Book of the Week: The Art of Raising a Puppy
11 Dec 2015
There’s a new puppy at work, so that inspired me to read The Art of Raising a Puppy written by The Monks of New Skete, who train German Shepherds for profit. I doubt I’ll get a puppy since they require a lot of care and time, which is in short supply. I do however want to learn how to train a puppy. According to the ASPCA, approximately 1.2 million dogs are euthanized a year. This is sad, because people don’t take responsibility for their animals, by having them spayed or neutered or taking care of them after adopting them. Stages of a Puppy’s Life As the puppy grows up it goes through several stages.
- neonatal period (0 to 13 days) - from birth to opening of eyes
- transitional period (13 to 20 days) - from eye opening to ear opening
- socialization period (3 to 12 weeks) - when puppy learns how to interact with others
- juvenile period (12 weeks to sexual maturity) - between 6 to 12 months depending on breed and size of animal
The socialization period is the most important stage, where experiences will shape the dog for the rest of its life. You don’t want to screw this up. Before 8 weeks, the puppy should be socializing with the other pups and some older puppy-friendly dogs. You don’t want to take a dog away from its mother at this time, because they need to learn to have proper dog manners. It is crucial that they learn how to interact with other dogs. A good breeder will take notes during this socialization period to determine the personality and traits of the dog. The goal is to match the right dog with the right human. Pack
They roll over on their backs and expose their undersides while the other dog proceeds to investigate and sniff the anal-genital region. This posture defuse the threat perceived by the submissive dog and establishes pack hierarchy.
Dogs are probably descended from wolves, so studying wolves can give you glimpse into the truth nature of dogs. Wolves are pack animals that live in a den. In order to train them not to urinate in the house, you can set them up in a crate, which takes the place of a den. They will not want to soil their den, so they will wait until they are outside to relieve themselves. You should also be careful to make sure that the puppy knows that you are the alpha wolf in the pack without breaking the puppy’s self-confidence and scaring it. The book goes into the different behaviors and how you can take advantage of them. Training
Learning the value of silence is learning to listen to, instead of screaming at, reality: opening your mind enough to find what the end of someone else’s sentence sounds like, or listening to a dog until you discover wha tis needed instead of imposing yourself in the name of training.
The book goes over how to train your dog and teach it commands like sit, stay, come, heel and down. You need to be very aware of your dog and give positive reinforcement or correction as soon as possible, so the dog can associate that action with what it is supposed to do. Being too late is not good and can be confusing. You need to make sure you are encouraging the right actions.
Training is a humane form of dominance
Purchase The Art of Raising a Puppy on Amazon.com or check it out from your local library.