Happy Pets

With the puppy sitting on your left-hand side, give a quiet, but firm, Wait command. Do not use puppy’s name. Puppy should always associate his name with coming to you and we do not wish him to do that on this occasion. Take one small pace to your right, count one second and return to your dog and praise him. He shouldn’t have had time to move. If he has, just patiently put him back into the Sit position and try again. You are only expecting puppy to wait there for one second. Extend your puppy’s waiting time very gradually. If you rush it, puppy will want to come to you and you have achieved nothing.

Many puppies lose their confidence if they think their owner is leaving them. It’s not a bad thing that your puppy wants to be with you constantly, so you must build his confidence up. You are not going to be far away, only one pace to start with. Never get annoyed with him for following you. Just be patient and take him back to his original spot. When you can achieve three or four paces away from puppy and a ten second wait, you can then start making use of this new command. For instance, when you open the back door for puppy to go into the garden, ask him to sit and wait while you open the door. This prevents puppies from leaping up at doors in excitement. Then you can tell him, ‘Out you go’, and make it clear that he’s released.

Another excellent use of the Wait command is at the top of the stairs. It’s infuriating and very dangerous to have a puppy galloping through your legs as you descend the stairs. Sit puppy at the top of your stairs and command him to wait while you take one or two paces down and then release him by giving him your recall command, Puppy come. Make a lot of fuss of him as you go downstairs together. Extend your steps each day until you can get to the bottom of the stairs and give your recall. It’s exciting for a puppy to run downstairs, so it will not only enforce the Wait command while he sits at the top, but it will enforce your recall command as he gallops joyously down the stairs to greet you.

While on the subject of recalls, I must point out a big failing with many trainers. On the recall command, they often ask their puppy to sit in front of them on his return. In my opinion, this is a big put-off to a young puppy. He’s come to you with great delight and as soon as he arrives you tell him to sit. What a disappointment to him and an added aggravation to be constantly nagged at to sit when he’s reached you. You should never do this. When puppy comes to you, you should make a fuss of him. If you don’t like him jumping up you then get down on the floor to his level.

Jumping up

I like my dogs to jump up. It is their way of showing affection and signifies to me a happy dog. In fact, I use this habit from the dogs as a reward. Whenever they’ve done well, I clap my hands, which is a signal to them to jump up and, as far as my dogs are concerned, it’s the richest of praises from me. I admit, there are times when even I don’t want the dogs to jump up: when they’ve come in wet and muddy and I am in my best clothes, just about to leave for a social engagement, for example. No problem. My dogs respond immediately to a command of Off—which means not to jump up—or Sit. But to get this type of response when your dog is excited, you need total control.

Before you make the decision of whether your dog should jump up or not, think about this. What do you do when you meet someone you love very dearly? Throw your arms about them and hug them. That is what your dog is doing, only in his own way. How would you feel if your nearest and dearest pushed you away on greeting, shouting and complaining that you were ruining his suit? I may have convinced you, but what (I can hear you ask) about all the visitors who aren’t doggy minded? If your dog is allowed to show his affection towards you, he will be far less inclined to greet strangers in this manner. Make your decision early with your young puppy. Don’t wait until he’s six months and large and gets into the habit of jumping up. It’s far too late to alter his ways then. Even an eight-week-old puppy will jump up. His front paws will probably only reach your ankles. Nevertheless, this is the time to teach him the word Off. Push him down, gently but firmly, saying the word ‘Off’, put him into the Sit position and then throw his toy. If you repeat this on every occurrence, you will only need to ask your puppy to sit when he’s about to jump up. He’ll be only too pleased to comply. He knows you are going to produce his toy, throw it and then have a game.

The older puppy or adult dog may take a little more persuading. A good method, with a larger dog who constantly jumps up, is to take hold of his front paws and squeeze until he pulls away. Give him the command Off, put him into the Sit position and treat him as you would a puppy; throw a toy and have a game. There must always be a reward at the end of your lesson. If you purely push the dog off and nag at him, you’ve taught him nothing except rejection. Another good method with a very large dog whose paws tend to reach to your shoulders, is to push with your feet against his back paws that are on the floor. Push very gently with your toe. It will unbalance him and he will immediately jump down. But don’t forget to give your command and reward him.

How to gain total control

Total control is only achieved after much repetition and patience. Never, ever give your puppy a command without actually showing him how to do it. For example, if you ask your puppy to sit, you put him into the Sit position. Don’t stand, constantly nagging at him, ‘Sit . . . sit . . . sit.’ All you’re training him to do is ignore you. He must learn from a young age that everything in life contains discipline and fun, no matter what you do together. The more lessons you can think up round the house, the better behaved and more educated puppy you’ll have.

Bowl manners

At about the age of ten weeks, you should teach your puppy bowl manners. There’s nothing more infuriating than a dog who leaps about at meal times, barking and whining, and who tries to gobble his dinner from the bowl before it’s reached the floor. Once your puppy’s meal is prepared, put him into the Sit position and hold him by the collar. Place the bowl on the floor and tell him to Leave. Just restrain him from taking his dinner for one second. He is only a puppy and you are teaching him a new English word. Then release him, tell him he is a good boy and he can have his dinner. This can be extended very gradually from, say, one second to maybe twenty seconds when he’s six months old.

The command Leave is invaluable, especially if you own Labradors, who, in my experience, are the biggest vacuum cleaners on earth and will eat anything they find in the fields, edible or not. But if your puppy is well versed in the command Leave, it will save him many tummy upsets and a lot of vet’s bills.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, June 28th, 2008 at 3:11 am and is filed under Collars, Dogs, Puppies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.