Establishing the BondA good relationship with your puppy is more than his obedience to a string of commands. It's all about bonding, respect, and understanding. This lesson will help you understand your puppy's behavior and give you ways to guide him and develop in him a strong trust and desire to please. Puppy Development
Puppies have definite stages of development and windows of learning. Experiments have shown that puppies who lack appropriate socialization during these “imprinting” periods may have permanent psychological dysfunctions. They may be overly fearful, submissive, hyperactive, or aggressive. Raising a puppy properly to be a well-adjusted pet and family member can require a lot of time and effort, but is well worth it. During the first two weeks of a puppy’s life, he depends completely on his mother. He cannot see or hear. He crawls, nurses, and makes noises but depends on her to stimulate his urination and defecation. He can feel warmth, cold and pain. The third week his eyes open, he cuts teeth, attempts to stand up and walk, and may try to lap water. He will begin to venture further away from the brood and begins to urinate and defecate without the mother’s help. The fourth week his hearing, sight, and sense of smell improve. He will bark, wag his tail, and nibble at food. This is the age at which he will begin to learn acceptable doggy behavior from his mother and littermates. He will learn how to behave with other dogs and how to keep his den clean. In order to later bond with humans and make a good pet, he also needs personal attention from humans. Puppies isolated during their first seven weeks may have behavior problems or trouble bonding with humans. The fifth and sixth weeks, he will learn to walk and run quite well. He will play and growl with the other puppies. Around six weeks, weaning begins. He will explore everything with a strong curiosity and very little sense of fear. Beginning with this age, the more things he has to explore, the more adventures he can experience and the more people he can meet, the better his socialization and the more confident he will become. Most dog behaviorists agree that seven weeks is the best age for adoption. Around eight weeks, he will enter what is sometimes called the “fear” period. For the next two or three weeks, he will be more cautious and show fear of sudden or loud noises or motions. If he is frightened or overstressed during this period, the emotion is likely to affect him for a very long time or for his entire life. At this age he should be protected from frightening experiences and allowed to investigate things at his own pace. From nine to twelve weeks, he will be into everything, exploring and investigating. He will learn sounds and scents and your routine. He will follow you around and learn to respond to his name. This is also a good age to begin housetraining. Around four months of age he may enter another cautious period where he is hesitant or fearful of new things. Allow him to take his time investigating things but do not encourage his fear. Make learning fun and keep all experiences positive. This is also the age when his permanent teeth will begin to replace those sharp baby teeth. Sometime in the second half of his first year, your puppy may enter a clumsy and rebellious phase. He may behave as if he’s forgotten everything he has ever learned. This is his transition from a puppy to a mature dog. The best thing you can do is to be very patient and continue with his training until the phase passes. Puppy's Point of ViewDogs are pack animals, developing strong bonds. They feel secure with a strong leader. Pack order can be compared to a human family in that it recognizes/represents authority and security for the dog world. Just as children flourish in a stable home, so do puppies. The early months are a good time to establish this family order. A good leader will treat his dog with respect and fairness, and be careful to not create fear. Problems arise when we slack our leadership role or engage in a battle of wills. A good leader establishes dominance, but not through a battle of wills. Dominance that is established over time through relationship and daily routine will earn your dog's respect and reliable obedience. The dog must recognize his trainer as his leader and understand what the trainer wants but these things take time and patience. The trainer must communicate to him in a way that he can understand. In dog terms, leadership is shown through sleeping patterns, leading patterns, and food control. Sleeping patterns Leading patterns Food Control Thinking Like a PuppyA study done by a Russian scientist in the early 70’s suggests that dogs can become accustomed to certain things happening at certain times of the day and perhaps even call up images of those happenings. Perhaps your puppy remembers the scent and warmth of his mother and littermates, or maybe he can call up images of treats or food in his bowl. Perhaps, when you're gone and he's all alone at home, he remembers you speaking softly to him or lying with throw pillows on the couch, or holding a magazine, or television remote. He probably has images of you walking around the house or smiling and talking to him. When you are gone, he calls up these images and experiences a strong desire to be with you. He knows very little about the outside world and wonders where you are or when/if you will be back so he seeks to be near you by playing with the items he has seen you handle. He lies on the couch and chews on the throw pillow or the magazine or the remote, to taste and inhale your scent. This comforts him and makes you seem nearer. Then he hears the car and your footsteps outside the door and he knows you are finally home! He is ecstatic and runs to greet you. He feels you scoop him up, hears the excitement in your voice as you pet him and everything is wonderful! Then you spot the shredded pillow or magazine or remote and he sees your smile turn to a frown, hears your voice turn angry and maybe feels the sting of a swat from you. He has no idea why you suddenly turned from happy to angry. All he did was dream of you all day and happily run to greet you when you returned. Because he has not a clue why you are unhappy with him, fear strikes in his little heart. Psychic trauma! Even after the incident has passed and you have forgotten about it, he will harbor a certain amount of fear and suspicion, because he never knows exactly when you will suddenly transform into a raging monster. This fear and suspicion, this uncertainty, creates anxiety, which causes more destructive behaviors such as more chewing, or submissive wetting or nipping, which in turn, makes you even angrier, and eventually a vicious cycle is set in motion. Think of the time he snatched the doughnut from your plate and led you on a wild chase through the house! Why did he wait until you turned away to pour a cup of coffee? And why did he run away if he didn’t know that he’d done wrong? In doggy culture, when another dog turns away from food, he is finished and doesn’t want anymore. Your puppy was only behaving according to what his puppy view tells him. He simply took the ’unclaimed’ food. When you chased him, it became a game of ‘keep away’ that he had played many times with his puppy siblings. It's fun...until you catch him and he feels your anger. He doesn't understand and worries about why you are angry and this, too, adds to his anxiety. Understanding your puppy’s perspective, learning to look at the world through his limited view and interpret his communication may make the difference in a successful or unsuccessful relationship. SocializationDogs are social animals, created to live in packs or families. They should never be isolated in the backyard or the bathroom. Thorough socialization is critical for your puppy to grow up into a happy and stable pet. A variety of experiences and environments will help him build a mature personality and maintain confidence even in unfamiliar surroundings. The first three to four months are the most important. This is the critical time when your puppy’s personality is being formed. The bond he forms with you at this time determines how responsive he will be to you later on when you begin more serious training. It's important to understand that training is not just forcing your puppy to obey a string of commands; it’s relationship, respect, and interaction with each other. In order to raise a puppy who is emotionally stable,it's important to never hit, yell at, or punish him. These things do not teach him; they only frighten him, discourage him and make him unresponsive to you which can cause the behavior problems that you are trying to avoid. Your goal is a well-behaved pet; not a cowering animal. Distracting from improper behavior and redirecting toward an acceptable behavior is a much more effective way to train. Just like children, he may need redirecting many times but praising, petting and laughing encourages him and keeps things fun. Make him feel good about himself and he will learn which behaviors earn attention and which ones do not. He will begin to focus more on you. In return you can focus more on him as well. Pay attention to his body position, facial expressions and the sounds he makes. He has quite a personality so learn to communicate with him. Throughout the day, call his name and when he looks at you, smile and tell him what a good dog he is. Build his confidence by making him feel good about himself. Spend as much time as possible with your puppy. Puppies should not spend great lengths of time alone;include him in your life. Speak to him much the same way you would speak to a child. Talk to him about what you are doing. Show him things as you use them. He won’t understand your words but he will understand your tone and become familiar and confident with daily routine. And you’ll be surprised how quickly he will pick up the meanings of phrases. Be his friend and let him be your friend. He is one friend who will never be too busy for you. It’s important that he become accustomed to certain things while he is very young. Brush him, massage him, clean his ears, brush his teeth, clip his nails and/or handle his feet several times a week. Stroke him while he is eating. Handle his food dish while he is eating. Pull it away and then push it back. Add food to it and take food out and feed it to him by hand. He will become comfortable to your hands around his food bowl. Play fetch with him. Play hide and seek. Lots of toys, a log, a tire to climb up on, some cinder blocks strategically stacked in the backyard to form ‘steps’ will provide enrichment exercise for him. Allow him to walk on different kinds of surfaces such as carpet, linoleum, wood, pavement, sand, grass, even mud. Provide a shallow kiddy pool for him to splash in. Let him see you use the blender, the vacuum, the hair dryer. Expose him to car horns, music, clapping, children playing, other animals, and people in various types of attire. Allow him to experience new people, places, and scents. Take him for car rides to the park, to puppy classes, a parade, and to visit friends. Remember the fear periods in his developmental age and let him investigate at his own pace and do not let anything overwhelm or frighten him. Don't push him past his comfort level. Keep his experiences positive. Praise him when he’s curious or confident. Encourage, but do not coddle, him when he’s frightened. Always take into consideration that every puppy is an individual with his own personality. Always exercise plenty of patience, persistence, and praise.
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