Puppy Behavior: Birth to One Year

[adunphy]

This forum is for any behavior / general puppy question for birth to one year of age. Older dog questions should go to the appropriate forum. Please, no dogs for sale listed here. Violators will be banned.

[latina925]

Hi my name is Patti, & I just rescued a puppy, plus bought one, however the problem is with the rescued pup he is older, but very smart. However I live on 5 acres surrounded by 50 acres of unfenced land, so thats not an option, & I dont want to keep him chained thats not fair & hes a great dog, my problem is that he wants to visit all of the other homes with pets & Im afraid hell get hit by a car. I know that hes trainable, I just dont know how or who does it in my area(sunbury ohio). Im afraid hell teach my other pup whos younger (3months) to do the same. Can anyone help me?



Worried in Sunbury

[peggy]

Hi, Patti.
Wow! You've really acquired LOTS of wiggle in your life, fairly suddenly! Congrats on the new pups, and many wishes for lots of happiness with both of them.

I wasn't sure exactly what your situation is, from your post, but here are some things to think about, relating to dogs and their tendency (sometimes) to want to visit places, dogs, and people away from their homes. I don't know whether you got your older pup from a shelter, or what, but at 5 months of age, he is getting into the "teenage" years. Depending on his individual personality and breeding, teenager-hood can last anywhere from a year to three years (yes, really!).

Dogs who are teenagers tend to exhibit some of the same types of behavior that human teenagers exhibit. Not the "mouth" (since they don't talk), but you'll find that they are beginning to test their boundaries, explore their world more than a young pup would, and going to visit other people's houses is probably part of that exploration and boundary-learning. I don't know if you ever did any school units on wild canines when you were in school, but there's a point where the mama canine starts to leave the pups in the den, and they just stay there; then, they start to get bigger and more mobile and start leaving the den on their own, and they continue to get bigger and more mobile (and able to be farther and farther from the den) till they reach adulthood. Our dogs don't behave like wild canines in many things, and you can't just assume that something is right for a dog if it's normal for, say, wolves---but the progression from less-able to adult is similar.

What this means for you, as the owner of a teenage pup and another pup who will probably be a teenager soon, is that (a) it's normal for your pup to WANT to explore out of your yard (that's instinctual); and (b) as you take the lead in teaching them (as I'm sure you intend to do), part of your job is going to be limiting their options so that they don't learn anything you don't want them doing when they are adults. I know, you just asked about the going down the road to visit other people, but it's really better to spend some time thinking about your general goals, because some of the work can be piggybacked.

So, you sit down with your trainer/owner hat on (rather than your "doting loving owner" hat---and be sure that we ALL wear both hats!) and start thinking about your wish list for a perfect dog. To start with, just brainstorm a bit, but then narrow the list down to a few essential, long term goals. These are going to be things like "Stays in the yard," "Walks nicely on leash," "knows how to sit, lie down, come, and stay," etc. Things that, when your dog is all grown up, you will not be able to accept their NOT doing.

Once you have a clear sense of what YOU need from your dog in order to live with them without getting mad at them all the time (or having other people mad at them <smile>), you start thinking about how to train them. I'm going to assume that you plan to teach the dog some of the basic obedience stuff, and that you're interested in doing it as positively (that is, using as little force/violence as possible). And that you either have access to a good obedience class (where the instructor's goal is to help you learn to teach your dog proactively rather than teaching you how to punish misbehavior). If not, I can point you to some resources to help you find such a class/instructor.

However: and this part sometimes feels uncomfortable to people; a large part of what you should be doing with your dogs at this stage is plain old MANAGEMENT of the dog's behavior. It's the equivalent of babyproofing a house, only you puppy-proof your life. It boils down to the fact that a lot of the things dogs do that people don't like, happen because the puppy is ALWAYS learning. They are information and behavior SPONGES. So, a large part of what you need to do, is to make it impossible for them to do the things you want them not to do when they get bigger. If you don't want them to run off your property when they get older, there are two things you probably need to make sure of: first, that they don't get the CHANCE to run now (which may mean keeping them on leashes, or some sort of tie-out, for now); and second, that you start now working them very, VERY hard on (a) paying attention to you in a variety of situations and settings, (b) teaching them to come to you when you call them and (c) learning the boundaries of your property.

Puppy-proofing your life is hard work, because puppies are active and busy exploring and playing, and it's natural for people (who love them) to want to let them do all those cute things, give them freedom to play together whenever they want to, etc.---but you have this great chance, with young dogs, to teach them (and let the management practices you set up support your teaching). The more you control their options now (for example, not letting them roam; training them and playing with them individually mostly, and sometimes together, on YOUR property; taking them around the boundaries regularly, and calling them to you whenever they seem like they are looking to go exploring without you (and I'd take them ON LEASH till you're sure they will come when you call them); and the more you get them used to looking to you for fun/stimulation/games/training practice rather than going off on their own to have fun without you, the more likely you will be to end up with two adult dogs who keep doing what they perceive as "normal," i.e., who look to you for direction/fun, rather than thinking that other things are more fun than you are. You'll need to spend time every day with each of them separately, and you will also need to limit their free play with each other. You won't have to do this forever---just while they are teenagers. But in the long run, you have basically two alternatives: either you make sure that you convince your pups that YOU are the Source Of All Good Things For Dogs, and that they are more likely to get ANYTHING they want if they pay attention to you, play with you, listen to you, etc. (in which case, you will have two dogs that everyone else wishes they had); or you can let them have free access to most things they want, and attempt to "spot-train" only the things that seem worrisome (such as the running away, obedience behaviors, etc.). Spot-training tends to result in dogs that don't always pay attention, whereas controlling their options when you aren't training, and training the heck out of them as much as possible, is one to three years of intensive dog-focused-ness---and a lot of years afterward, of having really nice dogs to live with, and not a whole lot to worry about.

I know this has been really long, but it's a tough thing to talk about briefly. Feel free to e-mail me back if you want more detail, or need help finding a trainer, or whatever.

Best,
Peggy Irish Ferdinand (peggy@good-dog-training.com)

[zentrainer]

Here's a short and simple answer. Fence in a part of your yard. I once did a 1/4 acre for $600 and most of that was labor. That was plenty of room for up to 10 dogs to run around in. It was made of heavy duty chicken wire (the medium grade not the horse kind.) It was 6 feet tall and very sturdy. It lasted for 7 years till I moved. I checked prices recently and they have not gone up much at all.
Tracy B Ann
www.zenpaws.com