Puppy Training Basics

Puppy Training Basics

1. Teach the puppy his name.

Use it a lot, and say "Yes" whenever he responds by looking at you. Give the puppy a big hug and lots of smiles as his "treat" following the "Yes." We want to establish several primary reinforcers as early as possible, so that he doesn’t become dependent on food. We’ll save food treats for more formal training. Make sure that your "Yes" sounds different from your everyday, conversational "Yes." Make it a bright-sounding utterance.

2. Build really strong eye contact.

Make eye contact his permission-seeking behavior for anything he wants: getting out of the crate, going out the door (you can wait for the puppy to sit and give you eye contact at the door), eating a meal, etc. No verbal cues. Just put yourself in a position where he can easily make eye contact (like kneeling in front of the puppy), and then reinforce the eye contact with a "Yes") – and then give the puppy the primary reinforcer which is whatever he wants at that moment (e.g., getting out of the crate, going out the door, eating, etc.)

3. Condition the meaning of the clicker by doing a few very short sessions of freebies every day: click, treat, click, treat, and so on. All you’re teaching the puppy at this point is that the click predicts the treat (the primary reinforcer). Later, he’ll learn that his own behavior can make you click, and that’s when the operant conditioning begins. After a few days of conditioning the clicker, you can start to alternate the click with the "Yes" to work on name and eye contact.

4. Work on housetraining.

If you are absolutely religious about this, you can get the bulk (so to speak!) of it done within just a couple of weeks. After that, expect occasional "accidents" until his bladder and sphincter control improve (i.e., till he’s about 6 months old). Figure out the most likely times when he’ll need to eliminate – basically, after anything he does (eat, wake up, play, etc.). The rule of thumb is that an 8 week old puppy can hold for 1 hour (while he’s awake). After that, add 1 hour for each month of age. So, at 12 weeks/3 months, he can hold for 2 hours while awake.

I don’t use clicker training for housetraining. I do try to teach a cue, and here’s how to do that. Just as he’s starting to squat, say your cue quietly (so as not to startle the puppy). You are classically conditioning the cue. Before he’s finished eliminating, give the puppy a few quiet praise words.

He should be able to get through a 6-7 hour night within a week or so, especially if you’re careful to make clear to the puppy when we go to sleep at night. And, of course, make sure he’s empty at that time (withhold water after about 7 p.m. to help the puppy).

When you’re not watching the puppy, he should be confined to a crate or x-pen, so that he can’t make a mistake. You might also feed the puppy in his crate – partly to establish the crate as a wonderful place, and partly to protect your other dogs (and their food, which the puppy might think he can eat!) and to give them a little peace and quiet occasionally. I would also have the puppy ride crated in the car – mostly for safety and also to prevent carsickness.

5. Teach the puppy to play.

My preference is that all play is interactive with humans. I do not leave a million toys lying around but just one chew toy (like a Nylabone). The chew toy is not an interactive toy but just something to teach the puppy to chew on something approved (rather than the furniture). It will also be helpful when he starts teething, at about 4 months. Play can be with interactive toys (tug, fetch games – as long as you get the toy back – and so on) and also gentle body games ("Gotcha!", push-pull games, etc.)

6. Teach the puppy to relinquish a toy by doing exchanges, like this:
Give the puppy a toy (holding on to it if necessary to prevent his running off with it). Then show the puppy a wonderful treat in your other hand (close to his face, so that he can’t miss it!). The instant he opens his mouth to give up the toy, say "Yes" and give the puppy the treat (hiding the toy behind your back). Do a few of these exchanges each time. After a few days, you’ll be able to add a cue like "Give" (which will also be his Retrieve cue to relinquish the dumbbell). Say "Give" as he’s opening his mouth, then say "Yes," and then give the treat. Pretty soon, you won’t need to present the treat, once he knows the verbal cue. At that point, continue the "Yes" and treat (from behind your back), and then start building distance. This whole process will take about a week or so, though it won’t be absolute – especially when the thing in his mouth is just toooooo reinforcing in itself!

7. Socialize the puppy like crazy!
He’ll need exposure to all kinds of things, people, and places. You can carry the puppy in places that are not yet safe for the puppy to touch the ground in (where other dogs have been). He also needs time with you alone, without your other dogs present, so that he bonds more strongly with you than with them.

8. What To Do About Unwanted Behavior
Remember that your puppy is just doing what comes naturally – even if it’s not what you want! There are three important principles to follow with these unwanted behaviors: prevention, distraction, and interruption.

Prevention: Do everything possible to make unwanted behavior impossible!
For example, make sure there are no tempting electric cords in full view.

Distraction : When the puppy is doing something you don’t want,
divert his attention away from it to something more interesting.
For example, when the puppy starts to move towards your shoes, wiggle
a toy in front of his nose and playfully draw the puppy away.

Interruption: When your puppy is doing something you don’t like
and you can’t distract the puppy easily or quickly enough, interrupt the
behavior with a loud sound (hand clap, or slap on hard surface).
When he responds to the sound by startling, immediately ask the puppy
to do something you like that he knows how to do, and, when he does
it, c/t.

Dani Weinberg
Albuquerque, New Mexico
daniw@earthlink.net

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