 Puppy
Advice
Please scroll down to view the invaluable puppy advice
from our expert Sarah Emery on puppy house training,
biting, crate training and socialising. If you have
any questions or need more advice please feel free to
contact Sarah directly at sarah@little-orchard.co.uk
House Training
How You Can Help: It is vital that you (as
the owner) do not skimp on the input needed by you.
The rules are to never let your puppy toilet in the
wrong place. You should praise and give rewards when
your puppy toilets in the correct place. The more opportunity
you give your puppy to make the right choice, the quicker
good house training will be learnt. You should go outside
with your puppy for a few minutes each time (calmly
and quietly observing them) and place your puppy in
the same area. This can help them repeatedly get it
right. Be calm and expect a few accidents. Do not ever
punish your puppy for failing to get it right, as this
will teach the puppy never to toilet in front of humans!
Remember your puppy will not have full bowel and bladder
control until the age of 12-14 weeks. In the wild, dogs
move away from their bed area to toilet, so confining
the puppy to a fairly small bed area with toys and water
will encourage them to keep that area clean. A puppy
crate can be useful; this must be a safe and enjoyable
place for the puppy to be! Please see below for crate
introduction.
Useful Tips:
A good start is observing your puppy and realising when
it needs the toilet it may:
-
Sniff the ground
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Walk slowly or wobbly legged
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Whine or become restless
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Try and gain your attention, or
-
Try and find a quiet, private area
Let your puppy outside:
If there are any accidents then they should be cleaned
up with a biological cleanser, as disinfectant often
just masks the smell and so the puppy will keep returning
to the same spot.
Try and avoid cleaning up accidents in front of your
puppy as this can make them feel awkward.
Crate Training
Introducing your puppy to a crate from an early
age can be very valuable for you and your puppy. Puppy
crates can help you teach toilet training. In the wild,
dogs will naturally move away from their bed area to
toilet so if you are only leaving your puppy for short
periods you can return and let them outside to toilet
correctly. The crate can also be useful if your puppy
is nervous or unsure. If this is the case then the crate
should be positioned in a quiet, sheltered area possibly
with a blanket over the top. Making A Start: Position
the crate where you want it to be and make it warm and
comfy. It will help to use a bed that your puppy is
already used to lying on and smells familiar. Leave
the door open with your puppy's water and toys in. Throughout
the introduction get all family members to walk past
and drop treats into the back of the crate. You will
find that your puppy will run in and eat the treats;
you may need to use high value treats, e.g. cheese or
chicken. Start off by leaving your puppy for five minutes
and build on this over a few months.
Tips For Crate Introduction:
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The crate is a nice place where your puppy should
want to go.
-
Do not allow children to crawl into the crate and
tease the puppy, this area should be treated as
the puppy's bedroom or safe area that it goes for
some peace and time alone.
-
Whenever you give your puppy a toy, treat or food
then put it in the crate. This is building a positive
association with being in the crate
-
When leaving the puppy in the crate this must be
done gradually and built up over a couple of months.
When leaving and greeting your puppy you must stay
calm and not over excite them.
-
As soon as you return you should let your puppy
outside to its toilet area and praise for correct
toileting.
-
Always leave your puppy a lot to occupy them with.
Make use of rubbish e.g. egg boxes or pop bottles
and rotate them daily to prevent boredom.
Play Biting In Puppies
All puppies bite, it is a normal behaviour!
They are undergoing a natural learning process and it
is your job as the owner and 'acting top dog' to correct
the behaviour and teach them that biting humans is not
acceptable. It is important that they learn bite inhibition
(how to control their jaw muscles) from an early age
and ideally before 16 weeks of age.
Proactive Activities:
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Encouraging sensible play of fetch and retrieve,
instead of tug of war or rough playing that can
lead to biting and aggression.
-
You as the owner initiating and ending all play
sessions.
-
Attending socialisation classes for puppies to
obtain vital interaction with other puppies (helping
teach bite inhibition).
-
Provide the puppy with a secure area where it is
safe and secure and can have time alone (a pen or
crate may be used).
Quite often owners will smack the puppy, bite it back,
scream, yip or yell 'NO'. This is very confusing for
the puppy and it will learn (if anything) that if you
bite a human you must run quickly, or if you scream,
(especially young children) the puppy will think you
are very excited and continue to bite to please you!
A word that would be clearer to a puppy would be 'AH
AH'. Other dogs within a pack set up would growl at
the puppy as its teeth touched the skin and we can act
out this by practising 'AH AH'. Adults must start this
off and once the puppy responds children may be able
to copy.
If the puppy is extremely excited and 'AH AH' is not
working then getting up, walking out of the room and
ignoring the puppy is another solution. Never pick the
puppy up and put it out of the room, they have a short
memory span so by the time it is picked up it has forgotten
why.
It is very important that potential aggression problems
are corrected as early as possible.
Socialising Your Puppy
Socialisation And Habituation: Socialisation
is the process where the puppy learns about itself,
its own species and the other species with which it
will interact. Your puppy will develop relationships
with other living beings in its environment. Habituation
is the process where the puppy becomes accustomed to
their environment and numerous stimuli (sounds, smells,
sights and events).
Many behaviour problems seen are due to a lack of socialisation
as a puppy. The main socialisation period for dogs is
between 3-14 weeks of age. It is essential to expose
your puppy to as many different stimuli as possible
during this time. It is also important not to flood
your puppy with stimuli and new information. It is a
good idea to aim for one new experience each day (making
this a gradual learning curve) rather than 5 new events
in one day! Please see the socialisation checklist overleaf.
What You Can Do To Help:
Your puppy will not be fully vaccinated until the age
of 10 weeks; this doesn't give you much time! If possible,
it is helpful to carry your puppy to new places before
it has been vaccinated so it can start to see the world.
It is not advisable to allow your puppy on public ground
until it is fully vaccinated. If you have the opportunity,
try to socialise your puppy in the house and garden
with other vaccinated dogs or puppies.
Early handling and grooming by family members and visitors
to your home will also be beneficial, as your puppy
will be more sociable and less fearful of people as
they develop. When you are out with your puppy, people
will say hello and this should be encouraged (especially
if they are wearing a funny hat or carrying an umbrella)
and you should ask them to feed your puppy a food treat
as a reward.
Coming to our puppy classes will allow your puppy to
socialise with a selection of other puppies and people
in a fun, safe environment.
It is also important to continue socialising throughout
development and into adulthood. It is never too late
to socialise, it is just harder as dogs get older they
learn certain responses to environments and stimuli
and become more fearful.
Click
here to open and save or print the Puppy Social Checklist
in PDF format
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