We all want to have a puppy who listens to us because they want to,
not because they have to.
A big part of creating that relationship comes down to leadership.
In today's video,
I'm going to show you the best puppy training leadership tools so that you can
be a great leader for your puppy and the thing I love about today's video is you
can start using these tools today and you're going to start seeing results.
I'm Ken Steepe and welcome back to McCann Dogs.
We've helped more than 90,000 dog owners who are just like you to overcome their
dog training challenges. So if this is your first time on our youtube channel,
make sure you hit that subscribe button so that I can help you to have a well
behaved four legged family member. Now,
I've mentioned this before on the channel,
but if I had known about some of these tips and techniques in about some of
these tools when I had a puppy,
it would have been an entirely different puppy training experience.
The best part about some of the things that I'm going to talk about today are
that if you have an adolescent puppy or me,
even even a rehomed dog who really doesn't see you as a leader implementing some
of these things and using some of these tools is really going to help them to
understand that you're worth listening to and that's really what we're aiming
for here. Giving them great information time after time.
So let's jump into the first one. Now,
the first tool I want to talk about is your house line and it's a pretty
straightforward tool, but how you use it is going to be really important.
What do I want you to do is go down to the dollar store or maybe order online,
a really inexpensive leash.
Your puppy's going to drag this line around so you actually want to cut the
handle off of it so that it doesn't get caught on anything.
So now anytime your puppy has some freedom at home,
anytime you're letting them out of their crate,
you pop their house line on it and it's actually going to be a really important
safety tool as well. Especially for those um, wiggly bummed,
busy little puppies.
We actually had a student tell us one time that she was getting her medication
out in the morning and she had her puppy on her house line and she dropped a
pill from the booster pack.
She was able to step on the puppy line before the puppy actually got to that
pill. It could have been a really dangerous situation,
but this is one of the advantages of using that house line.
It allows you to have more control of your puppy even in these unexpected
situations. But for training purposes,
we want to be a great leader for our puppy,
so we're able to interrupt the behavior,
guide them towards whatever it is we want them to do.
Keep in mind your puppy is always learning whether you're in the process of
training a skill or behavior or whatever or not, your puppy is always learning.
So to be a great leader, you need to be giving, guiding your puppy's experience,
giving them good information and a host line is a great way to do that.
So let's say your puppy grabs a sock from the laundry hamper and scoots under a
table or zooms under the couch. You don't want to be shouting,
come here and give me that and drop it and calling their name without some way
to make it happen. Your puppy has no idea what these words mean yet.
No matter how loud you say them.
And the worst part is that what you're really teaching your puppy is that
they've found something that's really valuable to you and they can dictate how
this game is played. You've turned it into a game of, catch me if you can,
who's really being the leader now. But if your puppy has their house line on,
you're able to quickly take control of the situation. You know,
you can reel your puppy in and that thing, whatever it is away from them,
and then maybe even guide them towards something that they are allowed to chew
on or play with. But it's on your terms.
Another great example for using a house line is jumping up now,
jumping up as a naturally rewarding experience for puppies,
and it can be especially challenging if someone new enters the room by using
your house line, even in the unexpected event that someone comes in your door,
you're able to quickly take control of the situation.
You can guide your puppy down in off that person and then you can reinforce
them.
You can show them that it's much more rewarding if they keep all four paws on
the floor. I mean, that's just a great example of good dog training,
but more importantly, it's an example of good leadership question.
I often get asked on the channels, what are the best treats for puppy training?
And although I do have some opinions about what the best treats are,
rewards are a valuable tool in puppy training and it's not necessarily what
you're using, but instead how you're using them.
Now we aren't going to be using food throughout our dog's life to reward every
good behavior. But at the beginning, in the early stages of puppy training,
using treats as a reward for great choices that your puppy might make is a
really valuable thing.
It's also a resource that your puppy gets through you by making good decisions.
Now, when we have a new puppy in our home,
I am constantly finding treats in the washing machine because when we have a
puppy, I always have food readily available on me.
I always have a pocket full of treats.
That way I can capture some of these great choices that our puppy makes.
But I'll also set aside a few treats, uh, you know,
in different areas of our home, places that our puppy has access to.
So maybe it's your kitchen or maybe it's a s part of your living room that your
puppy has some freedom in Tuck a few treats, five or 10 treats aside.
That way you can randomly reward them. Uh, if for doing something great,
maybe it's a sad or maybe it's a lie down,
maybe they've chosen to go lie on a bed.
You could capture that moment in time and then go to your secret stash of treats
and go in and reward your puppy. And the best puppy training strategy is, uh,
multiple training sessions at anytime throughout the day.
Keep them short and sweet.
And sometimes you are having some of those little treat stashes.
A set around is a good cue for you as a puppy owner because you puppy does
really need to learn that a,
at any time of day they could be called upon to do a little bit of something.
Um, you know,
whether it's luring some exercises or maybe some trick training or teaching your
puppy to go to their bed. Um,
but these types of short training events will really show your puppy that the
rules are the same,
that you need to listen and that we might work at any location throughout the
house at any time of day,
not just when you've got your Bait Pouch on and you look like you're in training
mode. And you know you have a handful of treats,
they can happen all out of the blue.
What's really great about this kind of puppy training is that your puppy is more
enthusiastic about the training process. You know,
you never get to a point where they're like,
okay I'm full or I've had enough these short sweet training sessions at
different locations throughout the house.
At different times of the day we'll generate a puppy who wants to learn a puppy
who really is enthusiastic about the training process cause they never know
exactly when it's going to happen. No,
possibly the best puppy tool and the single most important leadership tool you
can use with your puppy is a crate. As I mentioned it a little bit earlier,
puppies are always learning so a crate is a great way to manage their time and
to sort of keep them safe. In the meantime,
if your puppy choose your shoe for example and you aren't supervising them,
they are chewing your shoe to be defined.
They're chewing your shoe because it feels good or because it tastes good and
using a crate is a great way to avoid situations like that.
Using a crate with your puppy allows you to give them consistent information.
It allows you to give them the opportunity to make a good choice or a bad choice
and by being there with them every time they're making these choices,
you can either redirect them if they're making a bad choice or reward them and
praise them if they're making a great choice because that's what good leadership
is.
Another thing that you'll really quickly see when you're using a crate in your
puppy training is that every time your puppy comes out of their crate,
you're there to interact with them and you're there to engage with them.
Your puppy starts to see you as someone who's really worth listening to because
you are the source of a lot of joy for them.
Every time they come out of their Kennel,
you're there and you're there to do something with them.
Now a key element to this is that your puppy really needs to understand that
their crate is a safe and comfortable place to be.
So let's check in with Kayl McCann and she's going to show you some really
simple exercises to teach your puppy to love being in their crate. So
one of the things I like to do to begin now training,
okay training my puppies to like crazy is start by doing little fun games to get
her to happily go in and out of the crate without any stress.
So I don't necessarily put her in and lock her in there right away.
I might just do some fun things to get her willingly to go in. Um,
and then I let her come back right back out again.
So I have a couple of treats here and I'm just going to throw them into the back
of the crate so that she can hear them hit off the crate. Oh, okay. Yeah.
Good girl. And just let her go in and get the treats. Okay.
And then I let her come out. We'll try that again. Okay.
Good girl. Yes. Okay. Hi. Good girl. Very nice.
Now once you've repeated that a few times,
the next thing I'd like to do is play a little offering game. So I have, oh yes,
good girl. Just like that. I have the treats ready.
I wait until she offers to go in and then I reward her. Good girl.
So all of the food? Yes.
Get it is always being delivered while she's inside the crate.
So that's like her favorite part. Okay. Be Yes.
Good girl.
And I can either feed by hand or it can toss some cookies into the back of the
crate so she can get them out. Good girl. Okay, one more time. Yes.
You so smart, missy. She's already waiting in the back of the crate for them.
Good care. The other thing that I do with my dogs for quite some time,
even till they're several months old, even older,
is I give them all of their meals in their crates.
So breakfast and dinner inside their crate.
And what starts to happen is when they hear the kibble hit the bowl and I say,
do you want your breakfast? Are you hungry? Okay.
She just jumps right in that crate because she knows dinner's going to be served
for breakfast is going to be served in the crate and then I can put the bowl
inside the crate with her and then I can shut the crate door that gets,
you're used to eating, um,
and being rewarded while she's in the crate with the door shut.
And then we can go from there.
And it's a great way to get the dog to offer to go in that crate really easily
without any bottles whatsoever.
I found crate training to be extremely beneficial in the way that I've been able
to raise my dogs. It's reduced the amount of, um,
mistakes that my dogs had had in the house as far as house training goes. Um,
it's prevented them from chewing things in my house.
It's also helped me with any behavioral issues that I may have had. Um,
it just allows me to make sure that when I'm not able to supervise and give my
dog great information that I know there are way somewhere safe or they can't get
into mischief and that they can just be calm and relaxed. But on top of that,
I try to make sure that I make the crate a really,
really great place for my dogs.
Now we have quite a few dogs and many of them are old enough and trained enough
now that they don't need their crates. But, uh,
I think they would be very sad if we took their credit away. I often,
if we can't find even our oldest dog, we found junior,
she snuck away and is sleeping in a crate somewhere in a dog bed upside down,
completely in love. So, um, you know,
if you teach the dog that the crate is a great place, um,
not only does it help you,
but it also gives the dog a place that they can go and hang out and uh,
and be happy as well.
Now, if you're in the process of training your puppy at home,
then you should definitely check out that card right there.
It's our puppy training playlists,
and it will have lots of tips so that you can be successful.
If this is your first time on the channel,
make sure you click that subscribe button.
We publish new videos every single week of you to have a well behaved four
legged family members. On that note, I'm Ken. Happy training.