Normally, my pups are introduced to loud noises at 5 weeks by doing blank gun fire and experiencing the water in a child's swimming pool for acclimation to water, plus playing with stuffed animals to exercise the bite besides chasing and carrying tennis balls. When the breeder takes the time to introduce the puppies at an early age to these types of stimuli, then later on the training will naturally happen easier when they are older plus they do not have the mental problems other litters tend to have that are raised as caged animals. Also, teaching them to climb small steps/stairs and to jump off of low tables at different heights to teach the jumping and not be afraid of heights. In the house, I open dresser drawers and encourage the puppies to look in the drawer but teach them not to touch or pull things out. I do not tell them "No" when they use their curiosity to check things out. A lot of people mistakenly "yell" at the dog when the dog starts to look into something or be curious at something because the owner is afraid the puppy is going to grab and tear up. When someone does this to their puppy, instead they are inhibiting their puppy from exploring things and learn that objects will not hurt it. We don't yell at the dog, we correct the dog only after it has touched/grabbed the article when it was not told to. For this reason, many of our mother dogs live in a normal household environment with a family with children and other animals, so the puppies are initially raised with lots of things going on around them.
We start the obedience totally off leash so the dog does not think of the leash as a negative or as the only time it has to listen to the owner. It is so much easier as a puppy. Just like children the puppy learns by reward and praise, so you must figure out which method is best for your new child. Does a food reward or toy reward or high praise reward work best for you and the dog? That is the main question you need to determine. The foundation between 5 weeks to 18 weeks is the main imprinting time for all puppies. Most of the books will tell you this. So please take the time to work with your puppy when you first get him home because his basis for acceptance of the thought of learning new things is imprinted at this time period in his life.
There are several things not to do when raising a puppy and I will be drafting that soon for later listing on my web site. Stay tuned.
COMMENTS:
I know that some of the trainers and breeders get upset when I freely tell the
rest of the world about what to do with the puppies to make them more social,
but I am looking to have dogs in our society that do not create a bad name for
the dog world and become more readily accepted in public places. In Europe, it
is common to see dogs at the shopping malls or in restaurants or the finest
hotels. You must take the time to teach your four legged children.
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