Frequently Asked TRAINING Questions:  

1.  At what age should I start training my puppy?

The sooner the better!  Many responsible breeders start training their puppies as early as 5-6 weeks.  Remember your puppy starts learning when you first bring her home and you may as well encourage good behaviors and social skills as early as possible.

Dog Training by P.J. accepts puppies in classes starting at age 8 weeks.  The only reason P.J. doesn’t start them earlier is that she wants them to have a least two of their puppy shots for protection before they start romping and playing with their puppy classmates.  At one time, when most trainers used choke chains and prong collars, puppies didn’t start classes until they were at least six months old, because of the potential for serious injury to the puppy’s tender trachea.  Teaching with force and aggression only teaches our puppies’ to think humans are unpredictable and begin to fear people.  Often times, using force-based tools, lead to “true aggression.”  Now that more and more trainers (www.apdt.com or www.cpdt.com) are using gentle, positive and motivational training methods, we have no fear of harming a young puppy so you can start them at a much earlier age.  Dog Training by P.J. starts puppy kindergarten classes on a regular basis, so you never have to wait more than a couple of weeks to get into a class.  If you don’t want to wait even that long, you can schedule one or two private sessions with P.J. to get you started on the “right paw” until the next class begins.

2.  Why don’t you use choke chains or prong collars in your training?

Choke chains and prong collars are tools of compulsion training, dependent on your willingness to force your dog to comply with your demands.  At Dog Training by P.J., P.J. uses positive, motivational training methods, meaning we consistently reward the behaviors we want our puppies to repeat and manage or ignore (when possible) the behaviors that we want to diminish.  Because all living creatures (humans too) repeat behaviors that are rewarding to them, by using positive reinforcement we can get our dogs to voluntarily show the behaviors we want, rather than using force to coerce them into submission or compliance.  Unfortunately, it seems to be human nature to pay attention to problems and ignore things that are going smoothly.  If the dog understands that certain behaviors will earn positive attention, she should continue to perform those behaviors when she wants to get a certain reaction from you.  If those unwanted behaviors receive no reinforcement then the behavior will diminish.

In addition, we don’t risk damaging our relationships with our canine friends through the use of force and punishment and we don’t risk the physical harm that can occur with the use of punishment-based tools.  Training is about relationships and communication – it is not based upon punishment.  Choke chains and prong collars rely on pain to force compliance.  I don’t have to hurt my dogs to train them, so why would I use tools that, by definition, cause pain.  Choke simply means, whether subtle or not, still means to choke, as well as the prong or pinch collar, it simply means, that there is a pinch delivered to the dog.

3.  How can I stop my puppy from biting me?

Biting is a natural puppy behavior.  Puppies explore their world with their mouths and they use their teeth extensively while playing with other puppies.  Learning bite inhibition is an important part of a young puppy’s education.  If she bites her mom or her littermates too hard, they let her know.  Momma dog may reprimand him if his needle sharp puppy teeth close too hard during play or nursing, and her littermates may yipe or yelp and refuse to play with her if she bites too hard.

            Puppies come to us with sharp baby teeth and we need to continue her bite-inhibition lessons.  We can direct her chewing instincts towards appropriate chew toys (a stuffed “KONG” is ideal for this as well as a “BUSTER CUBE” – food cube.)  Often times various soft plush and rope toys will also help redirect her to more appropriate things to chew and bite.  We can also imitate her littermates by giving a sharp, high-pitched “yelp” when she bites too hard and stop the play session by getting up and walking away.  The puppy will soon learn that her behavior makes a good thing go away (this is called “negative punishment,” and involves no physical correction whatsoever), and she will learn to soften her bite so you can continue playing with her.  After a brief time out of a minute or two, we can go back to playing and if she bites too hard again, give another “yelp or yipe” and do another time out.  She will eventually get it!

            Do not use physical force or punishment, such as hitting her, holding her muzzle closed or forcing your hand down her throat.  Some puppies will become aggressive if you use these antiquated methods and some puppies learn to fear your hands.  Neither will result in gentle, trusting dogs in the future.

4.  How do I keep my puppy from chewing on everything?

In a word, manage!  A puppy that is still in the chewing stage should be under constant supervision, or confined to a safe secure puppy-proofed area.  In other words, if you can’t supervise the puppy, manage her by providing her with alternative things, such as plenty of irresistible toys.  The best are interactive toys such as a stuffed KONG, BUSTER CUBE, TALK- TO-ME-BALL, or ROLL-A-TREAT BALL.  The possibilities are endless. A soft toy is also inviting to a puppy’s teeth.  Additionally, a cold, frozen, stuffed KONG can be especially soothing to a teething puppy’s sore gums.  When she wants to chew on something inappropriate, direct her towards an acceptable chew toy.  If she insists on going back to the chair corner, give her a cheerful “oops! Time-out” and put her in her puppy-safe area.

            The best puppy-safe areas are in or near places of family activity.  Your puppy will be very unhappy if you close her off, away from the family, in another room and without any interaction.  Remember, dogs are social animals, just like us, humans.  You can use a wire puppy pen (exercise pen) and set it up in the middle of the family room where she can be with her human pack members.

            Sometimes the commercial no-chew sprays and creams are effective for some puppies, while others consider it the icing on the cake.

5.  My puppy will not stop jumping on everyone!  How do I get her to stop?

            First, dogs love to jump!  Jumping is a natural behavior for dogs.  In the canine world they greet each other face-to-face, nose-to-nose.  If you want to succeed teaching you puppy or dog not to jump on people, the whole family has to agree not to reward her for jumping up.

            There are several ways to discourage jumping on people.  It is important to remember to reward the good behaviors and ignore the unwanted or undesired behaviors.  Therefore, when the puppy jumps on you, don’t pay attention, turn your back towards the puppy, close and fold your arms near your chest and, if necessary, walk away, and don’t look back.  The moment, your puppy puts “all four on the floor,” turn and reward the dog for the wanted behavior.   With consistency, the puppy will figure it out.  Jumping equals no attention, while keeping her paws on the floor, brings attention.

            Another way that is effective is to teach our puppy to sit.  When the puppy has her butt on the ground, she is unable to jump, thus teaching her two things, sit and not to jump on people.  While you ignore her, with your back turned away from her, be patient and wait for her to sit, then, give her the attention (reward and treat) she wants.  Look for opportunities to reward the good behavior of sitting, so your dog won’t think she has to jump up to get your attention first in order to get a reward for sitting.

            Be careful, not to teach our puppy to jump up, sit, get a reward.  The way to avoid this is to watch and frequently reward the times your dog sits without jumping up first.  Humans have a tendency to ignore the puppies when they are being good, and pay attention to them when they are doing the inappropriate behaviors.

6.  Why should I spay or neuter my dog?  I want to have puppies!

Approximately 6-8 million unwanted dogs, cats, kittens and puppies are euthanized in the United States every year because simply there are not enough homes for all of them.  If you breed you dog, you are a part of this problem, even if you find homes for very one of your puppies.  Every home that adopts one of your puppies is a home that could have taken a homeless dog or puppy instead and instead will end up dead on a shelter euthanasia room.  In addition, you can avoid many health and behavior problems, such as mammary tumors in females and testosterone-generated aggression in males if you spay and neuter prior to the onset of puberty.

If you do insist on breeding be sure you breed responsibly.  That means purchasing a good-quality, free of any genetic problems from a reputable breeder and being willing to spend the time and money to pay for the various medical tests needed to determine whether or not genetic problems exist and to have the various tests done on the “potential” mate for your dog.  You need to be sure that you are not compounding your dog’s genetic weaknesses with a poorly selected mate.  You will also need to pay to have the puppies vet checked and vaccinated.  Often times you will need to pay for a cesarean section for your female.  You need to be sure that the breeding pair and their puppies hips, eyes and other predisposed genetic problems are not “passed” down in the lines.  You will also need to take the time to properly socialize the puppies when born and prepare them to adapt to the big world when they leave the safety and comfort of their mother’s side.

Finally, even after you place your puppies in home, you are morally responsible for them for their ENTIRE lives.  If their new owners find themselves in a position where they cannot or do not wish to keep the dog, you should be willing to take that dog back into your own home.  This promise should be a prominent part of your sales contract.

So think about it!  If you want to raise puppies, instead of breeding, call the local shelters or rescue groups and ask in you can foster a mom with young puppies.  You will have the satisfaction of saving lives that might have otherwise been ended.  You will also be an “angel” to those puppies and not contribute to the tragic problem of pet overpopulation.

7.  How long will it take to train my dog?

Their  whole life!  Okay, seriously, this is an impossible question to answer.  It really depends on you, your dog and your training goals and techniques.  My dogs are always learning something new.  Every time you are with your dog, every day, one of you is training the other.  We are always communicating with our dogs and if we stop training or communication with our dogs we become the ones who are being trained – this does not promote a healthy relationship between human and dog.

Most basic training classes are six to eight weeks long with you going to class once a week with your dogs, for an hour each time.  Some dogs and owners at the end of basic training are on their way to being reliable with their basic cues and behaviors while others still need or have a long way to go.  You will want to find opportunities to continue your dog’s education to more advanced levels, where she will become reliable to your hand signals and voice cues and even at a distance respond accordingly and even if there are very distracting environments.  There are many ways to pursue training by exploring the almost endless list of great dog sports and activities.

8.  Do you use food in training?
Yes, we do. We may also use cheering, praise, toys and ear scratches and belly rubs and real life rewards. Your job will be to select and use rewards that motivate your dog the most so he will be able to resist distractions and give you his undivided attention and focus. Food, praise and pets are the most easily given. Toys may also be used, although it does tend to break up the flow of the training session, as the dog will need to stop and enjoy the toy in order for it to be rewarding. If you don't give him the toy when he's worked to earn it, you are merely teasing him.  It is important to remember we are shaping behaviors and if these behaviors are not rewarded they will diminish.  Food is usually the highest motivator for dogs and puppies.  Money is often times the motivator for humans.  What if you were not paid to show up for work?  Would you still continue working for nothing?  Is your dog going to learn a behavior without some type of motivator?  While food/treats will be faded as the dog demonstrates she has learned the wanted behavior, it is important to remember, “nothing in life is free.”  That goes for the puppy wanting to do something and having to sit (asking for permission) to the dog that always demonstrates near perfect accuracy that seldom receives a reward.  The reward can of course, be a life reward.  For example, if your dog loves walks, use going for a walk to reinforce a down stay.  If your dog enjoys watching out the windows, keep the blinds closed and request your dog to “come” or do a recall in order to earn some time watching out the window.  Remember, again, nothing in life is free.

9.  I taught my dog in the house and now when I ask her to demonstrate a behavior outside, she won’t do it!

Dogs learn to discriminate between when a behavior will be reinforced and when a behavior will not lead to reinforcement.  For example, if the desired cue is sit, the puppy already knows how to sit, such as when she is tired, sits when she wants to scratch or sits to watch things going on around her.  She doesn’t get treats for these sits.  However, before any of these sits was she was not requested to sit, with hand signals or a voice cue.

Dogs generalize to some extent, but only there are similar circumstances and stimulus.  In other words, if they only learn behaviors at home, with or without distractions, they will continue to be consistent at home.  However, since dogs are contextual learners, if we take them outdoors, with different circumstances and stimulus it will be necessary to reshape or re-teach that behavior in order to proof that particular behavior in various situations.  Often, clients will tell me, “She will do a perfect sit at home,” and in class, “she acts as though she doesn’t know what sit even means.”  Remember, the circumstances and stimulus have changed; the class has many different distractions.  Therefore, when we are teaching our dogs it is important to alter the circumstances and stimulus to obtain the desired behaviors most of the time.

Continued training, life long, whether in a controlled environment (attending class training sessions) or though continued training at home on your own, and is necessary to keep those learned skills sharp.  For some of us, remembering certain subjects taught in elementary or high school, simply disappear since we don’t continue to practice and use those lessons and information we were taught years ago.

10.  My dog knows when she has done something wrong!  When I get home, she runs and hides, doesn’t this mean she knows she is guilty?

            Actually, no!  She is reacting to your body language and emotions.  Often times, they are so subtle to us that we don’t recognize or pay attention to our own body language.

However, consider this, did you know that 85% of normal human conversation is non-verbal?  For example, how we distribute our weight, hold our face, look up or towards the ground, and hold our hands or the ways we breathe?  This is all non-verbal conversation or body language.  These subtle ways are how our pets speak with their bodies and minds.  If we observe and learn we can communicate with them on a much different level.  We can develop these skills and gently provide guidance, understanding and training to our pets.

In addition, there is a term, anthropomorphic, which, is described as, or thought of, as having a human form or human attributes, and anthropomorphism is the interpretation of what is not human or personal in terms of human or personal characteristics.

Destructive and eliminative behaviors (excluding scent marking) do not have communicative values.  Therefore, when our dogs are destructive or eliminate because we left them at home alone, it is simply because left to their own devises they will find something to entertain themselves or if we leave them alone too long, the urge to eliminate are high.  These are not forms of communication for dogs.  If we were asked to go without using the facilities all day, after that morning cup of coffee, we might also get somewhat uncomfortable and would probably be unable to hold our bladders for an entire 8-10 hours.  However, we often expect our dogs to do the same thing.  We leave them home alone, without any way to eliminate in the desirable areas, and expect them to hold themselves for 8-10 hours.

Guilty looks are simply the way your dog attempts to placate you by demonstrating appeasement or submissive behaviors, which do have communicative value, but it is not to communicate guilt.  Humans often interpret the dog as acting guilty when in fact the dog hasn’t the faintest idea of what is wrong and is simply hoping that she will appease you by offering submissive behaviors, thus deflecting the message you might be sending with that non-verbal communication, or body language.  It is important to remember if your dog finds that she cannot consistently predict your anger or the reasons for it, she will begin to distrust you – you are someone who is unpredictable and flies into rages.  Screaming and yelling after the fact or punishing her does not effectively communicate what she did wrong originally.  You could end of teaching her to fear learn to distrust you.

While punishment is not the answer, the important thing to remember, is if we are not able to supervise our dog, until they learn acceptable behaviors, skills and socialization, the word, is management.  Management however is not training! 

11.  How do we manage our puppies or what is successful management?

Until training has taken place, there are many occasions when management is imperative.  If you puppy is not housetrained, you can manage her by constantly supervising her, taking her outside frequently, and putting her in a crate, safe room or pen while you are not at home, when you are sleeping or when you are too preoccupied to keep your eyes on her.  If your dog does not come when you call her, you can mange this behavior by not letting her off-leash in an open area until you have trained her to come on cue.

Management however is not training.  Management does prevent you dog from repeating unwanted behaviors and keeps you from getting angry at your puppy for undesirable behaviors.  Remember, the more the dog is allowed, willingly or unwillingly, to repeat the inappropriate behavior, the more embedded that behavior becomes and the harder it is to change it.  The rewards are simple; sometimes the reward to a dog is not something that we might consider rewarding, i.e., raiding the litter box.  A reward to the dog!  Disgusting to us humans!  Rewards are often times in the dog’s eyes – not our idea of a reward!

12.  What’s the best way to house train my puppy or dog?

            First, whether you are housetraining a puppy or an adult dog, the approach is the same.  Management!  Manage the behavior to prevent mistakes from happening while you teach appropriate potty habits.  Young puppies do not yet have the physical ability to control her need to eliminate for long periods of time, however, if raised in clean environments her instincts will be high to keep her area clean.  Unfortunately, puppies raise in very dirty conditions, like puppies raised in puppy mills or those who have been forced to soil their crates repeatedly through improper confinement, do not learn to keep their areas clean.

            A healthy adult dog is capable of controlling her elimination urges, so in some cases the adult dog can be housetrained easily, particularly, if she has not spent much time indoors.  However, if she has a longstanding habit of eliminating indoors, reliable housetraining can be frustrating to achieve.  In some cases, we must settle on management in order to prevent house soiling.

            Try the “umbilical approach” to housetraining your puppy or adult dog.  This means that your dog is always directly supervised by you or someone other responsible person or managed in a crate, pen or leash that is attached to you or restrained nearby.  Establish a daytime routine and go out with the dog every few hours, sometimes one to two.  If you want her to use a particular area of the yard, it is necessary to take her on a leash to this spot and wait.  Do not just send her out to “do her business” on her own.  When she urinates or defecates, “yes” and give a small treat.  Then play with her for a few minutes before returning to the indoors, this is also one of those life-rewards.  If she doesn’t go, bring her back in, without play, and manage as before, in a crate, pen or leash, and try again in a half-hour or so.  When you know she is empty you can give her some relative but still supervised freedom, short periods of time.

            If she has a mistake indoors, do not punish her after-the-fact.  It is your mistake, not hers.  She won’t even know what she is being punished for, so quietly clean it up using an enzyme-based cleaner like Clean ‘n Fresh, Urine Off, or Nature’s Miracle to be sure you get all of the odor.  Next time don’t give such freedom.  If you feel you must use a rolled-up newspaper, hit yourself in the head three times while repeating, “I will watch the dog more closely; I will watch the dog more closely; I will watch the dog more closely.”

            If you catch her in the act, calmly interrupt her and take her outside to her bathroom spot.  Again, do not punish her.  If you do, you will only teach her not to eliminate in front of you, it is not safe and she will learn to run to the back rooms to eliminate so you can’t watch.  If you plan to travel with you dog, she will not eliminate in front of you.

            You may also teach the dog or puppy to ring the bell to ask permission to go outside.  Simply hang a bell on a strong cord so the puppy will be able to reach.  For a period of time you will ring the bell each time you take her outdoors to eliminate.  Then, when the association has been established, usually one to two weeks of consistently ringing the bell, you will teach your puppy or dog to ring it.  Use a lure (food) to get the puppy to move the bell, reward and take her outdoors to eliminate.  Again, do not send her out.  It is important, in the beginning to ensure they have actually eliminated not just gone outdoors to play.

            At night, she should be managed, either with the use of a crate, or restricted to your bedroom or nearby.  If she cries in the middle of the night, she probably has to go outside.  You must wake up and take her out, reward when she eliminates and immediately bring her back and return her to the management area.

            If your puppy backslides, it is your fault and possibly for the simple reason of allowing too much freedom too soon.  Go back to a more restricted routine and proceed more slowly.  Remember routine is the key to success in housetraining!

            Dogs do not house soil out of malice or spite.  They just don’t think that way.  If your dog eliminates every time you leave her alone in the house, changes are it is related to stress, or absence of a completed housetraining routine, perhaps separation anxiety, but never malice.  See question number 10.  Punishment will only make your dog more stressed and ultimately make the problem worse.  If you are having serious housetraining problems, you may need the services of Dog Training by P.J.  The majority of dogs wants to keep their areas clean and will happily learn to use appropriate potty spots if given the chance.

13.  Shot Information for Puppies?  

This information will be added shortly so check back for more information.

Dog Training by P.J.’s class schedules appear each Thursday in the Reno Gazette Journal Classified Pet Finder Section. Come see why Dog Training by P.J. is highly recommended by Northern Nevada Veterinarians and Groomers the best training & education resource center.  Come have fun while teaching your dog life long behaviors.  Veterinarian & Past Clients References Available.  Call 775-828-0748 to join a class today.

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