The first 2 years – my puppy is grown up!

It’s been 2 years since I realised I had to keep Quin – one of my better decisions, I must say. He has been a dream dog in so many ways, such a cuddle monster. Quin recently went to stay with a friend and they absolutely adored him! The grandchildren LOVED playing with him and he was generally the perfect house guest.

One of my puppy owners asked me a while ago when their puppy would stop being such hard work? When they’re two, I said. Well I was right with Quin. His biggest challenge over the past year has been his reactivity to other dogs. He has been so fearful! He barks at the TV when there are suspicious things on screen, such as dogs, or horses, or birds, or men in dark clothing (acting suspiciously)! So it’s not that surprising that if we come round a corner and he sees a dog, that he barks in surprise.

Perfect recall

Luckily for me, Quin has perfect recall. Well I say ‘luckily’ but of course it’s not luck. It’s down to the countless hours of practice we have put in, since the start of his journey with us. If you look through the Contents of the ‘A Year With Your Puppy’ book I’ve written, you will see two separate chapters on recall and it is discussed in the very first chapter. That’s because it is SO important to get it right.

Unlike Fenton, Quin comes back to me straight away, even when he is down a hill and across a field, chasing a deer! This means that he also comes straight back when he is barking at a dog. I can’t always stop him running up to a strange dog if he ‘gets his eye’ on them. But he will then turn around and come back to me.

Reaching maturity

After 2 years of living with us, Quin is now a fully mature dog. That means that he is pretty settled in his temperament and behaviour. It doesn’t mean he is SET in his behaviour though! He is still able to keep on learning and changing. He still has the capacity to learn new activities.

It does mean that he is generally calmer and more settled though. Less inclined to over-react. When we see other dogs, I pop him on lead and he walks calmly past them, without even bothering to look. On the whole. A cuckoo on the telly might still freak him out though!

Stud dog

I am very proud to announce that Quin has already sired two litters. These are two Kennel club registered, pedigree Border Collies. Having a stud dog is a big responsibility, one which I take very seriously. Of course he has had every health test available to us, so that we can minimise the health risks he might pass on. I also check the details of the bitch he is covering, to make sure they are who they say they are.

When someone comes to me to use him for stud, they are trusting me to provide the best dog I can. I make sure they have copies of all his paperwork, so that they can give this to their puppy owners.

Mentoring

New breeders have so much to learn! When I started my breeding journey I was lucky enough to have watched my mum and learnt from her. I was also mentored by the owner of the first stud dog I used. I have learnt more from all the other breeders I have ‘worked’ with subsequently. When you love your dogs, you are happy to share your experiences with others.

I hope that Quin will go on to sire more litters in the future. For now I am so happy with the first 2 years of this boy’s life. He is a joy to live with and we love him to bits. Our boy.

Be realistic?

2 years might sound like a long time, and in a dog’s life, it can be. Dogs only live for 12 years altogether after all. But it flies by and of course there are big chunks of time when your dog is lovely – just how you imagined he would be. Try to be patient about the other stuff? Be realistic about managing it? Keep working on it and practising? Talk to people around you and enlist their support?

Buy the Workbook

The Workbook – A Year With Your Puppy is available to buy. It was written and designed to be a hands-on, interactive book for you. It will help you survive the first year with your puppy, but also act as a memento of that time and the journey you have been on. You can write notes and stick in pictures of your puppy throughout the year. Lovely!

Remember..

Please CONTACT ME if you want to know more about me and my dogs?  And feel free to COMMENT if you want to tell me what you think.  If you want to know more, why not FOLLOW ME, by filling in your email address below?  Then you will receive an email when there is a new post.

NO PUPPIES AVAILABLE

Introduction to A Year with Your Puppy

This is an introduction to the year long course, A Year With Your Puppy (AYWYP). In June 2021, I kept my 7th puppy, Quin. He’s the 9^th Border Collie I’ve had over the past 30 years, as I have also re-homed a couple.  Quin is also the 5^th puppy I’ve bred and kept, which was part of the inspiration behind his name.

Me and my dogs

I’ve had dogs for most of my life and apart from a Cocker Spaniel we had until I was ten years old, these dogs have been Border Collies, in various shapes and sizes.  My mum bred from her dogs for fun and I decided to continue that tradition.  However, because I was a business person and entrepreneur, I decided to do it to the very best of my ability, becoming a responsible, Kennel Club Assured Breeder from day one.

The first and only dog I bought as a puppy, from a stranger, was Sunny, who came to us in August 2006, at the age of six weeks.  She was an absolutely brilliant dog in so many ways and the beginning of my legacy.  I started doing agility with her and she taught me that agility is great fun, but very challenging!  Sunny was a fantastic dog to begin my breeding journey, producing 22 gorgeous puppies in three litters.  I was also lucky enough to be mentored by the owner of the first stud dog I used.

I kept Luna from Sunny’s first litter and then when Luna had her first litter, I kept Aura.  Three generations, so far so good.  My plan was to keep a pup from each dog, each generation.  I planned to have a boy at some point, living nearby, whom I could use for stud.  Lovely.  Of course things don’t go according to plan and there have been many hiccups and challenges along the way!  I planned to have one litter per year; in 13 years I have had 12 litters, but it has been anything but straightforward.

Introducing my current family

We currently have six dogs, including Luna and Aura, mother and daughter, aged 12 and 10.  Luna is diabetic, with cataracts, so is a bit of a frail old lady.  Aura had one litter and one of those pups developed epilepsy, meaning no more pups from her.  She’s been a fantastic agility dog, winning at grade 5, a massive achievement for me and her. Next comes Busy – my dog of a lifetime.  She decided to stay; I wasn’t meant to keep her.  She has been absolutely brilliant in so many ways.  Initially an ‘unregistered’ Working Sheepdog, I transferred her to the breed register and she has had three amazing litters of pups.  I kept Ounce from her first litter, my purple puppy.  Then Quin from her third litter, the boy.

Finally, (for now) I have kept Ounce’s daughter, Murmur, another lilac girl.  She and Quin are not that closely related, as Ounce and Quin have different sires and Murmur has a completely different line on her dad’s side.  So hopefully Quin and Murmur will have pups of their own, one day.

Different breeds?

Owning dogs is a constant joy, full of heartache.  Breeding is even more of this.  I don’t recommend becoming a breeder, yet, we need many more dogs bred with love and purpose.  We need people to choose to have dogs that have been bred with care and awareness.

I am a very experienced Border Collie owner, but that does not necessarily make me an experienced dog owner.  Of course I have come into contact with many dogs over the years and I have had lots of dogs stay in my home.  However, there are some breeds of dog that remain a mystery to me.  I haven’t spent a lot of time with any brachycephalic dogs, so if you have a Pug, or a French Bulldog, this course and book are probably not going to be that useful to you.  Health is my primary concern – I want all my dogs to live long and happy lives.  Otherwise, it should be a good resource to help you navigate your first experience of owning a dog. 

How to use this book

I’ve written this course alongside owning Quin during his first year.  As with learning any new skill, owning and training a puppy is not a linear process.  You need lots of information and hard work at the start, which you gradually consolidate over a long period of time. 

Traditional puppy training courses typically last around 6 weeks, with most people missing one or two classes.  These days we usually have access to online support and there are sometimes written notes.  But once you’ve attended these classes, you might think you are up and running.  Just like having a child, it is not that simple.  You will go backwards some weeks and you will definitely need to re-visit some areas several times.

I’ve written the course in a 3 week cycle, covering:

• Information
• Training
• Problem behaviour.

You can see the contents of the course on the Contents Page. Each week you read the lesson, then think about how that affects your relationship with your dog.  There will be Weekly Focus Challenge to do. You can share the results of your efforts on social media, in the AYWYP Facebook group.  You can write up notes on how it is going and stick photos of your dog in this book.  It’s a record of your progress.  Before we start the lessons, let’s think about how to get a perfect dog?  And how to be a perfect dog owner?  It’s simple really..

Buy the Workbook

The Workbook – A Year With Your Puppy is available to buy. It was written and designed to be a hands-on, interactive book for you. It will help you survive the first year with your puppy, but also act as a memento of that time and the journey you have been on. You can write notes and stick in pictures of your puppy throughout the year. Lovely!

Remember..

Please CONTACT ME if you want to know more about me and my dogs?  And feel free to COMMENT if you want to tell me what you think.  If you want to know more, why not FOLLOW ME, by filling in your email address below?  Then you will receive an email when there is a new post.

NO PUPPIES AVAILABLE

NB: I am not a dog trainer, or a dog behaviourist, just a dog breeder and owner. I can only offer my opinion, based on my experience.

How to make your dog perfect

If you have a dog already, you might think it is perfect. I do think that Ounce is pretty perfect. She’s certainly pretty! I love her sooo much, almost more than my sons and my husband (well I couldn’t love her more than them, could I?) Is she perfect though? Is anyone really perfect?

Before you get a dog, you have a picture in your mind of ‘life with a dog’. It includes long country walks, kicking up the leaves, with your dog trotting at your side. Is the dog running around off lead, but quickly returning to you when you call it? Or do you imagine a dog like Fenton?

Your ‘perfect dog’ picture might have you sitting on the sofa in front of a fire, with your dog’s head resting lovingly on your knee, while you stroke him. Is the dog farting? No, didn’t think so. Is your dog sitting ON you, so that you can’t really see the TV?

When you have children, they usually want a dog. They imagine a cuddly, fluffy puppy, who snuggles up to them and plays games with them. Perhaps it will be dressed up and pushed around. Or it will run around with them in the garden. Do they see it chewing up a favourite teddy? Or their shoe? Is it being sick on their bedroom carpet?

Here are my 4 key points to help you prepare for life with a dog:

1. Be realistic

Get real. A dog is not a toy. Nor is it a person. A puppy that is cuddly at four weeks does not stay that way. So by the time your puppy arrives home with you, it bites – a lot. The only way to stop this is to manage the behaviour, through distraction and plenty of downtime.

You will need a crate or cage (paid ad) to keep your puppy out of danger while you are not actively watching it. A dog run, or playpen, is ideal to help you manage your puppy. You can make sure they are safe, not chewing up the house, but they have room to run about and play. 

2. Be realistic

A friend with a puppy and a young dog shared a picture of both dogs covered in mud, having been digging in the garden. What a brilliant game for a dog! She did see the funny side of it, but also said “they know they are not supposed to do it”. Er, no. Dogs do NOT understand the difference between right and wrong.

A dog will dig. It will chew. It will destroy things. That is how they work. I was reminded of a little quiz I wrote a while ago about when you should punish your dog. When Busy was a pup she chewed a hole in my curtain. I moved the curtain. She chewed another one. I moved that one. She did it TWICE MORE! Why didn’t I learn the first time? Silly me.

3. Be realistic

Dogs need stimulation and exercise. If you leave a dog on its own at home all day, don’t expect it to be a model of perfection. I have written about separation anxiety and there are many sources of information and advice covering this topic.

Dogs do naturally want to be lying at your feet all day long. But they don’t have to do this. You need a lifestyle that is manageable for you and your dog. Being consistent is perhaps the best thing you can do, whether that is going out for 6 hours a day or just popping out now and again.

If you work away from the home, it is pretty straightforward to find a good dog walker. You need someone who understands dogs and is able to come regularly. A dog walker also has the advantage of walking a number of compatible dogs together, which ensures additional interaction and engagement.

4. Be realistic

Hopefully by now you have realised that getting a dog is NOT a perfect experience. It will only live up to expectations if your expectations are pretty low (and realistic!) You need to imagine the mess, the mud, the wees, the poos, the chewing and digging, the hair. Make sure you include plenty of disaster and a fair amount of heartache.

When I receive an enquiry from someone, I send them an Application Form. I ask them what their selection criteria are for their dog. They must tell me what kind of dog they want, so I can see if they are being realistic and specific about what they want. Do they know that they want a particular breed and why? Have they done some research about what makes their breed so special? Please read my breed blog for ideas on what makes dog breeds different? Or checkout the Kennel Club website, which has mases of information.

I ask people what is the best and worst thing about having a dog. My favourite answer is “getting distracted from chores because all you’d want to do is play with your dog”. Dogs definitely are a good reason not to get on – cuddles and play are always available! Of course the actual worst thing is when they are ill and dying – they’re not here for long and losing your dog will break your heart, I promise you that.

No way out?

It is hard to imagine something we haven’t had and often the reality does not match our expectations. If you feel overwhelmed, there is plenty of help out there. It is essential to get support from a good dog trainer, such as Delders Dogs. I love that Adam focuses on building a community of people going through the same pain and sharing solutions to all the common problems.

It is hard, having a dog. Not just a puppy, any dog. There is a period of adjustment and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Much better to admit defeat and find a better home for your dog, than to keep struggling and making you and your dog miserable. I’m not going to say that all problems can be dealt with, because some things are just too difficult to solve.

Is it worth it?

Yes, yes, yes. A million times yes. Having a dog will improve your life. For better and worse. For richer for poorer (definitely poorer). In sickness and health. Till death us do part. The joy of having a dog is hard to imagine, but once experienced, almost impossible to live without.

When people say to me “I wanted to wait until the time was right”, it makes me sad. There is no better time to get a dog than right now. Because dogs do make things better, especially in troubled times. Good luck with your dog!

Buy the Workbook

The Workbook – A Year With Your Puppy is available to buy. It was written and designed to be a hands-on, interactive book for you. It will help you survive the first year with your puppy, but also act as a memento of that time and the journey you have been on. You can write notes and stick in pictures of your puppy throughout the year. Lovely!

Remember..

Please CONTACT ME if you want to know more about me and my dogs?  And feel free to COMMENT if you want to tell me what you think.  If you want to know more, why not FOLLOW ME, by filling in your email address below?  Then you will receive an email when there is a new post.

NO PUPPIES AVAILABLE

NB: I am not a dog trainer, or a dog behaviourist, just a dog breeder and owner.

What to do when your puppy arrives

When I wrote the first draft of A Year With Your Puppy (AYWYP) I didn’t include what to do when your puppy arrives, because my puppies are born in my bedroom! Of course most people don’t breed their puppy, especially first time puppy owners. Hopefully you bought your puppy from a responsible breeder, so they have already given you lots of helpful advice. Here are my thoughts.

Preparation and equipment

Before your puppy has arrived in your home, they have already made big changes to your life!  You have planned to get them, chosen them, seen them and made changes to your home.  You will have gone out and bought ‘stuff’ for them and set everything up ready.  I remember visiting a couple of people before their first dog arrived and it was laughable (for me) how they imagine their life with their dog was going to be. 

I recommend the following equipment:

• Dog crate and run
• Bedding, such as vet bed
• Collar and lead, with identity tag
• Bowls for food and water
• Dog toys
• Food and treats
• Car crate, guard or harness
• Poo bags
• Grooming equipment, shampoo and toothpaste

You can go on forever buying things for your dog, but the above are all pretty essential.  I recommend talking to the dog’s breeder about where to buy all of these from.  They will often have top tips about what to buy and may have discount codes or recommended suppliers.  My website has details about all of these things.

Making your home safe

Before your puppy arrives home you need to make it a safe space for them.  You need to decide where they will spend most of their time and prepare that area.  Check for wiring that they can get to and move this.  Remove toys, plants, shoes etc, at least for the first few months. 

You shouldn’t let your puppy go up and down stairs, so think about the best way to stop them from doing this.  You might want to section off part of the garden, so that the puppy doesn’t dig up your favourite plants, or eat the poisonous ones!

I highly recommend setting up a run, so that you have somewhere safe for the puppy to play when you go to the toilet!  Or have to get on with something.  You will quickly learn how much you can trust your dog to hang out around you and how much you need to watch and engage with them.

Introducing your puppy to the family

When the puppy arrives home, everyone will be VERY excited!  That’s understandable, but it can be overwhelming for the puppy.  Try to manage this, if possible?  Don’t invite loads of friends and family round, at least for the first few days.  Give yourself time and space to settle and get to know each other.

If you have other pets, introduce these to your puppy calmly and slowly.  Manage your expectations – they are not going to be friends straight away.  Older dogs in particular will NOT thank you for bringing home a puppy and will probably hate it for several weeks.  They should come round eventually, if you manage the interaction carefully and with respect.  Cats need to be given time and space too.  Most cats can live perfectly happily with dogs, but initially they need to be able to get away and not be hassled.  There is a section on cats and dogs for more information.

Children should learn to manage themselves around the puppy.  They should not be allowed to pester it constantly – let the puppy come to them for play and attention.  If the puppy starts biting excessively they are overtired and need a chance to rest. 

Feeding and toileting

Do not expect your puppy to be toilet trained!  It takes quite a few weeks to learn the difference between inside and outside.  They are also too young to have good bladder control, so when they need to go it will just happen!  The more effort you make to work on this the quicker it will happen, but patience is definitely required.

Similarly, your puppy may be unsettled for a few days and have an upset tummy.  This might be from travelling or just from adjusting to the new surroundings.  They may be off their food, even though it is the same food the breeder gave them.  It’s fine.  Keep offering small amounts of food.  Don’t leave it down, remove it after a few minutes and then offer again later or discard and start again.  Talk to the breeder or your vet if problems persist.

The first night

People get hung up on the trauma of a puppy going off to their new home and coping with being on their own.  If a puppy has been lovingly bred in the breeder’s home, they won’t find the transition that difficult.  They will be tired, for one thing, after travelling and exploring and playing.  They should be used to being in a crate and to being left, away from their mum. 

Once you have had a last wander around the garden and hopefully done a final wee and a poo, pop your puppy into their crate and then sit quietly nearby whilst they fall asleep.  When they are settled, leave them to it.  If the crate is covered and has a bit of bedding with a familiar smell from mum on it, the puppy should be quite content. 

Puppies are not usually ‘dry’ at night for a few more weeks, so you might need to let them out in the middle of the night.  If you set up a run, with the crate open so that they can get out and go on the newspaper, that won’t be needed and they are better off left in peace.  If you do decide to get up and toilet them, make sure it is quiet and boring.

You will need to get up early though!  Puppies do not wait until 8am to start their day – when it’s light, we get up!  Having said that, you can usually get away with getting up to toilet, have breakfast and a bit of a play, followed by another sleep.

Good luck with everything and away we go – your journey with your puppy has begun!

Weekly Focus Challenge

Have you got everything you need before your puppy comes home?  Are you managing your expectations?  How do you plan to keep your puppy safe in your home?  Where are they going to be left alone?  How are they going to travel in the car?  How much time have you set aside to look after them for the first few days and weeks?

Please share your thoughts and a photo? You can do this in the AYWYP Facebook group, or buy the workbook to keep your own record. Details below.

Buy the Workbook

The Workbook – A Year With Your Puppy is available to buy. It was written and designed to be a hands-on, interactive book for you. It will help you survive the first year with your puppy, but also act as a memento of that time and the journey you have been on. You can write notes and stick in pictures of your puppy throughout the year. Lovely!

Remember..

Please CONTACT ME if you want to know more about me and my dogs?  And feel free to COMMENT if you want to tell me what you think.  If you want to know more, why not FOLLOW ME, by filling in your email address below?  Then you will receive an email when there is a new post.

NO PUPPIES AVAILABLE

NB: I am not a dog trainer, or a dog behaviourist, just a dog breeder and owner. I can only offer my opinion, based on my experience.

Learn your name

This week I ‘got’ my puppy. Or rather, I kept my puppy. The 7th puppy Chris and I have had. My mum taught me that there are only two words a puppy needs to know: his name and ‘NO!’ These days we are a bit more progressive and try to focus on the positive behaviour we do want. So I want to teach him ‘Yes!’ rather than no, but the latter will inevitably be said as well!

When I have all the puppies, I do try using their names as much as possible, but if I call one, they all come! So as soon as I had just him, I started to make sure I called him.

I call out ‘Quin’ then when he looks, (or appears) I call ‘Quin come’ in a stupidly high-pitched voice. When he comes, I ‘draw him in’ with my hands, until he is sitting at my feet looking up at me. Then I say ‘yes!’ and give him a treat. I try to give him two tiny bits of treat, one from each hand. Jackpot!

Practice makes perfect

How often do you think I do this? Once a day? Every now and then? Possibly 10-20 times PER DAY. EVERY SINGLE DAY. The more I do it, the more likely he is to respond.

Is it OK to call him without treats? Er no. What I’m going for is developing a ‘Pavlovian response’. If I describe a pizza to you, with oozing cheese and juicy tomato sauce, on a crispy dough base, will your mouth start watering? Mine did! I have that response because I have eaten enough pizza to be able to imagine eating it again.

I want to create that response in my puppy. I want him to hear his name and imagine he is getting a treat! I need it to happen enough times that he makes that instant link. The more practice we do, the stronger his response to his name will be.

Tasty treats

It’s no good just giving him a bit of his ordinary food for this. He needs sweeties! Not too big, he’s only a baby! Not to rich, or too sweet, too crumbly for you to manage. They must be easy to hold and feed. Personally, I use ‘Wagg’s Training Treats‘, because the dogs love them, they are easy to handle and they are cheap and easy to buy. You can also use cheese, or sausage, or liver cake, or bits of chicken, or any one of a million tasty bits of food, as long as they are safe for puppies.

Play away

I have also taught Quin to play with me this week, using a tuggy toy. I think I’ll talk more about that next week though. If you have a puppy and you practice recall 100 times this week, that is a good start!

I also want to mention that you do need time to spend with your puppy, away from distractions and especially away from other dogs. If you have other young dogs and they spend hours playing every day, that’s lovely. But you may then find the puppy is too tired to concentrate when you want to spend time training.

A puppy can only concentrate for 5 minutes, but you do need them to be alert enough to do that. So make sure they have some down time before you ask them to focus.

Older dogs

Finally, I just want to give some love for our older dogs, who may be struggling with the very annoying puppy! Aura has found this week hard, because she is so sweet that she hates telling off the puppy. Even when he is jumping in her face. This makes her stressed and miserable.

I’ve spent some time focusing on just her today, practising our agility moves, making a fuss of her and taking her away from the puppy, but with me. All of which have improved her mood no end.

It’s hard to know what age is ideal when introducing a second dog. Too young and they can become very focused on each other, which can make them harder to manage. Too old and they can feel miserable and neglected. Being aware of the issues helps, of course.

Weekly Focus Challenge

Call your puppy!  Say ‘Name, come!’ in the same excited way.  Practice keeping it consistent.  Do NOT just say their name over and over again.  Give them a chance to respond.  If you had someone just repeating your name over and over again, you wouldn’t rush to respond.  So try and stay calm and clear.  When they get to you, say ‘Yes!’ and give them a treat.  Then wait for them to wander off and do it again.

Please share your thoughts and a photo? You can do this in the AYWYP Facebook group, or buy the workbook to keep your own record. Details below.

Buy the Workbook

The Workbook – A Year With Your Puppy is available to buy. It was written and designed to be a hands-on, interactive book for you. It will help you survive the first year with your puppy, but also act as a memento of that time and the journey you have been on. You can write notes and stick in pictures of your puppy throughout the year. Lovely!

Remember..

Please CONTACT ME if you want to know more about me and my dogs?  And feel free to COMMENT if you want to tell me what you think.  If you want to know more, why not FOLLOW ME, by filling in your email address below?  Then you will receive an email when there is a new post.

NO PUPPIES AVAILABLE

NB: I am not a dog trainer, or a dog behaviourist, just a dog breeder and owner. I can only offer my opinion, based on my experience.

The importance of play

I’m pretty old, so I remember a time when ‘playing’ with your dog wasn’t really something you did. We might have thrown sticks for our dogs on walks or in the garden (now a big no no!) Not that we really walked our dogs that much. We certainly didn’t train them! Play is modern concept – times change, thank goodness.

Likewise, dogs played with each other if they lived together, or met on a walk. They might have got into a fight, but that wasn’t that big a deal. Even 30 years ago, a family dog would regularly get into scraps with other dogs, but it wasn’t considered a crime.

How far we have come! Nowadays, we value our dogs so much more. Well we pay a lot more for them to start with! We expect them to be a loved family member and we don’t want them being beaten up by other dogs when we are out. Unfortunately, whilst our expectations for our dogs have changed massively, our ability to manage them hasn’t quite kept up.

Engaging with your dog

We are starting to appreciate that in order to manage our dog, we need to engage with him. I first learnt about ‘play’ with my dog only a few years ago. When doing agility, I have always been taught to reward their training, usually with by throwing a toy. Some dogs don’t really respond to this as a reward and need to have a treat instead.

I have gradually learnt that the best way to reward your dog is to teach them to properly play with you. This means getting a toy and playing ‘tug’ with you. Watching my puppies, I have discovered that they naturally do this. It is clearly a way to get the best bits of food. It’s rather grisly, but puppies will fight over entrails and when you watch them with a toy you can see this behaviour.

What this play does is make your puppy think you are fun. This is the key. They then know that you are the source of happiness! Fantastic! Your puppy will then know that coming to you is a great idea. This is how you get the best and quickest recall.

Reward the recall

It’s not quite enough to play with your puppy. You also need to provide tasty treats. Call them, reward, then play. Play, then call them and reward. I have noticed that if I want Quin to give up the toy, I need to let go, then call and reward with a treat. He will usually drop the toy to take the food.

Remember to wait! You need to be patient. It takes time for puppies to process the instructions. Don’t always expect instant reactions.

DO NOT keep on calling! Don’t call their name repeatedly. If you keep saying their name, it just becomes white noise. Blah blah blah.

“Quin come.” Wait. Here he comes. Hands together between your legs. Bring your hands up so he sits. Say “YES!” nice and clearly. Give a treat. Well, a bit of a treat.

Train when hungry

My top tip for training your puppy: make sure he is hungry. Don’t try and train him straight after his meal. Equally, don’t train him when he is tired.

Play with other dogs

This brings me to another key point: play with other dogs. I don’t do much training when I have more than one puppy, because they are just too busy and too focused on each other. It’s lovely to see dogs playing happily, but it does need managing. If you a young dog (1-3 years old) and a puppy, chances are they will play all day! That’s lovely, but you won’t get much concentration from the puppy unless you keep them apart for some of the time.

DO NOT assume that your puppy MUST play with every other dog it sees! On the contrary, teach your puppy that YOU are the most exciting thing on the walk. I’ll talk about that more in my next post..

Weekly Focus Challenge

Play with your puppy.  Try engaging him with a toy, playing a game of tug?  Watch out for your fingers!  A few minutes of play, then give him a treat and some praise.  Then a bit more play.  Do this every day.  Ideally after they have come to you.  Reward the recall, then play!

Please share your thoughts and a photo? You can do this in the AYWYP Facebook group, or buy the workbook to keep your own record. Details below.

Buy the Workbook

The Workbook – A Year With Your Puppy is available to buy. It was written and designed to be a hands-on, interactive book for you. It will help you survive the first year with your puppy, but also act as a memento of that time and the journey you have been on. You can write notes and stick in pictures of your puppy throughout the year. Lovely!

Remember..

Please CONTACT ME if you want to know more about me and my dogs?  And feel free to COMMENT if you want to tell me what you think.  If you want to know more, why not FOLLOW ME, by filling in your email address below?  Then you will receive an email when there is a new post.

NO PUPPIES AVAILABLE

NB: I am not a dog trainer, or a dog behaviourist, just a dog breeder and owner. I can only offer my opinion, based on my experience.

Puppy biting is such a problem, isn’t it?

Puppies have VERY sharp teeth – everyone knows that! When they first arrive home at 8 weeks of age, they can be really bitey. Children soon go off their cute, fluffy puppy when it nips their ankles and chews their fingers. How do we deal with the biting?

I see so much about people being exasperated with their puppies biting so much. Now I have a confession to make: I have never been bothered by a biting puppy! I’ve been pondering about why this might be and have come up with a few reasons. Here goes..

1. Don’t let your puppy become overtired. My puppies have a pretty calm life. I do play with them and I do make sure I spend some time every day training them. Apart from that, nothing much happens in our house. Even when my sons were small, we were not a household full of shouting and running around. It’s hardly ever hectic. So my puppies don’t get to that ‘overtired’ stage, where they just don’t know what to do with themselves. That’s when they can’t control their biting and it gets much more frequent and harder!
2. Tell your puppy that it hurts! When puppies play with each other, or with adult dogs, they do occasionally hurt each other. You always hear a yelp when this happens. They then stop playing and look at each other. Then the play starts up again. So when a puppy accidentally bites me too hard, I yelp. Or at least, I say ‘Ow!’ Well that seems reasonable, doesn’t it?
3. Let them know it is not acceptable. If my puppies are behaving in a way that is annoying, I say ‘No!’ and then call them away. I might even give them a tap on their nose if they are really getting carried away. Or just push them off and leave them alone for a minute. Again, this is the same way the adult dogs behave. Puppies are quick to learn.

Teething

Of course puppies do need to chew and bite, especially when they start to lose their baby teeth and replace them with adult teeth. Again, I’ve never particularly found this difficult. My top tip: provide plenty of things to chew! Frozen carrot sticks are supposed to be good. Or food put into a frozen ‘Kong‘. Equally good can be alternatives to bones. We don’t give our dogs bones or sticks these days, because there is a risk of choking. (That doesn’t mean they won’t eat sticks from the garden if they can!)

Give it up!

I’ve noticed that Quin is very good at finding things in the garden that he then doesn’t want to give up. He will run away from me if I try to get it off him.

DON’T CHASE HIM! He’ll love that game! I have to call him, standing still, with a treat in my hand. If he thinks what he has is particularly fantastic, I might need an extra tasty treat – a bit of cheese. I offer him the treat and make sure I am being positive and exciting. He drops the bit of mud/hair/stick and comes to see me. I then slide round him to pick up the discarded yuck. Nice!

It’s worth remembering to limit access to the garden at this age. It’s a whole world out there, full of mischief to make! Holes to be dug, plants to be chewed, poo to be eaten. Of course it’s tempting to leave the door open, so that he can go to the toilet when he needs to, but it’s just not worth it.

Toileting – getting there

Trying to cover one topic per week is clearly hopeless – there is so much to deal with! Quin is being really good with his toileting, on the whole. When he wakes up, I take him out and then give him loads of praise for going. I also have to remember to do this after he’s been playing for a while. And after he’s eaten of course. But the good news is that he can hold on for a while. He isn’t going to the toilet indoors most of the time, with just an occasional accident (not usually on my watch :p)

Finally..

A quick training update – we have been practising our ‘down’ command. Every day, a few times. Then a few more times. I start by bringing him down with my hand, holding a treat. Then I try using the hand action without a treat, then giving the treat once he is down. You need to start without really saying anything, then add the word ‘down’. Say it in the same voice every time, if you can.

The final stage is to give the command and wait. Don’t move! See if he knows what you’re on about. If not, use your hand. Then try again. If he isn’t getting it, move him a bit and try again. The video is not great, but we’re getting there. Clever boy!

Weekly Focus Challenge

When and why is your puppy is biting you or other family members?  Monitor times it occurs and think about how you could reduce this.  Make a note of when he is sleeping more and make sure he is getting plenty of sleep in a quiet, secure space.

Please share your thoughts and a photo? You can do this in the AYWYP Facebook group, or buy the workbook to keep your own record. Details below.

Buy the Workbook

The Workbook – A Year With Your Puppy is available to buy. It was written and designed to be a hands-on, interactive book for you. It will help you survive the first year with your puppy, but also act as a memento of that time and the journey you have been on. You can write notes and stick in pictures of your puppy throughout the year. Lovely!

Remember..

Please CONTACT ME if you want to know more about me and my dogs?  And feel free to COMMENT if you want to tell me what you think.  If you want to know more, why not FOLLOW ME, by filling in your email address below?  Then you will receive an email when there is a new post.

NO PUPPIES AVAILABLE

NB: I am not a dog trainer, or a dog behaviourist, just a dog breeder and owner. I can only offer my opinion, based on my experience.

Time for that first walk!

It’s a day you look forward to, but also secretly dread. How will your puppy behave when they go out into the world for their first walk? What will happen? Will you be able to manage?

Quin is my 8th dog. I remember taking one puppy out for their first time on lead, 35 years ago and being amazed at how they danced around and dangled on the end of the lead! Coping with the lead is very much the first battle. Nowadays I make sure that puppies have met their collar and lead well before their first walk.

Vaccination restrictions

As a breeder, I don’t vaccinate my puppies before they go to their new homes. This is because each veterinary practice has a different brand of vaccine and a different regime for giving these. My vet gives the first vaccine at 8 weeks and the second one three weeks later. The puppy can go out straight away after this, although not swimming in lakes and rivers for another month.

Please make sure you follow the guidance given by your vet and respect their regime.

Going out out

Just because the puppy can’t go out for a walk, does not mean they cannot go out! Of course I have taken them out for microchipping, hearing and eye tests and their school visits! Then they travel to their new home.

I hope that my puppy owners have taken their puppies out for visits to friends’ houses. Or carried them along to meet people at the school gates. They might even go out for a walk in a puppy sling. (I can’t do that with Quin – he’s too heavy already :p).

Finally though, the day is here and they are ready to go out out for their first walk.

Off lead – surely not?

I ask my potential puppy owners when they should let their puppy off lead. Sometimes people say ‘Six months?’ A six month old puppy is fully grown. They can run – fast! Even a small toy breed can shoot across the ground at that age. So you’ve got absolutely no chance of catching it.

When you take your dog out for their first walk, you are their whole world! You are their comfort blanket, their familiar, loving, caring food provider. You should also be their fun playmate.

If you really don’t believe they will come back to you – get a longline. Then you can let them wander away from you, but still have some control. You can gently tug the line as you call them. If all else fails, you can hang onto the end and go and get them.

You shouldn’t need to do that though. If you have done the practice recall around the house and garden, and played with them, you should be able to go for it!

How long should the first walk be?

When you take your puppy out for their first walk, 15 minutes is long enough. It’s an intense experience for a dog. There are so many smells! So much to look at! All that noise! Added to which you are making them think about coming back to you.

Do not imagine you need to ‘tire out’ a puppy. They will play all day long, unless they are asleep! Puppies are extremely active, but also sleep for long stretches. They must be able to regulate this activity level themselves. Enforced activity can do untold damage to joints. Not to mention the more you force a dog to exercise, the fitter they will get.

You wouldn’t take a 2 year old child on a 3 mile run, would you? Well don’t do it to a puppy either :(. Keep it short and sweet. A positive experience for you all. Then do it again tomorrow.

Weekly Focus Challenge

Take your puppy out for their first walk!  How did it go?  Were you brave enough to go for it and let them off?  Did you manage to practise a recall?  Did the puppy cope with being on the lead?  Did you remember to take plenty of rewards?

Please share your thoughts and a photo? You can do this in the AYWYP Facebook group, or buy the workbook to keep your own record. Details below.

Buy the Workbook

The Workbook – A Year With Your Puppy is available to buy. It was written and designed to be a hands-on, interactive book for you. It will help you survive the first year with your puppy, but also act as a memento of that time and the journey you have been on. You can write notes and stick in pictures of your puppy throughout the year. Lovely!

Remember..

Please CONTACT ME if you want to know more about me and my dogs?  And feel free to COMMENT if you want to tell me what you think.  If you want to know more, why not FOLLOW ME, by filling in your email address below?  Then you will receive an email when there is a new post.

NO PUPPIES AVAILABLE

NB: I am not a dog trainer, or a dog behaviourist, just a dog breeder and owner. I can only offer my opinion, based on my experience.