Learning for Life

In a world where we are so much part of our dogs’ lives, it is not surprising that they are so determined to communicate with us.

Baby puppies communicate, relying on innate behaviours, that is, behaviour they do naturally to increase the likelihood of their survival. They whimper, they move towards heat, and they suck. As they grow older their innate behaviour is added to by learned behaviour; when a pup follows mum closely he’s got a better chance of getting the fullest nipple. If he whimpers more insistently, mum may come and see what’s up and if he sucks harder and faster, he’ll get a fuller tummy before the milk bar gets up and walks away.

By the time pup comes to live with us he is well on his way to understanding the extent to which his own actions make him feel good or bad, safe or scared, hurt or more comfortable.

Pups new to our homes are also desperate for someone to help them survive in this great big, new world they find themselves in. When still with mum, life made sense… she seemed to know what she was doing and communicating with her came naturally.

Now, often as the only dog in the household, this dog/dog communication is completely taken away. They find themselves with no one that understands them, and no one that they can understand. All alone, they must make the best of the situation they find themselves in..

Imagine that… All alone, in a world you don’t really understand, surrounded by others who are expecting you to learn and get stuff right…without being able to show you or explain in a way you understand. Scary, frightening? Not pleasant at all. As new puppy owners it is awful to imagine putting anyone we love in this position. But as new puppy owners it is almost impossible to find out exactly what the best ‘training’ techniques are, never mind how best to put them into practice. Different trainers will recommend treats, crates, clickers, leads, different leads, better treats, play pens, whistles, higher value treats, more treats, less treats, cuddles, time out, longer walks, training, training, training.

But here is the thing; every trainer is different, every owner is different, every goal for every adult dog by its owner is different. But EVERY puppy, every single BABY puppy is EXACTLY the same. If we learn to communicate with our puppy while its behaviour is still innate and its brand new learned behaviour journey is limited to just a few months, we can prepare our new charge for a life of positive learning, successful communication and a relationship so good others can hardly believe our dog doesn’t understand every word we say. Building a relationship and Learning for life Spend as much time as possible on the floor with your puppy. Not on the furniture – get into ITS world and let it be with you like it would another canine.

Teach 3 basic, fun actions that your puppy does naturally and all you have to do is associate it with a word and set your puppy up for the safest life. 1) “Leave it!” What we don’t want to do is make it sound like a threat – just a very firm and definitive – “quick come here and see what I have that’s better!”! Dogs are easy-life animals; given two options, they will ALWAYS choose the one that they get the most out of. So, when teaching “Leave it!” you simply make the instant alternative REALLY yummy or fun. The trick when training “Leave it!” is that you NEVER say it when you cannot come up with an alternative that your puppy would rather have and NEVER EVER let your pup or dog return to the “Leave it!” thing. Ever! 2) “WAIT!” Means stop what you are doing, stay still and wait for me to come to you. (ultimately when your dog can do this 100% then you can introduce that you MAY follow the command to “WAIT!” with a command such as “Come” or “GOOOOOO !”) Either way, WAIT! Could save your dogs’ life one day.

3) “Show me”. (I love this). While playing with your puppy, where it is holding a thing and you take the thing off it gently….say “Show me” and reward with a treat…but…then give the thing back and do it again. Make this a daily game moving on to asking the puppy to pick the thing off the floor to ‘show me’, to get his treat. This works well with things like tissue or very small toys that your pup likes to hold but doesn’t want to shake or squeak etc. Get this right and practice it for fun… then throughout your dogs life, if it EVER has something you think may be dangerous you can simply ask it to “show me” and it could save its life.

If you want to see me and my poodle, Poppy doing these exercises, visit the videos on our Pet Dog School Facebook page – The Reluctant Dog Trainer.

Let me know how you get on.