Puppies are cute, energetic, crazy and adorable. One minute you can pick them up and cuddle and the next all they want is to race around. We all need to remember that puppies are babies and like human babies, they need a lot of sleep and will often fall asleep on your lap, in the laundry basket or between your favorite pillows.
But who can resist the faces of those adorable puppies?
Puppies can be a handful, chew on your furniture and steal your shoes. Like a child, a puppy will need positive parenting and guidance. They need to feel secure in their new environment and know that the humans will help them and provide for them.
Puppies will try everything they can think of to get what they want. When they find something that works, they will continue to use it, but it may not be something you like. Teach your puppy what behaviors you want that will still get him what he wants. Show your puppy that what you want is what he really wants too and that you know where all the best things in life are.
In the past, working with puppies was pretty much confined to house training and maybe a few tricks, sit and possibly down. But real training didn't start until a puppy was about six months old. Things have changed over the last couple of decades and puppies are learning all about life from the moment they are adopted. Some breeders are even instituting enrichment activites and learning opportunities to puppies as young as 3 weeks old. All this being geared to teaching a puppy about the human environment in order to prevent fear and/or aggression later in life.
From the moment a puppy is born, his responsibility is to learn. That responsibility does not change for most of a dog’s life. His sole purpose should be to understand his universe in order to survive. That means learning all about it. That means taking responsibility for finding opportunities to learn.
Obedience behaviors of sit, down, stand, heel, come and stay are taught using games and reward based training. Using these methods, puppies are like sponges and learn things truly fast.
There’s a lot happening during play. Puppies learn to chase and be chased, drop things, look and watch, bounce, hide, pounce, tug, bump into each other, and more. Puppies are busy when they’re playing. And, more than that, they are learning. They are learning key social concepts; what will start play and stop it, that a hard bite will stop play, that not everything goes as planned all the time, to create patterns and change them at will, and how to communicate.
Play is the true work of the young in any species. And when your puppy plays with you, he is also learning. When you play with your puppy you are teaching him that learning and fun happen everywhere and with every creature. Most of your puppy’s socialization can be done with play. Play creates self-confidence, self-control, impulse control and how to deal with sudden changes in the environment. Play creates a bond between the players and that ability to bond will assist a dog his whole life.
Games provide a platform of training that covers all the necessities of life. Games enhance observation and the ability to make informed decisions.
Games increase confidence in dealing with novel and unique experiences, understanding the rules and how to live without stress. Training with games teaches that failure is just another way of learning and not something to be avoided.
Training with games gives control to the dog, understanding to the dog, and less and less need by the human to be constantly alert. So rather than concentrating on the elimination of problem behavior, your choice as a trainer or owner should became a decision to increase a dog's abilities which, in turn, handle problems as a matter of routine.
This is a 6 week class that uses the games created to teach a dog how to live in a human world.
In this six week class your puppy will learn the basics of what it takes to live in our world without stress.
There is also a lot of information for you, the owner, in how a puppy thinks, sleeps, plays, and responds to stress.
This is the exact same class as the group class being offered. The games are the same, in the same order. It's just online.
A service dog is NOT a pet. It’s not something that you get and then ignore. It’s not a highly trained dog that will be able to go through life without constant training reinforcement. It’s an ongoing training. These dogs are deemed medical equipment - the same as a wheelchair, crutches or cane - you don’t pet those items, so don’t pet the dog. The dog is our responsibility, not the responsibility of any place that we visit.
This responsibility starts when a potential service dog is still a puppy - an impressionable baby that is a sponge for learning. Teach them the basics, but also teach them creativity, resilience, persistence, industriousness and intelligent disobedience.
This is four - 6 week classes.
This DVD has nearly 100 structured training games that you can play with your puppy.
