Puppy Training that is Safe for Your Puppy
Kathleen Amaro
Puppy training can and should begin the day you bring your puppy
home, but only if it’s approached in a safe manner for your puppy
and his sensitivities. Housetraining your puppy can be a
rewarding and non-stressful experience when you shape behavior
from a series of positive experiences, instead of attempting to
correct unwanted behaviors before your puppy has a chance to
learn what you DO want.
Trying to teach your dog what NOT to do is not conducive to
healthy, reliable learning. Your puppy must have the opportunity
to learn the behaviors that you DO want which will be
incompatible with behaviors that you don't want.
Never say, "No" or yell the word "Nooo!" if your dog doesn't
understand something while training, and/or fails to perform on
cue. Simply try the exercise again and if that doesn't work, go
back to a previous step. Many times you will need to settle for
rewarding just a partial behavior and work up in steps from there
until the whole behavior is performed.
Here's an example. You catch your dog chewing your $90 shoes. By
running over and screaming, “No!” you've done one of two things:
1. You've either rewarded him for chewing by giving him
attention; this is especially true if you give chase while he’s
running with your shoes; or
2. You've scared the bejeebers out of him and he learns that it's
not safe to relieve stress and/or sore teeth and gums when you
are present. Therefore he must do it when you're gone in order to
keep himself safe and not upset you. The dog has no malice in
these actions, he's just following instinct.
This applies to crate training as well, (if the crate is
introduced and used appropriately), in that it can prevent
accidents from happening during the housetraining process while
repeatedly giving your puppy the opportunity to be successful at
eliminating outdoors. His repeated success builds his confidence
and instills in his mind that the outdoors is the only place to
even consider eliminating.
This kind of housetraining is not based on fear, which inhibits
the learning process but on repeated successes. This makes the
desired behavior more reliable and the puppy more confident and
able to learn.
Training your puppy using positive reinforcement and other
healthy behavior shaping techniques insures that his puppy
training will not negatively affect his personality. This type of
healthy interaction with your puppy during his first year will
enable you to build a cooperative bond and to have a well
mannered but confident companion by the time he reaches maturity.
Kathleen Amaro is the owner of
http://www.puppy-potty-training.com
Her instantly downloadable ebook 25 Secrets to Raising the
Perfect Puppy, not only tells you how to raise the perfect puppy,
but how to get him perfectly potty trained using only positive
and healthy puppy training techniques
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