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The Importance Of Puppy Training

February 3, 2010 By 1 Comment

I read a short article today about Five Commands Every Dog Should Know and found the article on Google Alerts.  Google Alerts is a great way to find the latest news on puppy training.  Just go to http://www.google.com/alerts.  Fill out the form by adding the following:

  • Search Terms
  • Type
  • How Often
  • Email Length
  • Deliver to

Here’s the form as I filled it out:

Click the “Create Alert” button and just let the emails come to your inbox.  That’s how I found the article: What five commands must every dog be trained to know?

Five Commands Every Dog Should Know

So what are the five commands every dog should know?

  1. Sit
  2. Down
  3. Stand
  4. Stay
  5. Come

All of these commands are included in our list of commands we teach our guide dog puppies in training and I would agree that they are very important for not only guide dogs, but for every dog to know.

The Importance Of Puppy Training

One other item I gleamed from this article had to do with the importance of puppy training.  Here’s the statement I’m talking about:

Behavior Specialist Dayton Vance says:

“Once you get a puppy, if he grows up and isn’t trained the likelihood of him going to animal control is so much greater.”

This is something we’ve been harping on since the inception of this blog.  Puppies are adorable there’s no question about it, but it is oh so important to make sure you train your puppies so they grow up into well-behaved dogs.

A second quote from Vance:

He said being rigorous in training could even have a long-term positive effect on welfare as there would be fewer creatures in adoption and rescue centres.

One of our goals here at Puppy In Training is to try and reduce the number of dogs ending up at the animal shelters.  We believe that we can make a small difference by dispensing dog training tips and information in the hopes that our little contribution will save one dog from ending up at an animal shelter.

Are you involved in dog rescues or shelters?  We’d love to here what you think about the importance of puppy training and the impact on our local shelters.

Filed Under: Rescue Dogs Tagged With: , , ,

Puppy In Training Blog Carnival #10

May 6, 2009 By 1 Comment

Welcome back to a nother edition of the Puppy In Training blog carnival!  It’s been a while and we’ve been waiting for a few more blog carnival entries before posting this edition.  This month we have everything from dog training tips to Hypoallergenic dogs to doggy diets.

Hypoallergenic Dogs

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about hypoallergenic dogs.  I think all the fuss has to do with President Obama and his recent search for a family dog.  Just in case you haven’t heard the first family adopted Bo a Portugeuse Water Dog.  URDogTraining.com put together an article to help us understand a little more about Hypoallergenic Dogs.

Dogs Diet – Fiber

The Dog Strollers Plus blog covers an area I really never gave much thought.  While I understand the importance of fiber in my own diet I never really considered my dog.  Does Your Dogs Diet Include Fiber? answers questions about fiber and it’s importance to your dog.

Dog Barking

I come across this question all the time:  How do I stop my dog from barking?  Buy Dog Beds offers Dog Training Tips to Help Stop Excessive Barking.  Two of my three dogs don’t bark much, but the third whines and barks quite a bit when he’s in the company of other dogs.  I’ll have to try some of these tips next time I’m out and about.

Dog Costumes

One of our favorite things are dog costumes and at Patsy’s Ponderings we see several dressed up dogs at the Doggie Easter Parade.  It looks like a great time was had by all at the Easter Parade.  I wish we could have had something similar in our area for my three dogs.

Dog Lover

If you go to the Cute Dog and Puppy Pictures blog you won’t see only cute pictures.  There’s also some great articles and the one submitted to our carnival covers the reason Why I Love My Dog.  A great article and it reminds me of some of the reasons why I love my dog as well.

That’s it for this months edition of the Puppy In Training blog carnival.  Hope to see you all next month!

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Dog Tagged With: , ,

Crate Training Puppies – 14 Useful Tips

March 18, 2009 By 4 Comments

In theory crate training puppies sounds simple.  A quick note: I often use the term crate and kennel interchangeably throughout this article.

Crate Training Theory: Your puppy does not want to poop or pee in the place he sleeps…put him in his crate (make sure it’s not too big or he’ll pee/poop on one side and sleep on the other) and he won’t poop or pee (unless he really has to). I wrote this article on How To Crate Train Your Puppy In 5 Easy Steps. Of course it’s not always easy to crate train your puppy.

Not long ago I received an email asking me for hints on how to get a new puppy from crying, howling, barking in his kennel during the night. I’ve actually received many emails asking me for similar advice.

Today, I compiled a list of all the tricks and hints I’ve tried with my puppies or heard have worked with other puppies. If you’re a regular reader on my blog then you’ll know that two out of my last three puppies did not enjoy the kennel and barked, howled, and cried throughout the night during their early days. If this is your first night at home with your puppy you also might want to take a look at this article: how to handle your puppies first night at home.

Crate Training Puppies – 14 Useful Tips

Every puppy is different. Some have no problems with their kennel while others (as you know) have a difficult time adjusting to the kennel. To answer your questions: yes, you do need to just leave him in the kennel and yes, expect to be woken up 3-4 times a night during the first week or two. Try to do your best to stick with your puppy and be consistent with his training. Every time you take him out of the kennel and reward him for whining by letting him sleep on the bed he’s learning that whining will get him what he wants.

Puppies are difficult to raise. It definitely takes a commitment. It can take a couple days for him to get used to the crate all the way up to a couple months.

Here are some suggestions you can try that might help you:

  1. If he’s crying you should try taking him out to see if he has to go potty. After you take him out bring him straight back to the crate.
  2. Cut off his water and food at least an hour and half before bed time. That way he won’t wake up as many times in the middle of the night.
  3. Try playing with him a lot before bedtime to tire him out.
  4. If it’s a wire crate try enclosing it by putting a sheet over it.
  5. If the crate’s not near your bed try putting it near your bed where he can see you.
  6. Try sleeping on the floor next to the crate.
  7. Feed him all his meals in his crate.
  8. Put some snuggly toys in the crate to keep him company.
  9. During the day when he takes a nap move him to the crate. You can try this with the door open or closed.
  10. Try leaving the door open but lying down across the doorway of the crate as if to nap with him, to make him feel more comfortable in the crate, and at the same time make my body block the doorway.
  11. If he’s in the crate and he’s not crying give him lots of praise.
  12. Try the heart beat toy. I’ve heard of a toy that simulates the mom’s heartbeat that helps the puppy sleep. Try this toy: Petstages Heartbeat Pillow
  13. Try the heated toy. I’ve also heard of a toy that has a thing on the inside that you can warm on the inside and insert in the toy. Makes the puppy feel like he’s with one of his litter mates. Try this toy: Pet Stages Warming Soother
  14. The one that worked for me and Stetson – I was a wreck and I thought Stetson would never get used to his crate. The only way I was able to get him to sleep was to talk to him for 5-10 minutes, telling him what a “good boy” he was when he wasn’t crying (if he did cry I would just keep silent tell he stopped). To try and quiet him down I’d either say “quiet” or “Shhh”.

By the way, if you leave anything in the crate with your puppy make sure he doesn’t start eating or chewing on anything that may be harmful to him.

Try to be consistent with your puppy. Try not to take him out of the crate unless he stops whining even if just for an instant.

One last tip: If you’re lucky enough to pick your puppy out of a litter be sure and bring a plush toy with you and rub it all over his litter mates. Then when you get home and it’s time for bed put the toy in the crate with your puppy. The scent of the litter will make him feel more at home and give him the feeling that he’s sleeping with one of his litter mates.

Best of luck with your puppy. Let me know if any of the above suggestions work for you.

What do you do when crate training puppies?

Filed Under: Dog Training Tips Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Guide Dogs of America Puppy Evaluation

January 2, 2008 By 5 Comments

Puppy Evaluation is an important part of the guide dog puppy raising process. Puppies in training are kenneled at Guide Dogs of America‘s Sylmar campus for a couple days and are evaluated by the GDA Staff. This is an important part of puppy raising because the puppy raiser’s receive a report that shows how their puppy is doing with training/socialization and areas that need improvement.

Breeder Evaluation

Guide Dogs of America Puppies in TrainingGuide Dogs of America‘s Puppy’s in Training are supposed to receive evaluation reports at 8 months of age. Stetson did receive a short evaluation at 8 months, but we think this was because he was under consideration as a breeder. If he became a breeder then he would have joined GDA’s breeding stock and never would have become a full-fledged guide. Fortunately or unfortunately he is not being considered as a breeder and was neutered shortly after his 8 month evaluation. Stetson received his second evaluation at 10 months and I included his entire report in the next section of this article.

Stetson’s Puppy Evaluation Report

Kennel Behavior:
In run: excited.
Overall behavior: good.
 Community Run:

Relieving on leash: “U” when given the opp. to do so.

Evaluation Walk in Unfamiliar Area: location: Valencia-shopping area
Response to People: excited but controllable.
Other dogs: excited but responded to commands.
Animals (birds, squirrels, etc.): fine.
 Loud sounds: seemed fine.
Traffic: not bothered.
New handler: responded well.
Other (stairs, kids, sniffing, etc): some sniffing at times but responded to corrections.

OB response:
 Name: good.
Sit: good.
Stay: good.
 Down: good.
Come: good.

General Handling:
Energy Level: moderate to high.
Response to correction: required firm corrections at times.
Behavior in establishments: good.
Overall stress: minimal.

Comments / Recommendations:
Dog responded well overall in new area with new handler. Dog responded well to OB commands. Dog was somewhat sniffy – pulled to sniff in areas but responded to corrections.

Continue to expose dog to new areas as he matures. Continue to practice loose leash heeling with distractions.

Recommend Re-evaluation:
Not at this time.

My Puppy Evaluation

I agree with pretty much everything on the report.

The Good
Stetson does really well with his obedience commands. He is very calm at my office (he comes to work with me everyday) and is fairly calm after initially meeting people and dogs. He heels really well when there are no distractions. Loud sounds don’t bother him and he’s not distracted by birds and rabbits. He has no problem working with different handlers and doesn’t show any separation anxiety when staying with a different puppy raiser. He doesn’t take things out of the trash can.

The Bad
He gets excitable when meeting wit new people and dogs. He’s a voracious eater. He tends to get ear infections (3 times since I’ve had him). He tears up his toys very easily (strong chewer). Anything on the floor is fair game to him, but he obeys you when you tell him to “leave it”.

The Ugly
He’s really, really bad with his sniffing. He obeys corrections when sniffing and will listen when you say “no sniff”, but seconds later he’ll have his nose to the ground.

Overall I think Stetson did pretty well on his GDA evaluation. I’m hoping that as time goes on Stetson will calm down a little more and learn to greet people with less enthusiasm. I’ll keep you posted.

What do you think? Have you ever raised a guide or service dog? Did you go through a similar process? How did your report turn out?

Filed Under: Dog Training Tips Tagged With: , , ,