Edna’s second week

Edna is growing quickly, and learning fast.

An important thing to remember when raising a puppy, or training a new dog, is that they are learning every minute. It is up to you to control their experience, so pup learns what you want her to learn.

If you cannot control pup’s actions, (i.e. you are in the shower, or engrossed in a cooking project,) put pup in her crate for a rest, or to chew a stuffed Kong toy or other tough, safe treat.

Edna has been working hard on potty training. She actually has gone to the door a few times, especially for poop, as that’s easier for them to sense when they need to go. Critical points on potty training:

• success will take hundreds of repetitions.
• you will have success, then failures. A couple of evenings ago, Edna was in a super crazy mood and had one pee and two poop accidents only a few feet away from me! I just couldn’t keep up with her. This is where your sense of humor and patience comes in handy. Stay calm clean up and you’ll have another chance to reward pup outdoors very, very soon. 🙂
• Make sure you have treats in your pocket all the time, to reward good behaviors such as sit, down, potty outside, come when called, off (four paws on the floor), and anything else you like.

Edna is getting very good at learning to sit and wait for her food. I leash her after I have all five bowls filled. When I set all the bowls down, the leash keeps her in her spot. When the bowls are down I ask her to sit. She (and the four other dogs) are not given the “ok” command to eat until Edna is in a good sit — don’t get in a hurry on this one! This means sitting with a LOOSE leash. This is a great exercise to teach self control.

Another critical exercise to work on with a puppy or any new dog is food safety. Do not take the bowl away while they are eating at this stage, it only makes them defensive and less safe with their food. I save leftover meat bits and while Edna is eating, I stroke her body, touch her paws and put the meat bits in her bowl. That way, the dog learns that a hand coming toward them always is positive and they never should worry, growl or bite. I also ask kids to do this, as dogs often do not think of kids as worth respecting.

We continue to work on “come” although she runs to me immediately and at top speed right now. All pups, as they grow older, will become more distracted by the outside world (like any teenager!) and can lose that 100% great come when called if you are not careful to continue strengthening it with high-value treats, and practicing in all types of places, with all types of distractions, and following through to make pup come when it decides to disobey and wander off. If the wandering off or running away happens, put a long, light leash on pup and try again, using the leash to guide the behavior.

I had a couple of episodes this week where Edna, coming out of our fenced yard with me after a potty to our deck-side door about two feet away, would get distracted by a cat or a bird or … nothing (she’s a puppy, after all!) and wander away instead of following me straight through the door. I have been solving that by using a treat (actually, just a piece of her kibble – mostly I use her kibble for treats right now, to keep her tummy happy.) The way I give the treat in this instance is to lure her through the door while saying “let’s go” to encourage a habit of moving fast to the door, all the way indoors. Then, I drop the treat on the floor inside.

I also brought her out to our garden, dragging a light leash just in case I needed to control her, and she had fun walking around in our raspberry thicket, stealing berries that had fallen and biting weeds.

I have been shaping some obedience trial behaviors, just in case I decide to compete with her later. A straight front sit, a fold-back drop down, a “get back” to heel position, eye contact and even a heel with head up (only one step at a time for now) are mostly what we play with for now.

The only Search and Rescue type things she’s done is explore creeks, ponds, muskegs (where she fell in many watery mud holes!) – obedience and socializing so she’s comfortable with all people, noises, floor surfaces etc. I also introduced her to carefully chosen new dogs.

She also had her first skiff rides this week, when we took her for a two-day camping trip to a nearby remote beach. She slept in her crate in the tent very quietly, and explored with great happiness. She loved the seaweed.