If you have a new dog or puppy, here are a few simple things that you can do to make sure that your dog becomes a well-balanced, happy canine.The one thing that you hear a lot about is the ‘S’ word. Socialisation is a very important thing in the dog world but repeatedly it goes wrong. Here Emma from eccaines who is a professional dog trainer and runs training classes and flyball classes, tells us her top four must puppy training areas that will help your puppy become calm, happy and on the road to being a well-behaved, well-rounded adult dog.
Emma says that she trains dogs by, “…using patience and the latest in dog knowledge we can train your dog the way dogs are meant to be trained. No more forceful techniques or gadgets, EC Canines will allow your dog to be itself while teaching it how to behave” So who better than Emma to give us puppy or new dog owners ( including people who may have an older rescue dog) some tips.
Emma writes her top pointers …
How to teach your puppy how to approach dogs :
Socialisation takes place every time dogs meet. Teaching your dog to approach and greet dogs calmly goes a long way to the meetings being successful. Small puppies go through a fear period anywhere between 6 to 12 weeks depending on breed. During this period, it is very important that any introductions are done very carefully. Teach the dog to walk past other dogs without fuss and ignoring them. This is important as not all dogs want to be approached. Remember, once your dog is an adult, it will come acr
oss young dogs. Your dog will then become the teacher,
The next best thing to teach your dog is how to act while in the presence of humans, big and small:
Not all people love dogs as much as we do and dog hair is not a fashion accessory for them. Having your dog meet new people calmly, or even ignore them when asked, can be very important. Especially for small children or frail adults, who may easily be bowled over by even a small excitable dog.
Teaching your puppy how to stay calm:
Having a calm dog may seem to be impossible when you have a bouncy puppy or anxious rescue but it is an important part of training so start at home when your dog is lying quietly. Take time to sit with them and treat and stroke and cuddle them when they are calm. When they are being over the top and excitable, try to find out the reason. Walks, training and food all become a factor if a dog is constantly over excited and if you are unsure of the reasons a professional dog trainer will be able to help.
Out on a walk, your dog should also stay calm and walk on a loose lead. Training this from as early as possible is the best way with a puppy, though, with dedication can become possible for your older dog too.
Calmness can also be achieved by practicing impulse control. For higher energy, more excitable dogs, this can be the best way to teach them. By teaching the dog this you can also teach them when they are allowed to be excited e.g, during flyball, agility or even just out on a run, to burn off some of that energy. After all, we don’t always want our dogs to be laid back layabouts!!
The sit, down and stand command:
To cope with the times your dogs can get truly excitable, good basic commands can help. Having a strong Sit, Down or Stand, Stay and Recall, can help control a dog that is boiling over with excitement or anxiety.
Everyone who owns a dog, especially obedient ones, consider themselves a dog trainer, and if you are out and about with your unruly mutt it can get truly overwhelming with the amount of information that is out there, and with everyone thinking they know best about how to train your dog.
Points to remember when looking for a dog trainer:
When looking for a dog trainer, keep an eye out for words like Positive reinforcement, gentle handling, and treating your dog as an individual.
Stay clear of:
Try to steer clear of those claiming to b a ‘pack leader’ and needing to punish or reprimand your dog.
With training there ar
e no quick fixes:
With true dog trainers and behaviourists there are no quick fixes. All punishing a behaviour does is to repress the behaviour, instead of trying to find the reason behind it.
Today, Dog trainers are more like psychologists and should be willing to work with you and your dog to help your dog overcome anything that may have become a problem, working on long-term fixes and not quick fixes.
To find out more about this type of training, go to my website eccaines and have a look.
If you need a dog trainer closer to home, check the IMDT website, which will give you the names of qualified dog trainers in your area.
We would like to thank Emma for her advice and we can’t wait to here from her again
If you would like to talk to others who own dogs / puppies why not join our friendly Facebook page All things Dog
This post was kindly written by Emma Carpenter who runs classes in Cornwall, she offers group classes, one to one and flyball – to contact her please click on her website link below
E C Canines
www.eccanines.co.uk
Duchy Dashers Flyball Club
www.ddflyballclub.co.uk
My Gretel came to use when she was almost a year old. Unfortunately, she was not socialized. Many of the things listed here have continued to be a struggle for us since then. I love her a lot though so I try to help her be a better dog where I can and adapt to her needs where I can’t.
I think training is a on going thing, everyday I try and work with my two dogs – Keep going and Gretel is a very lucky dog to have such a caring owner now xx
As a dog trainer, myself, I agree that socialization is an important one. If the dog was adopted at an older age (like my three dogs), and appears fearful of new stimuli in the environment (people or things), then you can help the dog by conditioning the fearful stimuli into being positive. This may take a lot of work but is doable. I did it with my one dog, Laguna, and the improvements are astounding.
One of the biggest mistakes we made with Walter – while he was in that “fearful” stage – we took him to an off leash park/place where folks are hiking. He did awesome off leash for so many years. Then — a bigger dog chased him and chase is NOT his game. When it became too much and I couldn’t catch up and the other owner DID NOTHING, Walter changed the game and did the chasing but it was intentional. He didn’t go after that dog but it was clear the game was over. Ever since then we’ve had issues with leash reactivity and I only blame myself. Socialization is by far the best tip – thanks for this.
Teaching calmness is an important task and one we’re still working on! We’re working on a post about matwork and calmness.
Great – I would love to put a link to it in my post if you are interested let me know
Great points, Layla is a very mellow dog, she just loves to sit in the park and watch the world go by, I let her do what she wants but keep an eye on her also of course. I rescued her when she was 5 so had to teach her the basics and she is good with so am happy.
Great post! With five Siberian Huskies, three of them puppies at the same time, training was so key to having them bond and become well-mannered. While they do still get excited when meeting new people, thankfully they were trained to not jump! (As you said, not everyone is in love with the fur accessory!) The three puppies (who are now 9!), still do things in tandem just like when they learned as pups. So cute to see. I’m sharing your informative post over on my Bark Anout Pinterest board!