Bringing home a new puppy can be one of the most exciting things for you and
your family, but it can also be one of the most frustrating things.
If you're having to deal with things like puppy, biting, jumping up,
chewing on things, shoes, clothing,
all of these things can make raising your puppy really challenging.
In today's video,
I'm going to work with this adorable little puppy right here and show you the
one tool. That'll be the quickest fix for those frustrating puppy behaviors.
I'm instructor Steve, this is Popcorn. Welcome back, to McCann Dogs.
You know, when you first get your young puppy home,
you realize that they never stop and puppies are amazing for doing things that
they want to do all the time. Hi buddy,
things like running or investigating shoes or chewing on things,
or even jumping on people, busy puppies are a challenge.
And that frustration can be really mitigated with one simple tool.
That idea of a house line.
And having a house line attached to them is really a simple way to be able to
take control of them in moments and prevent the game from happening.
One thing that puppies learn really quickly is that you chasing them and you
running after them is a really, really fun thing.
So being able to stop things that I don't want to have happen really,
really quickly,
and then redirecting to things that I do want makes all the difference in the
world when it comes to raising a puppy. So what is this tool?
That's going to make the quickest difference in your puppy training. It's this,
we call it a house line. Now you might be saying yourself,
that looks just like Alicia, and you might be partly right. It is a leash,
but it's not my good training leash.
It's not the leather one that I use when I'm actually working with my puppy.
It's a cotton line about the length of the leash that allows me to attach
something to my dog and have them drag it around.
And that literally becomes part of their wardrobe.
Every time they come out of their crate,
this gets attached to my dog's collar and it's simply something that follows
behind them and being able to do that allows me to extend my reach.
It allows me to use my voice.
It allows me to interrupt things from happening before they've happened,
or even after they've happened without having to chase my pup without having to
make it a big deal without my puppy,
learning that it's a game to run and grab things and move away with it running
behind my pup. I can simply use my voice. I can step on it. I can pick it up.
I can redirect my puppy from things. If they're jumping up on me,
I can use it to direct them off of me. If they're chewing on my pant legs,
I can prevent them from doing so and help them make a different choice.
This simple leash is what's going to make the biggest difference in your puppy
training. One of the biggest concerns of course,
is this line getting caught on things around the house.
So all I'm going to do to take care of that is grab some scissors,
cut this handle off, and it's going to be much safer for that puppy.
So a second ago I let him out of the crate and he had a little party on his own.
So I'm going to change that picture. Now I've got my line here.
I've got my handle cut off. I'm going to open this door.
I'm going to take a hold of his collar.
I'm going to clip on the line and that's going to give me the ability to stop
the things that I don't want him to do in a nice, calm, clear manner.
So I've got the line here. I'm going to open the crate. Good boy, bud.
Before I let him out, I'm going to reach in and take a hold of his collar.
Go pull it. That's a good guy. And I'm going to find that little collar ring,
attach my line on. And then when I'm good and ready,
I'm going to release him out.
Obviously just clipping a line hasn't changed any of the little Popcorn's
behavior here,
but what it's done is it put me in a great position to stop things from
happening without making it fun for him.
And I don't want to take away all his fun,
but I want to be able to him have him learn that my voice has weight and I
can simply interrupt things. So for example, let's say he's chewing on the line.
Like he is.
I can remove it from his mouth and then I can redirect him to something else.
Hey, you leave that. Now he's a little nipping and biting so I can tell him,
Hey, that's enough stop. I can slide my hand down and take a hold of his collar.
Okay, settle. Good boy. That's better. Good.
If you were to jump on me,
I can simply use my line to tell him off and give a little bump down towards the
ground. Or if you happen to be running away, I can simply stop him.
I can take a hold of this line and prevent him from going somewhere else. Okay?
I'm not using a corrective manner.
I'm simply preventing things that don't want from happening. Now.
There's three things that happened really, really quickly.
He wanted to chew on the line.
He wanted to bite on my hands and then he wanted to jump.
And these are the three behaviors that can quickly be stopped with this. Hey.
Hi buddy. Go ahead. Hey, that's enough.
So right now he's very excited and he doesn't know what to do with himself
because I have this line on him.
Now I can change the picture from don't do this. Don't do this.
Don't do this to here's what to do. So I've limited his ability to go away,
but now I'm going to focus on a little bit of training.
So I got some great treats here.
I'm going to keep him somewhat in my arms reach.
And I might work on doing a little stationary exercise training.
So I might encourage him to come over here and sit good boy.
I might simply lure him and do it. Yes. Go point into a sitting position.
We can get that right there. Good job. They're little treats, bud.
You can figure those out. Excellent job. Yes. Good.
Yes. Now this line is not to prevent him from going into in these situations.
This line is simply to keep his focus a little bit more on me. So again,
I can work on a little s.i.t., Good job. I might say, Ooh, that's exciting.
So he decided to jump at me. No big deal. I've got the line in my hands.
I can simply redirect them from that and bring him right back to the task,
which is doing a little bit of work. Hey, you're fine. Go ahead.
Here's a boy.
That's enough. Off. Off.
Stop.
He's getting a little excited. So instead of using the line,
I'm going to use that line to guide my hand down to his collar.
And we're just going to work on a little bit of settling now. Hey, you're fine.
Okay.
Thank you. You're fine. Settle.
That's better.
Good. Excellent job. We'll get that right there. Good boy. All right.
Let's see if we can do a little more stationary work. Now,
now that I've sort of worked through that little excitement,
I can go back to a little more training. Yes. Good boy. Good.
Yes. Good sit. Good boy. Right here. Good.
Good sit. Good. Okay, cool. Excellent job.
Now I've got a toy here somewhere for him.
I'm going to use that to occupy him for a second while I talk to you. Okay.
Get that thing.
One of the things that this allows me to do is stop things that I don't want
from happening and take away some of the inadvertent reward.
Now in that little session, he was jumping. He was biting.
He was doing all sorts of things. I do want to interrupt that,
but I'm at the point with this dog, he's a brand new dog.
I met him about five minutes ago that I need to spend some time moreso teaching
him what to do,
stopping the rehearsal of the bad things and teaching what to do is my goal.
And again, this allows me the ability to extend my arms.
One of the things that tends to happen is we tend to, with puppies,
that jump as we push them off and puppies go, oh my gosh, that's what I wanted.
I wanted the rough and tumble behavior.
I wanted to have that wrestling match with you,
taking a little bit more hands-off approach redirecting with my line,
using his collar to settle.
If he was a little bit overzealous and then teaching him what to do instead
changes the entire narrative. It takes the frustration out of it.
Now this is the part that always is,
it's always the hardest with puppies in my house.
I've had lots of puppies both before and after I had kids when I was in
different businesses. And that constant supervision is the hard part,
but being able to extend my reach in a manner that helps them make great
choices. Whoops. Hi buddy. Good job.
He went over to see what was going on over there. That line was right there.
I could quickly redirect him and bring him back controls his environment,
teaches them.
Here's where he needs to be and gives me the ability to use my voice first and
then simply back it up.
So let's talk about how we can use a house line to stop jumping up. Now,
one of the hardest things for popcorn right now,
as I'm sitting down on the ground, I'm down at his level and he thinks,
oh my God, this is the best thing in the world. First things first.
I want to make sure I stand up. Now.
This is where the house line becomes a big benefit to me because the moment I
stand up,
it's pretty hard to reach down and take control of a little puppies color.
But with that line on,
I can take a hold of the line as I'm standing up.
Now I have great control of the puppet. I can help him make some better choices.
Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, go ahead. Now in that situation, Hey,
he decided that my pants were pretty awesome. This house line,
if I didn't have it in my hands would put me in a situation where I'm trying to
get to the pup.
Now he's figuring out right now that he can't get to my pant legs. Good boy.
That's better. Excellent. Hey,
you using my voice to interrupt and simply preventing him from continuing to
rehearse it. Now,
this is hard for him because this is something he's done quite a bit high,
but how are you? Excellent job. So instead of getting myself in a situation,
Hey, that's enough where he's going to do it over and over again.
I'm actually going to change the picture. Hey, that's enough.
I am taking a very hands-off approach with this.
I don't want to go down and tell him not to do it and to make it about padding
and rewarding.
This line gives me a hands-off approach to clearly and calmly prevent something
from happening. Now he is a puppy. He is an intense puppy,
and he's going to try this over and over and over.
He's obviously rehearsed this a little bit in his house,
but the more you realize that he can't do something,
the less valuable it becomes for to him, the more I, um,
encourage him and touch him and good boy. Excellent.
And do all sorts of other things. The more he continued to try,
I'm simply taking away his ability to do it and I'm not rewarding it. Okay.
I'm also taking away his self reward. Okay. Good job. Excellent boy.
Now that he's making better choices, that's a guy. Good job. Good.
And I can just bring them back on over here. Good boy. Hey, that's enough.
So we went from trying to bite. My pants did trying to bite my hand, but again,
I've still got great control of him without having to be yelling and screaming
and do all kinds of different things. If I didn't have this line on,
we'd be having a bit of a tussle right now.
So I'm going to change the picture a little bit.
I'm actually going to do a little bit of training right now.
Now he's figured he can't move away. So let's get him up and doing some stuff.
So let's get him luring with some food. Okay, buddy. Good boy. Yes. Go ahead.
Get that. Go ahead. Let's turn it this way. Go ahead. Yes. Good. Excellent.
Good. Yes. Good. Here bud Yes.
Good sit beautiful. Now that I have a little bit more focused,
I'm just simply going to put this line on the ground. Yes. Good sit buddy.
Good job. Hooray. Yes. Good.
So stopping the thing that I didn't like and then quickly shifting gears into
something else that I want him to do. Okay. Yes. Good boy.
Hooray telling him it's okay to get up. Maybe luring him back this way. Yes.
Good boy. Working in another sit. Yes.
Good sit. Ooh, he's going to go for my legs again,
but he made a great decision there. Excellent job. Good.
So he thought about going from my pant legs right in that moment.
And because we've just done a little bit of work on it a second ago,
he actually changed his mind and he went, Hey, I get rewards if I sit. Good job.
Good boy.
That's the kind of thing that preventing the rehearsal of it from happening. Um,
we'll do you know if I had sort of gotten into a bit of a wrestling match where
he was chewing on my pants, he got to tug on them.
And I started putting my hands all over him.
There would still be a little reward in there.
I simply prevented it from happening.
Changed gears and that allowed him in that moment to make a really great choice,
which is don't chew on the pants, but sit nicely. Good job. Excellent boy.
Yes. Good job for those good treats. Excellent job.
So in that situation,
popcorn has decided that his toys and the treats on top of the crate are really
exciting things. So instead of me having to rush over to him and grab onto him,
I can simply take a hold of the line and I can encourage him away from those
toys or from that particular thing. Now, in this case, it's the crate, um,
with his treats and his toys on it,
but it might be the shoes of the coat hanging on the coat rack,
having the ability to redirect him from a distance prevents me from having to
run to him each and every time,
if I had to run to him and grab onto them and then pick them up.
And then all of a sudden I'd be giving them all sorts of love for doing
something that I don't really want them to do.
That inadvertent reward plays a lot into how puppies learn.
Puppies are always learning, whether we're teaching them or not.
So it's important. I give them really clear information.
So instead of letting him run over and have a little jumping me,
giving him a massage, he can go have a little bit of a look, okay.
If he sees those things and I can simply prevent him from rehearsing it. Now,
as we were talking about that,
he decided to go over and look at these tea towels over here.
Now I know this is a big draw for a lot of puppies.
I've been able to continue to talk to you. And simply by stepping on this line,
I limit his ability to rehearse that I've stopped him from doing something that
might in that second become super, super valuable towards him. Good boy,
buddy. Excellent job. I prevented him from taking a hold those tea towels.
I simply limited them from moving. And now he's made another choice,
which is just to kind of chill out to lie down.
So this is the perfect thing that I could then start to reward and build a
little bit more value for doing some more calm behaviors. Because as we know,
puppies don't know how to self-regulate. They're always going.
Taking the opportunity to reward calm behaviors and prevent behaviors that we
don't want from happening is what makes the biggest difference in the long run.
One of the common questions we get is what am I doing?
My puppy does this and decides to make that a house line, a chew toy.
Well like anything else, I don't want him to work to chew on.
I'm going to make sure that I'm consistent about letting him know that he
should. So first things, first time,
simply going to remove it from his mouth and then I'm going to give him another
job to do. Now. Oftentimes people will take out a toy, okay, buddy,
come on over here.
While the dog is chewing on the line and do a little trade for them,
somebody off the mat. I need you to do some work. Good boy.
What I want to do is I want to know he shouldn't chew on the,
on the line itself,
but chewing on the line's not going to get him a toy or getting him a little,
a little bit of reward. Remember dogs learn within one second.
So if I remove it from his mouth and then I encourage him to do something else
and you can get settled for a second or two,
then I could replace it with either a toy or a little treat for something else.
So he's got a little itch there. Itchy bud. Yes. Good boy. Very good.
Consistency is key.
When it comes to teaching our dogs not to chew on the house line and people
often say, you know what? It's been a busy day. He's out of his crate.
It's just the $2 line. I don't really care. I'm going to let them chew on it.
I'll just buy another one tomorrow. Well,
I can tell you from experience that doing that will simply set you back.
It really real.
You have to be committed 100% to teaching our dogs not to chew on that line.
Excellent, good job.
And then what I could do is offer him now that we've had enough time lapse,
something else, that's a little bit more appropriate for him to chew on. Ok bud,
get your bone. Good job, buddy. Yes. Good boy. That's what they want.
Excellent guy. Good job. Get that bone. Now it might seem obvious,
but this line is simply a tool.
What really makes the biggest difference is your supervision.
The tool allows you to have a little longer reach and take away the dog's
rehearsal of some of the things he didn't want them to do.
It's really important though. If you can't supervise them that closely,
you're going to put your dog in your crate,
using that crate to manage their behaviors when you can't supervise,
what makes the biggest difference in the long run.
And now that a little Popcorn here has had quite a little training session and
some fun we're going to pop him in here and he's going to have a little nap,
in you go buddy, cause I got other stuff to do.
So now that you know how this line can make a quick fix and your puppy training,
you're going to need some more ideas on how to train your puppy for information
on that. Put that video right there. Now,
if you want some more specific training help for you and your puppy and you want
direct interaction with our McCann instructors,
click the link in the description below for our Puppy Essentials program for
puppies, five months of age and younger. And on that note, I'm instructor Steve,
this is Popcorn, happy training.