Raising a Puppy<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\nUsually, when people want a pure-bred dog they start with a pup from a breeder.\u00a0 Many trainers prefer to start from scratch with a ‘blank slate’, hoping to avoid mistakes and raise a dog with minimal vices.\u00a0 Of course this means a year or two of frustration and hard work that might be avoided when you acquire a mature dog.\u00a0 In my experience, the majority of dog (or dog owner) problems stem from mistakes made in the first few months of a dog’s life, usually by owners who presumed they needed no advice.\u00a0 If you are getting a pup, here are some things to keep in mind:<\/p>\n
A pup needs 6 to 8 weeks in the litter with it’s mother and siblings to learn to be a dog.\u00a0 This is an important time and should not be cut short, but it pays to meet and handle your pup during this time.\u00a0 I recommend sleeping in an old T shirt and then leaving it with the litter early in the pup’s life.\u00a0 When you eventually come to collect your pup it will be familiar with your smell and you can take the T shirt back home to identify the pup’s new sleeping place.\u00a0 The T shirt will now bear comforting smells from the litter which should make the switch to a new home easier.<\/p>\n
The next 8 weeks or so are the pup’s imprint period.\u00a0 You need to patiently expose your pup to everything you expect it to deal with in later life during this period; people, traffic, water, other animals and so on.\u00a0 Exposure to well-behaved dogs is also valuable.\u00a0 Don’t expect miracles, just calmly introduce the pup to these new things in a controlled environment so it comes away with a happy memory of each experience.\u00a0 If it comes from a breed that will need clipping, introduce it to the groomer during this time.<\/p>\n
It’s important to remember that your pup is learning about the whole world and it’s place in it.\u00a0 This takes time and patience, especially at first.\u00a0 If you are patient and consistent your dog will get better at learning.\u00a0 If you are patient and consistent, your dog will learn how to fit into your life and human society.<\/p>\n
Your dog needs to learn your routines.\u00a0 It needs to learn to focus on you and stay close to you.\u00a0 It needs to learn to wait for you, wait with you and travel with you.\u00a0 If you expect your dog to travel in cars, start early, with short trips at first.\u00a0 Your dog should be encouraged to look out through the windows and windscreen; it needs to learn to look at what’s passing outside and it needs to learn to look forward, not backwards, to avoid motion sickness.<\/p>\n
Your dog needs to learn to eat bones.\u00a0 There’s a big physical workout for a dog with larger bones as it learns to apply it’s specialised teeth and jaws.\u00a0 I firmly believe dogs and their wolf ancestors have been eating human leftovers, particularly bones, for hundreds of millennia, that this is a domestic dog’s natural diet, but it still needs to practise and learn the skill.\u00a0 Neglect this and your dog will still be drawn to bones, but may try to eat them too quickly.\u00a0 This can result in splinters and injury.<\/p>\n
Give your dog a name it can hear well.\u00a0 Bob and Ralph are bad names; Dexter, Lassie, Pluto and Rin Tin Tin are good ones.\u00a0 Use hand signals in conjunction with your spoken commands.\u00a0 Take your dog out to smell stuff.\u00a0 The more new smells your dog soaks up in your company the better it will bond with you.<\/p>\n
Get your pup to a vet.\u00a0 Its mothers milk will protect it from most things, but once that finishes your pup needs vaccinations.\u00a0 While you are there, make an appointment for your next visit.\u00a0 Tag your dog with your phone number.<\/p>\n
Your pup will destroy something valuable to you.\u00a0 Ask any dog owner.\u00a0 This is nature testing your patience.\u00a0 You can be upset, but you must forgive and move on.\u00a0 Grumble when you are displeased, sing and dance when you are happy.\u00a0 Be consistent.\u00a0 Have faith.\u00a0 Show your pup patiently and repetitively the behaviour you want and it will reward you beyond your dreams.<\/p>\n
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[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http:\/\/eylesviewbordercollies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Black-White-Dog-Book.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”left” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”3_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] Introducing our first guest author, Scott Hunt.\u00a0 Scott is a dog trainer based in Tasmania.\u00a0 He has had extensive experience with training working dogs, including his beloved Kenny Dog Wonder.\u00a0 He has gone on to write The Black and White Dog Book which can be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-puppy","category-scott-hunt-dog-trainer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eylesviewbordercollies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eylesviewbordercollies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eylesviewbordercollies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eylesviewbordercollies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eylesviewbordercollies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/eylesviewbordercollies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242,"href":"https:\/\/eylesviewbordercollies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions\/242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eylesviewbordercollies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eylesviewbordercollies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eylesviewbordercollies.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}