01 Introduction
Description
This article is from the Your New Puppy FAQ, by Cindy Tittle Moore with numerous contributions by others.
01 Introduction
A quick critical information list:
* Never hit a young puppy.
* Praise exuberantly.
* Be consistent with your dog, rather than harsh.
* Don't allow biting, but only correct after 14 weeks (yelp and
replace hand with toy before that)
* Never correct a dog after the fact.
* Dogs need new experiences with other people, dogs and places, when
very young to get socialized.
* Praise exuberantly.
* Dogs need successes and less correction before full maturity so
they can develop confidence.
* Train your dog in order to establish communication and give it
purpose, and make it tolerable.
* Dogs need to be in a dominance hierarchy with everyone; if you are
not above your dog, you will be below it.
* Praise exuberantly.
* Dominance over a dog is achieved with leadership, never harshness.
Some books that may help:
Benjamin, Carol Lea. Mother Knows Best: The Natural Way To Train Your
Dog. Howell Book House, New York. 1985. ISBN 0-87605-666-4. $15.95
hardcover.
She uses praise, contact, play and toys to motivate puppies, but
she does not recommend food training a young puppy. She does
recommend crate training and she also recommends sleeping in the
same room with the puppy. She provides methods to teach no, OK,
good dog, bad dog, sit stay heel, come, down, stand, go, enough,
over, out, cookie, speak, take it, wait and off to puppies. She
talks about canine language and talks some about mental games you
can play with your dog such as mirror games, and copying your dog
and having him copy you, chase games and even playing rough with
your puppy. Most training methods rely on the foundational
relationship between an owner and his dog, and this book provides
some ideas on establishing that relationship while the puppy is
still young.
Brahms, Ann and Paul. Puppy Ed.. Ballantine Books. 1981.
ISBN:0-345-33512-0 (paperback).
Describes how to start teaching your puppy commands. This is a
thoughtful book that discusses in practical detail what you can and
cannot expect to do with your puppy in training it. They stress
that by expecting and improving good behavior from the start,
later, more formal training goes much easier.
Monks of New Skete, The. The Art of Raising a Puppy. Little, Brown and
Company (1991). ISBN: 0-316-57839-8 (hardback).
The monks of New Skete have put together an excellent book that
discusses puppy development and the things that should be done at
the appropriate stages and why. First they follow a newborn litter
through its various stages of development and at each stage they
discuss what is happening. They discuss testing puppies'
temperaments and what you want to look for, under which
circumstances. They discuss briefly dog breeds, and how to find
reputable breeders. They then launch into a series of useful
chapters: housebreaking, preliminary obedience, laying the
foundations of training, understanding (reading) your dog, how to
become the pack leader, basic training, discipline, and general
care. A good bibliography is provided at the back.
Randolph, Elizabeth. How to Help Your Puppy Grow Up to be a Wonderful
Dog. ISBN 0-449-21503-2.
The April 1993 edition of Dog Fancy is a "puppy primer" and it
contains articles on how to choose a breeder, name your puppy, make
housetraining easy, introduce grooming and solve basic puppy problems.
It works well in conjunction with the Monk and Benjamin books.
Continue to:
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