Puppy training - getting it right.
Discussion
Hi there,
This is Martha or as of 10 minutes ago maybe Mia, we have a month to decide!
Neither of us are novice dog owners but it is 20 years for me and even longer for the other half since we have had the pleasure and frustration of a puppy in our lives. Our last hounds were rescue dogs.
I would like folks to throw in their hints, tips and experiences. To crate or not to crate? Raw feed or not? Great books and videos. Obedience classes or not? When to socialise?
I know there is a wealth of dog ownership experience on here and from the looks of the photos thread a lot of new puppy arrivals!
Feel free to enhance with puppy pics but I would really like some solid advice alongside the gratuitous cuteness!
Thanks in advance.
This is Martha or as of 10 minutes ago maybe Mia, we have a month to decide!
Neither of us are novice dog owners but it is 20 years for me and even longer for the other half since we have had the pleasure and frustration of a puppy in our lives. Our last hounds were rescue dogs.
I would like folks to throw in their hints, tips and experiences. To crate or not to crate? Raw feed or not? Great books and videos. Obedience classes or not? When to socialise?
I know there is a wealth of dog ownership experience on here and from the looks of the photos thread a lot of new puppy arrivals!
Feel free to enhance with puppy pics but I would really like some solid advice alongside the gratuitous cuteness!
Thanks in advance.
Thanks for the replies, very helpful.
She's a Samoyed and the name is settled, Mia.
I'm keen on raw diet as our yorkies were on kibble and could s
t for Britain. Plus we have a spare fridge in the garage for storage.
Nextdoor are breaking in a puppy a few weeks ahead of us and we still have one of the yorkies that will show her the ropes so she'll be well socialised.
Keep the tips coming
She's a Samoyed and the name is settled, Mia.
I'm keen on raw diet as our yorkies were on kibble and could s
t for Britain. Plus we have a spare fridge in the garage for storage.Nextdoor are breaking in a puppy a few weeks ahead of us and we still have one of the yorkies that will show her the ropes so she'll be well socialised.
Keep the tips coming
bexVN said:
Raw meat should be frozen then defrosted when needed I believe. This kills off some nasty life threatening bugs found in raw. You may need to change your fridge to a freezer 
Great detail thanks, it is a fridge freezer so we are covered. The food suppliers we've looked at so far tend to supply frozen. 
Well we are 2 weeks in now.
She is responding to her name well.
Not yet sleeping through the night.
Pees in the house frequently but always approaches the back door for number twos. We are taking her out every hour to improve this.
Crate training is going okay. Is starting to go in of her own accord but not late at night yet.
Last jabs tomorrow.
She denies routing through flower bds. I don't believe her!
She is responding to her name well.
Not yet sleeping through the night.
Pees in the house frequently but always approaches the back door for number twos. We are taking her out every hour to improve this.
Crate training is going okay. Is starting to go in of her own accord but not late at night yet.
Last jabs tomorrow.
She denies routing through flower bds. I don't believe her!
Autopilot said:
It's probably all done to death now so will be fairly brief(ish!)
Crate - Absolutely! It's the dogs safe haven, somewhere to retreat to when wanting some quiet time to chill...it also helps if you want to do decorating or other things where having a dog bombing about isn't ideal. NEVER put the dog in there for punishment, it should always be a good thing.
Raw Diet - In my experience, yes! Breeder suggested (fairly strongly in fact, they did say you don't see wolves bringing dry food back to the lair...but I guess there are two arguments for that story) it and we were open to the idea. Fro breakfast he had a horrible stinky tripe sluge. Lunch was weetabix, milk with Vit2000...or something like that...added. Evening meal was raw chicken wings. I used side cutters sometimes as the pups little teeth couldn't cope with the bones so made it more manageable for him. He was put in to kennels for one week and was fed on typical kennel food. his coat looked dull and lifeless whereas he normally had such a deep shine to him. When we have run out of raw food and fed him on dry food he turned in to an evil little bd!! EVERY single time we feed him on anything other than raw, he turns in to a little st!! He's fully grown now (2 years old) and is fed twice a day and we've used the usual companies (WolfTucker..brilliant, Natural Instinct etc) all is very good but gets expensive. He normally has a block of food with veg in the morning and the nasty stuff in the evening like carcasses, chicken backs etc. This kind of food can be bought fairly cheaply Funnily enough, our vet sits on the fence a bit with the raw diet thing.
Training - Puppy classes...I have mixed views on this as with a bad school you'll do more harm than good. Without them you won't have a clue either. Where possible, I'd strongly recommend somewhere/someone that knows the breed well and can train them. In my experience, the 'reputable' place we used was awful. They weren't interested in him at all. I don't want my dog to stand on a skateboard, in a box or any of that crap. I want to know how I get control of the dog. Obedience is one thing, control is a different story entirely!
Training Part 2 - The key to success is timing and consistency. I cringe when I see people yell 'sit' hundreds of times. You're just telling the dog that 'sit' means stay there and ignore me while I yell a word at you that you don't understand. Getting a dog to sit is easy. Treat in hand, under the dogs nose and use it to manipulate the dog in to the sit or down position. The moment the dog has done what you want, use the command and give it the treat. It will very quickly understand what sit or down means.
'Sit' means sit down and stay there, you don't need to say 'stay'. If the dog moves, put it back to where it was and start again. Best way in my experience is put the dog in the sit or down position, walk away, just a few paces, walk back and put a treat between its paws and repeat but walk a little further. In no time you'll get the dog to stay there until you call it. If the dog gets up, put it back and start again. Do it 20 times if required.
ALWAYS use the same command, NEVER vary it. If the the command to call the dog over is 'here', never use anything else.
Use the right tools for the job. If the dog isn't food orientated, use a toy.
Our regime is fairly strict as our dogs are a little different. I have a day job, but I also work part time as a 'helper' for a dog club. The dogs here compete at an international level so the training has to be strict, nothing but perfection will do. I'm no expert, but the people I work with are. I follow what they tell me and we get results. Our dog is doing his IPO1 in December and has taken a lot of work to get there. He has training EVERY day. It doesn't have to be long, but the basics are repeated every day without fail. The most important thing is that training a dog never stops!!
We just imported a Dobermann pup from Serbia and because the first year of puppy ownership with the first one was to be quite honest, living hell, we're doing everything 'right' this time and it's making a massive difference. Put the time in, you'll have a great dog!
Thanks for taking the time to post that, much appreciated. Crate - Absolutely! It's the dogs safe haven, somewhere to retreat to when wanting some quiet time to chill...it also helps if you want to do decorating or other things where having a dog bombing about isn't ideal. NEVER put the dog in there for punishment, it should always be a good thing.
Raw Diet - In my experience, yes! Breeder suggested (fairly strongly in fact, they did say you don't see wolves bringing dry food back to the lair...but I guess there are two arguments for that story) it and we were open to the idea. Fro breakfast he had a horrible stinky tripe sluge. Lunch was weetabix, milk with Vit2000...or something like that...added. Evening meal was raw chicken wings. I used side cutters sometimes as the pups little teeth couldn't cope with the bones so made it more manageable for him. He was put in to kennels for one week and was fed on typical kennel food. his coat looked dull and lifeless whereas he normally had such a deep shine to him. When we have run out of raw food and fed him on dry food he turned in to an evil little b
d!! EVERY single time we feed him on anything other than raw, he turns in to a little st!! He's fully grown now (2 years old) and is fed twice a day and we've used the usual companies (WolfTucker..brilliant, Natural Instinct etc) all is very good but gets expensive. He normally has a block of food with veg in the morning and the nasty stuff in the evening like carcasses, chicken backs etc. This kind of food can be bought fairly cheaply Funnily enough, our vet sits on the fence a bit with the raw diet thing.Training - Puppy classes...I have mixed views on this as with a bad school you'll do more harm than good. Without them you won't have a clue either. Where possible, I'd strongly recommend somewhere/someone that knows the breed well and can train them. In my experience, the 'reputable' place we used was awful. They weren't interested in him at all. I don't want my dog to stand on a skateboard, in a box or any of that crap. I want to know how I get control of the dog. Obedience is one thing, control is a different story entirely!
Training Part 2 - The key to success is timing and consistency. I cringe when I see people yell 'sit' hundreds of times. You're just telling the dog that 'sit' means stay there and ignore me while I yell a word at you that you don't understand. Getting a dog to sit is easy. Treat in hand, under the dogs nose and use it to manipulate the dog in to the sit or down position. The moment the dog has done what you want, use the command and give it the treat. It will very quickly understand what sit or down means.
'Sit' means sit down and stay there, you don't need to say 'stay'. If the dog moves, put it back to where it was and start again. Best way in my experience is put the dog in the sit or down position, walk away, just a few paces, walk back and put a treat between its paws and repeat but walk a little further. In no time you'll get the dog to stay there until you call it. If the dog gets up, put it back and start again. Do it 20 times if required.
ALWAYS use the same command, NEVER vary it. If the the command to call the dog over is 'here', never use anything else.
Use the right tools for the job. If the dog isn't food orientated, use a toy.
Our regime is fairly strict as our dogs are a little different. I have a day job, but I also work part time as a 'helper' for a dog club. The dogs here compete at an international level so the training has to be strict, nothing but perfection will do. I'm no expert, but the people I work with are. I follow what they tell me and we get results. Our dog is doing his IPO1 in December and has taken a lot of work to get there. He has training EVERY day. It doesn't have to be long, but the basics are repeated every day without fail. The most important thing is that training a dog never stops!!
We just imported a Dobermann pup from Serbia and because the first year of puppy ownership with the first one was to be quite honest, living hell, we're doing everything 'right' this time and it's making a massive difference. Put the time in, you'll have a great dog!
We are on a grain free 80/20 kibble right now but will move to raw I think.
Crate training going well, she will go in on her own accord every now and then. Not sleeping through yet but she's only 10 weeks.
Training is ongoing and amusing.
Thanks again.
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