PUPPY TRAINING
with Maya

   

     MAYA at 8 weeks old

Maya, an Alaskan Malamute Cross, is the newest addition to the
Worrall household.  She will let you know how her puppy training is going.
(giving regular tips and helpful advice on this page for other young pups with their new owners).

Only two days to go until Maya arrives, and the build up to her arrival has been quite a busy one. Over the last five or six weeks I have visited Maya at least once a week, and now she recognises me as another member of her ‘extended’ family, she is comfortable with me and recognises my scent.

When Maya leaves her family to join ours, it should not be a difficult transition, as I am the link between her old family, and her new one. I have left a cuddly toy with the litter of nine pups, so that it will be impregnated with their scent. When Maya finally leaves the litter, she will be very familiar with myself, linking me with her litter, and this will be reinforced by the presence of the cuddly toy.

Educating Maya

Although Maya has not been able to go on the ground outside our home, (because of not having her second set of inoculations,) we have been taking her out, on a daily basis, (carrying her of course!) to educate her about the world. She is quite used to the park, the car, and all the sights and sounds that come with these places, and hopefully she will not find it so frightening when she is allowed out and on the ground.

In addition to this sort of education, we have been putting a collar on Maya, every day, (slowly increasing the length of time she has it on). When Maya eventually has to have a lead and collar on, to go out, she will be used to it.

  It must be so confusing to a young pup that has not had a collar on, or had the experience of the outside world (even from some-ones arms). To be suddenly expected to cope with the unusual sensation of having to wear a collar, and to understand what all these strange noises etc., are all about. This could possibly happen all on the same day, many pups face this, and find themselves overwhelmed, fearful and unable to cope, they firmly fix themselves to the floor, and are unable to move. Leaving their owners no other alternative than to pick them up, and doing what could have been easier, whilst the pup was smaller.

Maya has been with us for almost a week now, she initially found the separation from the rest of the litter quite difficult, even though I had taken all precautions to make the transition as easy as possible for her, for example for the first few nights she seemed rather restless when she was crated downstairs and lost her appetite. In order to rectify this, we tried to place her (in her crate) in the company of the other dogs, however this worked against us, as Maya would wake up in the middle of the night after a short sleep and 'cry' to be let out of her crate to play with the other dogs.  After the second interrupted night we decided to temporarily move her crate into our bedroom (the strongest bond she has is with me, therefore she feels more secure with me close at hand).

Maya is now sleeping peacefully throughout the night.  Her appetite has greatly improved and she is now bonding well with the rest of the family.  Over the next few months we will be gradually moving her downstairs once she feels safe and secure within the 'pack'. Maya is now approaching 7 weeks, and will soon be old enough to give regular tips and helpful advice on this page herself for other young pups with their new owners !

Maya’s puppy training has been going well over the last two weeks, Maya is only 9 weeks old and she is now house trained! How have we managed to do this so quickly? Well we used an indoor crate. As soon as we brought Maya home, we trained her to use the crate. This system works because a large percentage of dogs, and puppies will not soil in their bed area, making it a perfect tool for housetraining, it is a bit time consuming, but worth it in the end.

Maya spent her nights in her crate, and during the day, when we were unable to pay close attention to her, we placed her in her crate for short spells. To help with her crate training we spent time with her, whilst she was in her crate, to make sure she understood that during the time in the crate, she was to be quiet, and relaxed. When she was noisy, we would chastise her verbally, and we would only let her out when she was quiet (praise is also very important at this stage, when she is doing the right thing.)

Maya soon learned what was expected of her. Immediately Maya was let out of her crate, we placed her outside where she evidently went to the toilet straight away (we praised her and used the word ‘toilet’ during the praise.) As soon as Maya woke up, from her lengthy sleeping sessions, we would again take her outside, and she would go to the toilet, generally straight away (we again would praise her and as we did with our other dogs, using the word ‘toilet’.
 

The next stage

When we opened her crate, to let her go to the toilet, instead of carrying her out, we made her walk out of the back door herself. (Rushing her was a must, we did not want her to go to the toilet on the way!) We gave her the command ‘out’. (Again, when she was going to the toilet, plenty of praise, using the word ‘toilet’). If we now suspect that Maya is thinking of going to the toilet, and can not make up her mind we tell her to go ‘out’, she takes herself out and usually goes to the toilet.

Maya has caught on to her toilet training really quickly, and now takes herself out to the toilet every time, as the back door is always ajar. The key element here? Well with a lot of dog/puppy training consistency is the key to success. It is rather a time consuming task, but worth it in the end.

Maya is 18 weeks old, her training is coming on really well. Young pups learn at an alarming rate, and training should be undertaken in short gentle spurts, because a pup's concentration span is not very long. A lot of Maya's training is intermingled with play, and whilst on our walks through the park.

Maya has been walking through the park on a long line, it is about 30ft long. The reason for that is at any age when preparing any dog for the off the lead stage, it is vital that you still have a 'connection' to your dog during the training process. When asking your dog to do any exercise if the dog is not sure, or faltering, you need to back up your 'command' with a 'physical action' so having the long line enables you to do that when the dog or pup is further away from you. Once the pup or dog is reacting to the 'command' without you applying the physical action through the lead, you can then after some time, shorten the lead.

Eg. If I ask Maya to come to me, (this is also known as the recall) and she decides to put her nose to the ground and sniff, I can pick up the long line, give her a tug, reinforcing the 'command' come with a physical action.

Eventually Maya will be on just her half check, and because she has always been corrected when faltering at any point, she will almost always react to any 'command' given whilst off the lead. This type of training is invaluable, as not all dogs are ok to just take off the lead, It is also safe, you never get to the stage where the dog runs off, and you then have no control at all. If the pup does decide to do a runner, with a long line on, you always have the line to step on to stop the dog, before it may end up in a dangerous situation, with for example, a passing car or lorry.

Introducing the Newest addition to our family.  Chintu, Maya's brother.  
We've been having so much fun with Maya, we decided to do it twice !
(Chintu at 16 weeks old)

2nd January 2001

Maya and Chintu are 7 months old now, they are both growing fast, and learning fast, they are quick to learn, good and bad, at any opportunity, so training has been a must from a very early age. It is so important throughout the 'puppy stage' to sort out any training issues that arise, when the dog is at a size that is more manageable. Many folks leave the training of their new pup, until their pup is about 6 months, in the case of a larger dog; this can be a problem, as they prove to be lots stronger than we can manage.

Since our previous update on Maya, we have concentrated on off the lead training with Maya and Chintu, as well as general control and basic obedience. When Maya and Chintu are together, they are very involved with each other, and if this concentrated work were not done, we would not be able to gain control of either of them, they would switch off their ears, and carry on with their fun. So initially we had to train them separately, making sure that every response to every command was virtually immediate, where needed, plenty of praise followed. We had to make it really enjoyable for them to come to us, rather than to continue to play with each other.

We finally brought them together into various situations, where the training continued, and we made sure that the responses were as good as when they were apart, if not we would step in immediately, and remind them what was expected of them. Maya and Chintu are both off the lead, very responsive, and very sociable.

Socialising your puppy is so important, from the very first steps outside. We made sure that every contact was an enjoyable and safe, and that they had to be accepting of things if we said that it was ok. We also picked and chose carefully the dogs to socialise our pups with.

So often you will find that a puppy, new to the outside world, will be very unsure about other dogs, strangers and new places. This is where a good puppy training class comes in very useful.

The best thing to do when you first go to a puppy training class is to sit back and watch what is going on. Check out the pup's that are already at the class. Look at their characters, whether they are bullies, noisy, excitable etc., and go for the pups that are more like the character of your own pup, to socialise your pup in gently. Always continue to make your pup feel at ease. Making sure that you get more daring as the pup becomes more confident. Baring this in mind, steer clear of any pup or older dog with aggressive tendencies. The pup should always feel safe and secure with you and the situation.

2nd June 2001

Maya and her brother Chinny were 1 year old on the 1st June 2001. They have been growing into two of the most beautiful dogs that I have ever dealt with, not only beautiful to look at, gentle natured, kind, and so laid back. They are both great with other dogs, children and other animals, and they have been in and around so many different places over this last year, and experienced so many different things in their short lives, that nothing really phases them.

Educating your dog is so important, I think as important as the conventional 'dog training' that we are all aware of. It should start as soon as possible, we started with Maya as soon as she had settled into our home, and had bonded with us. Before Maya had her inoculations, she was unable to walk on the ground, so we carried her, and educated her to the world outside our home, in our arms. (Until she got so heavy it was too difficult!)

Maya and Chinny's training is ongoing, and not only are they doing a full range of obedience exercises, we have started to teach them tricks, which they love to do. I can only say that to enhance your relationship with your dog, whatever its breeding, teaching your dog new things, through play is so rewarding to us as dog owners. (And so rewarding to the dogs as there are treats to be had!)

Balancing the fun side of things out with the control exercises and training will make for a fantastic relationship. Maya has just started joining in with the Fun Agility classes, she loves it! I think that there is always something that you and your dog can do, to bring you closer together.

There are various types of dog training methods available to us all, wherever we are. But it has to be said that it should always be fun for you and your dog where possible. I say this because some of us have to deal with wide and varied dog problems. In which case a large majority of these problems can be dealt with, if not by you, then by a professional trainer. Once these problems are sorted out and the balance of relationship between you and your dog has been brought back to 'normal' there is no reason why the fun stuff can be brought into play.