How to train a puppy
A friend of mine just got an 8 week puppy! I’ve raised two dogs from puppyhood, and helped a dozen other people do the same. Here’s what I’ve learned…
Expect interrupted sleep
Interrupted sleep comes with the territory. I often suggest raising a puppy to people who are considering having a child. It's good practice.
As with a human baby, a puppy needs whatever it needs right now! Whether that’s to be let out in the middle of the night to pee or just your comfort and attention because your puppy has never slept apart from its litter, expect weeks or months of interrupted sleep.
Torn slippers are your fault
Your puppy peeing in the house or tearing up a slipper is your fault.
A young dog doesn't know, at first, that the house isn’t somewhere to pee. Similarly, an anxious or a teething dog wants to chew. It is up to you to give it something to chew on.
Like a young human baby, a puppy doesn’t have bladder control. It is important to remember that your puppy isn’t doing something wrong. It is just following its natural proclivities.
It is your job to monitor your puppy, so don't get angry when your dog makes "mistakes."
Crate training
If I could teach every new dog owner one skill it would be crate training. The first rule of crate training is never use the crate as punishment. Encourage your dog into the crate. Make it cozy. Make it home.
Think of the crate as the spot the dog returns to when it is tired, wants to rest, wants to be alone.
A crate has the additional benefit of being a closed container, so your puppy can’t escape and peer and chew your slippers immediately upon waking.
Training cadence
To raise a young dog, develop a training cadence.
When your puppy first wakes up, take them out of the crate and outside to potty.
Then, offer your puppy some water and food.
Then play with your puppy until it is tired.
Take your dog outside to potty, again.
Then, put it back in the crate for a nap.
This is going to be your cadence for the first few months!
Positive reinforcement
You know those metal spiked collars that people use to try and control their dogs? Don't do that. They are cruel and they hurt.
A lot of early animal behavior management was done with dolphins. And it turns out that you can't force a dolphin to do something it doesn't want to do. Want a dolphin to take food from your hand? Jump out of the water to impress spectators? Be kind to that dolphin or it’ll just swim away.
The same is true for puppies. (And, I believe, for humans. But that’s an argument beyond the scope of this article!)
I believe that you should train your dog exclusively through positive reinforcement.
Negative reinforcement
Let’s take a mild counterexample. Let's say your puppy pees on the carpet, which is a minor offense.
Your puppy didn’t pee on the carpet to upset you. It just needed to pee.
Even if you catch it in the act, your aggressive “No!” is more likely to scare your dog than inform it that this behavior is undesirable. Your puppy doesn't yet know how to control its bladder. And by shouting “Bad dog!” you are creating disconnection.
It is also hard to catch your dog in the action. More likely scolding will come after the incident and tour dog won’t even make the connection between peeing and your displeasure. All they will know is that you're dissatisfied.
Focus on reinforcing the behaviors you do want, and the behaviors you don’t will extinguish themselves.
Reinforcement words
In the 1960s, dolphin trainer Karen Prior began using a clicker to train her dolphins at Sea Life Park in Hawaii. Based B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning, using a clicker (literally a device which makes a loud clicking sound) allows trainers to mark desired behaviors at a distance before delivering a reward.
Another way of doing the same thing is using a reinforcement word to mark behaviors you want to encourage.
Pryor popularized clicker training through her book Don’t Shoot the Dog!, which is a foundational text in the field of positive reinforcement training.
Pro tip: Don’t use “yes”
A lot of dog trainers will recommend using the word “Yes!” as a reinforcer, since most people don't constantly have a clicker near to hand. I've come to regret using that word.
Instead, pick a word – perhaps even in a different language – that you don’t use every day, or else your dog will get confused when you use the word as a part of everyday speech.
You dog is a reflection of your nervous system
There’s a quote I’ve heard Tim Ferriss say that his dog is a reflection of his nervous system. This might not be true of everyone’s dog but for my border collie Riley, it is certainly the case.
When I’m stressed, Riley is anxious. And when I’m chill, Riley is most likely asleep. I can always tell how I’m feeling just by looking at my dog.
A dog is a good reflection of their owner. And the more you are aware of your own emotions, the better you’ll know – and train – your dog.
Know their motivation
Some dogs are food motivated and some aren’t. Some want to be pet and lauded, and others want a job to do.
Just like people, a dog’s motivations are its own. You can do a good job training your dog only after you know what motivates them.
Know your breed’s tendencies
A few generalizations:
- Labradors want attention, praise and food.
- Herding dogs need a job
- Bully breads want to keep their people safe
If you are lucky, your dog will be food motivated. That makes everything much easier because food is a very simple, concrete reinforcer of behavior. Praise, while a little more nebulous, is also something that many dogs respond to.
Understand your breed’s tendencies and temperament. Plan accordingly.
Say “Come” only when you’re sure they will
Most of us misuse the word “Come” with our dogs. Too often, we use it in moments of impatience when we don’t want to be troubled to traipse outside through wet grass to go and get our dogs.
We are what we repeatedly do. So are our dogs!
When you should shout “Come,” knowing full well that your dog would rather keep playing with another dog, smelling interesting smells, or eating something it shouldn't, you are reinforcing the learning that your dog does not need to do what it is told.
Using the recall word “come” should only be used when you are 100% certain your dog will come when called.
Puppies are rude
This phrase always surprises new dog owners. But puppies lack the social graces of adult dogs, who know when other dogs want to be approached and when they don’t. By contrast, puppies just want attention, to play, to enthusiastically greet, and smell, and frolic.
Adult dogs may often set boundaries with a growl or a harmless snap at an over-eager puppy. This is appropriate!
You can always tell the impact of an adult dog and a puppy’s encounter by whether the puppy cowers in fear or immediately comes back for more.
You’re the one who needs to change
We have a belief that dog training is about changing the behavior of your dog. Actually, it's the opposite. Dog training is an opportunity to get to know yourself, and for you to change so that you can become a good steward of your animal.
Your dog is just being itself. If your puppy pees on the floor, it is because you didn’t take it outside in time. If it chews a shoe, you should have given it more opportunity to chew appropriate toys and shouldn’t have left your dog unattended.
Your dog behaves according to its instincts. You are the one who needs to adopt, and only by doing so will you be able to train your dog.
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3 things I’ve loved this week
Quotes I’m considering:
“Understand, a poorly socialized but friendly dog can easily start a fight he’s not looking or prepared for. If I ran up to every stranger I met and tried to hug them, sooner or later, someone would punch me in the face.”
-Chad Mackin
“When it comes to training a dog, 5 minutes a day, Monday through Friday, is better than 30 minutes on Saturday.”
-Martin Deeley
“My dog is my external nervous system.”
-Tim Ferriss
This book is the classic on positive reinforcement by dolphin-turned-dog trainer Karen Pryor. Pryor teaches a way of training your dog without yelling threats, force, punishment, guilt trip. I think there’s a lot to her approach that can be applied to building habits in the rest of our lives, as well.
There are a lot of good podcasts about Dog Training, but I return to Dog Talk with Dr. Jenn when I want to be reminded about how to prevent barking, leash aggression, or a host of other dog training techniques.
There are only about 20 episodes total, but Dr. Jen’s approach to dog train is approachable, friendly, and grounded in contemporary research.
Other dog podcasts worth listening to:
No Bad Dogs podcast with Tom Davis
Shaped by Dog with Susan Garrett
Fenzi Dog Sports Podcast
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