Casey Puppy Training Week 3

Ok, so I was a little optimistic about Casey Puppy’s training plan for last week.  He’s still doing fabulously given the whole new exciting world he’s found himself in, but I need to take another week to let him get even better about a few basics such leash pulling and not exploding the instant he sees something exciting to a dog.

He’s come a l-o-n-g way in just 2 short weeks.  He’s about 80% of where I want him to be before we start working on serious basic obedience commands. Here’s what he’s learned and a few notes about how we’re working on that:

• He can’t jump out of the back of the car until I say so
  • He has to wait for a minute or two until I can see that he’s just watching and not getting ready to lunge at the first exciting thing he sees
• He can’t explode with excited joy whenever he sees a person, dog, squirrel! (ala Doug in the movie “Up”)
  • I bring him close and then slowly and calmly stroke his chest, ears, shoulders, or back until he settles down. Depending on the level of excitement, this can take a minute or two.  Patience matters here – he can’t move again until he’s settled down.
• He can’t go through any door before me.  I can’t take credit for that one – it’s either a natural behavior on his part or his previous people worked with him on that.
  • This is a matter of simply reinforcing a behavior he already knows
• He needs to consistently come to me when he hears, “Casey come!” This is a basic obedience command that must be obeyed always!
  • When he returns as commanded, he gets a “good boy” and some nice petting
  • When he ignores me, he gets a pop on the leash until his stubborn little butt is standing in front me. Then, after a moment’s pause, he gets his petting.
• He’s not allowed to yip or otherwise pester me and demand play time whenever he wants it
  • If he’s nosing me, I push him away and ignore him until he settles down
  • If he yips (and he does have the Husky yip!), he is firmly told no with a palm’s up gesture towards him that says “forget it buddy.”  If he continues to yip, I slowly stand up and make myself big and just stare at him until he settles down. This usually involves him rolling over on his back and trying to get me to play.  This is completely ignored.

There’s more that we’re working with — occasionally and randomly having him sit or lay down, and a few other basics like that.  So far, though, it hasn’t been in a formal training session.  I’m just occasionally introducing him to a new thing that we’ll work on more later once he’s just a little bit more consistent with impulse control and the things we’re already working on.

Hopefully, the ideas and approach given here will help you with your pup(s) too, and give you some ideas of things you can do or adjust to get the well behaved and happy buddy you’re wanting.

Puppies as patience practice

The moment I’ve been waiting for has arrived!  Casey has now been with me for 2 weeks and has decided this really is his home.  What does this mean?  It’s time to test his puppy boundaries!  So, as expected, this amazingly well behaved puppy of the last 2 weeks has started become a little tester – can I get by with …?  At 10 months old, he’s decided that being a calm dog is just plain boring.  And he’s right, of course.  The impulse control training focus of the first week, especially, is really all about teaching him how to be calm and ok with boredom.  Now that we’ve reached the testing phase, this is where I get to practice even more patience, consistency, and being very very clear with what is and is not allowed.

So, what kind of testing is he doing?  What boundary questions is he asking? Here’s a partial list:

• If I start yipping when I want something, will I get what I want?  Answer = no.
• Since this is my toy box, is the box next to it with vacuum cleaner parts available, too?  Answer = no
• Can I sneak up on the bed when no one is in the room?  Answer = no
• When I’m feeling playful, can I nip just a little bit?  Answer = no
• How about if I start yipping to demand play time?  Answer = no
• If I can’t get on the sofa, can I at least put my front feet on it or on a footstool?  Answer = no
• Can I sneak a tissue out of the waste basket?  Answer = no
• and so on

In other words, it’s getting to the stage where he’s no longer needing to be under foot every moment.  What this means is that I have to pay very close attention when it suddenly gets quiet.  He might just be checking things out, but …

My patience practice is in having to quietly and frequently let him know what is and is not allowed – for example, these things are your toys and these other things are not.  And, at times, this is literally happening every 2-3 minutes.  To me, this is one of the many great gifts of dogs – it reminds me to be constantly aware of what’s going on while staying calm and not getting frustrated.

Casey in a calm moment

As I often say, dogs can teach us so much if we let them!

As I wrote that last sentence, he came out of a bedroom dragging a headset….  And so it continues.

Casey Puppy Training Week 2

In one short week, Casey has come an amazing distance.  The dog training plan is coming along nicely. Focusing on creating a calm dog and on name recognition this past week has made all the difference in the world.  He’s much better about not leash pulling, and he’s reached a point where he is responding to his name and returning to me when called.  So, now that I have his attention more reliably, what’s the next step?

This week’s dog training plan will focus on refining what he already knows and on hand targeting and the basic commands of sit, stay, down, and leave it.

You may be asking what dog hand targeting is.  Dogs are the only beings other than humans (found so far, anyway) that understand a human gesture. They instinctively watch our hand and arm motions and respond to them much as people do.  Hand targeting is a way of telling your dog where you want them to be without having to say anything.  You need this whenever your dog is off leash – whether he’s in a different room in your house or off leash outside somewhere.

Here is a video that demonstrates the first steps in training your dog in hand targeting. While she is a clicker trainer, you don’t need to use a clicker to make this work.  Every time the dog touches your hand, you can quietly say “good” or make a clucking sound – whatever works for you.  You just need a quiet sound that indicates approval made the instant your dog’s face touches your hand. Enjoy!