Are you about to take home a new puppy or rescue dog? Here are thedogcalmer's top tips to help you understand your dog and by understanding and speaking dog prevent bad behaviour developing!
“My puppy won’t listen”
This is the chant of many of our clients when they first come to see us, the reality is the dog is listening but dogs do not speak english, talking to a dog will never work until you teach the dog what you mean (come to training). Actions really do speak louder than words, actions are body language and therefore dog language. Talk dog language, take action!
“My puppy is constantly eating rubbish”
The dog is by nature an opportunistic scavenger, this means they will take every opportunity to steal and scavenge. As puppy’s they have yet to work out what is good to eat, in the dog pack this education comes from grown up dogs, the other dogs will show no interest in things that are not food, for example stones, sticks, leaves, so the puppy will chew on these things to explore the world and cut their teeth but they would not swallow them. The only reason a puppy starts to swallow the wrong things is if we teach them it is edible by taking if off them. There aren’t any shoes or remotes controls out in nature so for sure they don’t ever learn to eat them!
If you allow your puppy to explore everything natural without reacting and grabbing it off them they will not eat inappropriate stuff.
If the puppy has something precious, distract them with food or by running away so they chase after you, when they drop the thing, do not let them see you pick it up!
By arming yourself with knowledge you can prevent this behaviour developing into a problem.
"My puppy keeps jumping on me"
Dogs want 3 things from their human, touch - voice and for us to look at them. If you look at your dog, the dog will come to you, if you keep looking likely they will come closer and jump up, if you speak and touch them you have invited them and rewarded them for jumping up, it really is as simple as that. The mistake people make is they do the same things for stuff they don’t want, the puppy jumps up, we look at them, say something and maybe try and push them off, just because you are cross the puppy will not understand and will not stop!
“You have to be able to take a dogs food away”
NO - don’t do this instead if you want your dog to always be safe around food!
Prepare 2 bowls, one empty one with food in, place the empty bowl on the floor and start adding the food a little at a time. The puppy will soon be wanting you to put your hand in the bowl!
What we really want is that if a child slips and falls into the bowl of food the dog will just say hi and at worst lick them!
Do you need more help? We'd love to hear from you.
At thedogcalmer, we have a range of courses to help you and your new four legged best friend.
For puppies, our 'Puppy Training Part 1' is highly recommended. You can find out more and book here: https://www.thedogcalmer.com/book-dog-training-essex
For dogs, we recommend a one to one session: https://www.thedogcalmer.com/one-to-one-dog-training
Thank you for ready,
thedogcalmer Essex