If you have recently gotten a new puppy or are thinking about getting one. Early training is one of the most important things you can do for your dog and your family.
It is Never too Early to Start Training
Puppies begin learning long before you bring them to their new home. They continue to learn every day from every interaction with you and their environment whether you specifically train them or not. Considering this, it becomes apparent how important it is to provide suitable structure and training from the start to prevent your new puppy from learning the wrong lessons. Many behaviors exhibited by puppies are cute and relatively harmless, but these same behaviors exhibited by an adult dog could be dangerous.
Puppies do not “grow out” of poor behavior
Behaviors that puppies exhibit when theyare young will typically persist unless you teach the dog a more acceptable alternative. Kindergarten Puppy Training classes (often called KPT) and puppy socialization parties can be a good way to get your puppy started. These classes are available in many communities and typically enroll puppies beginning at 8-10 weeks of age. Do not wait until 6 months of age to begin training your puppy. By 6 months of age, your puppy has had 3-4 months to develop undesirable habits that must be corrected before good behavior will be established.
Keep the training sessions short and frequent
Puppies, like young children, do have short attention spans, so training sessions must be short. Short sessions (1-5 minutes) spread frequently throughout the day are more productive than one or two longer sessions. These training sessions should be incorporated into your daily routine and made fun for the puppy. Your puppy should not be able to distinguish real life from training.
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Help…I just got my lil 12 week old whippet and she already had to go to ER because she has broken out of her wire crate and this last time got injured. She was able to undo the latch on the top and got her leg caught on the bottom. She laid there for 1 hour possibly and has damaged nerves on her back paw. She sleeps well at nite in her crate with my son, does not complain. I tried putting her in that one while we left for an hour and broke out of that and broke a tooth. I dont know what else to do. I know this breed suffers from separation anxiety but soon i will be returning to work and will be gone for 3 hours. I want her to be safe but i dont even think a crate is safe for her. We just got a plastic airplane looking crate and hope she will be ok in that. I need you help and would like to enroll in some kind of puppy class. Can you help us?
Thanks for your inquiry. While a puppy class will be a great experience for your new baby, it is unlikely to help you resolve this crate issue. This requires a more tailored and aggressive approach. I would strongly recommend that you call in for a behavior consult and/or speak to your veterinarian for options to treat your puppy’s distress.
I have a Springer Spaniel puppy that is 4 months old. She has been doing well with housebreaking in the fact that she sits by the door when she knows she has the urge to go, but when she is active she dribbles. The vet says this is not associated with housebreaking and we have had her checked out thoroughly checked out for any physical abnormality. He thinks it is just weak spincter control, that this is just immaturity and that she will hopefully grow out of it. But she has developed a new aspect to this problem that I find troubling. She has just started a serious submissive urination problem. I have been working with her on her Sit-Stay command and she has been doing great. She sit-stays before eating, or going outdoors and has been doing great. But just two days ago when I asked her to sit before a meal or to go out she starts cowering and urinating before I can even get to tell her to stay. I don’t know what happened to trigger this sudden response. It’s like someone flipped a switch in her brain overnight.
Teresa, urine dribbling is not normal. While it may be poor sphincter control, this is unusual in a puppy this young. Did your vet specifically check your puppy for a bladder infection (i.e. collect a sample of urine and culture it)? If not, this needs to be done. There are other medical problems that can contribute to this problem as well, so a second opinion is warrented.
As for the urination during the training, I would wonder if the puppy is either ill or we need to look at how you are training her. Training techniques that rely even partially on verbal “commands”, physical manipulation (e.g. pushing the puppy’s rear to the ground), and scolding her if she gets up, often instill fear in the puppy especially at this age. I would encourage you to see your vet again for the urination problem and also enroll your puppy in a puppy class with a reputable positive reinforcement trainer. For a trainer recommendation in your area, try going to http://www.apdt.com (and look for CPDT certified trainers) or to http://www.iaabc.org.