Puppy Training
Advice 1
Set up a schedule and carefully supervise your puppy.
The little puppy is very curious and will get into trouble every chance he gets. To save yourself a lot of agida, and to save your puppy from stress, set up a schedule which very importantly includes crate time, dog play time, walk time, and handling/grooming/cuddling time.
Puppy Training Advice 1 - Set up a schedule and carefully supervise your puppy.
When your puppy is out and about in a non-dog-proof area, make sure you have the time and attention to supervise him. If you don’t he will definitely get into some type of trouble!
If you are around, you get to teach him right from wrong without too much damage to your furniture and belongings. If you do not have the time then crate him (if you are not home) or put him on a tie-down (if you are home but just don’t have the time to supervise).
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Puppy Training Advice - If you do not have the time to supervise your puppy then crate him.
As a general rule, the longest time you should keep your puppy in a crate is (age of puppy in months + 1) hours.
If your dog is not crate trained, here is what the Humane Society of the United States and the American Dog Trainer’s Network have to say about crate training.
If you will be gone for a long time (> 3 hours) put your puppy in a long-term enclosure; which can be a secure puppy pen or a secure and safe room (e.g. kitchen). Make sure there is nothing in the enclosure that your puppy can destroy. Put bedding, a water bowl, some puppy pads, and safe chew toys and food toys in the enclosure.
As a general rule, the longest time you should keep your puppy in a crate is (age of dog in months + 1) hours. An 8 week old puppy can be kept a maximum of (2 month old + 1) = 3 hours in a crate. Note that this is just a general guideline for the maximum crate time.
Most puppies need to go outside more frequent than that for exercise and potty training. Take your puppy outside as soon as he wakes up and right after any kind of vigorous play. Initially, my Siberian Husky puppy needed to potty after about 10-15 minutes of play.
At night, I crate my dogs in my bedroom. Keeping your dogs with you in the bedroom will help with the bonding process and will show them that they are part of the pack.
Puppy Training Advice - If you will be gone for a long time ( 3 hours) put your puppy in a long-term enclosure; which can be a secure puppy pen or a secure and safe room (e.g. kitchen).
Puppy Training Advice 2
Puppy Training Advice 2 - Keep a drag-lead on your puppy.
Shiba Inu Sephy wearing a drag-lead so that we can easily keep him out of trouble.
Keep a drag-lead on your puppy.
Always keep a drag-lead on your puppy when he is roaming freely in the house.
This will help you control your ball of energy without resorting to chasing games. When your puppy tries to run away, all you need to do is step on the leash.
Please use a regular, thick (1 inch wide), flat collar and not a training collar (choke chain, prong collar). Make sure you cut off the loop on your leash so that it doesn’t catch on anything around the house. Start with a longer (6 feet), light leash and shorten it according to the level of control you have on your dog.
Once your puppy matures and is better behaved, you may switch to a leash tab or remove the leash altogether.
It is best to use a 6 foot leash during puppy leash training and not the flexi-leash. The 6 foot leash gives you better control of your dog and is necessary to keep your dog safe when he decides to go chasing after other dogs, cats, or squirrels.
Puppy Training Advice 3
Puppy Training Advice 3 - Start with reward based dog training on your puppy.
Shiba Inu Sephy sits and waits patiently to be let into the house.
Start with reward obedience training on your puppy.
It will be easier and less stressful, on both you and your puppy, to start with reward obedience training. I started out with aversive obedience training and it made my puppy develop even more behavioral issues as well as develop dog aggression. Even aversive based dog trainers will not use leash jerks and alpha rolls on dogs that are younger than 6 months old.
Today, I only use reward training because it is more effective for me and my dogs.
It is also important to establish yourself as the leader of the pack by controlling your dog’s resources through the Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF) program. This simply means that your dog has to do something for you (e.g. a Sit) before he gets any resource (e.g. food, toys, affection, freedom). Any bullying will be ignored or will result in the removal of that resource.
Many people make the mistake of equating pack leadership with the use of aversive training. Aversive dog trainers may tell you that for a difficult, strong-willed, dominant dog, you must use stronger, punishment based methods in order to show him who is boss.
This is not true.
One of my dogs (a Shiba Inu) is extremely strong willed and can be quite difficult but he responds much better to reward training.
Be careful of advertisements for 10 minute puppy training programs and the like. There are no miracle cures in dog or puppy training.
Shiba Inu Sephy and Siberian Husky Shania both wait patiently for their Birthday cake. Pack leadership is most effectively attained through reward training.
Puppy Training Advice 4
Teach your puppy bite Inhibition.
Puppy biting is common because puppies are naturally curious and want to examine everything with their mouths.
The good news is that puppies have not developed the jaw strength of an adult yet, and so will not do much damage to you when biting. Because of this, puppy-hood is a good time to train your dog to have good bite inhibition.
Hand-feeding is a great way to train a puppy to have good bite inhibition.
Hand-feed your dog at least some of his kibble every day. If he bites too hard when getting his food, do a sharp ouch or yelp and ignore him for a few seconds then start hand-feeding him again. If he is taking food from you gently then praise him and keep feeding your dog.
You can also combine hand-feeding with training and dog grooming sessions. Hand-feeding also helps get rid of food aggression issues so it is a good thing to continue this practice throughout your dog’s life.
Ian Dunbar’s book After You Get Your Puppy, gives a good overview of bite inhibition, and how to best train your puppy to have a soft mouth.
A puppy, and ultimately an adult dog who has a soft mouth is a great asset. Because my Shiba Inu has good bite inhibition, we were able to solve many of his problems which would have been difficult to deal with if he was biting at full strength.
Puppy Training Advice - Because my Shiba Inu has good bite inhibition, we were able to solve many of his problems which would have been difficult to deal with if he was biting at full strength.
Puppy Training Advice 5
Practice calm and assertive energy.
This is something that is always emphasized by Cesar Millan (the Dog Whisperer) and it is extremely important; especially for a hyperactive puppy.
If you interact with a dog using nervous, submissive, fearful, or otherwise weak (non-assertive) energy, the dog will sense that and start acting out even more.
Anger, impatience, frustration, and all other non-calm energies will only excite your puppy and cause him to exhibit even more extreme behaviors.
In order to achieve calm, assertive energy, you must first overcome whatever fears you may feel towards your dog and become his pack leader. This is much easier to do if you have achieved good bite inhibition.
Puppy Training Advice 6
Puppy Training Advice 6 - Handle your puppy as much as you can, but only in a positive way.
Handle your puppy as much as you can, but only in a positive way.
Dogs can get shy and stressed about being handled. This is especially true of sensitive areas such as paws, muzzle, and ears.
While taking care of your dog, you will need to handle these areas when trimming his nails, brushing his teeth, or cleaning his ears and paws. Because of this, you want to get your dog used to handling as much as you can. This is best done when he is young, and more open to new experiences.
Make sure that handling your puppy is a positive experience, accompanied with a happy voice and dog treats or dog toys. Make the puppy handling sessions short and stop before your puppy gets stressed.
Ian Dunbar’s book After You Get Your Puppy also has some helpful lessons on how to desensitize your dog towards handling of sensitive areas.
In addition to grooming demands, handling exercises become extremely important when visiting the vet. A dog that is not used to handling will be very stressed and mouthy with vets, and may have to be sedated for examinations. Try to find a vet who will spend some time in getting to know your dog and who will combine the physical examination session with calm energy, praise, and sometimes food.
Make sure that handling your puppy is a positive experience, accompanied with a happy voice and treats or toys.
Puppy Training Advice 7
Puppy Training Advice - Make restraint fun, and NOT a punishment.
Dogs use their mouth to interact and play, not just to attack.
Make restraint fun, and NOT a punishment.
In addition to handling, most dogs also dislike restraint.
Some dog trainers and books suggest using restraint to settle your dog or puppy down. Restraint does not work with my Shiba Inu. Instead of calming him down, he just gets more stressed.
What worked best for me is to treat restraint like any other puppy handling exercise. Make it fun and short. Stop before your puppy gets stressed. Definitely stop if he is already stressed and trying to get free.
Note that this is counter to the advice of some trainers who only release the dog when he stops squirming, mouthing, or whining. This makes sense in cases where the puppy is not really stressed, and is only trying to get back to what he was doing. However, it does not make sense for a really stressed out puppy who is afraid of or dislikes restraint. You must make your own judgment as to which group your puppy belongs to.
I always prefer to set my dog up for success, and stop before my dog starts misbehaving. It is best not to use restraint as a dog discipline method. Use time-outs (see below) instead.
When I say restraint, I mean simple dog hugs, or picking up your dog – I DO NOT mean alpha rolls. DO NOT perform alpha rolls on your puppy or on any of your dogs. At worst you will get bitten, and you will most likely lose your dog’s trust.
Set your puppy up for success, and stop restraining him before he tries to escape.
Puppy Training Advice 8
Puppy Training Advice 8 - A busy puppy is a good puppy.
Puppy Training Advice - Make sure you always have control of your puppy's play-time.
Keep your puppy busy because – A busy puppy is a good puppy.
Puppies have a lot of energy and will get into trouble if you do not keep them busy.
Make your puppy work for ALL of his food. Don’t just present food to him on a silver platter or a silver bowl. Use his daily rations of kibble and treats for puppy training and handling. If there is food left over, stuff it in toys so that he has to work to get it out.
Make sure you have dog play time with your puppy. Some games that my dog likes include the flirt pole, the water hose game, and sometimes soccer.
When you start with any new game make it fun by handing out lots of dog treats for effort. Once your puppy understands the game, switch to only treating the more stellar performances.
Make sure you always have control of your dog’s play-time, which means that you own all the dog toys and you decide when to start and stop games. Play-time can be very useful in training your puppy to calm down, and to pay attention to you even when he is excited.
Schedule two or three short (10-15 minutes) obedience training sessions with your puppy every day. This will help establish you as the leader, exercise your puppy mentally, and be a good bonding experience.
Other good ways to exercise your puppy include neighborhood walks, walks in the park, dog playgroups, and dog sports.
Puppy Training Advice - Do obedience training sessions with your puppy every day.
Puppy Training Advice 9
Use Time-outs.
Dogs and puppies like their freedom, and they like being with their family/pack.
Since a time-out takes away both of these things, it is an extremely effective method of dog discipline. To give your dog a good time-out, make sure you put him in a really boring room (no low windows), where he can’t misbehave, i.e. there is nothing in the room that he can play with or chew on. My dog’s time-out area is in my laundry room.
Nobody is to give your puppy any attention during a time-out.
I only use time-outs for extreme misbehavior. Some of my dog’s time-out offenses include biting on humans, any kind of humping, and leash biting. When my dog starts or even thinks about starting any one of these actions, I will give him a stern NO or ack ack. If he stops, then I praise him and let him continue with his regularly scheduled programming. If he continues with the behavior, then I say Time-Out and quickly remove him to his time-out area.
I start with short time-outs (approximately 1 minute). If my dog continues the bad behavior after he gets released, then I lengthen the next time-out significantly (15 minutes). It is best to be flexible and to tailor the time-out duration according to your dog’s age, temperament and behavior.
Some trainers do not believe in long time outs while others may ignore their dogs for hours or even days. Do not use time-outs for training mistakes or lack of motivation.
Puppy Training Advice 9 - Use time-outs.
Puppy Training Advice 10
Always remember that you are not alone.
The most important thing to remember while bringing up a difficult puppy is that you are not alone!
Your journey will be filled with many triumphs and much happiness, but there will also be challenges and pit holes on the road. Sometimes you may feel discouraged with your puppy’s behavior or with his performance in dog obedience class.
You are not alone!
There are many support groups out there where you may post your questions. I also find it very helpful to just visit these groups whenever I feel discouraged or when I feel like my puppy is some mutant strain of devil dog.
Do not think you are a bad dog owner/trainer when your puppy behaves badly. Many other dog owners are facing the exact same problems. Also remember that with proper rules and training, your puppy’s behavior will improve with time.
Puppy Training Advice 10 - Always remember that you are not alone.
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Hello Ana, Thanks for dropping by.
Yeah my Shiba used to eat everything as well. To some degree, this is puppy behavior. Dogs don’t have any other way of manipulating objects except through their mouths. Puppies tend to be most curious and will want to put everything into their mouth to check it out. It is their way of learning about their environment, because everything is so new.
Now that my Shiba is older, he is not longer so mouth happy.
When my Shiba was young, I very carefully managed his environment so that there wasn’t anything bad/dangerous for him on the floor. Outside – I will carefully watch him and stop him from getting bad stuff before he gets it in his mouth. It is best to stop them before it is in the mouth because once it is in the mouth, then Shibas in general, will not want to give it up, especially if they see that you are trying to get what they have.
When it is something dangerous, I will go in his mouth and take it out but you don’t generally want to do that because it will make Shiba be more protective of his belongings.
Here is an article on food guarding – most of the techniques in food guarding can be used to help manage the eat-everything-on-the-floor behavior
In particular, the drop command and object-exchange game will help with getting him to give you items voluntarily.
http://hubpages.com/_srec/hub/How-to-Stop-Your-Dog
Another thing that really helped me a lot with my Shiba was bite inhibition training. I learned it from the book “After Getting your Puppy” from Ian Dunbar. The idea of bite inhibition is to train your Shiba to control the force of his bites, so that when he does his used mouth on instinct, he will do very little or no damage. This helped me a lot when I was taking bad stuff out of his mouth.
Here is more on bite inhibition -
http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-stop-your-dog-from-
Congrats on your Shiba puppy! They are difficult at first but it will really get better
Hi!
I’m enjoying your blog a lot, I have a shiba puppy, my first dog and she’s putting me into many troubles I really don’t know how to face, but reading you helps a lot.
Have one question, I have a problem with foot: mu shiba eats everything she finds in the floor (food basically, not smokes for example) and sometimes even other dogs’ shit. Any ideas on how to stop this behavior? I don’t know what else can I do.
Thank you in advance and congratulations for the blog and for your beautiful dogs. I love shibas and huskies!!
Hello Yoshi,
“Will putting him in a different area for time out still work, since he spend a lot of time in the pen?”
Yeah the time-out still worked well on my Shiba, even though I also kept mine in his crate a fair amount when he was young because he would get into trouble every chance he got
Make sure the time-out area is very boring and away from everything else. Whereas, make the crate into a good, safe, place that is around where you are.
“I let him sleep my my room in the crate now. hopefully we can create a better bond and trust. “
You have a very lucky Shiba
Hi
Your hub is so useful and full of answers and comfort. I have my puppy for three weeks now. He is being kept in the pen. I take him out for walks three times a day. We wanted to wait before we let him roam around the house so he wont’ be chewing on furnitures or accidents on the carpet. I also put a different toys in his pen area to keep him busy.
Will putting him in a different area for time out still work, since he spend a lot of time in the pen?
The few times i let him in the house, he pee and poo on the carpet because I was not fast enough to stop him. I let him sleep my my room in the crate now. hopefully we can create a better bond and trust.
Hello Derik,
Just non-mark him and put him in time-out. Ignore all screaming during time-out and do not let him out of time-out while he is screaming. After a bit he will realize that his behaviors are not getting him any good results and stop.
When you let him out of time-out, it is best to not give him any attention. He will probably want to go off and sulk anyway
– my Shiba used to do that.
Try and set him up for success as much as you can, so it is best to interrupt play very often with obedience exercises so that he does not get himself into an over-excited state. Start with more low-key playing, then as he learns to control himself more, you can slowly increase the energy of play. Play should always stop when he gets over-excited and is no longer following play-rules.
Let me know how it goes.
Any tips on when a puppy becomes unhappy and let’s out the Shiba scream and begins biting at your hands in anger? This happens especially when I try to reprimand him for mouthing after he gets excited and I try to calm him down.
Thanks for visiting Anaaa. If you are thinking of getting a puppy – the ones with the best temperament and health can be gotten from reputable breeders or from adoption agencies.
http://www.shibashake.com/new-dog-new-puppy.html
Post us some pictures after you get your new dog
Wow! This was great! I dont have a dog , but im probably gonna get one, and this helped a ton! Thanks!
Hi Vince,
It is normal for puppies to be exuberant in this manner. You should however let your puppy know what is acceptable behavior and what is not. When he gets *too rough* with your older dog, non-mark him (Ack-ack) and stop the play briefly.
Let your puppy calm down for a bit before letting them resume play. You can also make him do some obedience commands in the meantime. It is generally good practice to stop play from time to time anyway because puppies do not usually have a stop button of their own
Note that dogs play a lot with their mouths – their mouths are like our hands and that is what they use to manipulate objects. That is why bite inhibition training is so important.
Another thing you can do is to separate the dogs for at least a few hours every day so that your older dog gets some rest time. Puppies have a lot of energy and may tire out the older dog. Definitely separate them if you see that your older dog is tired and needs to rest.
To do this you can either use a puppy pen or you can be there to supervise and make sure that your puppy does not bother the older dog when the older dog is resting. Just non-mark him (No) and body block him before he can get into the older dogs space.
Providing alternate activities for the puppy will also help out a lot.Play games with him and get him some good and safe chew toys.
new puppy is mean towards my older dog, bites, runs after the older dog, will not leave the dog alone, what should i do
lol – I know what you mean. I was extremely happy when my Siberian Husky went a bunch of days without any accidents.
Don’t get too discouraged if there are some slip-ups though, they really just can’t control their bladder very well at that young age. My little girl was trying really hard, but especially after playing, she sometimes couldn’t make it fast enough to the door
I pretty much took her out after every 5-10 minutes of play whether she had to go or not – lol – good times.
Lots of good tips here. Thank you.
I have had my Yorkie puppy 2 months now and she has been so much fun. At first I thought she would never be house-trained, but I haven’t had to clean up a puddle in 2 days!
Great article, will try to adapt all of them. Thanks for sharing it.
Hi Ada, It is great that you are starting to train your puppy early. Here are some things that worked for me:
[Biting]
Handfeeding works really well. First start with some good, yummy, food. Put the food in your hand and make your hand into a fist. Then feed the food to your puppy slowly. If your puppy bites hard, then yelp loudly, and stop feeding for a short duration. If your puppy eats properly, praise him and keep the food coming. Just keep repeating this. This way your puppy learns that biting hard makes the food stop, but eating nicely keeps the food coming. I still do this with my dogs because it helps maintain their bite inhibition.
Here are some other methods for dealing with biting:
http://hubpages.com/_srec/hub/How-to-stop-your-dog
[Potty Training]
What you want to do is establish two consistent words with your puppy. A mark (Yes, Good) and a non-mark (No, Ack-Ack). When your puppy does something undesirable, non-mark him with the same word consistently (No), and take him outside. Go outside with him and if he continues going outside, mark him (Yes). and reward him with something really good. The reward for going outside is very important because he will learn that going outside gets him really good stuff, and this will make him prefer to go outside. Always supervise him when he is free in the house so that you can show him what is desirable and undesirable. Take him outside when you get him out of his crate, when he wakes up, or after vigorous play.
My Siberian Husky was difficult to house train and she made many mistakes when she was young (8 weeks) because she had poor bladder control. I had to take her out after 10-15 minutes of play because she would get so excited that she would just pee right there. Just be consistent with the rewards for peeing outside and your puppy will learn that he gets more peeing outside than he does peeing inside.
http://hubpages.com/_srec/hub/Dog-Potty-Training-F
Good luck! Hope this helps.
My puppy is about 8 weeks old and he bites hard So bad a bleed I tell no bite and he won’t for a while then the does it again.
also hell go out and come right into the house and “p” and I tell him bad baby and put him back out. But he’ll do it again
Thanks Puppy Whisperer. Reward based training is especially important for puppies because you can start training right away. It is not appropriate to use aversive/punishment techniques on puppies (including leash jerks/corrections) until they are at least about 6 months old. Before using aversive techniques, it is important to first consult a professional trainer.
Wow – what a great hub page – I was looking for a few tips on how to train my new puppy, but didn’t expect to find this much info – nice one. I like (and fully agree with) the bit about using reward based training techniques – it really does help.