By Mark Gall - Bark Busters Dog Behaviorist
(age range approximately 8- 18 weeks)
PUPPY TRAINING
Call 0800 167 710
Puppy training starts with the right selection of a pup for your lifestyle, home, garden and temperament. If you are a soft natured person a dominant pup will always test you, if you are a strong temperament you will probably be able to deal with a more dominant puppy.
Barking Mad
ASK DOCTOR SPOT
Q At thewhenofweabouthim. Whenever I Jackhis biscuits out he runs toodd age 2 1/2 my male Russell started to show behaviour fed put them
This dog is getting very excited with his food and trying to play with it which is probably not a tidy affair. He may have been praised for eating too excitedly as a pup, he may not be particularly hungry or wants to find his food as a wild dog does (scavenge and hunt). Dogs will play with some pray like a cat does, especially if they really don’t need the food. You could try a quick correction as he approaches the bowl too fast. You could start the SIT and WAIT procedure for feeding time and he only gets the food when he’s settled and relaxed and achieved the sit stay. You could scatter feed the dog which will get him to hunt the food as he would in the wild and create more interest and make the dog think. As the pack leader will normally eat first and claim the best bits you should (if your dog watches you eat) eat first which gives a strong hierachy message.
Playing with Food
Your puppy doesn’t know it’s a dog, it just knows it belongs to a pack and may find communication with that human pack difficult and confusing. If it doesn’t have a pack leader it will try to be that leader for the safety and wellbeing of the pack. It is up to you to assert leadership, communicate in a way your pup will and understand and teach appropriate behaviours. Puppy school is the ideal way of starting this process.
A
then starts barking and wagging his tail. He will throw his biscuits about and play with them for a while before eating them. I’ve always wondered why he does this?
DOC spot
AIMS OF PUPPY SCHOOL
• Teach pup basic commands and obedience. Basic obedince training (eg sit, stay, come and heel) teach the pup to respond to and respect you as the leader. This should be done without force or fear, and in time without food rewards (the pack should respond to the leader without food rewards) • Basic socialisation of pup. Socialisation is the process of exposing the pup to different people, animals and situations. This process should be continuous throughout a dogs life. • Provides owner with basic information on how to train and care for pups. Owners need to teach a pup in the way that it can understand Puppy School, combined with consistent quality training and socialisation, can help prevent problems at later ages by dealing with fears associated with meeting and greeting other dogs, people and things. For example: • That dog that always chases the cyclist may be scared of the bike so chases the bike away. The cyclist that rides away from the dog every time reinforces to the dog that it can get rid of the threat (bike) by chasing. • That aggressive dog down the road is normally a dog who has a fear of other dogs, people etc. • That dog that barks all day may be calling its pack (family) or howling with separation anxiety. This is normally a dog that is not adjusted to being alone and anxious of its safety. All of these problems can be cured through correct training and education and starting young will make it easier as the puppy has not developed a lot of dominance yet. However, it is never too late, you can teach an old dog new tricks. Dogs, like all animals, including us, need to be educated on how to behave and what the rules are. You and other members of your family need to consistently teach the pup appropriate behaviours. It is a lot like a family with the parents educating the kids, however unlike human families puppies get taught by the whole pack through a natural process that is known as the dog packlaw.
I NEED
PACK LAW
Call the SPCA 572 9156 to meet me
A HOME
Dixie, 1 yr, female
Zeke, 1 yr, male
Zeb, 1 yr, male
For all animal control matters phone Animal Control at Maataa Waka Ki Te Tau Ihu Trust on 520 9033 or visit the office at 22 Alfred Street, Blenheim
To understand your dog, you need to have some understanding of pack law. The pack law in a wild dog pack is to do with the pecking order, this pecking order has to be adhered to for survival of the pack. If the leaders of the pack are weak so is the pack and survival is made much harder. In the wild, a pack without rules, order and boundaries won’t survive. Despite centuries of domestication, pack law instinct is still strong within domestic dogs. From a dog’s point of view, there the four things that are essential for survival in a human /dog pack, the most important thing for the dog is strong LEADERSHIP, which most people consider a low priority for the dog. STRONG LEADERSHIP will provide the other essential three things: 1. FOOD 2. SAFETY 3. SHELTER ENTERTAINMENT and AFFECTION are also important to a dog. Most people put a strong emphasis on this and not enough on establishing leadership.
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For advice on estabilishing leadership, see The Marlborough Midweek on July 14
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