Brave New World - The first week

When I wrote my post about why I chose breeder over rescue, I was writing from my heart and not appreciating the political hot bed that it is right now with the USDA reg expanding the definition of retail to include hobby breeders and rescues.  Wow...given all that, I'm surprise and humbled by the positive response I've received from that blog post by rescuers, friends, and breeders alike.  We all want the same thing, the best environment where dogs can thrive.  I know we'll get there so long as we try to work together, educate and inform.

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On to training!  New Puppy, what do do?  What to do?

So, I bring this little thing home and she's quite overwhelmed.  She's not just a little bit timid of me or anyone who wants to meet her.  She's just a spec of something in our back yard.  The world must have suddenly, overnight, got HUGE.  She needs some positive experiences and quickly.  So, we made stop on the way home to "Grandma's house."  (my Mom)  We took her outside, in the shade and we just laid in the grass with her where she could take it all (and us) in and rrreeeellllaaaxxxx.  Lots of positive reinforcement from Grandma and me, and she was calm and content.  We stayed there for about 45 min and then off to home.

We got home, and did the exact same thing.  Went outside (because that's the best place for her to be should she want to potty), laid in the shade in the back yard and got to know each other.  At that point, Pixel was greeting newness with shaking.  She was worried and I totally understand that.  When we get new rescues, regardless of their situation, that first day is a lot to take in.  Typically we just let them be, and let them get acclimated, which is what we did with Pixel. 

The one thing I tell my students at the dog club is, if you own a dog, "Congrats!  You became a dog traininer the day you brought your beast home, and the beast started learning things immediately.  What did you teach the beast so far?"  Well, my observations were that meeting new people was rattling to my wee beast.  So, we got that handled right away.  That evening we had friends over to hang out.  Grand total of people greeted her first day was 7 including me.  Not all at once, obviously.  AND, not strangers.  These all were dog savvy people in my life who knew how to properly greet a dog and how to give that dog reinforcement and confidence.  She got bits of cheese for saying hi and she really started to show that life was good and she wasn't all THAT rattled afterall.  By day 2, she met 5 more people and day three she met 3 more and one of them was a child.  This is a game we will be continuing.

Out on the town!

I also started taking her on little walks starting day 2.  Walking on a leash is not all that big of a deal if you approach it with a little patience.  At 9 weeks old, she runs the show as far as I'm concerned.  We kinda went where she wanted to go, and within 10 min or so, she was just trotting after me like a little pro.  What I like about walks is that she gets used to a leash and collar, early.  Also, she gets to see people, dogs, world going about it's daily business and she can observe and make conclusions about what she sees.  The important part of what I just said is that she's "making conclusions" about what she sees.  My job, my role, and my duty is to influence those conclusions.  So, for example, a car goes by and she wigs out like a marlin on a hook.  Mental note, needs reinforcement when cars go by to remain calm.  So, next time, we got some cheese and she got bits of cheese as cars approach and pass.  Last night, day 5, cars were less of a big deal.  I use taking walks to teach my puppy about the world and to work on things that might be a problem later.  For Treo, it's his time to work on leash aggession, motion sensitivity (cars), and also just get some mental stimulation.  For Pixel, walks right now will be to teach her about the world, teach her to potty on leash (kinda a big deal for dogs shows), and mental stimulation.

Housetraining

It cracks me up when people write me about "potty training" their dogs.  I want to be a smart ass and write back, "You are teaching your dog to use the toilet?  How???"  But I don't...they wouldn't "get" me.  No, what we're teaching puppy is "Housetraining" and there's many facets of housetraining, one of those is pottying outside. 

My belief, right or wrong, is that dogs are not really able to "hold" it until they are 6 months old.  The success you have prior to 6 months are due to really good timing on your part and you reading your dog really well.  You know that tell tale sign of sniffing the floor and walking in circles means "gotta go!"  I do believe that Breeders or rescuers who have puppies can aid in the process by taking puppies outside several times a day prior to 8 weeks and if you time it all right, dogs will predict that pattern and start to wait to go outside.  That's what Karla did, and that's what's made this work very easy for me.

I do believe there are rules that must be follow by me, however.  I take her outside after every single one of these events:
(1)  Just woke up - from sleeping through the night, or even a tiny cat nap
(2)  Just ate
(3)  Just got done playing
(4)  Just got home from somewhere
....or any other time when she's not gone outside for a while.

I'm very quiet while I wait and see what she's going to do, and then reward her with praise or playing after she's gone potty in the grass.  What I don't want to do is play with her in order to stimulate her body to go.  If I did that, I'd build mandatory play into everytime we go outside, and nobody wants that, especially if it's 2AM in the middle of a blizzard.  So, no...it's no attention from me until she goes, and then we hoop and holla how awesome she is and we party.

Last thought on this, my job (to the very best of my ability) is to reduce her opportunity to rehearse going in the house.  So, no newspaper in XPens, no puppy training pee pads.  Those tools tell the dog it's acceptable to potty in doors.  It's not, so why go there?  I just keep a very vegilant eye on her, and I get her outside often at this stage and clearly if she does go inside, its 100% always my fault.  We've had a LOT of success with these philosophies over the years.  Treo's peed in the house 2x his entire life (he's 5) and both were when he was under 6 mo of age, and he's never pooped in the house.  Tazer (he's 4), same deal.  He might have had one time he peed in the house when he was ittle bittle, but that's it. Housetraining Pixel with pottying outside will not be a training issue.

New Brothers and a Sister

Not in a big rush to integrate her into the pack right now.  I want her to bond with 'The Mommas" as a first priority, and the pack is a second priority.

Tazer is 50lbs of love, but should he decide he needed to send Pixel a message on her behavior, he potentially could hurt her pretty badly.  So, Tazer is limited to visiting with her through the kennel.  He puppy bows it to say hi, it's very cute.

Treo, I know, will over-correct her for so much as looking at him cross-eyed.  She doesn't need that either. So, Treo and her also visit between the bars and that's it.  Last night, since she's been soon good sleeping through the night, I've put her on the floor (she was on my nightstand in a veri-crate) in a regular kennel next to me.  I showed Treo where I moved his bed, next to her, and while I was doing that, she reached through the bars and bopped him on the face a couple times with her paw trying to get his attention.  He just looked at her and then walked away.  I gave him HUGE treats for that.  What a good boy.  Still, not in a hurry for them to meet face to face.

Neelah is more on an even training field with Pixel.  Where Pixel is 5.75lbs, Neelah is like 15lbs.  AND, Neelah is very good about warning signs and appropriate messaging.  So, they've been able to hang on a few occasions, with our watchful eye.

Partyin' HARD!

Lastly, we've been partying hard core, Pixel style.  She likes to play, play, run, play and explore.  It's fun.  I'll write more on what we play, how we play, and how Ami and I are lying a foundation for play in another blog post soon.  Long story short, she likes it, loves it and wants some more of it!  Life is GOOD as a puppy in our house. 

Headed out to a St. Louis USDAA trial this weekend.  Pixel gets to hang with Grandma for a couple days - both will love.  I will miss her though!!  Treo won't.  :)  Wish us luck!