From the first exciting day you bring your new puppy home, there are some things that you can do to get him off on a good paw.

First, introduce him to his new bed, a Crate, where he will want to sleep while he naps as well as at night time. He should only be in his crate during the day for 1 hour more than the number of months old he is. If you work all day, have someone come in during the day to feed and let him out.

The next thing that you want to teach him is that outside is his bathroom. Teach him to go on command. Take him outside on lead when he comes out of the crate, after he east or drinks and when he finishes playing and running around. Tell him Hurry Up Outside on your way outside. Take him to the same spot every time and after he goes tell him Good Outside and give him a small food reward.
Getting him used to being touched all over is something else you need to teach him. An exercise called touch and treat will teach him that touching is a good thing. Gently touch his feet and toes, his ears, tail, scruff and muzzle. Every time you touch him tell him Good Settle and give him a treat. If he tries to nip or bite, fill a Kong or marrow bone with peanut butter or cheese wiz and hold it so that he can chew and lick that. Your Vet or groomer will really appreciate you doing this exercise when you take your puppy in to visit them.

Finally, teach him to SIT for everyone’s attention. This avoids him getting bossy from too much unearned attention. It teaches him that sitting sets him lots of attention and gives him the first of many jobs he will have.

CRATE TRAINING

Crating your puppy is one of the kindest things that you can do for him. It provides him with a secure place if you have children, when you are not home and when you cannot supervise him. It helps in housetraining and solving unwanted behaviour.

When you purchase a crate it should be large enough for your adult dog to stand up, lie down and turn around in. For puppies, partition the crate off so that if fits his small size. As he gets bigger give him more room.

Puppies like to be part of the family, so the kitchen or family room is a great location for the crate. Put a scrap piece of carpet soft side down, under the crate so that it will not move when puppy goes into it. At first leave the door open with a few toys and small treats inside. Move the crate to your bedroom at night if your puppy doesn’t settle.

Your puppy should only be in his crate during the day for 1 hour more than the number of months old that he is. If you work all day, have someone come in during the day to feed and let him out.

Feeding puppy in his crate teaches him to keep his crate clean. Most puppies do not mess where they sleep and eat. If your puppy is nervous then keep the door open at first and as his confidence grows, you can close the door.

Napping in his crate as well as sleeping there at night helps him to get used to being in the crate while you are home as well as away. If he doesn’t settle give him a Kong filled with puppy treats. Staying in the room with him can also help to keep him quiet and settled.

LEARNING TTOUCH

It is extremely interesting how one event can completely change your way of dealing with people and animals. How thinking that you are not really learning anything new can turn out to show you a whole different way of training and communicating with animals and in my situation especially dogs.

I attended a workshop for Tellington Touch (TTouch) at a conference I was at about 5 years ago. It was my first exposure to TTouch and my first introduction to Barbara Janelle. I sat and watched as Barbara worked with a very scared, stressed and non confident German Shepherd. In a very short time this Shepherd was walking on the pads of her feet instead of on her toes, her ears were forward, not pinned to her head, her tail was held higher and was wagging, not stuck between her legs. I did not realize at that moment how I dealt with dogs and people in my training classes would never be the same again. When I saw the gentleness and respect with which Barbara worked when touching this dog I knew that I would have to find out more about TTouch. I did find out more and to make a long story short, I am now a certified Tellington Touch Practitioner for companion animals.

For those of you who are asking yourself “What is TTouch”, please let me explain it to you. Tellington Touch was introduced by Linda Tellington-Jones in the mid 1970’s through her work with horses. Linda developed a number of touches and learning exercises that are done with an animal rather than to it. There are circular touches, stroking touches, body wraps and ground exercises (confidence course) that can help to give an animal confidence as well as reduce tension and stress. It can provide solutions for a number of challenges faced by our animals such as fear, shyness, carsickness nervousness and arthritis.

TTouch can help to maintain physical, emotional and mental balance in our dogs as well as improve communication between ourselves and our dogs. TTouch can help to calm a dog down as well as the owner. If you have an animal whose behaviour or temperment needs improving, if you are caring for an older animal that is in pain, if you want injuries and surgery to heal more quickly, then you and your animal can benefit from learning TTouch.

I have been training people to train their dogs for over 15 years. I was finding that the dogs coming to my classes the first couple of weeks seemed to be very stressed and anxious. Teaching my students to use the back of their hands and ears strokes when working with their dogs has helped to reduce the stress level and anxiousness of both owners and their dogs and puppies. You may want to try these simple touches on your own dog.

The way we touch our animals can be at times very mindless. We touch our dogs quickly and roughly which can lead to hyper and sometimes out of control behaviour. This can be very stressful not only on our dogs but on ourselves as well. We tend to touch our dogs using only the palm of our hands. The next time you touch your dog instead of using the palm of your hand try stroking your dog with the back of your hand. You can tell a lot about your dog if you use the back of your hand. You can feel changes in the temperature of the skin, the texture of the coat, and you can also feel when your dog holds his breath as you stroke over an area that maybe sore or holds tension. For dogs that are hand shy or nervous of people, the back of your hand can’t grab or hit like your palm can.

Starting at your dog’s head and moving all over his body, outline with the back of your hand , the entire body of your dog so that you can help bring awareness to all of his body. You may notice that you actually stroke slower and gentler when you use the back of your hand. Observe what the reaction is that you get from your dog when you stroke him like this. Observe how you feel as you touch your dog this way. As you are stroking him be aware if you are holding your breath. Sometimes when we do something new we are very mechanical at first and can hold our breath. When we hold our breath we become tense and stressed and so can our dog. Another reason to use the back of your hand is that it is something non-habitual for most people as well as for your dog. What you may discover is that he lets out a big sigh and he may sit or lay down as you stroke him. Talk to him and tell him how wonderful he is. You may be surprised to realize that it can help calm you too.

When people greet dogs, some of us naturally touch a dog’s ears first. We can be rough and rude. When you touch a dog’s ears be aware of how you touch them. If you scratch roughly and quickly notice what that can do to your dog’s behaviour.

The next time you want to touch your dogs ears, support his head with one hand and then gently stroke or slide along the length of one ear, starting at the base by his head and work along to the tip of the outside of the ear with the side your thumb. Gently support the inside of the ear with bent fingers. Stroke all over your dog’s ear. Stroke along one part of the ear at a time and be aware of the speed you use. To help calm your dog you want to go slowly.

If your dog has floppy ears stroke his ears horizontally and if he has stand up ears stroke upwards. You can gentle fold your dog’s ear lengthwise and stroke starting from the base moving along to the tip. You can also gently hold your dog’s ear at the base and slowly circle his ear in one direction and then change directions. Be mindful of gently holding his ear. Ear strokes can help to calm a dog and increase confidence There are over 200 acupressure points in a dog’s ear so that by doing ear strokes you can have a positive effect on the entire body. Ear strokes can help to improve digestion and can help with a dog who suffers from car sickness. If your dog ever gets sick or injured doing ear strokes can help if they are in shock, especially working the tip of the ear.

Touching with the back of your hand and the ear strokes are two examples of the stroking touches that we use in TTouch. The next time you want to touch your dog try these simple, mindful and non habitual ways of touching your dog and you maybe surprised how they can help deepen the bond you have with your dog as well as open the path of communication and learning for both of you.

Sue Woodworth has been training dogs for over 15 years. She is a level 2 TTouch Practitioner for companion animals and level 2 Reiki Practitioner. Sue is the owner of PuppyTails Training and TTouch for Animals in Orangeville Ontario, (519)-940-0941