What is Early-Intervention Training?

Early-intervention training addresses your puppy’s age-specific development issues before working on any obedience training goals.  Trainers use this to  determine whether or not your expectations of your puppy are realistic. We also want to prepare your dog for life with humans and to build their confidence, so they don't resort to more instinctual types of behaviors, such as biting or resource guarding.  

Remember, dogs do not operate with the same kind of "moral compass" that we humans use.  Dogs aren't able to manipulate or spite you... they simply do what works!! I know that many of us consider our dogs to be members of the family; it's important that we remember that our pets aren't people, and expecting them to behave as if they are is setting you and your pup up for disappointment or worse.  Behaviors like peeing on your new rug or nipping your hand as you hold food works for a puppy.  It's up to you to teach your dog that some of those behaviors just don't work for you.

The focus of training dogs 3-4 months old — and younger — should be socialization, not obedience. These are lessons that will stick with your dog for the rest of their life.  Teach your dog that even though the outside world can be loud and unpredictable, it’s a happy and fun place he shouldn’t fear.

This can be done by staying calm and using treats to help your puppy make positive associations with people of all sizes and ages, cars and bikes, other animals, and all things loud and noisy.  At this young age, puppies are very impressionable and easily accept new things, but this openness to new experiences doesn’t last forever! For socialization to be a success, it must occur before your puppy is six months old. The idea is to expose your puppy to new, nonthreatening, positive situations and people now, and to increase the likelihood that he will be a comfortable and confident adult!

Your top priority should be your puppy’s daily socialization. This process will take both time and effort, but is of critical importance — especially for puppies under 4 months!!! Take them with you to new places: friends’ homes, children’s school, the hardware store, the dry cleaners, the bank…  Expose them to a variety of people and environments as often as you can. Let your puppy meet men and women, the elderly and the young, children and babies, people in hats and men with beards. Don’t forget about cats, birds and other animals, or loud or strange noises like a door slamming or a bus rumbling by!  Take your dog to the vet, to your groomer or kennel. Once you get there, give him lots of treats for no reason other than getting him used to going to these places.

Helpful tips:

• Never force a situation to the point where your puppy becomes frightened.  If he appears unsure, reassure him calmly and matter-of-factly, and then go on.
• Always be sure your dog is safe and that he has a positive experience. Allow him to investigate and approach people, places and things at his own pace.
• A tasty treat can do wonders in changing a fearful situation or person into a great experience!
• Be proactive. Teach your dog to feel confident and safe with the noisy, busy, fast-paced world we live in!

When socializing your puppy with other dogs, use your discretion! Find out whether the dogs your puppy meets are fully vaccinated and properly socialized themselves. Make sure older dogs are friendly and accepting of your puppy’s uninhibited, frisky advances. An unexpected attack at a young age can cause future phobias.  If you’re unsure of a situation or another dog, it’s okay to pick up your dog and walk away.

Last but not least, try not to coddle your dog or pick him up all the time. Puppies are adorable and the most fun to snuggle with so this is understandable difficult but  whether you’re answering the doorbell, meeting other dogs, meeting new people… Whatever you’re doing, just let your dog experience the world on his own four feet!  

For more information on Early Intervention Training and Socialization, visit Zen Dog Training Online.

Xena the Couch Surfing Standard Poodle.

Meet Xena!

Xena is one classy lady. She is intelligent and collected, but exuberant and friendly when warranted. All in all she is one rather well behaved poodle. We met with her owner for a general training session, rather than for something specific though, as with any dogs, Xena had her quirks... Turns out Ms. Xena is quite the couch hog! If her owners settled down for a nice evening, Xena would hop right up with them and take up exactly as much space as she wanted — which ended up leaving very little room for her owners. This is a behavior we see all the time, and told Xena’s owner that we had a simple, easy solution for it.  Xena's "mom" said:

“But I like it!”

This is also a behavior we see all the time. One of the most common questions we get from clients is “Should our dog be allowed on the furniture?” What is nice about this question is that there really isn’t a right or wrong answer! The better question would be: “Do you like to have your dog on the couch with you?” If you asked a group of dog trainers whether or not their dogs are allowed on the furniture a majority of them would likely answer “Yup!” (And not a small number would even admit to letting their dogs sleep on the bed!) Some people don’t want to have the dog on the couch, but other owners enjoy having the company — especially on a cold New England night.

We tell clients that it is perfectly acceptable to curl up on the couch with their dogs — but we have a set of rules we recommend. We don’t want your dog to jump up anytime they wish. Make it a privilege; your dog is only allowed on the couch when you give permission. This will not only prevent unwanted couch hogs, but also allow you to have company when you want to, and even use the sofa as a reward for good behavior! This is especially useful when playing Rewarding With Love.

By implementing a few simple rules you can reclaim your couch while keeping your furry heater by your side!

For more information on Rewarding with Love, visit Zen Dog Training Online.

Bon Appétit, Let ME Eat!

This gorgeous gal is Layla, the friendliest yellow Lab you could ever meet.  Don't be suckered by her adorable-ness — this girl's a beggar... at the dinner table, that is.

Mealtimes can be challenging for dogs, especially those who've made a hobby of scooping up tidbits food they've found under the table.  Layla's "dad" just needed her to relax in her pen while he prepped and ate his dinner.

Our goal was to teach Layla that when her dad was eating, she not only had to behave, she had to entertain himself.  If your dog is a beggar, let him know that whining and pawing at you at the table isn’t the way to get attention!  Teach him that he's being rather rude. Show your dog that the only mealtime behavior you respect is politely waiting for you to finish eating.

With Layla, we first tried to outsmart her by using a tether.  A tether is an indoor leash that you clip to your dog’s collar with one end and attach the other to something solid and heavy that your dog can’t move, like your living room sofa.  At mealtimes, it’s best to tether your dog to something far from wherever you’re eating.  In other words, we weren't going to tether Layla to the coffee table when her owner's friends came over with a pizza to watch the game.

Another technique we discussed for Layla is using a crate to contain her or a baby gate to separate her from where her dad eats.  No matter what you works for you — crating, separating or tethering — give your dog something to do while you eat.  Bully sticks and other long-lasting chew toys are great things to give your dog.  Sweeten the deal by trying a few things out, identifying your dog’s favorite and using that exclusively at mealtimes.  This way, your dog will be excited when it’s time for you to eat!

Something else to consider is scheduling your dog’s mealtimes at the same time as yours.  If you do this, just remember 99% of dogs eat faster than most people do. Food acquisition devices (like the Busy Buddies made by Premier) are fantastic since your dog has to nose, paw and move these toys around in order for kibble and treats to fall out.  A huge extra bonus of using food acquisition devices is that playing with these toys is mentally stimulating to dogs — wouldn't it be incredible if your dog got tired just from eating dinner?

If your dog finds using a food acquisition device to be confusing, teach him how it works.  Get down on the floor together, bat the toy around and let your dog see (and lick up) all the delicious morsels that fly out of it.  He’ll get the hang of it, and soon you’ll have a dog who loves it when you eat!

For more information on dining around your dog, visit Zen Dog Training Online.

Inclement Weather Activities Series: Hide and Seek

Back again for more Inclement Weather Activities! Who knew "Hot and Humid" would turn out to be inclement??  With that said, heat can be particularly oppressive especially for certain breeds of dogs!  Here is a a fun game you and your dog can play in the convenience of your comfortably air conditioned home. 

The Find It Game 

This extremely easy game is just how it sounds... "Find It”! Not too many things are as fun as sniffing out food as far as your dog is concerned. Start by showing your dog a piece of dry food or a tiny treat. Say “Find it!” and toss the food on the ground. Some dogs may need you to start by dropping the treat right in front of them. As they catch on you can toss the treat farther and farther away.  For really active dogs you can feed them their entire meal this way should you choose to.  If your dog already has a good handle on stay you can now teach your dog a more challenging version of this game.

Time to play!  

1. Ask your dog for a Sit or a Down before you begin the game.   
2. Put your dog in a Stay while you hide the treat behind or under something ( make sure not to hide the treat in or under things that you don't want your dog to normally play with, like your favorite shoes or bag).  
3. Come back, release your dog from the stay, and say "FIND IT"!

I like to give my dogs feedback, so whenever they find a treat successfully, I let them know I approve of what they're doing by saying, "Yes!"

Remember, always make rules to any game and if your dog doesn't want to play by the rules the game should end for a bit.  When your dog and you get really good at this game you can advance to making the hidden item in “Find It”  a person or a toy, this turns the game into "Hide-and-Seek". Enlist a family member or a friend to play — one to go hide, the other to stay with the dog and encourage them to find the one who’s hiding. Make a big deal over your dog's success and I promise you and your dog never had such fun.  Keep visiting the Zen Dog Training Blog for more Inclement Weather Activities!

For more information on dog training the Zen Dog way, visit Zen Dog Training Online.