Roxanne
First of all the info on the blog is very helpful. We named the dogs Rocky (Black Male) and Ruby (Yellow Female).
Rocky is much farther along in the training than Ruby. Rocky will listen to sit (6 times out of 10). Rocky responds to “Brake” very well (9.5 out of 10), where he will stop biting a toy or a shoe etc when we tell him “Brake”. He behaves inside the crate and waits for us to open it nicely. Rocky always calls and we know he needs to gout for potty training.
Ruby is a hit and miss. She responds to “Brake” (5 out of 10), sit (3 out of 10). Ruby will always wait to go out to poop but 3 time out of 10, she has accidents inside the house even within 2 hours of the last trip. My wife thinks it is because she is a smaller body so needs more time but she is working on it.
Both of them are not yet responding to Quiet. We will keep one puppy inside the house while the other is outside on potty trip and both Ruby or Rocky, who ever is inside will bark until we are back inside with the other dog.
Quiet time exercise has not worked at all for either of them. They can barely sit like that quiet for 15/20 min.
Both are pretty well behaved except when they are playing together.
Having said that, we are struggling with the training a little bit because I am not sure if there is a sequence that we should be following or is the idea of the training is to go through all the material and use them as appropriate. There are few questions we have –
- Is there things that we need to do week 9 vs week 10 and so forth. If you can advice it would be helpful.
- Also we need some advice as how to let the two dogs play together. We have been keeping them separate except for 1 hour a day during evening when they play together.
- We need some more guidance around how to train them on house rules. Currently they are in a pen inside the house for most part except when we are playing with them or training them. We would love to leave them without a pen and not chew into or damage things. I had Rocky in my office one day and he was ok but other than that in the house he is just trying to find things to chew.
- Lastly, is it ok if we send the videos / pics via email. We are not comfortable uploading anything in that blogger site.
Milton and Ani,
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you. You have a challenging situation getting 2 puppies, from different litters, at the same time. As you are discovering puppies are NOT the same and have their own temperaments and learning capabilities. Let me answer your questions.
1) With Ruby, what are her indicators she needs to go outside? You need to watch her MUCH more closely so you recognize her indicators. And if she starts to 'go', give a banshee or dragoon yell of "AHHHHH!!!" as this tightens their sphincter muscles for a brief second or two. Then immediately go pick up your puppy and take it outside to where you want it to go, command "Go Potty" (or whatever your eliminate command is) and let her go. Do this faithfully as you MUST train her to go outside and eliminate. Dogs learn to go by smell and the more she eliminates in the home, the more she will want to go there again. Clean the area thoroughly with dog odor control liquid or I use white distilled vinegar. It will take until the puppy is 16 weeks for their system to be able to hold for 6+ hours. In the meantime, diligence and careful monitoring is how you train a puppy to 'go' outside and not eliminate inside a home.
2) The "Quiet" command. How and when are you using it? What is the setup for the puppies during the night and during the daytime, kennel wise?
3) Quiet Time is a lesson in self-control. These are very young puppies who have little or no self-control. The point of Quiet Time is they are learning self-control. Training this exercise requires your patience, then more patience and then still more patience. It is ALL of my students favorite exercise as once the dog learns it, they equate Quiet Time as a 'chill pill'. And it is far, Far, FAR easier to train a puppy in Quiet Time than an adult dog. Once had a student with an adult, independent, opinionated field bred Golden Retriever that came for training. I told her that Quiet Time was a battle of wills (it is) and if she didn't succeed that first week of formal obedience training, every other exercise would be hard as her dog would not have learned the lessons of Quiet Time. The lesson? The dog is NOT in control of what is happening and no amount of expressing its opinions changes the fact that the human sitting on the leash is their leader. Critical lesson. That student was determined to succeed with her adult dog as every other training method had failed her and her dog.
So, she decided she'd just wait the dog out until it yielded (as that is what is happening). Guess how long it took? Seven, yes seven (7) hours. SEVEN HOURS for her stubborn dog to figure out nothing was going to change and it needed to yield. That student went on to become an Instructor. So, Quiet Time is a quiet battle of will, understand that fact, and know that it is far, Far, FAR easier to be the leader now (which the dog needs to respect, obey and bond with you), than let puppyhood be gone and have to deal with an adult dog that won't yeild.
Make sense?
4) Playing together? Well, LOL, it is perfectly normal and healthy for these two puppies to wrestle, run, romp, jump and mouth each other. You need to let them play for them to do the Lab 'mouthy' game which is how bite inhibition is learned. They will rough house, and it gets WILD, so expect their playtime inside and outside the house to be extreme. When you are tired of their rough housing (and recommend you let them burn off their energy by rough housing outside), one of them gets kenneled and the other does Quiet Time. Or kennel both, or both you and Ani do Quiet Time. The point is that after an exuberant time of excessive play (which is healthy for the puppies to do), they need time to unwind and rest. Either kennel or do Quiet Time.
ReplyDelete5) The training for puppies is designed to be done sequentially, regardless of their chronological age. Example: At 7-10 weeks, you should be doing ALL of the exercises for that age group. Does that make sense? Once the puppy is 11 weeks old, then it can begin the next phase of training under the heading 'Puppy Training 10-12 weeks old'. Does that make sense? Have you done ALL the exercises listed under the heading 'Puppy Training 7-10 weeks'?
5) Those puppies should be spending far more time together than an hour a day. Let them play, then either do Quiet Time or kennel them. When doing the actual training exercises, do one at a time or one in one room and the other in the other room. How goes the "Step-Hup", "Sit" and "Step-off" training on an elevated surface? The "Sit" should be done here, there and everywhere.
ReplyDelete6) Puppies chew EVERYTHING, part of their need to understand their environment via sensory exploration and taste/smell. They are normal doing so. Your challenge, as the owners, is to not only puppy proof the house, but to make sure they have areas (stations) they can safely interact and play in. That instruction is listed under the 'Puppy Training 7-10 weeks old' in the Boundaries Page. When a puppy or in your situation, puppies are wound up, my philosophy is they need to be 'worked'. That is the purpose of the "Step-Hup", "Sit" and "Step-off" training done on an elevated surface. And the "Sit" should be done here, there and everywhere. Each of these exercises is training your puppies to trust your hands, to know that 'work (exercises)' is where you handle them the most so the 'work (exercises)' cause the puppies to BOND with you during those times. If you don't work them, they are wild. When you do work them, they bond with you and learn to enjoy the 'work' as relationship building time. It is also when their muscles are being formed into what will become formal obedience exercises. So everything you do NOW, to shape, mold, and imprint on a puppy's mind and body, saves you from enormous hard work when the puppy grows. Now is the time to 'work' a rambunctious puppy. And puppy 'work' is all done in small, tiny training time segments throughout the days. Not one big, long training as their muscles simply can't, but small, repetitive training 'work' sessions throughout each and every day.
You are imprinting, molding, shaping and bonding so this is the time to do so.
Boundary Stations are specific places throughout the home which you have set up with longer lines (I like my stations to be set up with 12' ) back tied to a secure location such as to the leg of a chest of drawers or a couch. Again, it must be a secure lesson and I often have sheets or blankets on that area, as well as chew toys. This accomplishes several important things. The puppy learns it has freedom of movement until there is pressure on their collar so this trains a dog to respect (and not fight) collar pressure. These stations with back ties also keep the puppy in a designated, specific location, so they are safe, but not kenneled. They become a part of the family this way.
Make sense?
7. Chewing on things? What toys are you giving your puppies to chew on? All my dogs know where the Toy Box is with their toys. And all my dogs LOVE to chew on moose antler chews from Mainly-Chew.com. When a puppy 'finds' something, like a shoe or a sock or etc., I bring them to me with their Learning String and the command, "Fido - Here - Touch" , then shape them into a "Sit", then a "Give" command. I encourage them with "Ah, you ARE a GOOD retriever dog!" with everything they 'find' and bring to me. Why? So the puppy learns anything it 'finds' and brings to you earns special praise. Make sense? For a focused effort to expend retrieve energy, you should be using white canvas puppy bumpers or etc. That page of instructions is also listed under 'Puppy Training 7-10 weeks old'.
ReplyDelete8. Finally, I can understand your reservation about uploading. But, The Mannerly Puppy Blog is a Private Blog and not available to any search engine.
Your questions are valuable as is your experience with these puppies, but your questions and observations should be on the Blog so they can help other students.
I never have more than 10 total students on the Blog at one time. Please post on the Blog all that you shared in this email so I can answer on the Blog so ALL the puppy owners benefit.
There is no way I can accept individually emailed photos, texts or videos. I have hundreds of Private Blogs and hundreds of students all across the United States, current and graduate students enrolled in my Mannerly Puppy Course, in my FOUNDATION Course, in my Retrieve Course, Tech Savvy Course, The Hunt Club Course and in my Titling a Dog Course. I have multiple Private Blogs so I can interact with my Instructors, Stephanie Skeen in MD, Deb Kidwell in TN and my upcoming UT future Instructor Jessi Wyatt. I have worked with Private Blogs for 12 years now and never, ever had one single issue with any students' privacy.
So, please post your photos and videos on this Blog.
Hope that answers these questions, Milton and Ani. Keep those questions coming as the only bad question is the one you didn't ask.
Roxanne