Your Puppy Adventure
So you have a new puppy! Congratulations! You are embarking on a lifetime fun, companionship, and love. Your actions make a difference in the relationship you and your family will have with your puppy.
Puppies need to learn their place in the “wolf pack” you call your family. Your puppy will be happy, and fit in best with the humans in the family, if she is at the bottom of the pecking order. Later on, you will want to take your puppy to obedience classes. This will help you learn how to train her, help bond you emotionally, and make you both happier. It will increase her self-confidence to know what you expect of her, too. Nothing makes dogs happier than making their people happy!
If your puppy has been with her mother until 8 weeks of age, she has already had some good lessons in being submissive, but now she has to learn that all the people in your family are above her in the pecking order. This can be done easily and must be done gently to keep her happy and confident.
One of the best ways to teach your puppy to be submissive is to keep her on her back for short periods of time. This is easy to do if you are watching television or reading. Just gently roll her over and rub her tummy for 5 or more minutes at a time. This can be done with her on the floor, on your lap, or in your arms like a baby. It is really helpful to have the children in the household do this often, especially while your puppy is young. If she resists being rolled over, try to be gently insistent, but if you are having trouble, please consult us; you may have the beginnings of a real problem, which we want to nip in the bud.
Puppies naturally need to chew things, so you should provide safe chew toys for your puppy. Gumabones, which are made by the Nylabone Company, are not too hard for puppy teeth and are excellent for them. Other good toys are hard rubber toys, string knots (as long as there are no loose strings for her to swallow!), and other toys that do not have flat indigestible parts that can obstruct her intestinal tract. Real bones and cow hooves can break teeth and harm a puppy’s intestinal tract. They are not recommended! Limit her toys to two or three so she does not get the idea that it is ok to chew anything she wants. This will help prevent destroyed furniture, tattered shoes, and eaten books as her teeth and jaws get bigger.
Keeping your puppy off the furniture is another way to show dominance. It is particularly important that she stay off the beds of the younger family members, the ones who are least able to dominate her in other ways. Often pets will be “good” with adults, but try to dominate children. Having the children make a puppy do calming and submissive tricks like sit and down (lie down) also helps them assert their dominance. Once a puppy has leaned those tricks, she will do them eagerly for a treat or for petting and praise. I recommend having a child routinely feed her and require her to sit or down before being fed. (Nothing in life is free.)
It is imperative that all puppies learn that teeth should never contact human skin. Puppies naturally engage in play-fighting with their siblings and are programmed to bite their peers. They are similarly programmed not to bite the dominant “wolves” in their “pack.” So it is important that all members of the family be perceived by a puppy as dominant. If she is chewing on you, first substitute a chew toy like a Gumabone. If she chews it, be sure to praise her for being good. Everything we do to train her will set her up so that she can’t be “bad,” and then praise her for succeeding and being “good.”
If your puppy gets excited and starts to play-fight with people’s hands, she needs to be stopped immediately. Bring your hand over your puppy’s head and onto the bridge of hers nose from behind; grasp the muzzle at the bridge of the nose and squeeze just enough to cause her to whine. At the same time, use your negative command, ”No” or “No bite,” in a firm, deep, alpha-wolf voice. Be sure the children do not use a squealing, subordinate-wolf voice, but the deepest tone they can muster. Let go immediately and move your hand behind her head to take it away. If she comes back at the hand, try again, and add a hold on her scruff or the bones at the back of the head like her mother used. If your puppy still wants to grab you, she needs time out. A mere 30 seconds to a few minutes in her crate will help her settle. NEVER hit a dog with your hand, especially in the facial area!! This causes dogs to fear hands and can lead to fear-biting.
Another way to teach your puppy that hands are good is literally to hand feed her. While she is still young, sit down with her food bowl and take food in your hand to feed her. Add a tiny, very tasty treat to the food ever 2 – 3 handfuls. After you have done this for about a week, change the routine a little by hand feeding, then taking some food out of her mouth, and then giving it back with a treat added. Do this at least once daily for a few weeks, being sure that at least one child in the household does it, too. This will teach her that it is not threatening for people to be around her food, that hands are “good,” and that it is okay for people to take things our of her mouth. These lessons can directly or indirectly save her life!
If you have any questions on puppy mysteries, please do not hesitate to call Cliff Lake Veterinary Clinic or Marschall Road Animal Hospital at any time.
