Another common mistake - first night alone!

Do all puppies whine at night? In my experience the answer is no. Most puppies don't whine at night, and even if they do, they quit after a few minutes. Then why do so many new puppy owners complain of nights full of crying puppies?

Imagine that you are sleeping in your own bed. Your spouse beside you, and the temperature set perfectly so you can get a comfortable night's sleep. Then the next day when you go to work, instead of going home, you are taken to a restaurant you haven't been to before, then put into large warehouse you haven't seen before. You are left alone with only a cot and a blanket. It's much colder than you are used to, smells different and there are noises you've never heard before. You don't see or hear anybody around, so you feel very much alone.

Chances are you would start yelling out loud, trying to get out or at least trying to figure out how to become more comfortable and make sense of what is happening. Well, this is the situation a lot of puppies are thrust into on their first night in their new home. Gone are their siblings and their warm body heat and calming breathing. Gone are the familiar bed, smells and noises that they have known most of their lives. Instinct tells the puppy to hide in her den and to call for mom to come protect her. But there is no mom and no den. So the calling continues.

Think about that when you bring that puppy home. You can't control all the factors, but you can try to do the best you can with those you can .

• An open expanse makes your puppy feel vulnerable and makes it hard to stay warm...especially with no other pups to provide body heat. Using a crate (one that is the right size for your pup) reduces these problems. If you insist on not using a crate, bear in mind that the puppy will need to keep warm and may prefer being in a box turned on its side rather than out in the open. 
• Don't banish the puppy to a part of the house where she can't hear that you are near. I prefer to have my puppies' crates in my bedroom so they can see me and hear me breathing. 
• It may also help to mask night sounds with a softly playing radio or a fan while they sleep. Usually I haven't had to do this, but in extreme conditions (such as a puppy coming from a very quiet environment into one that is noisy) this may help.
• If your puppy sees you and keeps whining - try to block their direct view of you while retaining their ability to smell you and hear you breathing.
• Don't forget that whining may be a signal that they have to go outside to pee or poop. Take them out and if they don't do either, put them back into their bed without letting them run around.
• Make sure they have a 'comfort' toy and a 'busy' toy with them in their bed. A comfort toy is exactly what it sounds like, a stuffed doll or something soft that they can snuggle up to. A busy toy is a Nylar bone or Kong...something they can quietly chew on if they are awake or nervous.

Your puppy will have a much easier time.

Possibly the most common mistake in potty training

I always emphasize how important it is to develop a schedule for your puppy. Eating at regular intervals, sleeping at approximately the same time every day...sticking to a schedule until your puppy acclimates to his new home and matures enough to control his body processes makes all other training all that much easier. But it is extremely hard, if not impossible, for young pups to keep urinating and defecating on a schedule.

You will be best served if you accept the fact from the start that peeing and pooping for young puppies is never on a regular schedule. You can take your puppy outside, see him pee, take him inside and have an accident within two minutes. Getting mad does nothing except cause both of you stress. Understanding that your puppy can't 'hold it' very well and changing YOUR behavior to compensate will make all the difference.

Some points to note:

• If you have recently lost an older dog, or have older dogs in the household, remember you can't expect your puppy to have the same control of their bladder of bowel movements as older dogs do. An older dog can go eight hours without eliminating...as impossible for a puppy to accomplish as it is for a newborn infant.
• The puppy doesn't have any 'intent' when it has an accident after they just came into the house. They aren't punishing you for not paying attention to them. They simply forgot to completely empty their bladder or go poop when they last went out.
• The age when a puppy starts being able to "hold it" longer varies greatly between individuals. However, if you don't start seeing improvement over time after they are 10 to 12 weeks, you may need to be more proactive. Crate training during the day can be very helpful in helping your puppy to be better at delaying elimination.
• Having a puppy is not a passive activity. Look for signs that the puppy needs to go potty. Sniffing vigorously. Wandering around in tight circles or hurriedly with nose down. Slight puffing out of their anal opening...these are all signs that the puppy has to either pee or poop.
• Whenever the puppy wakes up...in the morning or from a nap, take them out immediately to see if they need to pee or poop.
• After they are fed, take them out to pee or poop.

I don't know how many times people have complained to me about how bad their puppy is at potty training,  then I find out that there are six hours or more between times they take the puppy out. Even if the puppy is in a crate and doesn't want to dirty it, a puppy can't wait that long. So the result is that you 'teach' the puppy to urinate in his crate (creating all kinds of other problems) and create unnecessary stress for you and your puppy. 

So what should you do? When I decide to get a puppy, I prepare myself for taking him out at least once an hour and whenever I see any behavior that may indicate he has to go again. Even it we just went out a minute ago. When I see that he doesn't need to go out that often, I stretch that out to every two hours, and so forth, gradually lengthening the time between when they have to go out. All the while, I always look for the other indicators that he has to make an unscheduled visit outside, (and don't forget after they wake up and after they eat trips outside).

At night, I always put the puppy in a crate and turn out the lights. This signals that it is time to sleep and not to be active or to pee. For young puppies (8 to 10 weeks), I set my alarm for six hours or less and take them outside. For older puppies, if they seem to be able to handle it, I set the alarm for 8 hours. Any time they whine, I take them out. If they don't go, I put them back in the crate.

Realize in advance that this schedule will create a fair share of 'false alarms' where the puppy neither has to pee nor poop. In any case, if they don't do either, don't allow them to play...they need to know these are not playtime visits. Remind yourself that these 'false alarms' are all part of the training that will establish a good poop / pee reflex in your puppy and to teach them where and when it is right to go potty.

If this is all too labor intensive for you, or you have a job and can't be around every two hours, here is an option. During the day, put the puppy in an easily cleanable, safe, enclosed area. A pen in the garage or in your bathroom with the door closed will work.  MAKE SURE THAT THE PUPPY CAN'T REACH ANY THING HARMFUL! Puppies, like toddlers, can open cabinets and reach cleaning supplies. Puppies also may be able to break out of a pen if you forget to close a latch completely, so make sure you have locked all dangerous items away. I would also move anything breakable or 'shredable' away as well.

In this safe, combined area, make sure you clearly delineate an area where it is ok to pee and an area that should be the clean, comfortable 'den.that the puppy should keep clean. I like to put a dog igloo in my puppy pen and put a comfortable dog bed in the igloo, and a water dish and plenty of newspaper outside the igloo on one side of the pen. If you need to put your pup in the bathroom, I suggest a puppy bed in a cardboard box (on its side like a little cave), again with water and newspapers away from the bed.  You might want to use puppy pads instead of newspaper, however my experience has been that puppies (except for the very young) tend to shred those much more often then they do normal newspapers, so word to the wise.

In either case, make sure plenty of age and individually appropriate toys are available. When you come home, take the puppy outside immediately and let them pee and/or poop. Then clean and disinfect the area where they eliminated inside (hopefully on the newspaper).  

If you avoid making the common mistake of having your pup wait too long to go...things should go much smoother on your journey to complete potty training.

More to watch out for at dog parks

In my last post, I discussed the dangers of taking a young puppy to a dog park, because getting a deadly virus can be a real threat.  But disease is not the only danger you need to watch out for if you take your puppy to the park.  Your pup's inappropriate behavior can elicit aggressive and dangerous responses from the other dogs.

First, puppies learn the correct way to signal intent from their mothers.  Like:

     -  Is it okay to approach?
     -  I want to play with you!
     -  I accept your dominance, so please back off. 

Puppies are often taken away from their mothers before they have had adequate time to learn the correct way to signal intent.  They also don't know how to interpret the signals from other dogs.  If your puppy doesn't back off when another dog wants him to, it may incite an attack!

And think about the situation from your puppies perspective.  He is taken to a new place that is not his home, and his first instinct is to be fearful.  There are a lot of new sights, a lot of new sounds and a lot of new smells. On top of that, there are other strange dogs that are bigger than me.  Overwhelming is an understatement!  So when that one big dog approaches in an overly-friendly manner, panic can take over and your puppy's fight or flight reflex may kick in.  He can jump at or nip at this new stranger, which again, can incite an attack. 

Even if your puppy has been completely schooled in all the customary signals and behaviors that are appropriate for a group situation, it doesn't mean he is safe from  aggressive behavior.  The other dog may not be fully socialized, or worse yet, abused.  So when your sweet little pup tries to be friendly, he can get an unexpected hostile response.  

Dogs are evolutionarily pack animals.  The pack is stable because a) it has a well-defined hierarchy that is established over time and understood by the entire group, and b) it functions as an exclusive units and bonds together to keep intruders out.  The dog park scenario functions in a manner that is contrary to all of those evolutionary behaviors.  Strangers are thrust together with different group members almost every time.  No one knows who are the legitimate pack members and who is the intruder.  They also are not sure who the alpha, or boss is.  And if there are two or more dogs there that are evenly matched in level of dominance, they will do what they have done for centuries in order to survive, they fight to determine who should be the alpha and lead.  

This post may seem over-critical and a "worst-case scenario" for dog park behavior and I must admit it is.  More likely than not, there will not be any aggressive fights for supremacy.  That being said, this blog is for puppies, and how to deal with what may cause them problems.  And with puppies who tend to be smaller, more timid, and far less experienced should an incident actually occur, I feel that it is better to be hyper-vigilant to avoid injury, both physical and emotional.

Beware of dog parks!

A friend sent a message to the joyofpuppies@gmail.com mailbox that brings up a very good point that too often goes overlooked.  Puppies more often than not shouldn't go to dog parks.

Just like everyone else, when I get a cute new puppy, I want to show him off...share him with the world!  But as it is with human infants, taking canine infants out into the world is taking a huge risk with his health and maybe even his life! Puppies need a series of vaccinations so they can build up immunity to the common diseases such as Rabies, Distemper, Parvovirus, Bordatella and Canine Leukemia.  If you take your little puppy out where other, unvaccinated dogs are playing before the puppy's own immunity builds up, he can become infected and become VERY ill.  Your puppy doesn't even have to come into contact with the unprotected dog.  Viruses can live on the ground, especially in grass, so a dog park can be infected even if there are no other dogs there when you and your puppy visit it.

I started looking up various recommendations for how long after your puppy receives his shots that he will be safe to meet dogs you aren't sure are vaccinated.  But the truth is (just like everything else it seems!) every puppy is different.  Even puppies from the same litter may need different lengths of time to build up immunity after vaccination.  So, it is best to refer to Rule #1.  Get yourself a good veterinarian and ask her to let you know when it will be OK for your puppy to go out into the wide, unprotected world.

In the meantime, a dog park is one of the worst place to take a young puppy, along with other public places like a grooming salon or dog washing stand where numerous dogs can visit in succession without thorough sterilization.  This is even true of the sidewalk in front of your vet's office, so keep your puppy in his crate and don't set it down outside, or keep him in your arms until you reach the examining table. Even if a business has a rule that proof of vaccinations is required for dogs to be there, you can't be sure that every owner has complied and the vaccinations are up to date, or if a sufficient number of days have passed for their dogs to become fully immune.  And some dogs can carry and spread a virus after he is vaccinated, even though he doesn't show any symptoms himself.

You love your new baby puppy.  So keep him safe. Stay away from dog parks and socialize your pup at home under very controlled circumstances.  He'll have plenty of time playing with other dogs when he gets a little older.

Toys!!!!

Something that may seem so much common sense now, but wasn't commonly known when I studied animal behavior back in college, is that toys (sensory and behavioral stimuli) are crucial to the development of your puppy's brain functioning.  Regardless of how intelligent your new puppy is, or how intelligent you might feel she is, having some good, safe toys around will help her learn and be happy.

I found a good, concise discussion about this on eHow.  Some of the points I would like to highlight:

• Safety is rule #1
• Using discarded clothing and shoes as clothes can create a problem because puppies (and people for that matter) can have a hard time differentiating between old shoes and your brand new Michael Kors sandals
• Also, if you have young children with favorite stuffed animals, avoiding stuffed animal puppy toys may help avoid major conflict and drama
• Pups go through many different stages of development, so things that were appropriate and interesting last week, may lose their effectiveness this week
• Toys made from soft materials can be very dangerous.  And each puppy is unique.  I have had puppies who couldn't (or wouldn't) even rip a paper towel.  I've had others that could shred any dog bed made.
• Kongs and Nylabones are great!  They come in a wide range of sizes to match the wide range of puppy sizes.  And they are made to withstand usual puppy wear and tear.

Some things I would also add:

• Soft toys can be dangerous, but so can soft towels, blankets or dog bedding.  While most dogs won't rip up their beds, puppies are curious and teething.  A wool blanket could become a choking hazard.
• Other things to be careful of are "puppy pads" that are designed to help potty train your pup.  Puppies think the entire world is a toy, and this often includes puppy pads.  And if your puppy rips the pads apart, she can ingest the padded linings which can either choke her or cause digestive issues.  I have found that unless the puppy pad is physically separated from the puppy by a screen, or I am around to stop them from ripping the pads apart, only very young puppies will leave the pads alone.  
• I have had a lot of success putting Nylabones in the puppy's crates at night.  I make sure that they are large enough that there is no possible way for the puppy to swallow them.  I find that if the pup gets up in the middle of  the night, or even if they get up a few minutes before me, they learn to quietly chew on these as pacifiers or just to keep them occupied until they either fall back to sleep or I get up.  And those last few minutes of sleep for me are GREAT!

• Even the best toys need to be checked often.  They can become damaged and no longer be safe because of sharp edges or broken pieces.  And never underestimate your puppy.  I once had one who could slice a Kong.  This was extremely rare, but if I didn't check, she could have possibly hurt herself with a piece of the toy.

• Think carefully before you engage your puppy into tug-of-war games.  Many breeds love this game, but consider how big and strong your puppy will be when she is fully grown.  Also, if there are small children around, think of what may happen if your puppy starts tugging on their clothes.  When my kids were small, just as I avoided giving my puppies stuffed toys, I thought it best to avoid tug-of-war games.

And finally, YOU will of course be your puppy's favorite toy.  But try to be an intelligent one.  

• Handle your puppy appropriately for her age, 
• Provide guidance to teach what is OK to do and what is not OK,
• Avoid letting them use YOU as a chew toy.  As they grow older and stronger this won't be so cute.  Also, it may not hurt you, but puppies chewing on small children can cause unnecessary injury and fear.
• Remember they are babies, and like babies they may suddenly get tired (or cranky because they are tired) so watch for the signs of over-stimulation and let them have time and space to rest.

It's all Greek to your puppy!

The hardest thing for me to do when I am helping others with training their puppies is "training" their family.  With puppies, the cuteness factor helps to scramble the brains of otherwise smart and logical people.  The drive to be successful with their puppy's training often makes people panic when they try to learn how to give even a single cue.  For example, I always start with explaining it's crucial to keep it simple and keep it consistent.  Commands must especially follow this formula.  So, when we start teaching a puppy to sit, I recommend one single word (usually "Sit") coupled with one consistent hand gesture.  It really doesn't matter what the verbal and hand commands are, just that whatever you use, use it all the time to mean the same thing, and don't use several different commands to mean the same thing.

However, after explaining this clearly to a puppy's family and starting a puppy off with a base of learning to sit with the command "Sit," it's not unusual for something else to happen.  The puppy's family member will say, "Sit!"  "Down!"  "No!" "Please Sit!"  "Sit down!"*  The puppy will usually lose interest at this point and and not only not sit, but his attention will start wandering away.  But put yourself the puppy's place.  The puppy is learning a new language.  This would be tantamount to you not knowing English and someone saying to you, "Get me a soda!"  "A beverage!"  "No, not that! Get me a pop!"  Since you don't know what any of those words mean, it's impossible for you to know what to do.  And if this is paired with the person flailing their arms or jumping around, it's probable that you might just give up too.

So, if you are determined to train you puppy, think about the fact that it will really help if you are equally focused on disciplining yourself as well.

Puppy training cha-cha

Unfortunately, dog training is like everything else.  There isn't a smooth direct path from beginning to success.  The process is a constant "Cha-cha" -- two steps forward, one step back.  The key is to understand this and accept it from the beginning.  Unrealistic expectations lead to unnecessary frustration.  Unnecessary frustration leads to worse results.  Instead of moving forward, you move backwards and everyone becomes less happy.

Each puppy, (like every person) has his own schedule, and if you expect your puppies to always learn to be potty trained in 7 days, chances are you'll be disappointed more often than not. Ask your mother if you and all your siblings were potty trained by the time you were 1 year old.  But if you don't sweat the setbacks and celebrate each little victory, you should find yourselves progressing forward and the learned behavior more persistant.

Also, remember that training a puppy is a process that requires that both of you learn.  They learn new behaviors....you learn how about particular puppy's unique reactions to the different situations you provide him.  Always pay attention and you'll learn a lot from your puppy's failures.  And, pay equal attention to the circumstances around your puppy's successes.  Too often people forget to reevaluate what are the variables surrounding success.  They just take it for granted.  Then, when there's failure next time, you can't figure out what caused the failure.  For example, I had a puppy who would do well without having potty problems when I left him alone with his sister at home.  Then one Fall day I left them alone and went to dinner.  When I came back, the puppy's sister was fine, but the little boy had left me a little pile in the middle of the floor.

What I had noted about the other successful times was that I always took the puppy out to poop and pee before I would leave, but then left him free in the house during the day.  If it was nighttime, I would put the puppy in his crate before I went out.  Since it was Fall, it got dark much earlier than I expected.  I realized that all the successes had been when the sun was out.  This time, he was out in the open, in the dark.  Sure enough.  Any time I left this particular puppy out of his crate, if I left the light on, we didn't have any problems.

I have handled many more puppies (and other baby animals) than probably 95% of the population, but I never fail to learn something new from each new puppy I get.  And, the next puppy down the line gets the benefit of that learning.

At this point, I know most of you reading this are probably saying, "blah, blah, blah!"  But if there is a lesson that will make the most difference in how successful your puppy training will be, it's this one.  And, the more patient you are, the faster the training will accelerate.

So, if you really love having the sweetness of a cute puppy in your home, but you can't learn to have the patience you need to deal with the bumpy road to progress, you might seriously consider having someone who is skilled in puppy training take over or help you train your puppy.  Both your puppy and you will be much happier.

Get Ready BEFORE the 4th of July

If you have a dog who is fearful of the noise associated with fireworks, or a puppy who has never experienced the unique sounds of a holiday like the 4th of July, I think that it is much better to start getting them ready BEFORE the 4th.  Waiting until the actual date, and rushing your puppy into the house just as the booming begins not only may not be effective, it can signal to the pup that those noises ARE something to be afraid of...creating a problem that might not have been there to begin with.

Here are some things that I have done that seem to help the problem:

• Keep the dogs indoor as much as possible during the days leading up to and through the 4th of July.
• Introduce a fan and a radio to create white noise. It usually is hot anyway, so the fan can solve two problems as it helps to keep the pups cooler as well.  During the times firework noise is most likely to occur, you can turn up the radio volume a little.
• Stay close to your pup during the time when noise is the worst. If you don't want to miss the fireworks yourself, ask someone to sit with the pups.
• During the times the noise is going to be the loudest, engage in some active play with your pup. A healthy game of tug of war and your behavior that signals you are having fun and are not concerned will help them realize that nothing is to be feared.

I think it is extremely important not to shield puppies from noise, even when they are very small. I periodically introduce noises, dropped metal pans on concrete, heavy garbage cans, doors slamming, engines starting, and more so they are used to the fact that noise can come unexpectedly.  In all these cases, I make sure they are in a location where they feel safe and have somewhere to retreat to (a dog enclosure, someone's lap, a dog bed) if they want to.  I also start with softer noises (rubber dish dropped from 12 inches as opposed to metal dish dropped from 3 feet), then work my way up to louder and louder noises as the pups begin showing that they aren't concerned. 

These techniques have worked for me even with very timid puppies.  That being said, all dogs are not created equally and some puppies or dogs will never be able to handle loud noises easily.  For those, I strongly suggest you work with your veterinarian to see if you need some medication for holidays like the 4th of July.  I also suggest you try to keep "white noise" around all the time.