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Starting From Day One
You Only
Get One Chance to Start a Puppy
Acclimation
and Exposure Are the Keys to Success
Training Tips
Things We Must Understand
You
Only Get One Chance to Start a Puppy
It is important to understand
the most critical period to teach a puppy is between the
ages of 6-20 weeks of age. During this time the learning process
involves working over time to retain the information presented
and experiences provided. It is at this
critical time that we need to work hard to teach the fundamentals
and expectations both, while enjoying many hours together.
At this age we need to teach the puppy who the pack leaders
are and the
rules of the pack. It will be very important that each member
of
the pack understands
the same commands and corrections while being fair and consistent
with commands and
corrections. Allowing the puppy to do as it pleases will only
create problems in the future, and consume more training time
to overcome the alpha dominance without breaking trust
and confidence.
- Make the time commitment needed for your
new puppy during the critical period!
- Build trust and a bonding relationship
by handling and spending quality time early.
- Teach puppy's new name and start implementing “basic” commands
("here" or "come," "no," "kennel," "sit," etc).
- Set the rules for you and all Family members to follow. Very important!
- Be consistent with activities, communication/commands and corrections.
- Provide a safe, dry and climate–friendly
comfortable living quarters.
- Develop a pack leadership role with alpha
dominance in the pecking order. Watch for future signs!
- Chew toys work well and should be considered to release extra energy!
- Obedience classes are strongly recommended for both owner and new puppy! Structure and learning skills are timely at this age.
- Treats are used for rewards' not bait
and compromising. Make sure that your canine is responding
to the command for you and not the treat (self)!
Acclimation
and Exposure Are the Keys to Success
- Car rides are essential
early; withholding food and water prior to rides will decrease
motion sickness. Take them to the events they will be exposed
to later as an adult.
- Field/water (observe environmental
temperatures and cover
depth and thickness). Some days our dogs swim and other days
they can walk on water. Understand the difference.
- Birds make “Bird Dogs”!
Do you have a consistent supply? Pigeons work great to start
on young dogs but each species is different and delivers different
responses with training expectations.
- Other dogs; research
health, and aggressiveness prior to exposure. Most of the
health transmissions and injuries from other canines today
can be avoided with some research and a little common sense.
- Properly expose
them to all of the sounds and activity they well be exposed
to: guns, wings, launchers, voices and vehicles prior to
the first event. Example: The sound of a gun should indicate
that a bird
is coming down.
- Be prepared for weather conditions; temperature
levels and activity levels are needed prior to each trip to
the field.
- Collars, leashes,
ropes and tie out stakes – these items are key to the safety
and training, and quality should be a priority.
- Unleash the natural
abilities bred into them by exposing them. Eighty percent
of the training is completed on a well bred dog from selective
breeding programs.
It’s up to us to harness them during their exposure.
- Take your
new puppy into areas where there are lots of different
voices and children that touch them or carry them around! Soccer
games during Family events are great ways to share time together.
Use a radio in the kennel.
- Raise your puppy like
a child by building a sound foundation of rules and expectations
followed up with consistent corrections. Like children, canines
are looking for a leader to respect. If you do not provide
this leadership role they will seek another leader or become
one themselves.
Training
Tips for Positive Results
Guidelines for Successful Results
in Less Time
- We must teach before training for every
command we give them!
- Develop simple and single-syllable commands;
dogs do not speak English, German or French and they don’t
understand sentences.
- Work on one command at a time. Finish
each command before you move on to the next to avoid confusion.
- Monitor progress weekly
or monthly by setting and reaching goals. Ask for a second
opinion or even help if progress in communication is not made.
Continue self training education and learning new techniques
through DVD’s, books, magazine articles, group training
events or professional help.
- Dogs learn by teaching
first, then repetition, repetition, repetition, and more
repetition before we can train or correct them for disobeying
expectations.
- Be consistent and fair
with every expectation and correcting. The timeliness of
corrections is important to understand. You only have 1.5 seconds
to give
a correction to a command that is disobeyed! If you have no
means
of giving a correction, then avoid giving a command you might
not receive a positive response to. Don’t allow commands
to become words of no value!
- Don’t expect more than
your dog is able to do for his/her age, abilities and level
of maturity. Some dogs cannot meet our goals and expectations.
Grandma always told us, “It is easier to make an
apple pie into a cow pie than to make a cow pie into a apple
pie”!
- Short, (15-20
min) positive sessions done frequently are more retentive.
Build on the time of training as they progress with age and
mental maturity. 30 Minutes per day of training is very sufficient
and acceptable by your canine partner.
- Know when to quit - before
it’s
too late. You cannot teach a scared dog anything, and you
will only build distrust, not respect, by taking out frustrations
on them.
- Always end each training
session on a positive note!
Things
We Must Understand
- There are many things a
dog must learn that we cannot teach! Use of wind
in scenting, how to cross a creek, or get through a fence are
only a few of
many examples.
- There are no shortcuts to success. “Success
comes from proper planning and preparation. Winning happens
to those that learn how to succeed.”
-- Ferrell Miller, the most
successful breeder and trainer of English Pointers.
- Not all dogs are capable of
meeting our expectations and/or their breed standards. And
not all trainers are capable of bringing out the genetic potential
of every dog he or she owns or trains.
- Training collars
are excellent tools if used correctly. You can build distrust
in your dog with misuse of a training collar, which will lead
to inconsistent results! Training collars are best described
as proper level applied to a command that the student has the
ability and understanding of how to turn off.
- We cannot teach a confused
or scared dog, period! Either you need to avoid confusion
or prevent them from fear proactively!
- Dogs are like
humans and can have bad days too! Days and weekends
off are sometimes needed. Like us, when fatigued our work
place and expectations have less appreciation than they deserve
and mentally and physically
we need rest.
- A dog will develop their learning
curve before they are one year of age. Take advantage of
this learning curve early to maximize genetic potentials and
make
for a better trained animal in less time.
- The output of each
dogs performance is determined
from the input from its owner. Three key factors are nutrition,
conditioning and recovery periods
- One bad experience or day will
not ruin a dog for life! We all learn from our mistakes –the
difference is how we better ourselves by making them or if
we continue to do the same thing over and over again!
"If you practice and
understand these guidelines “Starting From Day One,” your
chances of getting to the next level with satisfying results
are increased dramatically”!!!!
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 Ben's
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In Loving Memory of Ben Ries
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