Our puppies start learning within the first few weeks of their lives. Once our puppies arrive into our homes, they start to build a history of behaviors that work and learn what doesn't work. Puppies constantly explore and try out new experiences, and typically trying them out using their mouths. Setting up our puppies on a successful track to develop into sound adult dogs is a lot of work, but can be manged using passive and active training, management, teaching desirable behaviors to do, rather telling them what not to do and many other techniques learned from scheduling a Puppy Consult.
There's no point in saying "No", "Uh-uh", and so on, these concepts of "wrong" are human in nature, what we rather be doing with our puppies is teaching them what they should be doing instead. Reinforcing approximations towards goal behaviors for our puppy will start to give them the concept of what does work and pays big while imploring management techniques to make sure that we set our puppies down the path of error-less learning.
Puppy Consults can be scheduled before your puppy arrives at home to discuss puppy proofing, enrichment ideas, training plans for when the puppy arrives home to start them off on the right paw and much more.
Once your puppy does arrive home, Puppy Consults can benefit in preemptively deterring undesirable behaviors like mouthing, barking, house accidents, jumping up on guests, etc.
Guy, 11 week old French Bulldog, playing with my 10 week old Czechoslovakian Vlcak while I talk about proper puppy play and other puppy information.
Ollie learning to go to bed on cue. Stationing behaviors like going to her bed can help Ollie stay in a certain area during mealtimes and other instances where you may not your pup underfoot or getting into something they shouldn't be nosing around in, like the dishwasher.
16 Week Mini Australian Shepherd Poodle - Frankie - Learning to go and lay down on his bed as an incompatible behavior to begging at the table and jumping and pawing at legs. This is his first session and he's picked up on it rather quickly.
Guy loading the meaning of the word "Down"
Guy learning "Trade" which means drop the item out of your mouth
A Foolproof Plan for Potty Training Puppies (Make sure to download the free puppy potty training guide (Chapter 2 of Dr. Yin's Perfect Puppy in 7 Days book)
Puppy Socialization Checklist Download
Puppy Behavior: A Sensitive Period for Puppy Socialization
Is Removing Rewards (Negative Punishment) for Unwanted Behavior Mean?
Traditional Dog Training vs Leadership without Force
The Dominance Controversy (Unfortunately half of the videos links do not work, but this link also leads to Dr. Sophia Yin's free download of Chapter 2. "Dominance vs. Unruly Behavior" if you click on the top header of the two wolves)
Below is study done by Ohio State University detailing the main reasons why dogs, with 53% of them being under a year old, are surrendered to shelters.
BAD BEHAVIOR THE TOP REASON THAT DOG OWNERS GIVE UP THEIR PETS
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- About one-third (30 percent) of dog owners who give up their pets to an animal shelter do so because of the dogs' perceived behavior problems, new research suggests.
The study, which included a survey of 56 dog owners who surrendered their pets to the Capital Area Humane Society in Columbus, found that bad behavior was the top reason for relinquishing a dog.
But many of the reported problems are normal behaviors for dogs, particularly young ones, said Sara Staats, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio State University's Newark campus.
"Many new dog owners either don't know or don't remember what is normal behavior for young puppies," Staats said. "The problem often isn't with the dogs, it's with the owners' expectations."
The most commonly reported behavior problem was hyperactivity, followed by housebreaking problems, biting,
destructive chewing when the owner was away, fearfulness and barking.
"With the exception of biting, these behaviors should be expected from dogs," she said. "And even with biting, many inexperienced owners confuse play biting in puppies with aggression."
Staats noted that more than half of the dogs (53 percent) were surrendered when they were less than a year old. Puppies this young can't be expected to be perfectly well-behaved without training from the owners, she said.
The study was published in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association. Staats conducted the study with Deborah Miller of the Capital Area Humane Society; Christie Partlo, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley; and Kelly Rada, a graduate student at Georgia Southern University.
The study involved a survey of 130 pet owners -- 56 dog owners and 73 cat owners -- who were releasing their pets to the Capital Area Humane Society.
In addition to behavior problems, the other major reasons that dog owners gave up their pets:
- Dog takes too much time, work and money (21 percent)
- Owner is moving (19 percent)
- Owner is ill or allergic to dogs (9 percent)
- Dog part of a new litter (5 percent)
- Dog is ill (4 percent)
- Other (12 percent)
The researchers found that cat owners had slightly different reasons for surrendering their pets. The top reason for surrendering cats (29 percent) involved moving to a new home or apartment. Often the owners were moving to a place that didn't allow cats, Staats said.
Other reasons that cat owners gave up their pets:
- Owner is ill or allergic to cats (15 percent)
- Cat has behavior problems (14 percent)
- Cat part of new litter (13 percent)
- Cat takes too much time, work or money (13 percent)
- Pet is ill (5 percent)
- Other (13 percent)
Data for the study was collected in the fall and winter, Staats said. If data was collected during spring or summer -- the major reproductive season for cats and dogs -- unwanted litters would have been a larger factor in owners giving up pets.
The study also found that married people were more likely than single people to give up their pets. That may be because many married people may have children or other responsibilities that make it more difficult for them to own a pet, according to Staats.
Staats said that many people let their emotions take over when they choose a young kitten or puppy as a pet.
"People are attracted to young pets because they're so cute," she said. "But young animals have a lot of energy and are rambunctious. Many people either don't have the skills or aren't willing to acquire the knowledge to give them proper training."
The best pet owners are those that not only feel affection for their pets, but also feel a sense of commitment to taking care of them.
"Too many pet owners like their pets, but aren't willing to alter their lifestyle or spend the time and money necessary to properly take care of the animal," she said.
"If you were a pet you would hope for an owner that is not only attached to you, but also committed to you."