Training Tips by Bob :

The next article is by Bob Burrud. Bob is a professional dog trainer and a member of the Association of Pet Dog Owners and the Association of Pet Dog trainers. He runs Bob Burrud's Pet Services, which provides praise-based training for dogs and dog owners. His number is 714-558-1425 if you are interested in professional training.

HOUSE BREAKING YOUR PUPPY
Your puppy started to learn to be housebroken at a very early age when its mother encouraged it to eliminate outside its whelping box area. This natural instinct to leave its living area to eliminate will be the key factor in teaching your puppy. Remember your puppy is a baby (even though it looks fully clothed) and is developing. Puppies have to relieve themselves much more frequently than adult dogs do. Consider using some of the following tools in the house breaking process.

Leashes and Ties
Don't just think of a leash as a way to walk your puppy. They are a great way for you to better supervise your puppy in the house. Allowing your puppy to trail a leash behind it will help you gently control the pup without having to get your hands involved where they have now become an object to bite. Also, rather than having your puppy run around loose reeking havoc, you can tie your pup to your belt loop or a chair leg so that it can be spending time with you, without your having to wonder where the pup is. There are a variety of sizes and materials including plastic coated cable (for chewers) and nylon and plastic weave. REMEMBER it is not safe to leave your puppy unattended on a leash in case of entanglement. Training your pet can and should be a fun activity for both ends of the leash, and one that strengthens your bond.

Crate
A crate is an enclosed pen constructed of metal or plastic such as an airline kennel. If you purchase one, be sure it is suitable to comfortably fit an adult version of your puppy. You can add a cardboard box or divider to make a smaller den and enlarge it as your pup grows. This will be an investment that can be used for the rest of your puppy's life as a sleeping den, a travel carrier, or a place your dog can convalesce if in poor health.

Exercise Pen
These generally consist of 8 metal sides, in varying heights and can be formed into many shapes to restrict your puppy to specific areas. You should also purchase this with the full-grown dog in mind and not one that would only be high enough for an 8- week old puppy. The pen can be used to sleep in at night, as a barrier between rooms, or a take along puppy corral, and a place to put your puppy when you are unable to supervise it.

Pet Gates or Baby Gates
These are also good in restricting your puppy to a room or area of the house. If the openings are too large for a gate, your exercise pen can be placed across the opening for the same purpose.

Steps to Success
1. Make sure your puppy is healthy, has been examined by your veterinarian, and is free of parasites or urinary problems. Puppies that suffer from any of these issues are going to have a difficult time with housebreaking.

2. Create a small den where your puppy can be confined for short periods of time (up to 3 hours), as well as overnight. A crate or portion of an exercise pen can be used. This will encourage your pup not to eliminate because it doesn't want to soil its bed. However, leaving it too long may force it to soil its sleeping area. If you have to leave your puppy for long periods of time (more than 3 to 4 hours), you should give the puppy a larger area that has been puppy proofed. Lay down paper in 75% of the area and reduce this area as the pup gets the idea. REMEMBER the more time your pup spends with you the better. Excessive confinement in a small space can create behavioral problems.

3. Feed your puppy on a regular schedule to help develop a more predictable elimination pattern. If you want to use free feeding, it would be better to start after your puppy has been housebroken (unless your veterinarian instructs you otherwise).

4. Monitor water when you are home by watching your puppy's intake. An easier way may be to offer your pup water at regular intervals. Never restrict intake, just monitor it! You will then be aware of when you will need to take your puppy to the potty area (a few minutes after intake).

5. After meals spend some time with your puppy and keep it supervised. Take the puppy out to the potty area. It is best to use the same exit each time and pick a particular potty area in the yard in order to pattern your pup.

6. Train your puppy to go on command by saying, "Hurry Up". Keep a container of food reinforcers in the potty area to reward the puppy when he goes.

7. If your puppy spends a lot of time in the potty area and then soils in the house, it is better to spend several shorter periods outside. Take the pup outside for 5 minutes or so, then take it back into the house (closely supervise) and then repeat the procedure in a few minutes.

8. Your puppy will need to relieve itself after waking up, meals, drinking water, greeting people, and playing.

9. A cooking timer is a good way to remind yourself that you need to take the puppy out (when you get busy with phone calls, etc. and forget that thirty minutes have gone by).

10. At night keep your puppy in your bedroom with you. Give your puppy its last drink 2 to 3 hours before bedtime. Use your crate or exercise pen to confine it. Give your pup a Nylabone or a natural sterilized bone, with some peanut butter or cheese on it, to chew while on while it falls asleep. If you have small children to care for, you may want to teach your puppy to be confined at night to a separate room (such as a laundry room or kitchen). The puppy should not be expected to be confined at night for more than 7 or 8 hours.

11. If your puppy has an accident, simply startle him with a noise, like a clap of the hand or say, "Ah Ah". There is no need to push its nose in it which may create behavior problems later. Take the puppy to the potty area. Clean up the accident area with an odor neutralizer (don't have the pup watch you).

12. If you don't see the puppy soil in front of you, don't punish it later when the accident is discovered. Delayed punishment is ineffective and will only make the puppy afraid of you because it will not relate the punishment to the accident, even if it only happened moments before.

13. A quiet room is a great place for your puppy to take naps and have settle down time. The room should have a door to close, a radio, and good ventilation. This will reduce your puppy's frustration when confined because it will not be exposed to the activities of the family (both sight and sound). The radio provides white sounds so the family talking, etc., won't activate the puppy's attention getting barking and/or whining.

HOW YOUR PUPPY CAN LET YOU KNOW THAT IT NEEDS TO GO OUT?
When housebreaking your dog you need to decide in what manner do you want your dog to let you know that it has to go out? There are a few options;
1) scratching on the door,
2) use a dog door,
3) barking, and
4) the use of a bell.
There are some things to consider before making a choice. Scratching on the door only works if you can hear it. If you aren't in the same room, a smaller dog may not be able to make enough noise for you to hear it. A large dog could make enough noise but, depending on the type of door, it could also damage the door as it scratches. Use of a dog door can be a great option but only if your dog has constant access to the door. Some dog doors are installed on a screen door so the dog only has access if the hard door is open. Some owners will often have the dog door locked to keep out intruders such as neighborhood cats or possums. You can purchase dog doors that have been designed to alleviate these problems but most come at quite a high price. If you use barking as an option, and reinforce barking as a way for the dog to let you know that it wants out, you may run into the problem of your dog using barking as a constant method of getting attention (i.e., nuisance barking). The best option may be to train your dog to ring a bell when it needs to go out. You can use the following steps to train your dog in this manner:

You can use a parrot bell (liberty bell shaped, 3" diameter) or any other kind of bell that your dog will find easy to ring. Install the bell at the dog's nose level with an eye hook making sure the bell sets out about 1/2 inch so the bell will knock against the door as well as ring. The bell should be placed on the door that your dog will use to go out in the yard. If you have a sliding door, you can tie a string to the bell and hang it from the handle of the door.

When you first begin training your dog to hit the bell you may want to put several layers of scotch tape on the clanker so as not to startle the dog. If the bell startles the dog, it won't return to ring it a second time.

Take peanut butter, Cheeze Whiz, or any other sort of moist sticky food, and wipe it on the edge of the bell. Say to your dog, "do you want to go out", and while it licks the food off the bell say, "good dog, do you want to go out?" Next you open the door, step outside the door, pet your dog and play with it, then step back in, close the door and repeat the process.

Right now you are not focusing on whether or not your dog has to go potty, just focus on teaching it to ring the bell when it wants to go out. Repeat this procedure multiple times over a period of several days.

The next step is to sneak the food on the bell when the dog is not looking, or is in another room. Move away from the door, perhaps take a seat, then at this point you should encourage your dog by saying, "do you want to go outside?" The dog's response will be to check the bell and lick it, and when it does, you should jump out of your seat, take the dog outside and pet it. Repeat this procedure a couple of times a day for a few days. In time, your dog will begin to wander over to the bell periodically and check it for food. When your dog does this you should say to it, "do you want to go outside", open the door and take it outside, play with it and maybe give it a food reinforcer.

After your dog has learned to hit the bell properly, you can begin removing a layer of scotch tape every day, or couple of days, so your dog can slowly get used to the actual ringing of the bell.

In the event your dog becomes a nuisance ringer, you can easily remove the bell from the hook and put it in a drawer to stop the problem (unlike nuisance barking where you can't turn off your dog's barking, or scratching where you can't remove the door).

When you take the dog out specifically to go potty you don't put food on the bell. You go by the door and ask your dog, "do you want to go out?", hit the bell with your hand, open the door and walk outside. Food should not be put on the bell at this point because you don't want to distract your dog from going outside and using the bathroom. By ringing the bell when you take your dog out to go potty you are reinforcing the bell ringing as a method by which your dog can let you know it wants to go out.

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PUPPY BITING AND CHEWING
Puppy biting and chewing are normal behaviors that occur during the first 6 to 8 months of the puppy's life. These behaviors may persist, in a negative manner, into adulthood if the behavior is reinforced, or not properly dealt with, when the dog is young. Remember these are normal behaviors, so you will not be able to stop them completely. Instead, you teach your puppy to direct its biting and chewing to the proper items (toys, bones, etc.) and away from inappropriate items (such as people, shoes, etc.). Following these steps will help reduce the biting and chewing and will not reinforce these behaviors:

Always greet and interact with your puppy with a (novel) chew toy present.
Pet your puppy from the collar down, Teach your puppy the "Gentle/Ouch" technique, Correct and redirect biting, Teach your puppy the "Settle Down" technique, Use time-outs when necessary, Keep a leash on your puppy if needed for control, Exercise will make your puppy easier to deal with in every respect!

Always Greet and Interact with a Toy
Whenever you greet and interact with your puppy have a novel toy in your hand first. A novel toy will be defined as a toy that is new or has been hidden from the puppy for a period of time. Trying to offer the puppy a toy that it has been playing with, or is laying on the floor, will not be interesting enough to distract the pup from biting you. Keep toys elevated in the rooms you play in so you have easy access when you need one.

Pet From the Collar Down
Puppies have natural bite reflexes when they are pet around the face, so pet your pup's chest and other areas away from the face. If your pup has a toy in its mouth, petting the face areas is OK since the natural bite reflex will be directed onto the toy.

Gentle, Gentle/Ouch!
This is a method to teach your pup how to use its mouth gently, without using its teeth, on you or other people. Your puppy must be on a leash to teach this technique which is done in two steps:

1. For the first step you will need something smooth that it can lick off your hand, such as peanut butter or Cheeze Whiz. Hold the leash with one hand and tell your pup "Gentle, Gentle" as he licks the food off your open flat hand. You will need to do at least 10 sessions like this before you can proceed to the next step.

2. In the second step you will repeat the above procedure, but you will test the puppy by holding the food between your closed fingers. If the pup tries to get at the food by biting, say, "Ouch" in a firm tone and gently pull it away with the leash (pull the pup away, not your hand). Wait about 15 seconds and then have your pup lick food from the OPEN palm for at least 5 times before repeating the closed fingers technique again.

Keep a 5:1 ratio of "Gentle/Gentle/Ouch" while teaching this technique. This training should ALWAYS be done by an adult, or under adult supervision. (If a child has been specifically taught this technique, they may participate in the hand licking portion of this training and saying ouch ONLY.) Children under 10 should be careful when correcting a dog, because the dog views children as a peer or a challenge.

Correct and Redirect (Time Out)
Whenever your puppy bites you say, "Ah Ah" or "Off" and direct the pup to a novel toy which you have available. If you have to correct your puppy several times (3 to 5 times), you must hold the pup in a passive restrain until it is calm saying, "Settle Down". Then a 15 minute time out, in a quiet area, with a sterilized bone is needed. (This is not jail time, but a time to calm down and should be a positive time.)

Settle Down / Free Dog
Settle down is simply a technique to teach your puppy how to calm down and be passive when you ask it to do so. It can also be used as a gentle way to demonstrate dominance to your puppy. It is an effective and much less fear provoking approach than the "Alpha Roll Over," side pin, or whatever other name you may have heard in regards to this kind of training. Although these other techniques my be applied to some dogs after the gentle "Settle Down" technique has been accepted by your dog. Using other techniques should be accompanied by the supervision and advice of a trainer. The "Settle Down" technique is a gentle way for your pup to learn to comply and become passive when you require it to. Once the puppy has learned what being passive on command is about, it may be used on a pup that is over agitated or rambunctious and would be followed by a 15-minute time out. The command needs to be taught and reviewed as part of a regular routine 90% of the time and as a corrective procedure occasionally. You should practice this technique 5 to 10 times per day as routine during play and other activities with your pup. Continue to practice occasionally throughout the day in all locations. You can play puppy musical chairs by playing with your pup -- Stop - Call your puppy (Skippy Come) - Good Come (food reward) - Good Settle Down - Free Dog (release the pup) - Go Play. You are teaching an on switch off switch to your puppy in a fun way.

Hold your puppy on your lap so that he is comfortable but cannot wiggle out of your arms. Tell the pup "Settle Down" in a calm manner, 1 or 2 times. You must hold on without shaking or shouting at your pup until it has relaxed and is no longer struggling to escape (the pup must be passive). Wait for 30 seconds of calmness before releasing your pup, but make sure the sessions are short and successful at first as long as he has clearly calmed down. You may then extend the periods to several minutes.

Biting - Behavior Modification (Time Out)
1. Correct the puppy with "Ah Ah" and ignore the puppy for a few minutes or take a time out.

2. Redirect your puppies normal biting onto toys, dog-rope flosses or a knotted dish towel. Slapping the puppy on the mouth for biting may only make the puppy think you are playing rougher, or cause it to become fearful, and may result in the development of a real biting problem later on.

3. Pet your puppy from the collar down, unless you have a toy in its mouth that it can direct its biting to. Petting your puppy's face will trigger its biting reflexes.

Keep a Leash on Your Puppy
Keeping a leash on your puppy when it is in the house can be very helpful. The leash can be used to extend your reach when using it to redirect the pup (instead of reaching towards the pup to redirect it). Often when you reach towards a pup it will learn to run to avoid you. With the leash you can control the pup at a distance. If your pup is having a rowdy biting day, you can use the leash to direct it away from your arm or leg, keeping the pup there until it settles down, and then redirect its attention with the use of a toy. If there is no leash on the pup you will react to every bite attempt and therefore be participating in the game (e.g., puppy bites) - - try correcting with "Ah Ah" and redirect -- still bites, correct with "Ah Ah" and pull away with leash and be non-reactive until the pup gives up, then you can redirect to a toy.

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