Joel Walton - Positive Puppy Training Works

First Edition

Copyright 2002 by Joel Walton

Table of Contents

Joel Walton, CPDT with Walton's Miss Billie Holiday

When Joel Walton wrote his first doggy book, I had but one criticism - the book was written primarily for Labrador folk. I urged Joel to write a training book for puppies of all breeds, so that all new puppy owners could benefit from his infinite wisdom and his marvelous way with words. Well, here it is - Positive Puppy Training Works.

If you have a puppy, or are thinking about getting a puppy, buying this book is the smartest thing you can do. Its brilliant! Excellent!! Awesome!!! (Yes! I really like it.)

Positive Puppy Training Works offers a marvelous insight into the minds and souls of puppies. Joel Waltons book emphasizes puppy needs and feelings, and how to show and teach them to be good companions, using gentle, puppy-friendly methods. Written in an engaging, easy-to-read style, Positive Puppy Training Works is a sheer delight to read - written from the heart, and with the puppys best interests at heart.

The Management, Relationship, and Education System is definitely the way to go: Managing behavior, developing a great Relationship, and Educating your puppy. And Joel makes the process all so intriguing and enjoyable with his unique and easy-to-follow SOAR (Simply Observe And Reward) and STAR (Simply Teach And Reward) Systems. If you are unfamiliar with these modern-day training techniques, it is unlikely your puppy will ever achieve its full potential. So, buy this book. Your puppy will thank you for ever and ever!

Ian Dunbar, Ph.D., B.Vet.Med., M.R.C.V.S.

Founder of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and author of How To Teach A New Dog Old Tricks.

Dear Puppy Owner,

You have a puppy.

You need help raising your puppy to adulthood. I am going to help you.

You decided that a puppy would be a great addition to your family. I decided that educating puppy owners would be a great avocation.

This may be your first or fifth puppy. This book will help you do the best possible job managing and educating your puppy so he can grow up to be the best possible dog for your family.

You and I have other things in common besides our love of puppy dogs. I have earned my living training families to train their family dogs for almost two decades. My wife, Janet, and I have bred Labrador Retrievers for over two decades. We have had many litters of puppies in our living room over the years. We have kept some of these puppies. We then had to raise them to adulthood. When we raise a puppy, we want to do the least amount of work and have a wonderful pet. You probably want to do the same. You probably have many other things in your life that keep you busy and cannot devote full time to raising your puppy.

You are going to learn how to effectively, efficiently, and easily educate your puppy while you keep him out of trouble.

Lets get started!

Joel Walton

June 2002

If youy manage well and educate effectively,
you get a great relationship for free.

MANAGEMENT, RELATIONSHIP, AND
EDUCATION SYSTEM (MRE)
MANAGEMENT

Puppies do normal puppy things. Puppies act like puppies! Normal puppy behaviors (barking, peeing, pooping, puppy biting, chewing, jumping up and others) performed at the wrong time or in the wrong place often cause us concern.

The easy and immediate way of handling inappropriate (from our point of view) behaviors is management. If the puppy is barking, eliminate the reason for the barking, or physically relocate the puppy so that the barking does not disturb anyone. If the puppy pees on the carpet, use a doggy den and make sure you take the puppy outside to pee at the appropriate times. If the puppy is play biting, give the puppy a safe object to carry in her mouth or confine her. If the puppy is chewing your shoe, give the puppy a safe chew object. If the puppy is jumping up, give the puppy something else to do, or confine her.

You must have your management system in place the day your puppy comes home. Some management will be necessary until your puppy learns which behaviors are going to be rewarded and which behaviors will not be rewarded. Some management may be necessary for the remainder of your puppys life. For as long as you share your life together, you will use a buckle collar and a leash to keep your puppy safe when walking along the sidewalk, or in rural areas with domestic and wild animals.

Advantages of Management

1. It is so easy!

2. When your puppy is set up to do the right thing, she trains herself!

3. It puts an immediate end to the problem.

Relationship

Dogs are group animals and are hardwired (genetically programmed) to live with others. They start out wanting to fit in. Humans feel the same way. Maybe thats why humans and dogs often have such a great relationship. When the relationship is not working as well as we want it to, the easiest way to improve the relationship is to change what we are doing. You and your puppy will have a great relationship if you reinforce what you like and prevent the puppy from doing things you dont like. Be a positive human and a humane Mom or Dad for your puppy. You are blessed with a much larger brain than your puppy. Use your large brain to help your puppy and yourself.

Every time she runs up to you, when off leash, give your puppy a treat and then you let her go play. Guess what? If you keep doing that, you will have a puppy that will learn to check in with you whenever she is off lead and playing with other puppies and people. Why? Because you are always rewarding, and she gets to continue to do other rewarding things after she checks in for the treat.

Dont worry about being too permissive. You wont be too permissive. Instead, you will keep your puppy out of trouble while you educate her. Dont let your puppy play with small children until she has learned not to jump up. Keep her on a leash and make sure it is rewarding for her to sit near small children. She will develop a good relationship with you and with small children.

To ensure a great relationship with your puppy, dont do bad things to your puppy when she does something you consider wrong. If you let your puppy jump up on a visitor, its your fault. Dont yell at your puppy. Use better management the next time. Whenever you do something bad to your puppy (cause physical discomfort or pain), she learns that you are not that great to be around. She may or may not learn that her behavior is causing the pain. She may just learn that you have a bad temper and will hurt her. This is not the formula for a healthy relationship. Manage your puppy to keep her safe and happy. If you make a management mistake, do not hurt your puppy. Recover from the situation as best you can and then make it a point to use better management and to train your puppy. That is the way to preserve and continue to build your relationship while you train your puppy to be a wonderful companion. If youre using an appropriate management system and appropriate ways to educate, you get the relationship for free. If you dont use reward training, then you will have to work on repairing the relationship. Doesnt it make more sense to do it correctly the first time?