
I
f you have your heart set on raising and training a puppy, do
make sure you train yourself beforehand. Remember, it
takes only a few days to ruin an otherwise perfect puppy.
Without a doubt, the most important developmental deadline
comes before you even think of getting your puppy—your
education about puppy education!
Many first-time puppy owners are surprised when they
discover their new companion bites, barks, chews, digs, and
marks the house with urine and feces. Yet these are all perfectly
normal, natural, and necessary doggy behaviors.
Your canine newcomer is just itching to learn human house
manners. He wants to please, but he has to know how to please.
It's no good keeping house rules a secret. Somebody has to tell
the puppy. And that somebody is you.
Before inviting a puppy to share your life, surely it is only
wise and fair to find out beforehand what you might expect
from a normal developing puppy, which behaviors and traits
you consider unacceptable, and how to modify the pup's
inappropriate behavior and temperament accordingly.
Specifically, owners need to know how to teach the
youngster where to eliminate, what to chew, when to bark,
where to dig, to sit when greeting people, to walk calmly onleash,
to settle down and shush when requested, to inhibit his
otherwise quite normal biting behavior, and to thoroughly enjoy the company of other dogs and people—especially
children, men, and strangers.
Whether selecting your prospective pup from a professional
breeder or from a family breeding a litter for the very first
time, the criteria are the same. Look for puppies raised indoors
around human companionship and influence—specifically
around people who have devoted lots of time to the puppies'
education.
Your puppy needs to be prepared for the clamor of everyday
domestic living—the noise of the vacuum cleaner, pots and
pans dropping in the kitchen, football games screaming on the
television, children crying, and adults arguing. Exposure to
such stimuli while his eyes and ears are still developing allows
the puppy (with his blurred vision and muffled hearing) to
gradually become accustomed to sights and sounds that might
otherwise frighten him when older.
Avoid pups that have been raised in an outdoor run or
kennel. Remember, you want a puppy to share your home, so
look for a puppy that has been raised in a home. Basement- and
kennel-raised puppies are certainly not pet-quality dogs. They
are "livestock" on par with veal calves and battery hens. They
are neither housetrained nor socialized, and they do not make
good companions. Look for litters that have been born and
raised in a kitchen or living room.
Choosing a breed is a very personal choice—your choice.
But you will save yourself a lot of unnecessary problems and
heartbreak if your choice is an informed and educated one.
Choose the breed you like, investigate breed-specific
qualities and problems, and then research the best way to
raise and train your pup. Make sure you test drive several
adult dogs of your selected breed or type before you make
your final choice. Test driving adult dogs will quickly teach you everything you need to know about a specific breed. Test
driving adult dogs will also pinpoint gaps in your education
about dog behavior and training.
Regardless of your choice, please do not kid yourself that
you will get a "perfect" adult dog simply by selecting the
"perfect" breed and the "perfect" individual puppy. Any
puppy can become a marvelous companion if appropriately
socialized and trained. And, no matter what the breed or
breeding, any puppy can also become a doggy delinquent if
not properly socialized and trained. Please make an
intelligent, researched choice when selecting your puppy, but
remember: appropriate socialization and training is the single
biggest factor determining how closely the dog will approach
your view of perfection in adulthood.
No matter your eventual choice—success or failure is
entirely in your hands. Your puppy's behavior and temperament
now depend completely on good husbandry and training.
Your puppy's living quarters need to be designed so that
housetraining and chewtoy-training are errorless. Each mistake
is a potential disaster, since it heralds many more to come.
Long-term confinement prevents your puppy from learning
to make mistakes around the house, and allows your puppy to
teach himself to use an appropriate toilet, to settle down quietly
and calmly, and to want to chew appropriate chewtoys.
Confinement with chewtoys stuffed with kibble and treats
teaches your puppy to enjoy his own company and prepares
him for those times when he might be left at home alone.
Short-term close confinement also prevents your puppy
from learning to make mistakes around the house, while
allowing your puppy to teach himself to settle down quietly and
calmly, and to want to chew appropriate chewtoys.
Additionally, short-term confinement enables you to accurately predict when your puppy needs to relieve herself, so that you
may take your puppy to an appropriate toilet area and reward
her for using it. The knack of successful housetraining focuses
on being able to predict when your puppy "wants to go."