- Are you looking to give your puppy
the best start possible?
Well, in today's video we're gonna talk to instructor Steve
and his adorable puppy named Final
about the puppy training first steps that you need to do
with your puppy.
- I'm Ken Steepe.
- I'm Steve Walsh.
- And welcome back to McCann Dogs.
(guitar chord)
(dog yipping)
- Some of the things that I really might go to
when I get a new puppy are some thing that
oftentime we kind of take for granted as dog trainers,
and it's worth pointing out some of the great things
that you can do right off the bat with your puppy
to set the right stage for her.
We talk about using the word yes as the marker that says
that dogs have done something completely correctly,
and I'm not necessarily gonna say yes right now
because little Final's having a little tug on his leash,
but it is something that I will definitely
let my dogs know is the marker word, it's the right word.
Now how do we do that?
Well, we know dogs learn within a second,
so if I can say yes,
and then deliver a treat within a second,
and repeat that process hundreds of times,
my dogs start to have a little bit of value
for the word yes.
Now I'm not expecting any behavior,
I just want them to know that yes means
good things happening.
So here's what I'm gonna do with him.
You can see he's a little distracted,
he's been kinda hanging out, so I need to
do a little bit of stuff with him.
I'm gonna get a little food,
I'm gonna put it right on his nose.
I'm not gonna ask for anything other than just be
someone pointed in my direction.
I'm simply gonna say yes, and then one second later,
give him a treat.
Yes.
And you can see as I do that over and over and over,
first of all he starts to pay a little more attention to me.
Yes.
But he also starts to learn that good things happen
when he hears the word yes.
Good.
Now you have done this a bunch.
I don't know if you noticed that there.
He was looking over there, I said yes,
and his head actually came back to me.
If you spend time doing this right off the bat,
it can really be an attention-getter.
Now I don't want that to be the attention-getter,
but it has them understanding.
It shows me that he's understanding that yes
means he's doing really well,
or that yes means good things are coming.
Now the other part of this is you'll notice
he's trying to get the treat out of my hand,
but he's not biting me.
Sometimes the dogs get a little bit frustrated
and they'll get a little overzealous with their teeth.
If he is a little over zealous with his teeth,
I'm not gonna say take it nice,
or take it gentle, or anything like that.
I don't want to put a code word in.
I would simply pull the food away and offer it to him again.
Yes, good boy.
And as long as he's respectful at taking it,
let's say he gently nibbles, or gently licks at it,
then he gets the treat.
So we can really teach both bite inhibition,
and loading the word yes at the same time.
So again, yes.
Yes.
Yes, good boy.
One of the first steps in puppy training
is teaching my dog that running to me
is a really, really fun thing.
And with the help of a friend or a family member
who can restrain your dog, you can use some food,
or a toy to really build some drive,
and with a good loud call of their name,
they learn that running to you as fast as they can
is fun and engaging.
And not only does it teach them
the basics of a solid recall,
it also lets them burn off some energy at the same time.
Now some of my other puppy training first steps
are to also expose my puppy to as many different surfaces
and things in life.
You know, when you're out in the real world
we don't realize how many different things
that your dogs see.
Some of you that get puppies in the winter time,
come spring time, your dogs have never seen grass.
So having them experience different footings
and things that move under them, or just strange things
that come up with life, is a really, really good thing.
So I find all sorts of different things.
I've sort of set up a little line of things
that Final hasn't really seen.
I'm just gonna use some food to lure him over them.
Now part of this is also for him to experience that,
but part of that is also to help build his confidence.
If he was worried about any one of these,
my direction and encouraging him through,
and letting him sort of source these out my himself,
and experience them by himself with my support,
will really help him get a little more confident
in this situation.
So here's what I'm gonna do.
I've got a little food on his nose,
and I'm just gonna encourage him to with me,
and every time he does, I can yes and reward
on those new areas.
Yes, good job, good.
And I'm just putting some food right on his nose.
Yes, good job.
Little plastic wires, a little wobble board,
yes, good boy.
Excellent.
Maybe up onto a plank.
Yes, good boy.
Excellent job.
And then even onto some rubber flooring.
Good job.
All of these things are things that they may experience
as they grow up and see different things in the world.
One of the other first steps in puppy training
is also getting your dog accustomed to being
lured in different positions.
They're gonna sit, they're gonna lie down,
they're gonna do all sorts of things
over the course of their lives,
so getting those used to moving those positions
can really start them off on the right foot.
So sit is obviously the easy one to go to.
Now when I do that I'm not giving any command at all,
I'm simply using the food, and I'm just tipping up
his nose towards his butt, and now that I've
spent the time to load the word yes,
I can say yes, and then give him that treat.
And then yes, and give him the treat.
And then I might lure him into a down position.
You notice the food stays right on his nose.
My hand comes down, the moment he's down I yes and reward.
Yes, and reward.
And same thing with the stand.
I can take that food, move it forward from him
at his head height.
Yes, and reward in that stand position.
And then I can mix up the positions, as well.
I can go from a stand, yes, good down.
Again, yes and reward in the position.
Yes, good job.
Good sit.
Yes, good boy.
So he thought about going into that down,
but I kept my hand at his head height,
and he went right into that stand position.
Great way to get them accustomed to their body.
Now one of the other thing I spend a whole lot of time doing
is handling my puppy, and that literally means
having my hands on them.
You know, we talked about this with the nipping and biting.
When I scoop him up into my side like this,
he calms right down, and from the time I brought him
out of the crate the first time I saw him,
when he was in my arms, I not only expected him
to settle a little bit, but I put my hands all over him
without even him realizing it.
So I don't sort of set out to handle him,
but I'm constantly touching him, all of his different parts.
You know, his paws, his ears, all of those things,
even down to his tail.
And you know, he's a little wiggly right now,
but he's kinda goin with it.
Good job.
Good boy.
I can pick up his tail, I can rub my hand under his belly.
And that's something that's important that they get used to.
You know, through your dog's life, there are times
at which there are gonna have to hands on them,
and the more comfortable they are with that situation,
whether it be your hands, or the vet's hands,
or somebody who happens to be coming in
and taking care of them,
the easier it is for them and for you.
Now he's pretty good with it.
He sorta says, okay.
And I've already trimmed his nails
and done a bunch of other stuff with him
to get him used to it.
Hey, stop.
Good.
He took a little nibble at me there,
so I just addressed it right in the moment.
But one of the things that I can start to do
is build a really good, positive association
with hands on him.
Now of course, food is a great motivator
for a lot of things for a lot of dogs,
and that's a great way to sort of get some success.
So here's what I would suggest you do,
and if you have somebody else in the house
that could help you with this
with an extra set of hands, that does make life
a little bit easier.
But what I would do is literally take some food,
put it right on his nose.
Now we're already spent some time loading the word yes,
and he knows what yes means,
and he's interested in following my food,
but what I'm gonna do is now pair that yes
with having some hands on him.
So he's chewing on these treats.
I'm gonna put one hand down and just slide it down his back
onto his rear end.
Yes, and reward.
Good job.
Now I'm gonna just pick him up here
so we can see him a little bit better.
Hi, buddy.
Come up.
There you go.
A little food back to his nose.
Now this time I might slide that hand down to his tail.
Yes, and reward.
Good job.
Now you notice I'm not holding it for long.
I'm not grabbing onto it,
I'm simply getting him used to the sensation
of my hands on his tail.
Come on over here, bud, so we can see you.
So let's say I take a hold of his paw.
Yes, and reward.
Good job.
Maybe I slide a hand onto an ear.
Yes, and reward.
And really, he's basically unaware of the handling
because the food is doing the work.
But in these initial stages, it's important that
they build that positive association with our hands on them.
Now, this is not petting.
This is not giving him a little loving massage.
This is really being a little bit more clinical
in my handling.
So let's say I did need to clean his ears out,
or when you do need to trim your dog's toenails.
All those things are things that are gonna,
hey, hey, stop.
All those things are things that are gonna need
to happen, so the more we build a positive association
with it now, the easier it is as they grow up.
Even through I'm around this puppy quite a bit,
there are times at which I need to do other things
and I want to make sure he's safe and comfortable.
So I feed him in his crate.
I throw kibble in his crate for him.
Make a great game out of having him chase a toy in there.
Really let him know that it's a positive association
for spending time in his crate
when I can't be around there with him.
Now if you're looking for more information about
how to crate train your dog, click that card,
somewhere here.
It's a link to a video that talks about
just that very thing.
And the seventh most important first step
in training your puppy is teaching them to cuddle.
They're a fuzzy little thing that you want to hug,
and you need them to be comfortable in your arms,
and I can tell you, there are times at which
that will be very important when you're,
lets say, carrying them over a rock, or something like that
that comes up in life.
So it's important that you take time
to get them comfortable in your arms.
Hi, buddy.
And so you can enjoy that life
with that brand new puppy you have.
- Now I'm gonna add a bonus tip for puppy training,
something that you need to do with every puppy,
and that's potty training.
If you'd like to check out our potty training playlist,
click that card right there.
On that note, I'm Ken.
- I'm Steve.
- Happy training.
Bye for now.
- Bye.