Stay Command Is a Tool for Safety and Impulse Control (Part 2 of The Command Series)9/20/2023 In the last blog, we discussed the place command. The stay command, specifically, is a command that you can is part of a sit, down, or stand command. This is where you want your dog to stay in a certain position anywhere that you are. There is a quote passed around by many professional dog trainers "What your dog can't do on leash, they can't do off leash". Leashes are very important pieces of dog training equipment, but they aren't talked about that much in pet dog training circles. They really deserve our respect, because leashes are a life line to a dog in training, who will be enjoying some off leash freedom some day beyond confined areas (fences, walls of a building, and so on). Deciding that a puppy or dog is going to join your family is an exciting time. A family discussion or personal decision has been made. A prospective dog or puppy owner has many dreams and expectations for their new companion before they even arrive. Some of these expectations can be entirely reasonable, and some of these expectations might be unreasonable. The start to finding your new dog or puppy should come with in depth thoughts on what those are, and what your lifestyle is like now. READ MORE BY CLICKING THE LINK TO THE RIGHT. Leashes are a dog's safety net and life line for much of their lives. Many public places are bound by the leash laws of their municipal government. Also, if your property does not have a fence and they are not off leash trained, generally if your dog leaves your property then YOU have probably violated a leash law. Many owners hold the leash casually, in a way that can harm the human, and in a way that can cause the dog to be free where they should not be and where it is dangerous. The topic of our blog today, is the best ways to hold a leash for the safety of both the dog and the dog owner.
Today I am going to go over the very commonly used practices of treat training used with luring to train your dog. Most of this training falls under the category of positive reinforcement. That is the practice of adding something to increase the likely hood of a behavior. In this case, we are talking about food rewards.
CONSIDERATIONS WHEN TRAINING WITH FOOD: Most puppy training starts with food training. Puppies are maturing, and do not have the focus of an adult dog. They are discovering the world with their paws, nose, eyes, and mouth. Therefore, humans need a good reward method to catch their attention for any period of time. Adult dogs will have more maturity and focus (usually). Therefore, the first section does not necessarily apply to them. Although, these are things you may want to consider, especially if your adult dog seems at all flat when training. Both young and old dogs need a distraction free place to start learning at first. A common question that I get asked as a dog trainer is "How long will it take to get my dog trained to do XYZ?" That question does not have any concrete answer, and of course it depends on a variety of factors. Age, temperament, owner commitment, behavioral challenges, and increasing distractions all change this answer. When I am training a dog here, I feel that I need at least 21 days of consistently working the dog on training commands and behavioral exercises to get a dog owner on their way to picking up where I left off easily (or easier). Training does not just happen in one day or in one environment. Dog training, as dog trainers understand it, when you have reliability of a command (and very dependent on whether you are talking about an adult dog or a puppy) without the need of going through much effort other than the verbal command at least four out of five times in various environments and distractions. That actually takes much more than three weeks if you want a full set of commands that can be worked in that way. It also depends on if this is a family's needs for their family dog, if this is a working dog, or if this is a sports and competing dog.
I don't know if most of the dog owning public is aware of the levels that we pass through when teaching a dog a certain command. Here are the four levels that I usually think of: 1) Demonstrate to the dog what you want him to do.You can do this by positioning or luring your dog into position. Dogs need to be shown what to do, because they don’t naturally know the things we take for granted that older dogs have already been taught. Obviously they don't understand our verbal cues, and need to be shown what they will correspond to in the future. In the Demonstration phase, the command is verbalized in conjunction with the luring or placing the dog into correct position. |
Author, Robin RubinOwner and Head Dog Trainer in Maine, Robin Katherine Rubin, started her Maine dog training business in September 2004. Our dog training facility is located in Southern Maine in York Beach and we help families enjoy their dogs more, making sure they listen reliably and resolving unwanted behaviors. Archives
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