Don't discount the number of experiences your pup can have right in your house.
You can even create your own lists of things in your house and gradually work through them. Think of all the senses and make a list of items in your house that fall under each sense heading.
Sounds: The vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, dishwasher, TV, radio, wind, furnace, washing machine, dryer, water running, toilet flushing, shower noises, bird, leaf blower, lawn mower, snow blower, salt trucks, trucks and cars going by, people talking on street, other dogs barking, faraway hammering or building noises, silverware being poured out of the dishwasher, dishes clanging, and so forth.
Sights: (you get the idea)
Feelings: touching a variety of surfaces, temperatures, steepnesses, heights, as well as water both warm and cold, and so on.
I don't know if smells and tastes are relevant. I guess they could be--smells, at least. But I can't think of a dog being frightened by a smell in the way that he could be by a loud hammering noise or something.
Anyway, you get the idea.
Jack, for example, is asked to follow me around the basement. He was too chicken at first. So I brought the Boston into it. The Boston follows me anywhere and Jack follows the Boston anywhere, so that was fantastic. The one place Jack froze was when I asked him to walk past the roaring furnace, on a narrow and somewhat dark path into the laundry room. Even though the Boston went with me, Jack stopped, sat down, and cried. We tried coaxing him--never petting or rewarding him. Finally, I picked him up and held him near the ground, then moved him along the path into the laundry room. We did this a few times, and after that, Jack came on his own, past the furnace, through the dark little area and into the laundry room. Much praise!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Jack's First Big Adventure
On Saturday, (Jack's 8 week birthday) we decided to officially begin little Jack's socialization program.
We have a checklist of around 50 things that, if your dog could experience them all before the deadline, would create ideal socialization.
Let me know if you want me to post that list.
We tried planning out what we would do, before we left home, but we couldn't decide, so we just got in the car with all three dogs and headed out to the town 6 miles away, where there are lots of things going on.
The whole thing was a BLAST and a hundred times more fun than I ever imagined it would be.
I think I mentioned that Jack is supposed to experience 100 children UNDER the age of 6, before his deadline. If you think about how you could achieve that, it seems difficult. But we had some success on Saturday, I think. I didn't ask the age of the children we found, but they weren't much older than 5.
First, we went to the health food store to look for some high quality dog food the trainer told us about. I carrried Jack under my zip-up sweatshirt, with his head poking out, so he could stay warm and somewhat subtle, so we wouldn't get kicked out. He got to see a store, aisles, stuff, and various people nearby. At the checkout, he got to hear surprisingly loud noise of the crinkling of paper bags. He was calm but attentive. Then the cashier saw him and went, "Awwwww!" and I told her he was in training to be a therapy dog and had to have a lot of experiences, and that she should feel free to pet him, so she did. He was calm throughout.
Stepping outside, I saw a bowling alley next door and thought it would provide a lot of noise, unusual sights, and a lot of people on a Saturday, and maybe children if we were lucky. So we went inside. There was SO much noise, that I thought we should stand at the door a while till he got used to it.
By the way, there is a thing called "bounceback" in socialization training. Your dog will probably feel like being cautious when he encounters new things, loud noises, etc. In that state, you cannot pet or praise or acknowledge him. But once he "bounces back" and exhibits calm acceptance--that's "bounceback"--you should praise him. This teaches courage.
So after Jack had his bounceback, we went in slowly and calmly. It was filled with people! And noises! And smells! Perfect.
Right away, a young girl, apparently of India origin, came up and went, "Awwww!" so I told her what he was there for and asked her if she wanted to hold him. She was in her early teens. You can't let a young child hold him, but she was old enough. She took him and he kissed her like crazy. She held him a while and asked questions about him. Then he came back.
His first victory! Not only a stranger, but youngish, and ethnic. Meeting various ethnicities is on his checklist.
Next, we walked around hoping people would come over and interact. The noise was tremendous but he was fine with it. then I saw a lot of pink balloons at the end lane and saw that it was a big birthday party for a bunch of small children. Perfect!
I wandered down and sure enough, they spotted Jack, and came over. The mom came too and supervised their interaction with him, as she was a dog person. They were too young to hold him, but she made them sit down and then they could hold him. We were there a half hour, and during that time, he was in the hands of at least 20 children, almost certainly 5 years old. Not 20 different children, but about 10 different children, but several times. They were very gentle with him. He wasn't thrilled, didn't try to kiss them, but he was calm. He looked at me a little, but not all the time. I watched for signs of stress in him, and he seemed okay.
One of the children, a tiny Asian boy, had the idea of all of us making a circle with Jack in the middle to let Jack go to whomever he wished. Great idea! Jack liked being in the circle and went up to different kids. Definitely not trying to get away from them or get on my lap.
Bonus: the mother used to work at a nursing home that allows dogs to visit without their being therapy dogs. She gave me the name of the place, and the contact person. Now I know how he can go into a nursing home and experience all those sights and smells. Though for insurance reasons, I wouldn't let him contact patients.
Next we went to a coffee shop. At this point he fell sound asleep. Then we went into a pet shop (I'm still carrying him to avoid ground exposure or contact with other dogs, etc.). He got to see very active talkative parrots, one huge, and an amazon gray who was VERY interested in him. Then he got to see all the children looking at the parrots and then at Jack. He got a lot more petting from adults and children. Then he saw the ferrets in their cage. One really liked Jack and came over and they looked at each other thru the glass. He also saw cages full of small birds and was interested.
Next, we went to the mall, figuring if I carried him, it was safe from dog viruses. We discovered something big there. When you carry a small puppy, a HUGE number of females will come up to you and start talking to you and ask to pet the puppy. Not one single male came over, but at least 20 females of all ages came up to us, on their own initiative. They all petted him and he was nice to them all. Some teenaged girls held him so that they could take photos of each other holding him.
All in all, he must have met 50 people that day. We also made sure he was the inside of stores, heard sounds, and moved into lots of environments.
Then we came home, and he was very sleepy, but we felt he had had a great first adventure.
We have a checklist of around 50 things that, if your dog could experience them all before the deadline, would create ideal socialization.
Let me know if you want me to post that list.
We tried planning out what we would do, before we left home, but we couldn't decide, so we just got in the car with all three dogs and headed out to the town 6 miles away, where there are lots of things going on.
The whole thing was a BLAST and a hundred times more fun than I ever imagined it would be.
I think I mentioned that Jack is supposed to experience 100 children UNDER the age of 6, before his deadline. If you think about how you could achieve that, it seems difficult. But we had some success on Saturday, I think. I didn't ask the age of the children we found, but they weren't much older than 5.
First, we went to the health food store to look for some high quality dog food the trainer told us about. I carrried Jack under my zip-up sweatshirt, with his head poking out, so he could stay warm and somewhat subtle, so we wouldn't get kicked out. He got to see a store, aisles, stuff, and various people nearby. At the checkout, he got to hear surprisingly loud noise of the crinkling of paper bags. He was calm but attentive. Then the cashier saw him and went, "Awwwww!" and I told her he was in training to be a therapy dog and had to have a lot of experiences, and that she should feel free to pet him, so she did. He was calm throughout.
Stepping outside, I saw a bowling alley next door and thought it would provide a lot of noise, unusual sights, and a lot of people on a Saturday, and maybe children if we were lucky. So we went inside. There was SO much noise, that I thought we should stand at the door a while till he got used to it.
By the way, there is a thing called "bounceback" in socialization training. Your dog will probably feel like being cautious when he encounters new things, loud noises, etc. In that state, you cannot pet or praise or acknowledge him. But once he "bounces back" and exhibits calm acceptance--that's "bounceback"--you should praise him. This teaches courage.
So after Jack had his bounceback, we went in slowly and calmly. It was filled with people! And noises! And smells! Perfect.
Right away, a young girl, apparently of India origin, came up and went, "Awwww!" so I told her what he was there for and asked her if she wanted to hold him. She was in her early teens. You can't let a young child hold him, but she was old enough. She took him and he kissed her like crazy. She held him a while and asked questions about him. Then he came back.
His first victory! Not only a stranger, but youngish, and ethnic. Meeting various ethnicities is on his checklist.
Next, we walked around hoping people would come over and interact. The noise was tremendous but he was fine with it. then I saw a lot of pink balloons at the end lane and saw that it was a big birthday party for a bunch of small children. Perfect!
I wandered down and sure enough, they spotted Jack, and came over. The mom came too and supervised their interaction with him, as she was a dog person. They were too young to hold him, but she made them sit down and then they could hold him. We were there a half hour, and during that time, he was in the hands of at least 20 children, almost certainly 5 years old. Not 20 different children, but about 10 different children, but several times. They were very gentle with him. He wasn't thrilled, didn't try to kiss them, but he was calm. He looked at me a little, but not all the time. I watched for signs of stress in him, and he seemed okay.
One of the children, a tiny Asian boy, had the idea of all of us making a circle with Jack in the middle to let Jack go to whomever he wished. Great idea! Jack liked being in the circle and went up to different kids. Definitely not trying to get away from them or get on my lap.
Bonus: the mother used to work at a nursing home that allows dogs to visit without their being therapy dogs. She gave me the name of the place, and the contact person. Now I know how he can go into a nursing home and experience all those sights and smells. Though for insurance reasons, I wouldn't let him contact patients.
Next we went to a coffee shop. At this point he fell sound asleep. Then we went into a pet shop (I'm still carrying him to avoid ground exposure or contact with other dogs, etc.). He got to see very active talkative parrots, one huge, and an amazon gray who was VERY interested in him. Then he got to see all the children looking at the parrots and then at Jack. He got a lot more petting from adults and children. Then he saw the ferrets in their cage. One really liked Jack and came over and they looked at each other thru the glass. He also saw cages full of small birds and was interested.
Next, we went to the mall, figuring if I carried him, it was safe from dog viruses. We discovered something big there. When you carry a small puppy, a HUGE number of females will come up to you and start talking to you and ask to pet the puppy. Not one single male came over, but at least 20 females of all ages came up to us, on their own initiative. They all petted him and he was nice to them all. Some teenaged girls held him so that they could take photos of each other holding him.
All in all, he must have met 50 people that day. We also made sure he was the inside of stores, heard sounds, and moved into lots of environments.
Then we came home, and he was very sleepy, but we felt he had had a great first adventure.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Why must socialization occur BEFORE 16 WEEKS?
If you want a well-rounded dog, you NEED to READ THIS:
YOU MUST SOCIALIZE YOUR PUPPY BEFORE HE IS 16 WEEKS OLD!
(There is an argument that one should isolate one's dog until almost 12 weeks, due to immunity issues with the dog's vaccine schedule. However, two extremely high ranking dog psychologists/dog trainers--both relatively famous, one in the US, one in England, have very strong feelings that the socialization process is SO URGENT, that it is worth taking a risk with the dog's immunity. Avoid other dogs completely at this time, and avoid places other dogs have gone to the bathroom. But other than that, socialization is more urgent than isolation.)
WHY IS SOCIALIZATION BETWEEN 8 AND 16 WEEKS SO URGENT?
BECAUSE AFTER YOUR DOG IS 16 WEEKS, YOU CAN NO LONGER EFFECTIVELY SOCIALIZE YOUR DOG IN THE WAY THAT YOU CAN SOCIALIZE IN THE TWO MONTHS BETWEEN WHEN THE DOG IS 8 WEEKS AND 16 WEEKS. THIS IS BECAUSE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE DOG'S BRAIN. SYNAPSES CLOSE PERMANENTLY, AND HIS BRAIN WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO CHANGE MUCH IN TERMS OF SOCIALIZATION, FEAR ISSUES, NERVOUSNESS, OPINIONS ABOUT STRANGERS, CHILDREN, WHEELCHAIRS, ETC.
So I am taking the risk with Jack, and socializing him intensely between 8 and 16 weeks.
My Cornell graduate dog expert, a highly experienced trainer (30 years), said socialization is SO important that when he has a new dog, he CHANGES HIS WORK SCHEDULE during the critical weeks, to make sure the socialization is completed by 16 weeks.
I will also be providing you with a list of, i don't know, about 50 things you should do with your dog before he is 16 weeks. This list will change your dog's life.
Coming up!
YOU MUST SOCIALIZE YOUR PUPPY BEFORE HE IS 16 WEEKS OLD!
(There is an argument that one should isolate one's dog until almost 12 weeks, due to immunity issues with the dog's vaccine schedule. However, two extremely high ranking dog psychologists/dog trainers--both relatively famous, one in the US, one in England, have very strong feelings that the socialization process is SO URGENT, that it is worth taking a risk with the dog's immunity. Avoid other dogs completely at this time, and avoid places other dogs have gone to the bathroom. But other than that, socialization is more urgent than isolation.)
WHY IS SOCIALIZATION BETWEEN 8 AND 16 WEEKS SO URGENT?
BECAUSE AFTER YOUR DOG IS 16 WEEKS, YOU CAN NO LONGER EFFECTIVELY SOCIALIZE YOUR DOG IN THE WAY THAT YOU CAN SOCIALIZE IN THE TWO MONTHS BETWEEN WHEN THE DOG IS 8 WEEKS AND 16 WEEKS. THIS IS BECAUSE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE DOG'S BRAIN. SYNAPSES CLOSE PERMANENTLY, AND HIS BRAIN WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO CHANGE MUCH IN TERMS OF SOCIALIZATION, FEAR ISSUES, NERVOUSNESS, OPINIONS ABOUT STRANGERS, CHILDREN, WHEELCHAIRS, ETC.
So I am taking the risk with Jack, and socializing him intensely between 8 and 16 weeks.
My Cornell graduate dog expert, a highly experienced trainer (30 years), said socialization is SO important that when he has a new dog, he CHANGES HIS WORK SCHEDULE during the critical weeks, to make sure the socialization is completed by 16 weeks.
I will also be providing you with a list of, i don't know, about 50 things you should do with your dog before he is 16 weeks. This list will change your dog's life.
Coming up!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
When all else fails, GROWL!
Last night was Jack's 8th night. I thought I was so smart, and that the crate sleeping issue was resolved. He would sleep in my room, and be able to see me, and be quiet and sleep all night with MAYBE a potty break if he woke up whining.
Nope.
I put him in his crate beside me, not on my bed, but in a spot where he could see me from a distance of about one foot. He started whining. Ugh. I put my fingers in through the grate. He liked that. For 30 seconds. Then whining.
Oh I was SO DISCOURAGED!
I tried singing. Nope. I tried gently banging the side of his crate when he wailed. Nope. I tried total silence. Nope. I thought, what if he has to go potty? Took him out. He didn't have to. Back in the crate. Back to whining.
EIGHT NIGHTS, AND HE HASN'T GOTTEN THIS YET? EIGHT NIGHTS AND I've missed THIS MUCH SLEEP? And I've followed all the rules? I haven't heard of anyone else whose dog yelled for this many nights! Why me?
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?
I pick up his crate to move him INTO the bed with me, under my covers. As I lift the crate by the top handle, the door falls off. Completely off. Now my plan of staying in darkness and quietly moving him to calm him--fails. I have to turn the light on to see why the door fell off. It's because the crate top wasn't properly snapped on when I took it off to clean out the poop two days ago.
Great. NOW Jack has whined and gotten all kinds of responses, including having the LIGHT TURNED ON and being in my lap while I fix the crate. Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I'm going BACKWARDS with this training!
So I fix the crate and the door, and move the crate beside me under the covers.
Whining continues.
At this point, I'm so exhausted that i just fall asleep despite the whining! I'm dozing off and on for TWO HOURS, totally ignoring him while he continues to whine.
What is left to try? I feel the temptation to yell at the top of my lungs, "PUH-LEEEZE, JACK, STOP WHINING!" but I restrain myself. Standing ovation for overcoming THAT one.
Wits' end.
Suddenly, something I read from a British dog psychologist occurs to me.
There are five levels of correction by mother dogs. Humans CAN use them, too. The most extreme is to growl and grab the back of the neck. You aren't supposed to do that except in emergencies. But the next one down is just growling.
I figure I'm one step down from an all-out freakout, and am therefore entirely entitled to use a level four correction.
I try it. After a major wail, I growl for about one second.
He goes totally silent. Long pause of silence. Hope arises in me.
He wails again. I growl. He goes totally silent.
After about a minute, he gives a little bitty wail, more like a defeated protest wail, but I growl once more.
He never made ONE sound the entire rest of the night.
I woke up at 8, with him quietly beside me. I was exhilarated.
But--was this just a one-time coincidence? Will it work again tonight? If it doesn't, what in the WORLD will I do?
Nope.
I put him in his crate beside me, not on my bed, but in a spot where he could see me from a distance of about one foot. He started whining. Ugh. I put my fingers in through the grate. He liked that. For 30 seconds. Then whining.
Oh I was SO DISCOURAGED!
I tried singing. Nope. I tried gently banging the side of his crate when he wailed. Nope. I tried total silence. Nope. I thought, what if he has to go potty? Took him out. He didn't have to. Back in the crate. Back to whining.
EIGHT NIGHTS, AND HE HASN'T GOTTEN THIS YET? EIGHT NIGHTS AND I've missed THIS MUCH SLEEP? And I've followed all the rules? I haven't heard of anyone else whose dog yelled for this many nights! Why me?
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?
I pick up his crate to move him INTO the bed with me, under my covers. As I lift the crate by the top handle, the door falls off. Completely off. Now my plan of staying in darkness and quietly moving him to calm him--fails. I have to turn the light on to see why the door fell off. It's because the crate top wasn't properly snapped on when I took it off to clean out the poop two days ago.
Great. NOW Jack has whined and gotten all kinds of responses, including having the LIGHT TURNED ON and being in my lap while I fix the crate. Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I'm going BACKWARDS with this training!
So I fix the crate and the door, and move the crate beside me under the covers.
Whining continues.
At this point, I'm so exhausted that i just fall asleep despite the whining! I'm dozing off and on for TWO HOURS, totally ignoring him while he continues to whine.
What is left to try? I feel the temptation to yell at the top of my lungs, "PUH-LEEEZE, JACK, STOP WHINING!" but I restrain myself. Standing ovation for overcoming THAT one.
Wits' end.
Suddenly, something I read from a British dog psychologist occurs to me.
There are five levels of correction by mother dogs. Humans CAN use them, too. The most extreme is to growl and grab the back of the neck. You aren't supposed to do that except in emergencies. But the next one down is just growling.
I figure I'm one step down from an all-out freakout, and am therefore entirely entitled to use a level four correction.
I try it. After a major wail, I growl for about one second.
He goes totally silent. Long pause of silence. Hope arises in me.
He wails again. I growl. He goes totally silent.
After about a minute, he gives a little bitty wail, more like a defeated protest wail, but I growl once more.
He never made ONE sound the entire rest of the night.
I woke up at 8, with him quietly beside me. I was exhilarated.
But--was this just a one-time coincidence? Will it work again tonight? If it doesn't, what in the WORLD will I do?
Friday, January 16, 2009
How to Potty Train
Well, you can google this topic, too, so I will only say how we did it in our specific circumstances. We live in a house with no stairs out front, with a nice sized yard, underground fence for the older dogs, on a quiet cul de sac. We have a good situation. Not everyone does. But I've also trained from a 5th floor walkup in New York City, so stuff's possible.
So here's what we do (trainer approves).
It's been week #1, and we've had a few accidents in the house, but not many, meaning less than 5 in one week!
(Oh, and I am home most of the time because I took early retirement when we moved to North Carolina from Wisconsin. That makes me REALLY lucky when it comes to potty training. I know. But if you work, just google how to potty train for working people. I've done potty training while working, too.)
Basically, I just have my eye on Jack almost every second. If I have to leave the room, I carry him or put him in his crate (that's more complicated).
Of course I'm supposed to watch for signs of sniffing, circling, or squatting, and get him outside the instant I see that.
But I also just take him out A LOT. Like every half hour if he is awake. I could say it's kind of like cheating--how can he fail if I do that, and how can I think I've potty trained him if I keep making it so simple for him?
But it's still teaching him a lot. It teaches him that there is a PLACE to go, a place where I WANT him to go. And after a while, if he can't remember going anywhere BUT that spot, he's going to also think that's the place to go, and he's going to want to get there. Yeah, we HOPE it's that easy. :)
When I take him out, I carry him along the floor like he is walking, only he's an inch above the floor. This teaches him the route. Right now, he doesn't like to go to the door because it's freezing outside and he shivers so hard.
At the door, I have bells hanging down from the doorknob (trainer advice). I'm going to try to teach him to ring the bells when he wants to go out.
Now, they automatically ring when the door opens, and he theoretically associates the sound with the door opening.
Then I carry him out, low to the ground, and put him in the same spot. I say nothing, but when he starts to squat, the whole time he is squatting or pooping I say over and over, "Go potty." This teaches him to associate those words with the action. Later I can say the words BEFORE he goes, and theoretically that will make him DO the action. But if I try to say the words now, before he squats, he will have no idea what association to make.
This particular technique of associating words and action worked a miracle for my Italian Greyhound, and she is NOT a rocket scientist, but even if she forgets why she is outside, if I say "Go potty" over and over, she gets it, and runs off and does it.
That's it. By day 2, he would potty every time I put him down on his spot. Then he invented a different spot to poop in, under a bush, and now he always runs there to poop.
The trainer says dogs will always distance themselves from the pack leader before they poop, as this protects the den and the pack in the wild, preventing predators from smelling it and finding the group. Jack really does always get far away from me to poop.
If he doesn't have to go, he returns to the door. I say, "Do you want to go IN?" and then I open the door. This question comes in handy with older dogs when they are out playing and I want them to go in. Once they're trained to associate that phrase with going inside, then when I say that phrase, they know to run to the door. It's not so much me ASKING their opinion, as just picking a phrase that comes into my head naturally when I want everyone to go in.
Jack has to work hard to climb up the doorsill to get in but the trainer said not to baby him, let him do it the hard way.
So far, even tho it is freezing out there, he hasn't been faking like he wants to come in if he really has to pee. If he has to pee, he really does it as soon as I put him on his spot.
Does cold weather make potty training harder? No. Easier. If the dog has to go, and knows that he can't go in until he does his business, he is much more motivated to hurry up and go than he would be if it were summer and there were lots of fun things outside.
Also, freezing weather has another huge bonus if you have pups and older dogs: Coccidia parasites (which a lot of puppies have) die immediately when pooped out into freezing temperatures, so this keeps them from spreading to other dogs who might come along later and contact the poop. Though older dogs have a lot of immunity to coccidia anyway.
Anyway, the HARD PART of potty training isn't the part I've done. The hard part is getting him to know when he has to go, and to learn to hold it inside, and also to indicate to me that he needs the door opened.
I frankly am discouraged at the thought of how hard that is going to be. It seems impossible, but somehow I guess he will figure it all out.
When he makes a mistake, the trainer said not to show it to him and say no, or bad, etc. because he will think that I mean pee is bad and get confused. Rather, I just take him outside if I catch him. Then I'm not supposed to let him see me clean it up. And I'm supposed to use Nature's Miracle with enzymes to clean it.
When I mop up the pee, I take the paper towel with the pee on it, and I drop it outside at his pee spot, and I show that to him. I hope it helps him learn that I want him to pee only at one spot.
Excuse any punctuation errors or typos. I'm still halfway groggy from all the sleep I've missed and haven't caught up on yet!
So here's what we do (trainer approves).
It's been week #1, and we've had a few accidents in the house, but not many, meaning less than 5 in one week!
(Oh, and I am home most of the time because I took early retirement when we moved to North Carolina from Wisconsin. That makes me REALLY lucky when it comes to potty training. I know. But if you work, just google how to potty train for working people. I've done potty training while working, too.)
Basically, I just have my eye on Jack almost every second. If I have to leave the room, I carry him or put him in his crate (that's more complicated).
Of course I'm supposed to watch for signs of sniffing, circling, or squatting, and get him outside the instant I see that.
But I also just take him out A LOT. Like every half hour if he is awake. I could say it's kind of like cheating--how can he fail if I do that, and how can I think I've potty trained him if I keep making it so simple for him?
But it's still teaching him a lot. It teaches him that there is a PLACE to go, a place where I WANT him to go. And after a while, if he can't remember going anywhere BUT that spot, he's going to also think that's the place to go, and he's going to want to get there. Yeah, we HOPE it's that easy. :)
When I take him out, I carry him along the floor like he is walking, only he's an inch above the floor. This teaches him the route. Right now, he doesn't like to go to the door because it's freezing outside and he shivers so hard.
At the door, I have bells hanging down from the doorknob (trainer advice). I'm going to try to teach him to ring the bells when he wants to go out.
Now, they automatically ring when the door opens, and he theoretically associates the sound with the door opening.
Then I carry him out, low to the ground, and put him in the same spot. I say nothing, but when he starts to squat, the whole time he is squatting or pooping I say over and over, "Go potty." This teaches him to associate those words with the action. Later I can say the words BEFORE he goes, and theoretically that will make him DO the action. But if I try to say the words now, before he squats, he will have no idea what association to make.
This particular technique of associating words and action worked a miracle for my Italian Greyhound, and she is NOT a rocket scientist, but even if she forgets why she is outside, if I say "Go potty" over and over, she gets it, and runs off and does it.
That's it. By day 2, he would potty every time I put him down on his spot. Then he invented a different spot to poop in, under a bush, and now he always runs there to poop.
The trainer says dogs will always distance themselves from the pack leader before they poop, as this protects the den and the pack in the wild, preventing predators from smelling it and finding the group. Jack really does always get far away from me to poop.
If he doesn't have to go, he returns to the door. I say, "Do you want to go IN?" and then I open the door. This question comes in handy with older dogs when they are out playing and I want them to go in. Once they're trained to associate that phrase with going inside, then when I say that phrase, they know to run to the door. It's not so much me ASKING their opinion, as just picking a phrase that comes into my head naturally when I want everyone to go in.
Jack has to work hard to climb up the doorsill to get in but the trainer said not to baby him, let him do it the hard way.
So far, even tho it is freezing out there, he hasn't been faking like he wants to come in if he really has to pee. If he has to pee, he really does it as soon as I put him on his spot.
Does cold weather make potty training harder? No. Easier. If the dog has to go, and knows that he can't go in until he does his business, he is much more motivated to hurry up and go than he would be if it were summer and there were lots of fun things outside.
Also, freezing weather has another huge bonus if you have pups and older dogs: Coccidia parasites (which a lot of puppies have) die immediately when pooped out into freezing temperatures, so this keeps them from spreading to other dogs who might come along later and contact the poop. Though older dogs have a lot of immunity to coccidia anyway.
Anyway, the HARD PART of potty training isn't the part I've done. The hard part is getting him to know when he has to go, and to learn to hold it inside, and also to indicate to me that he needs the door opened.
I frankly am discouraged at the thought of how hard that is going to be. It seems impossible, but somehow I guess he will figure it all out.
When he makes a mistake, the trainer said not to show it to him and say no, or bad, etc. because he will think that I mean pee is bad and get confused. Rather, I just take him outside if I catch him. Then I'm not supposed to let him see me clean it up. And I'm supposed to use Nature's Miracle with enzymes to clean it.
When I mop up the pee, I take the paper towel with the pee on it, and I drop it outside at his pee spot, and I show that to him. I hope it helps him learn that I want him to pee only at one spot.
Excuse any punctuation errors or typos. I'm still halfway groggy from all the sleep I've missed and haven't caught up on yet!
Puppies and Sleeping: The Week from Hell
Just face it: your first week with your puppy is going to be, well, overwhelming, at least.
He won't be used to you; you won't be used to him; your other pets will need to adjust; your other family members will need to adjust. Your furniture arrangement will need to adjust; your cleanliness and tidiness in your home will need to adjust; your friends will need to adjust; your far away kinfolk will call you crazy; the 5 thousand puppy gates you start working with will need to adjust, as will the pet store, where you suddenly have to make 80 million decisions about puppy food, toys, chewies, crates, leashes, collars, food bowls, whether to buy something soft for the crate--or not!
Oh, yeah, and setting up that first visit with the vet.
Throw in sticker shock at how much it all costs, too.
I'm going to be honest with you. It is not pretty.
Most of all, you'll be tackling SO many problems all at once that your head will swim, and you will probably be doing this without anywhere NEAR enough sleep for about 3 to 7 nights. By day 5, the puppy's cuteness will no longer outweigh the hassles involved in this early time period. You will seriously consider returning him to the breeder, and/or falling into a heap and crying for about 15 good minutes from pure exhaustion and overwhelmedness and regret at ever having THOUGHT about adopting a puppy.
I tend to talk in extremes. A trained professional dog handler (not mine; he was understanding) might even scoff at my report, saying that all this is just a result of my amateurism.
But, well, the problem is--I AM an amateur. And it REALLY WAS the week from H. E. DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS, as Flanders says on the Simpsons.
Why is this week so difficult?
Mine was because my puppy was in a crate, howling a heart-ripping song of injustice to the farthest corners of the universe--REALLY REALLY LOUDLY--literally ALL night long. I mean ALL. NIGHT. LONG.
Jack howled for 6 straight nights without even taking a 5 minute break at any time during any night.
By day 6, the day that, thank GOD, we had an in-person meeting with the trainer, my head was hanging down like a rag doll, I was totally depressed from lack of sleep, and for all I know, i was probably in such a stupor that i was drooling onto my jeans.
OH, it was bad.
But it got fixed in a one-hour session with our amazing trainer. And FINALLY, last night, which was night SEVEN, he slept all night without much of a peep, and didn't even wake up till 7 or 7:30 am--because of what my trainer said to do.
Here's what we were doing before last night. (And all that we were doing was CORRECT, which I know from googling like a deranged Siberian postal worker, every minute the puppy was asleep during the day, trying to find out if what we were doing was right, as it seemed so wrong.)
You're supposed to make him sleep in a crate. You have to harden your heart severely and vow with your spouse NEVER to let him out of the crate no matter how bad it gets. See "The Odyssey: lashing shipmates to mast while hearing Song of Sirens.")
What if he has to go potty?
On this point, you do calculations so complex, they resemble algebra 2, to figure out if your pup should be able to go all night without being taken out. The trainer did this for us.
We had to consider the following: age of pup, bladder size of pup, whether pup needs to have food and water out round the clock, whether food and water can be removed at 6 pm to prevent night time pottying, whether allowing pup to come out of crate (but still be in a pen) to potty on papers is worth the damage it will do to the potty training efforts during the day, which don't allow for pottying on paper, whether we should set the alarm to take the puppy out during the night, how to take the puppy out while it's screaming, without teaching it that screaming gets it out of the crate, and how many hours the pup can really be expected to go through the night without going potty, and what to do in the middle of the night if you find poop all over the crate and all over the dog. Or pee. Which you probably will.
See what I mean?
For US, the trainer said to put him in his crate in the evening when the family goes to bed, and let him wail. He said the pup would almost be able to go through 8 hours without going out, except that this pup should have food 24 hours a day, which complicates the potty habits because if he eats and drinks all night, he's going to go potty. So we had to put him in a plastic crate inside a huge other metal cage, with his plastic crate door open, so he could come in and out and go potty on papers if he wanted. We had to leave food and water in his plastic crate. Still, the trainer said we should just sleep for 8 hours and not worry. He said that once the pup gets a bit older and sleeps only in the plastic crate, if a problem arises of him pottying during the night, we shouldnt put much blanketry in there, as it could encourage him to potty, but rather put a small square just big enough for him to sleep on, and increase it gradually.
Wow.
So we did it all perfectly. And the howling began.
So after 6 nights of this, it turned out that the puppy wasn't going pee or poop all night on any night. This was a lucky break. Oh, wait. On night 6, he did make a small poop. I think it was "an anomaly" as the trainer said, because of stress, not the beginning of a habit. But small poop and anomaly or not, it cost me a lot of time and grossness the next morning cleaning up the dog, the kennel, the everything. Oh, I was drained. What if I'd had to have done that cleanup at 2 am? How do people live through all this?
Plus, my husband (Bill) and I were so worried about minimizing the time Jack had to go without be taken out potty that we started sleeping in shifts. I'd go to sleep at 9, and Bill stayed up till 12 and put Jack to bed at 12. I set my alarm for 5, and got Jack up at 5 and took him out before he had a chance to go in his cage.
The trainer said, "No sleeping in shifts!" He said you just cannot disrupt your lives to that degree. The dog just has to fit into the family, not the family fit to the dog.
WHAT DID THE TRAINER TELL US THAT STOPPED THE HOWLING INSTANTLY?
He said to try putting the crate in our bedroom where Jack could see us through the grate.
Never at any time does anyone in their right mind (exaggeration, admittedly) say that it is okay to LET THE DOG OUT OF THE CRATE IF IT CRIES and put it in bed. This kills your crate training and teaches the dog that screaming gets it what it wants.
The trainer wasn't against just skipping the crate and putting the dog in bed from the start IF the dog was big enough not to get squished and IF the dog wasn't going to pee in the bed. Back to the algebraic calculations, if you have that situation.
So, anyway, we put the crate where Jack could see me out of the grate, and that was IT! He went to sleep with just a few initial peeps, and slept from 9 pm to 7 am. Imagine our relief!
The only quirks: he did kind of whimper for a while at 2, so I did take him potty and he did have to pee. Then again at 4. But had I not taken him out, he might have just held it. I was too nervous to test that.
When you take a dog out of the crate to potty, just remember not to interact with the dog or make it fun. Dont talk, kiss, play around, nothing. All business. Take the pup potty. Dont talk to him. Then silently return him to his crate. This worked for Jack.
Next post, I will talk about how we potty train Jack.
He won't be used to you; you won't be used to him; your other pets will need to adjust; your other family members will need to adjust. Your furniture arrangement will need to adjust; your cleanliness and tidiness in your home will need to adjust; your friends will need to adjust; your far away kinfolk will call you crazy; the 5 thousand puppy gates you start working with will need to adjust, as will the pet store, where you suddenly have to make 80 million decisions about puppy food, toys, chewies, crates, leashes, collars, food bowls, whether to buy something soft for the crate--or not!
Oh, yeah, and setting up that first visit with the vet.
Throw in sticker shock at how much it all costs, too.
I'm going to be honest with you. It is not pretty.
Most of all, you'll be tackling SO many problems all at once that your head will swim, and you will probably be doing this without anywhere NEAR enough sleep for about 3 to 7 nights. By day 5, the puppy's cuteness will no longer outweigh the hassles involved in this early time period. You will seriously consider returning him to the breeder, and/or falling into a heap and crying for about 15 good minutes from pure exhaustion and overwhelmedness and regret at ever having THOUGHT about adopting a puppy.
I tend to talk in extremes. A trained professional dog handler (not mine; he was understanding) might even scoff at my report, saying that all this is just a result of my amateurism.
But, well, the problem is--I AM an amateur. And it REALLY WAS the week from H. E. DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS, as Flanders says on the Simpsons.
Why is this week so difficult?
Mine was because my puppy was in a crate, howling a heart-ripping song of injustice to the farthest corners of the universe--REALLY REALLY LOUDLY--literally ALL night long. I mean ALL. NIGHT. LONG.
Jack howled for 6 straight nights without even taking a 5 minute break at any time during any night.
By day 6, the day that, thank GOD, we had an in-person meeting with the trainer, my head was hanging down like a rag doll, I was totally depressed from lack of sleep, and for all I know, i was probably in such a stupor that i was drooling onto my jeans.
OH, it was bad.
But it got fixed in a one-hour session with our amazing trainer. And FINALLY, last night, which was night SEVEN, he slept all night without much of a peep, and didn't even wake up till 7 or 7:30 am--because of what my trainer said to do.
Here's what we were doing before last night. (And all that we were doing was CORRECT, which I know from googling like a deranged Siberian postal worker, every minute the puppy was asleep during the day, trying to find out if what we were doing was right, as it seemed so wrong.)
You're supposed to make him sleep in a crate. You have to harden your heart severely and vow with your spouse NEVER to let him out of the crate no matter how bad it gets. See "The Odyssey: lashing shipmates to mast while hearing Song of Sirens.")
What if he has to go potty?
On this point, you do calculations so complex, they resemble algebra 2, to figure out if your pup should be able to go all night without being taken out. The trainer did this for us.
We had to consider the following: age of pup, bladder size of pup, whether pup needs to have food and water out round the clock, whether food and water can be removed at 6 pm to prevent night time pottying, whether allowing pup to come out of crate (but still be in a pen) to potty on papers is worth the damage it will do to the potty training efforts during the day, which don't allow for pottying on paper, whether we should set the alarm to take the puppy out during the night, how to take the puppy out while it's screaming, without teaching it that screaming gets it out of the crate, and how many hours the pup can really be expected to go through the night without going potty, and what to do in the middle of the night if you find poop all over the crate and all over the dog. Or pee. Which you probably will.
See what I mean?
For US, the trainer said to put him in his crate in the evening when the family goes to bed, and let him wail. He said the pup would almost be able to go through 8 hours without going out, except that this pup should have food 24 hours a day, which complicates the potty habits because if he eats and drinks all night, he's going to go potty. So we had to put him in a plastic crate inside a huge other metal cage, with his plastic crate door open, so he could come in and out and go potty on papers if he wanted. We had to leave food and water in his plastic crate. Still, the trainer said we should just sleep for 8 hours and not worry. He said that once the pup gets a bit older and sleeps only in the plastic crate, if a problem arises of him pottying during the night, we shouldnt put much blanketry in there, as it could encourage him to potty, but rather put a small square just big enough for him to sleep on, and increase it gradually.
Wow.
So we did it all perfectly. And the howling began.
So after 6 nights of this, it turned out that the puppy wasn't going pee or poop all night on any night. This was a lucky break. Oh, wait. On night 6, he did make a small poop. I think it was "an anomaly" as the trainer said, because of stress, not the beginning of a habit. But small poop and anomaly or not, it cost me a lot of time and grossness the next morning cleaning up the dog, the kennel, the everything. Oh, I was drained. What if I'd had to have done that cleanup at 2 am? How do people live through all this?
Plus, my husband (Bill) and I were so worried about minimizing the time Jack had to go without be taken out potty that we started sleeping in shifts. I'd go to sleep at 9, and Bill stayed up till 12 and put Jack to bed at 12. I set my alarm for 5, and got Jack up at 5 and took him out before he had a chance to go in his cage.
The trainer said, "No sleeping in shifts!" He said you just cannot disrupt your lives to that degree. The dog just has to fit into the family, not the family fit to the dog.
WHAT DID THE TRAINER TELL US THAT STOPPED THE HOWLING INSTANTLY?
He said to try putting the crate in our bedroom where Jack could see us through the grate.
Never at any time does anyone in their right mind (exaggeration, admittedly) say that it is okay to LET THE DOG OUT OF THE CRATE IF IT CRIES and put it in bed. This kills your crate training and teaches the dog that screaming gets it what it wants.
The trainer wasn't against just skipping the crate and putting the dog in bed from the start IF the dog was big enough not to get squished and IF the dog wasn't going to pee in the bed. Back to the algebraic calculations, if you have that situation.
So, anyway, we put the crate where Jack could see me out of the grate, and that was IT! He went to sleep with just a few initial peeps, and slept from 9 pm to 7 am. Imagine our relief!
The only quirks: he did kind of whimper for a while at 2, so I did take him potty and he did have to pee. Then again at 4. But had I not taken him out, he might have just held it. I was too nervous to test that.
When you take a dog out of the crate to potty, just remember not to interact with the dog or make it fun. Dont talk, kiss, play around, nothing. All business. Take the pup potty. Dont talk to him. Then silently return him to his crate. This worked for Jack.
Next post, I will talk about how we potty train Jack.
How to Pick Out Your Puppy
Okay, so you've checked the rescues.
Then you've done all the checking on breeders. There's so much on the net about that, that I'll skip that too. But READ at least TEN SITES about how to select a good breeder!
Now you're headed to the breeder to look at the puppies and maybe commit to one.
Here are the instructions I got from my professional trainer, and I followed these exactly.
1. Find out from the breeder when is naptime and do NOT look at puppies who have been awakened from a nap. Their true personalities won't show through. Try to arrive during playtime.
2. When you get there (I'm skipping all the questions you're supposed to ask the breeder, because you can get those from the net, too), immediately observe the puppies, what they do the instant you walk into the room. If the breeder is talking to you, you can talk to her, but keep your eyes on the puppies to see what they do when a stranger walks in.
3. The puppies should WALK TOWARD YOU and immediately touch you with their front paws and kiss you if you lean down to them. If they do not walk toward you, that is a potentially bad sign. It is almost enough to reject the puppy altogether, unless there is a very good reason it didn't walk toward you at that moment, like a huge noise, or distraction or some such intervening cause. The best pups will approach you immediately.
4. It is very bad if the puppies hang back and seem fearful. It is really bad if they growl or act aggressive.
5. If you interact with them and they behave fearfully or aggressively, this is pretty much a deal killer.
5a. If they act hyper or bullying or rush at you like they're on speed, this is not great.
6. Our breeder, who is just excellent, allowed us to test all this. Jack, the black puppy, and all of his litter mates passed every test immediately. They ALL walked up to us, kissed us, were happy to be handled, never shy or fearful.
Eventually, they all went to sleep, morphing into a pile of curls :) and the breeder helped us even further to realize how calm these puppies were. She banged really loudly on the table above them. One slept on, and two looked up only mildly interested. After they fell asleep again, she did it again. Once more, the pups gave just a casual look toward the noise. None of the pups jumped or were disturbed by the sudden banging. EXCELLENT.
So, having spent a lot of time talking with this breeder and getting to know her over the past few weeks (that's another story), I knew that Jack was our guy. He was not the runt. I believe the trainer said never to pick the runt. In this litter, there was no runt.
So we brought him home.
How old should a puppy be when you bring him home?
Our trainer said to wait until 7 weeks to the day. No sooner. Many writers argue that 12 weeks is the soonest. Our trainer disagrees, obviously. But 6 weeks is too early because in that 7th week, the mother teaches the puppy a very important lesson about not biting, and if you get a 6 week puppy, they will never have learned this.
In our situation, the trainer said it was a good thing we didn't wait until 8 weeks on this particular pup because the situation in his sleeping arrangements was that the pups were in a huge long cage with a bed on one end and paper on the other end. They would walk from their bed to the other end to go potty.
This is BAD unless you get the dog out of that habit very early. Otherwise the pups learn that it is okay to potty INSIDE the place where they sleep, even tho it's at the other end.
Also, our trainer said you should NEVER use paper, even in the beginning, to allow a pup to go on the paper--not if you plan to train it to outside. You must begin with outside from day one. If you try to "cross train", the pup will NEVER go back and re-learn that it is bad to potty INSIDE the house.
My daughter's Yorkipoo is an exception. She has him successfully cross trained. He will use potty pads inside, but not make accidents elsewhere inside. AND he will potty outside. But he is a freak genius dog, and not ALL dogs can figure this out. Some can.
I had a Yorkie, may he rest in peace, and I trained him on newspapers and wee wee pads inside the house, so that he would never go outside (we lived in Wisconsin, and winters are just insane, and we had no fence. I wasn't about to walk a dog in arctic conditions 6 months out of the year). He learned just fine, but the trouble was, I started changing my mind about where the papers should be, and I'd move them. It would take him like a YEAR to learn not to potty where the papers once were. In fact, he never did learn not to potty in a few of the places, so i was pretty screwed up.
Next, a little about sleeping situation with new puppies.
Then you've done all the checking on breeders. There's so much on the net about that, that I'll skip that too. But READ at least TEN SITES about how to select a good breeder!
Now you're headed to the breeder to look at the puppies and maybe commit to one.
Here are the instructions I got from my professional trainer, and I followed these exactly.
1. Find out from the breeder when is naptime and do NOT look at puppies who have been awakened from a nap. Their true personalities won't show through. Try to arrive during playtime.
2. When you get there (I'm skipping all the questions you're supposed to ask the breeder, because you can get those from the net, too), immediately observe the puppies, what they do the instant you walk into the room. If the breeder is talking to you, you can talk to her, but keep your eyes on the puppies to see what they do when a stranger walks in.
3. The puppies should WALK TOWARD YOU and immediately touch you with their front paws and kiss you if you lean down to them. If they do not walk toward you, that is a potentially bad sign. It is almost enough to reject the puppy altogether, unless there is a very good reason it didn't walk toward you at that moment, like a huge noise, or distraction or some such intervening cause. The best pups will approach you immediately.
4. It is very bad if the puppies hang back and seem fearful. It is really bad if they growl or act aggressive.
5. If you interact with them and they behave fearfully or aggressively, this is pretty much a deal killer.
5a. If they act hyper or bullying or rush at you like they're on speed, this is not great.
6. Our breeder, who is just excellent, allowed us to test all this. Jack, the black puppy, and all of his litter mates passed every test immediately. They ALL walked up to us, kissed us, were happy to be handled, never shy or fearful.
Eventually, they all went to sleep, morphing into a pile of curls :) and the breeder helped us even further to realize how calm these puppies were. She banged really loudly on the table above them. One slept on, and two looked up only mildly interested. After they fell asleep again, she did it again. Once more, the pups gave just a casual look toward the noise. None of the pups jumped or were disturbed by the sudden banging. EXCELLENT.
So, having spent a lot of time talking with this breeder and getting to know her over the past few weeks (that's another story), I knew that Jack was our guy. He was not the runt. I believe the trainer said never to pick the runt. In this litter, there was no runt.
So we brought him home.
How old should a puppy be when you bring him home?
Our trainer said to wait until 7 weeks to the day. No sooner. Many writers argue that 12 weeks is the soonest. Our trainer disagrees, obviously. But 6 weeks is too early because in that 7th week, the mother teaches the puppy a very important lesson about not biting, and if you get a 6 week puppy, they will never have learned this.
In our situation, the trainer said it was a good thing we didn't wait until 8 weeks on this particular pup because the situation in his sleeping arrangements was that the pups were in a huge long cage with a bed on one end and paper on the other end. They would walk from their bed to the other end to go potty.
This is BAD unless you get the dog out of that habit very early. Otherwise the pups learn that it is okay to potty INSIDE the place where they sleep, even tho it's at the other end.
Also, our trainer said you should NEVER use paper, even in the beginning, to allow a pup to go on the paper--not if you plan to train it to outside. You must begin with outside from day one. If you try to "cross train", the pup will NEVER go back and re-learn that it is bad to potty INSIDE the house.
My daughter's Yorkipoo is an exception. She has him successfully cross trained. He will use potty pads inside, but not make accidents elsewhere inside. AND he will potty outside. But he is a freak genius dog, and not ALL dogs can figure this out. Some can.
I had a Yorkie, may he rest in peace, and I trained him on newspapers and wee wee pads inside the house, so that he would never go outside (we lived in Wisconsin, and winters are just insane, and we had no fence. I wasn't about to walk a dog in arctic conditions 6 months out of the year). He learned just fine, but the trouble was, I started changing my mind about where the papers should be, and I'd move them. It would take him like a YEAR to learn not to potty where the papers once were. In fact, he never did learn not to potty in a few of the places, so i was pretty screwed up.
Next, a little about sleeping situation with new puppies.
How to Select a Puppy from a Litter--But First a Word on Rescue Dog versus new Puppy
I'll skip the details on how you decide what breed, what age, and so forth. But here are some quick tips on where to go to even look for a dog.
It's always nice to check the rescue dogs in your area, through petfinder.com. They say that for every new dog you buy from a breeder, a dog in a shelter will die because it's one fewer adoptions.
Ouch.
For Pete's sake, at least CHECK the shelters and rescue groups.
So I started with a rescue dog. That's Bambi, my 4 to 6 year old Italian Greyhound. At least I did my part a little bit. She's a great dog, with the kookiest dog personality ever. Eccentric, and with a huge sense of humor. She's hilarious, but we suspect she's part extraterrestrial because she is so absolutely weird!
My second dog, Midey the Boston Terrier, 1.5 years old, was from an AKC breeder. However, there are incredible young Bostons on Boston rescue sites!
Oh, that's the other way to rescue a dog. You google like this: In the white box, you put:
Your state Dog breed Rescue
So for me, it would go:
North Carolina Boston Terrier Rescue
or for Bambi it was
Wisconsin Italian Greyhound Rescue
and all the rescue groups in your area will pop up.
Rescue groups are especially great because they have specific breeds that you're looking for, but best of all, ALL their pups are in private foster homes! Being house trained, crate trained, socialized. AND on their sites, you will get a really thorough assessment of all the strengths and weakness of each dog! It increases by geometrics the chance that the dog you get will be what you were looking for.
Shelter dogs can turn out beautifully, too. But if you're timid like me, and like to proceed on maximum information, rescue groups set up by breed and by state give a bit more information sometimes.
Next post, I PROMISE to get to the part about what to look for when you go check out a litter.
It's always nice to check the rescue dogs in your area, through petfinder.com. They say that for every new dog you buy from a breeder, a dog in a shelter will die because it's one fewer adoptions.
Ouch.
For Pete's sake, at least CHECK the shelters and rescue groups.
So I started with a rescue dog. That's Bambi, my 4 to 6 year old Italian Greyhound. At least I did my part a little bit. She's a great dog, with the kookiest dog personality ever. Eccentric, and with a huge sense of humor. She's hilarious, but we suspect she's part extraterrestrial because she is so absolutely weird!
My second dog, Midey the Boston Terrier, 1.5 years old, was from an AKC breeder. However, there are incredible young Bostons on Boston rescue sites!
Oh, that's the other way to rescue a dog. You google like this: In the white box, you put:
Your state Dog breed Rescue
So for me, it would go:
North Carolina Boston Terrier Rescue
or for Bambi it was
Wisconsin Italian Greyhound Rescue
and all the rescue groups in your area will pop up.
Rescue groups are especially great because they have specific breeds that you're looking for, but best of all, ALL their pups are in private foster homes! Being house trained, crate trained, socialized. AND on their sites, you will get a really thorough assessment of all the strengths and weakness of each dog! It increases by geometrics the chance that the dog you get will be what you were looking for.
Shelter dogs can turn out beautifully, too. But if you're timid like me, and like to proceed on maximum information, rescue groups set up by breed and by state give a bit more information sometimes.
Next post, I PROMISE to get to the part about what to look for when you go check out a litter.
Meet Jack, the Little Black Puppy
.
.
.
INTRODUCTION
Meet Jack. He is a little black puppy who is going to be socialized in the next 8 weeks. His picture will be up by the time you see this, I expect.
I'm Beth, his owner and handler. Notice I didn't say, "his mom" because there's a big difference between raising a dog and raising a human. I've done both. And I'm learning that if you raise a puppy like it is a human, it's as dumb as raising a human like it is a puppy.
Jack is a small black poodle. REALLY small. He was born on November 21, 2008, and as of today, he is 8 weeks old.
He's way too small for what I planned to get. At 8 weeks, he only weighs 1.5 pounds, meaning his adult weight could come in under 5 pounds.
This is bad. I didn't want anything to do with a toy poodle. I wanted a miniature, leaning toward large. But through a series of really complicated events, I ended up driving to Winston Salem to just look at this little black puppy.
However, before I went, I did something I have never even thought of doing before: I consulted a professional dog trainer and psychologist. His name is John. He's a Cornell graduate, with 30 years of experience in this field. Unbelievable that I found someone this fantastic living only 90 minutes away.
Over the phone, John told me everything to look for when selecting a puppy. He said if the pup fails any of those tests, walk away. He even said that I should bring someone with me who won't be excited about the puppy, because I might be so swayed by the cuteness of a puppy that I would get it, even if it failed the tests.
More about that in my next post.
But for now, a few more details just for introduction.
Why a poodle? I carefully, thoughtfully, and with MUCH research, chose a poodle for a few reasons.
One, they are rated as the second highest most intelligent dog (after Border Collies), and I thought that would make a more interesting companion, as I enjoy tinkering around with training, teaching tricks.
I have never shown a dog, and I will NEVER show a dog. See the movie "Best in Show" if you want just a taste of why.
Second reason I chose the breed is because I wanted a dog that was interested in me on a deeper level. Poodles provide this. Terriers, for example, are often noticeably less interested in humans as co-beings, and see humans more as simply providers--"Feed me and so forth, but don't look to me for that emotional stuff." That is the way SOME terriers are.
Not all, God knows. My Boston boy Midey (Midas Mulligan) (1.5 years old) is nearly intoxicated with love and adoration for me.
Third reason I chose a poodle is because I've experienced 4 poodles in my life, and each poodle was pretty much mind-blowing in its depth, interactivity, level of consciousness, affection, desire to just plain be good. Really unlike any other dog I've known.
My daughter brought her poodle-yorkie mix (yorkipoo) Raggy to my house for a couple of weeks last summer, and that was IT. I wanted either a poodle or a poodle mix, really badly after that. Raggy has a consciousness like a monkey or a hybrid dog-human. I was truly stunned by spending two weeks with him.
Moreoever, he LOVED my Boston and Midey loved him. All they did was wrestle and play 15 hours a day for two straight weeks--oh, and go for hour-long walks with me on wooded trails.
Midey was desperately in need of such companionship. Our only other dog is a 4 to 6 year old (not sure) Italian Greyhound named Bambi, a rescue girl with an apparently terrible past, and lots of shyness issues, and no interest whatsoever in other dogs.
When Raggy left, I realized what Midey was missing in his life.
Mix it all together, and I began to plot to get a poodle companion for Midey.
In my next post, I'll tell you what the trainer told me, which caused me to pick out an amazing personalitied dog.
Is "personalitied" a word?
.
.
INTRODUCTION
Meet Jack. He is a little black puppy who is going to be socialized in the next 8 weeks. His picture will be up by the time you see this, I expect.
I'm Beth, his owner and handler. Notice I didn't say, "his mom" because there's a big difference between raising a dog and raising a human. I've done both. And I'm learning that if you raise a puppy like it is a human, it's as dumb as raising a human like it is a puppy.
Jack is a small black poodle. REALLY small. He was born on November 21, 2008, and as of today, he is 8 weeks old.
He's way too small for what I planned to get. At 8 weeks, he only weighs 1.5 pounds, meaning his adult weight could come in under 5 pounds.
This is bad. I didn't want anything to do with a toy poodle. I wanted a miniature, leaning toward large. But through a series of really complicated events, I ended up driving to Winston Salem to just look at this little black puppy.
However, before I went, I did something I have never even thought of doing before: I consulted a professional dog trainer and psychologist. His name is John. He's a Cornell graduate, with 30 years of experience in this field. Unbelievable that I found someone this fantastic living only 90 minutes away.
Over the phone, John told me everything to look for when selecting a puppy. He said if the pup fails any of those tests, walk away. He even said that I should bring someone with me who won't be excited about the puppy, because I might be so swayed by the cuteness of a puppy that I would get it, even if it failed the tests.
More about that in my next post.
But for now, a few more details just for introduction.
Why a poodle? I carefully, thoughtfully, and with MUCH research, chose a poodle for a few reasons.
One, they are rated as the second highest most intelligent dog (after Border Collies), and I thought that would make a more interesting companion, as I enjoy tinkering around with training, teaching tricks.
I have never shown a dog, and I will NEVER show a dog. See the movie "Best in Show" if you want just a taste of why.
Second reason I chose the breed is because I wanted a dog that was interested in me on a deeper level. Poodles provide this. Terriers, for example, are often noticeably less interested in humans as co-beings, and see humans more as simply providers--"Feed me and so forth, but don't look to me for that emotional stuff." That is the way SOME terriers are.
Not all, God knows. My Boston boy Midey (Midas Mulligan) (1.5 years old) is nearly intoxicated with love and adoration for me.
Third reason I chose a poodle is because I've experienced 4 poodles in my life, and each poodle was pretty much mind-blowing in its depth, interactivity, level of consciousness, affection, desire to just plain be good. Really unlike any other dog I've known.
My daughter brought her poodle-yorkie mix (yorkipoo) Raggy to my house for a couple of weeks last summer, and that was IT. I wanted either a poodle or a poodle mix, really badly after that. Raggy has a consciousness like a monkey or a hybrid dog-human. I was truly stunned by spending two weeks with him.
Moreoever, he LOVED my Boston and Midey loved him. All they did was wrestle and play 15 hours a day for two straight weeks--oh, and go for hour-long walks with me on wooded trails.
Midey was desperately in need of such companionship. Our only other dog is a 4 to 6 year old (not sure) Italian Greyhound named Bambi, a rescue girl with an apparently terrible past, and lots of shyness issues, and no interest whatsoever in other dogs.
When Raggy left, I realized what Midey was missing in his life.
Mix it all together, and I began to plot to get a poodle companion for Midey.
In my next post, I'll tell you what the trainer told me, which caused me to pick out an amazing personalitied dog.
Is "personalitied" a word?
Puppy Socialization Project: The Diary of Jack, the Little Black Objectivist Puppy
Puppy Socialization Project
This is the diary I am keeping day by day, during the eight weeks I spend socializing my new puppy.
I hope that you will learn along with me, as I undertake to truly and completely socialize a puppy.
I've thrown the word "Objectivist" into the mix, because I am the founder of the philosophy of Christian Objectivism (treatise available). And to me, socialization is about nothing other than turning your pup into an Objectivist.
An Objectivist puppy? WHAT?
What I mean is that socialization is what brings your puppy into the state of knowing reality AS IT IS--the facts of reality, both pleasant and unpleasant--and learning to simply ACCEPT reality, rather than inventing an idealized version of reality and spending one's life shocked when the actual facts don't match up to what's in your head.
A dog who is not socialized builds up an idealized idea of what the world is like. Her idea is terribly simplistic, limited, and primitive. Her idea of who populates the world includes only the people she knows well--no other people. And her idea of what the world contains is limited to only the inside of her home and its sounds and smells--no other places, sounds, or smells.
Consequently, when she does venture out and experience new things, these new things challenge her idealized ideas and create a conflict. The dog then feels fear because she is surprised and not prepared to process the new things.
And nothing creates fear like encountering the unknown suddenly and unprepared.
So I hope to show my puppy the facts of reality as it is--the objective, actual facts. That is why I say that my puppy will be an Objectivist when we are finished in 8 weeks, if all goes well.
In my next post, I will introduce us to you!
This is the diary I am keeping day by day, during the eight weeks I spend socializing my new puppy.
I hope that you will learn along with me, as I undertake to truly and completely socialize a puppy.
I've thrown the word "Objectivist" into the mix, because I am the founder of the philosophy of Christian Objectivism (treatise available). And to me, socialization is about nothing other than turning your pup into an Objectivist.
An Objectivist puppy? WHAT?
What I mean is that socialization is what brings your puppy into the state of knowing reality AS IT IS--the facts of reality, both pleasant and unpleasant--and learning to simply ACCEPT reality, rather than inventing an idealized version of reality and spending one's life shocked when the actual facts don't match up to what's in your head.
A dog who is not socialized builds up an idealized idea of what the world is like. Her idea is terribly simplistic, limited, and primitive. Her idea of who populates the world includes only the people she knows well--no other people. And her idea of what the world contains is limited to only the inside of her home and its sounds and smells--no other places, sounds, or smells.
Consequently, when she does venture out and experience new things, these new things challenge her idealized ideas and create a conflict. The dog then feels fear because she is surprised and not prepared to process the new things.
And nothing creates fear like encountering the unknown suddenly and unprepared.
So I hope to show my puppy the facts of reality as it is--the objective, actual facts. That is why I say that my puppy will be an Objectivist when we are finished in 8 weeks, if all goes well.
In my next post, I will introduce us to you!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
