Picture taken from from www.thedogtrainingformula.com
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
From the desk of Sharda Baker.
Good day and welcome everyone!
This is Sharda with a wonderful newsletter about Dogs and related things when owning one.
Let’s start with conditioning your dog!
Here we go!
When you bring a new puppy into your home, he is entering a whole new way of life.
He is accustomed to living closely with his mother and littermates.
As a tiny pup, he didn’t have to worry about any “rules,” he was just trying to keep warm, eat food, and learn how to be a puppy.
Now, he is living in a new home with a new family and new rules.
He doesn’t understand why there was a transition.
It is your responsibility to give your new puppy a home that he feels safe in, food that will maintain his health, and lots of love and attention.
Additionally, you will need to condition the puppy to his new world.
Your puppy will soon learn that you and your family are non-threatening. By all of the attention, love, food, and treats you give him, he will no doubt know that you are welcoming him as part of the pack and soon he will be ready for serious dog training.
However, there are a lot of other activities that can go on inside and outside of the house that may be confusing and even scary for the puppy. These incidents could be quite traumatic for the puppy, causing fear that will make him want to always avoid the situation.
CONDITIONING INSIDE THE HOME
A whirlwind of activities go on—day in and day out—in your home. Everyone is busy and has their own activities from taking care of the house, to doing homework, to cooking meals, to getting ready in the morning, to watching television.
From your puppy’s perspective, all of this activity probably seems like a mass of confusion! You and your family will need to condition him to the regular activities as well as dog training so he can see all of this as normal.
Below are some of the more frightening activities that happen inside the home plus helpful dog training advices and tips you can do.
CLEANING DAY
Cleaning day can be quite a series of shocking events for a puppy. For example, let’s say you take out your feather duster and you dust all of the furniture and knick knacks as you normally would. You may even jokingly dust your puppy by rubbing the duster lightly over his head!
Your puppy will most likely follow you around curiously watching the duster as it goes up and down and all around! Because you probably take pauses to pet him or say kind words to him, your puppy probably thinks you are playing with him so he may even try to catch this feathered friend!
After you are done dusting, you take out the broom out of the closet and start sweeping the kitchen floor. Being brand new to the household, your puppy has never seen the broom before.
Your puppy is once again curious and closely watches your every stroke. He will try to get close to it, and oops! You accidentally bump him with the broom. He jumps back and appears frightened.
Of course, you didn’t hit him intentionally, and the stroke was light enough that it doesn’t hurt. But the experience itself was scary. The shock of being hit is what frightened him the most.
Next, it’s time to bring out the vacuum cleaner. Still shaken, the puppy sees this monstrous object come out of the dark closet. Then, with a flip of the switch, it roars throughout the house.
This sound is terrifying to him so he’ll probably run off to the corner and crouch. Meanwhile, you are vacuuming the house, room by room, not realizing the trauma your puppy is going through.
So, depending on what development stage your puppy is currently in, anytime your puppy hears this sound in the future he could associate the vacuum with that terrible feeling of fear.
How do you condition your puppy to adjust to such household activities? Obviously, you can’t avoid cleaning your house! And you may not even realize that your puppy has been traumatized.
First, you need to look at everything from his perspective. How do you anticipate that your puppy will react to such sights, sounds, and situations?
Second, take measures to help him adjust. For example, for something as significant as a vacuum cleaner, try starting it away from your puppy. This way, he will be able to hear it from a distance and approach it at his level of comfort. If he seems frightened, invite him to come closer.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Certainly, there are other incidents that go on within the house everyday that affect your puppy. For example, the sound of blenders, washing machines, musical instruments, stereos, etc.
The sites of a birthday party, a family game of charades, someone packing a suitcase, etc.
Then, there will plenty of activities that directly do affect your puppy such as bathing, nail clipping, and brushing.
The key to introducing these new sights, sounds, and activities to your puppy is to do it gradually and calmly. It is a better way to start doing minor dog training. Do what you can to make it a positive experience. Your puppy wants to please you so when he responds positively, praise him with lots of love and attention.
I hope you learned a lot from today’s newsletter.
I will be back for more!
Warmest regards,
Sharda Baker