accomplishment ACE Adopt the Internet Day advocate AKC ALIVE Andrea Arden APDT attention aversives Be the Change for Animals beagle beds Bianca bibliophile birthday blessings blog hop BlogPaws board and train Boston Terrier bullied by the blog C-WAGS C.L.A.S.S. call to action CCPDT CDSP certification Certified Pet Dog Trainer change chapter 1 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Christmas Cincinnati click and treat clicker expo clicker training coming when called commitment common sense communication competion coupon cpdt CPDT-KA craft crisis response Dads Daisy decisions dog shows dog training dominance Easter economy emotions empathy equine Face of Crisis facebook family focus food Fortunate Fido Frames of Mind fraud Gardner giving goals group class harness holy week house guest humanity Husker Ian Dunbar individuals instinct integral internet Jade Jean Donaldson joy K9 Chaplains K9 Comfort Dogs Karen Pryor Ken McCort Lake Township Lana Mitchell learning learning theory leash aggression life experience lifestyle training living positively mama beagle Meagan Melissa Alexander minature horse Morgan Specter Mr. Chewy mule Nevada Humane Society Never Shock a Puppy normal Northern Illinois University Open House openminded opportunity pack theory Parents of Murdered Children party Patricia McConnell peace personality pet blogger challenge Pet Blogger Hop Pets without Parents Philadelphia polite greetings POMC positive reinforcement positive reinforcement clicker training precious priorities product review puppies puppy class Rainbow Bridge Rally Obedience relationships relaxing research review rewards routine safe versus dangerous service dogs SPA sports stress success Sue Ailsby Sweet Spots Doggy Ice Cream TDInc. teacher technology The Clicked Retriever therapy dogs thinking time tools tornado toys training plan training tip travel tricks twitter unconditional love video work in progress

www.buchelesk9service.com

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Puppy Tails...Training Tips for Living with the little Seek-and-Destroyers! :)

I find it a little ironic that the Pet Blogger Challenge yesterday seems to have jump-started my brain and now I have lots of things I want to write about!!!  Maybe it was all the other blogs I read...

Having 9 puppies in the house right now makes life more than a little interesting.  And puppies seem to be coming out of the woodwork, so to speak, at the business!  One of the most common issues with puppies is their tenacity.  They want to play and play and play and when you think they are done playing, they want to play some more.  (But then, at least at my house, they sleep and sleep and sleep!)  For many families, this is an issue because it becomes undesirable when it involves unwanted behaviors like nipping and biting, jumping up, chewing, and pottying inappropriately.

One of the hardest things to convince people to do with their dogs is to completely ignore unwanted behaviors.  Let's use the chewing as an example.  Puppies are chewers -- period.  They need to have appropriate and safe things to chew.  But if you yell, yank the item away, and otherwise make a big fuss when you find your puppy chewing on something they shouldn't, you are actually reinforcing the chewing on the item (or worse, encouraging your puppy to chew in "secret" -- more on that below) by giving the puppy attention.  To a puppy, any attention is good!!!  They don't know enough about the world to think anything different.  So interacting with your puppy when you remove the item reinforces the chewing and it will probably happen again.

Instead, stay quiet, get an appropriate chew toy, and trade your puppy for the inappropriate item.  No words, except maybe the puppy's name to get her attention away from the inappropriate item long enough to trade items.  Then when puppy is chewing on the good item, praise her and tell her what a good puppy she is!  Ta-da!  Puppy is happily chewing on something good and wonderful, you are happy, and you have not reinforced the wrong item.    

Chewing in "secret" typically starts when you make such a fuss over the inappropriate items puppy is chewing, that puppy decides it is "dangerous" for her to chew on things when you (or whoever makes a fuss) is around.  Puppies (and dogs!) don't necessarily know right and wrong (unless we teach them), but they know "safe" and "dangerous."  It's safe to chew on things if you are quiet and calm and trade for appropriate items.  It's dangerous to chew on things when you yell and scream and yank things out of puppy's mouth.  This "safe versus dangerous" idea is applicable in many areas of puppy and dog training.  If your puppy or dog is doing something in secret or away from you, consider how you might have reacted to cause your puppy or dog to decide it is dangerous to do that activity around you.  It's not that you are a bad person or even a bad dog person, it's probably that you reacted too strongly to something you should have been quiet and calm about.

Puppies are so much fun and they grow up way too quickly.  Enjoy your time with your puppy, marvel at their learning and development, and be sure to take lots of pictures -- before you know it, they will be wonderful adult dogs!!!

5 comments:

Team Kenzo said...

Great post. When you think of it is much easier to ignore than to make a fuzz about it. Hope everybody out there getting there very first pup read this.

The challenge was a lot of fun yesterday, lots of food for thought gives new blogs :)

Pup Fan said...

Really handy advice... thanks! Maybe it would work on people too. :P

I agree with you totally - the Challenge yesterday gave me some new motivation I think.

buchelesk9s -- Ken and Laurie Buchele said...

Positive reinforcement of good behaviors and ignoring unwanted behaviors absolutely works on people too! How do you think I keep my sanity with two teenage daughters?!? If you have a chance, look on YouTube for the clip from the TV show "Big Bang Theory" on positive reinforcement -- it's a hoot!!!

FiveSibesMom said...

Wonderful post! Mama and her pups were very lucky to have you find them! Happy Saturday!

Amy said...

Great advice! I find this hardest to remember when Buster is barking - partially because when it happens in public it's embarrassing, and when it happen at home it's ear-splitting. Though, I am getting better ... and luckily, so is he!