Patricia B. McConnell - The Puppy Primer

Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D and Brenda Scidmore

To Lassie, always a puppy and to Kato, a guy with a great sense of humor

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 First Things First

Special Topic:

New Exercises:

................................. 8

Special Topic:

CHAPTER 2 Next Steps

Special Topic:

New Exercises:

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Practice Makes Perfect:

Special Topic:

CHAPTER 3 Please Stop Doing That! (Do This, Instead!)

Special Topics:

..................................................... 42

New Exercises:

.................................................................. 45

Practice Makes Perfect:

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CHAPTER 4 PLAY! PLAY! PLAY!

Special Topic:

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New Exercises:

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Practice Makes Perfect:

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CHAPTER 5 Raising Happy Confident Puppies

Special Topics:

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New Exercises:

Practice Makes Perfect:

CHAPTER 6 Adolescence and Other Quandaries

Special Topics:

................................................................... 93

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Practice Makes Perfect:

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Good Puppy Owner! Goooood Puppy Owner! How clever of you to start now on your puppy's education! You should feel good because you are caring and committed enough to take responsibility for your new dog's welfare. As you know, there's more to your puppy's well-being than physical health; your dog's behavior will influence the quality of life of everyone in the family for years to come, whether they have two legs or four.

The Puppy Primer is designed as a six-week training program to start you and your puppy off on the right paw. Each chapter includes Special Topics (Housetraining and Crate Training for example), New Exercises (like the steps of Come, Sit and Down training) and Practice Makes Perfect, (the second or third steps of an exercise, so that your pup can begin to master the behavior.)

Inside this book you'll learn how to humanely and effectively teach your pup how to pay attention, to follow the "house rules" and to be a joy to live with. You'll learn how positive reinforcement makes training fast and fun. Along the way you'll expand your ability to teach your dog good habits (rather than just correcting bad ones), and manage the home environment such that it's easy for your puppy to do the right thing.

While your pup is maturing, remember, Lassies are made, not born. Your dog didn't come into the world with the ability to understand English or to know the social conventions of our culture. By the same token, you were not born instinctively knowing how to train a dog. Dog training involves skills that anyone can learn, if they are willing to invest the time and energy. The person who trained the television star Lassie had to master those abilities just like the rest of us! We all start from the same place.

We are delighted that you chose to begin this journey with us! We hope that raising your pup involves the whole family-dog training works best if everyone is consistent in what is communicated. You'll get the most out of this book by reading it one chapter at a time and working for one week on the exercises in each chapter before moving on. However, don't hesitate to use the book in the way that works best for you-perhaps looking into a "special topic" that you'd like to know more about right away. Ideally, go through an exercise when you can get up right away and practice what you've read. Most importantly, have fun! Training can and should be equally fun for you and your dog-isn't that why you got a dog in the first place, to add happiness and joy to your life? So read on, and look forward to creating a great relationship with your new best friend.

[Note: Rather than calling your puppy an "it," or using the awkward "s/he," we have elected to alternate between "he" and "she" in the text. We are grateful that there are only two sexes!]

* SPECIAL TOPICS

SOCIALIZATION

One of the most important things you can do to help your puppy grow up to be a friendly, confident, dog is to socialize your puppy now. Socialization, as the term is commonly used, means giving your pup careful, positive exposure to all of the things that he might encounter as an adult dog. In your pup's case, that includes other dogs and the full range of people that he might encounter, from young, bouncy children to someone in a wheelchair. Depending on your circumstances, you might add cats, horses, birds or ferrets to the list.

If a puppy isn't exposed to a variety of people and dogs when young, he might not be friendly or confident with them as an adult. Fear in puppies is often exhibited as aggression in adult dogs, so now is the time to create positive experiences with individuals outside of the family. However, take note of the "how to" information below: socialization incorrectly done (which is regrettably a common practice) can cause more harm than good.

ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULATION Your pup also needs to experience a range of environments, from rides in the car, visits to neighbors, and walks in the country. This type of environmental stimulation can actually change the way your pup's brain is structured, and allows him to be more flexible about changes when he's grown up. Dogs who have had limited exposure to a variety of environments are more likely to be stressed when you move, go on vacation or add to the family, so it's important to take this aspect of raising your puppy seriously. Of course, there is also a genetic aspect to your dog's responses, but it's always a good idea to do what you can to help him grow up to be well adjusted by exposing him to positive experiences in a range of environments.

To accomplish this, take your pup out and about without taking her places where she'll be scared by too much activity or noise. Teach her to ride in the car, to visit the vet's office (a great place to give treats in the lobby and then drive home!) or to the groomer's shop. Visit a friend's house, go camping and explore the woods, or sleep out in a friend's backyard tent. Let your puppy walk on shiny floors, grass, pavement, dirt and gravel. In general, go to a wide variety of places, but again, be sure not to take her to places where she might get overwhelmed by too much noise or movement.