I received this recently from a friend of mine. I have heard it from many others. “…our little Lucy! She is perfect of course the only real problem we are having is jumping up on people when they come in. She LOVES people but that doesn’t mean we have to be all over them when they arrive! She does settle down after 5 mins but would just sooner she [...] Read more »
10,000 Repetitions
I said 1000 repetitions. Heidi said, “10,000.” Know what? She’s right. It’s a daunting thought, isn’t it, to think you will have to repeat a simple command like ‘sit’, 10,000 times? And what’s more, training never stops. That’s right. Not ever. Even when your now puppy is an elder of 10 or 11, many of the things you taught him when he was 10 and 11 weeks old will still [...] Read more »
Patience in Puppy Training…Molly’s Gift
Molly’s Mom comes home today. She won’t need a pup sitter then, so this morning Molly and I had our last walk until I start working with her Mom again. I am so very pleased! She walked along sniffing all the scents that reside in this ‘hood…I know of a pair of coyotes. Who knows what else? To me a dog walk is their time so as much ranging [...] Read more »
Puppies Bite
“Puppies bite and thank goodness they do.” That’s a quote from Dr. Ian Dunbar and one that initially puzzles people. Biting is normal dog behaviour. Our human job in the early weeks of owning a puppy is to teach him what he can and cannot bite. I give every new puppy I work with a stuffable rubber chewtoy such as a Kong™ to assist in teaching him what he can [...] Read more »
Training Your Puppy to Come Every Time
Training your puppy to “come” when you ask is not simply an issue of obedience. It can also be a matter of safety and certainly it is a big part of good manners in a variety of circumstances. Certainly if you and your dog frequent off-leash dog parks, walk on off-leash trails or in the woods, you will want her to come when you call her either to go home [...] Read more »
Training Puppies to Like, Accept, Tolerate, Everything!
Training your puppy to like everything… people, big and little, old and young and all manner of things…bikes, skateboards, vacuum cleaners, big trucks, coffee grinders, mixers, hats, big bags, masks, big dogs, tiny dogs, umbrellas and hats is not really ‘training’. It is exposure. It’s super important that you begin immediately – as soon as you bring your puppy home. The learning window in puppies that is wide open at birth [...] Read more »
How to Train Your Puppy to Walk on a Leash
Start training your puppy to walk on a leash as soon as you get him home. You don’t need a leash to begin… in fact, I recommend you simply teach him to follow you off leash. You will need a leash, of course, within the week, if you haven’t already got one. Retractable leashes are fine for a walk with an already leash-trained dog, but for training purposes, you need [...] Read more »
Why Training Puppies is Important
Do we really need to bother training puppies? If we just love them, they’ll grow up to be “good dogs”, won’t they? The truth is we’re training puppies whether we mean to or not. Puppies, and later, dogs, read our body language and actions extremely well and they do it all the time. That’s the canine method of communication. If you haven’t said a word and your dog goes into [...] Read more »