Bob's Dog Blog

Anyone working on training their dog in basic obedience or competitive obedience has at one time or another used motivation to get their young dog or pup to follow a command. Some dogs like the food more than the toy and other dogs really like the toy so much that they can go pretty far with the toy alone. Of course, training without motivation gives you a dog that simply goes through the motions, either through fear or submission.

However, sometimes using the toy isn’t enough motivation. For example, I have some pups that easily climb up steps to go into the house (you’ll see why later in the post). The problem came when we tried to get them down those same steps. There just wasn’t motivation for them to follow the toy as the stress that had to be overcome in figuring out how to climb down steps was greater than their drive for the toy. So, in this case, dropping bits of kibble on each step with a big kibble reward and lots of praise at the bottom did the trick right away. Five or sex reps later and they are getting the hang of it. At some point, I will move over to the toy/praise to continue conditioning and motivate to do the action called for. Which brings me to the next issue.

If you attempt to use food for motivation while doing, let’s say, heeling or leash work, then the pup will start to anticipate food as the motivational tool every time heeling or leash work is begun. They will expect the food and when you bring out the toy, they are suddenly not interested in the toy at all. This is not a drop in drive, but a conflict that the dog now has as regards the game you are playing. I mean, you just spent a week using kibble or hot dogs or whatever food to get the dog to heel or sit and now you are trying with a ball. At this early stage of training a dog, you are mixing basic drives and the dog may become confused.

The solution is to learn to think with your motivational tools. For example, I use food in the house, getting pups or young dogs to sit or come or load up in the crate. This gets the pups really excited about coming in at the end of the day, loading into their crates, etc. I already gave the example of walking down steps.

Outside, on the field, I use the toy most of the time, especially in the first stages of puppy training.  Some times I switch things up. For instance,  we sometimes use a bit of food on the field to motivate the pup in heeling, for position or to train more precise movement.  This is not consistent, so the pup is not always expecting food, so it is not conditioning the pup to constantly expect food on the field.

You will need to experiment with both methods to see where your pup or dog does best. This is a lot of fun as you can also learn a lot about your dog’s drives and motivation, which in turn will help you in getting your dog to do what you want, which is the point of dog training!

And, remember to always praise your pup for doing the command, regardless of the motivational tool.

Have fun!

Sometimes a person takes ownership of an eight week old pup and begins training and socialization immediately. This is correct and should be continued throughout the life of the dog.

There are other instances where the owner does very little with the pup during the 8-16 week period and then wonders why the pup is taking so long to train later on. This whole theory of not starting training on a pup until they are six months old is not valid, in my opinion. I mean, the pup is there, in your house, waiting to learn what his duties are and how to interact with the family, and you just leave him there to figure it out for himself. I’m not just talking about housebreaking here. I mean, the pup needs to be imprinted during this time for an optimum life as an adult.

Imprinting means the learning and socialization that the pup absorbs during the critical 8-16 week period. If you want your pup to chase a ball, you should probably start making it fun at eight weeks or otherwise at two years it’s not going to do it. Period. Please don’t blame the breeder for this, people. It’s handler caused and totally environmental. I’m not saying every pup can be titled in competitive obedience or Schutzhund – what I’m saying here is that you must bring out the as much of the pup’s working potential early in life for that potential to become active throughout life. It’s very important to know that a working attitude must be established for the pup to do work. This also holds true for the handler – if the handler does not have a working attitude, please don’t expect the dog to enjoy working.

As an example, recently I took a six week old pup with excellent nerves, food drive and overall great temperament and began imprint training.  The downside of the pup was that there was very little prey drive and lots of independent activity, which included ignoring the handler unless food was involved. I knew this was going to be a disaster later on, especially with an inexperienced handler taking him. A strong willed dog with no idea of obedience or play is not a good thing, especially at adulthood.

I began by introducing toys, which were ignored, as expected. I then, patiently, brought out another pup with high prey drive along with this pup and introduced a toy to both at once. As soon as the high prey pup went after the toy, the other pup began to follow suit, would wrestle to toy away,  then would get bored and go about his business. I did this about fifty times until, one day, this pup grabbed the toy and ran with it. Success! From that point forward, exciting prey drive has been a gradual, improving situation to the point where the pup will chase after a ball on a string while on leash and grip a rag as well.  In this instance, I had to bring out, through patiently imprinting, the prey drive that the pup had. This same pup will do a sit, sit/stay, recall and has begun basic tracking and heeling (all done with food and some ball release). He is now very connected to humans and although he will always be a strong willed dog, he will also continue to be extremely trainable and valuable to whoever eventually adopts him.  This pup can now walk onto any training field or into any household and do work. I know this because I helped put it there.

The moral of the story is: IMMEDIATELY BEGIN IMPRINTING, SOCIALIZING AND TRAINING YOUR PUP. Write down a list of all the things you want your pup to be able to do, in order of importance. Then, begin work on each, one at a time, until the pup is doing well with that thing. Then go on to the next one, remembering that you will need to go back and continue work on all of these things, every day, every week, until they are simply part of the dog.

Then you will be a real handler and your dog will live up to its expectations as a true working dog.

Best,

Bob

If anyone has adopted a puppy from my kennel, they know that I always insist, and probably more than once, that the owner repeatedly socialize and obedience train their pups, even into adulthood. Aside from the obvious advantages a program such as this would have with a pet owner, it is a bit more involved than that.

In other words, socialization and training exist as the core, underlying element in the dog’s future relationships with humans, other animals and the environment in general. It’s important to understand that what the owner does is going to take the pup further than if he were just left alone, to figure things out for himself or worse yet, to learn from another dog in the household. I know, every prospective owner asks the breeder, ‘How is the temperament?’, when inquiring about a particular pup. Well, of course, a well bred dog needs to have a stable temperament, decent nerves and some basic socialization as of eight weeks old. This is vital, but that merely gives the new owner a blank slate from which to work with.

What now? Why does the owner  need to do something else with the pup, since it’s a pure bred dog with an AKC registration number and all of the correct markings? That is really asking too much, isn’t it? It’s all genetic, isn’t it? Not really. That’s like expecting an eight week old working dog to go out on patrol with a police officer with no training and actually assist in apprehending criminals, sniffing drugs, doing live bites, etc. Pretty ridiculous, huh?

Here is the rule: Socialization and Obedience Training enable the dog to become neutralized as regards stresses from the environment and its interaction with people, animals and things within its scope of existence.

Without this neutralization (which just means a condition where the dog is not reacting unusually to a stimulus in the environment – this is what is meant by the term ‘conditioning’), the dog is being stressed by its own lack of experience and confidence with life. Look, you cannot take a pup and throw it into your life, your world and expect it to adapt to everything without your help, exposure, guidance or repetitive training in relationship to that particular thing.

Want the dog to not freak out every time you vacuum? Try introducing the pup to the machine slowly, gradually and allow it to gain a level of confidence about that particular object, both on and off, until it is fully neutralized on it as a thing. Does the pup get stressed when travelling? Well, instead of drugging the animal, why not try to take it on short, fun trips to the park, with lots of treats, praise, etc making it an experience that the pup will have imprinted as a good thing. Do this enough times and you have a dog that can travel and actually wants to do so.

I find that, more often than not, the owner will simply cave to the reaction of the dog or pup and try to adjust to the complication. For example, if the dog cannot load into the car, you have to train the dog to do so. Contrary to popular belief, dogs were not born with the ability to jump into a car. I know to some of you this may sound silly, but there are those of us who were trained in the art of training our dogs by parents, friends, etc. and then there are others who were not that lucky.

Given the demands by the culture to receive instant results for everything, it isn’t surprising to me that owners are sometimes impatient with their dog’s training. When I say it takes time and lots of repetition, I get nods of agreement, but in truth, not enough actual agreement on this. Dog training takes time and lots of repetition, period. That includes socialization, as that is a form of training. Please remember that when you take home your pup. He or she is very willing to please, but needs to be shown, directed and trained properly in order to actually do so.

Best,

Bob

When someone first takes on the responsibilities of pet ownership, and specifically with a Rottweiler pup, a whole lot of questions come bubbling up to the surface. If you’ve ever taken your first pup, you know what I’m talking about here. You know, he hates having his nails trimmed, he’s chewing my hand, he fights the leash, etc, etc.

I think the key to understanding a lot of the stuff that appears mystical to a new pup owner can be summed up in one word: socialization. I am not over simplifying things here. Socialization covers a very wide spectrum of circumstances and handlings, some of which will be gone over in this post.

First of all, socialization is training. My definition of socialization is as follows: Socialization is a training regimen which consists of familiarizing a pup with sounds, objects, events, people, other animals, movement, places, circumstances, grooming and any other part of life, for the purpose of neutralizing its effect on the pup. The result is a calm, aware, reliable and trainable adult dog.

It’s not just taking the pup to the dog park to meet the other dogs once a week. Remember, anything you do with your dog is a form of training, whether it’s crate training or obedience or neutralizing the pup to various sounds around the house. This is all training and in my opinion, it is the most important training you can do with your pup in the first six months of his or her life.

Look at it this way: you are the one setting the example for the pup. If you take him for a drive in the car and do it enough times, he will enjoy the ride. If you do it once a year, he will hate doing it. That is socialization, plain and simple.

Start the pup off the minute you take ownership. Even crate training is a form of socialization. You place the crate in places where you frequent, or move the crate around while you move around the house. That way, the pup is getting socialized, learning the sounds and goings on of your place while learning how not to mess the crate.

Take your dog everywhere you go. You can even walk your pup into places that don’t usually take dogs. My daughter-in-law does this all the time – she brings a pup into Barnes and Noble or Bed, Bath and Beyond. If they kick you out, so what? The more places you can take your pup, the more experiences that you give your pup, the better he will be at dealing with everyday life.

The pup will be more at ease, more willing to do things with you, and far less liable to have nerve issues. Take him to the vet, just to sit in the waiting room and have a treat, then go home. No vaccinations, just socializing. Take him to a high school ball game and mingle around people. Go to the flea market, etc. You’ve probably got the point by now.

Remember, socialization is the most important training (along with crate training) that you can do on your pup. It’s free and it’s easy to do. Don’t skimp on it.

Best,
Bob