Puppy training. Isn't easy.
That's why using a puppy training house line can be such a game changer.
But what if your puppy training house line is part of your training problem?
In today's video,
I'm going to talk about some of the most common questions that you guys have
about the puppy training house line.
We'll talk about the biggest mistake that people make when they're using a tool
like this.
And we're also going to talk about what do you do when your puppy's chewing on
something? How do you use the house line?
What do you do if your puppy is constantly chewing on the house line,
I'm Ken Steepe. This is Hippy Shake. Welcome back to McCann Dogs
Here at McCann dogs,
we've helped more than a hundred thousand dog owners overcome the same dog
training challenges that you have. So if this is your first time on the channel,
make sure you hit that subscribe button so that I can help you to have a well
behaved for like a family member. In previous videos,
I've mentioned that using your puppy training house line can turn you into a
puppy training superhero.
It's the most efficient way to manage your puppy when they're out of their
crate,
it's the most effective tool for redirecting them when they get into trouble.
But the biggest mistake that people make when they're using a puppy training
house line is not having a plan, what to do when the puppy gets into trouble,
what to do, if the puppy chews on the house line, when to use it.
And as I've mentioned before, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail,
let's start with some rapid fire question and answer some of the most common
things that our students ask us or that you guys ask us here on YouTube.
And number one is when should I start using a house line with my puppy?
You can start using your puppy's house line. The day they come home.
All of these things are going to be new experiences for them.
Maybe first time they've worn a call or, you know,
a first time they're certainly wearing a house line.
So you definitely want to be using that house line.
Anytime your puppy is out of their kennel or crate. In fact, the house line,
isn't an age specific thing. If you have a dog in training,
regardless of their independence or rehomed dog,
and they're having some challenges in the house with jumping up or whatever,
using a house line,
maybe the best way to fairly give them good information and train through some
of those problems. Another really common question is the house line,
just a regular leash. The house line is basically the same as a leash,
but there are a couple of small considerations.
Okay?
You average leash is about six feet long and that's approximately how long
our house line's going to be as well.
But the difference that we want to make with the house line is because our puppy
is going to be dragging it around everywhere.
We're going to cut the loop off of the leash.
We use this pair of scissors and cut that off so that it's less likely to get
hung up on anything.
The other thing I want you to remember is that your puppy is going to be wearing
this all the time. So the lighter,
the better now you need to sort of pick an appropriate size. You wouldn't put a,
maybe something this small on your Irish Wolfhound or your great Dane puppy.
They're going to grow that in a hurry,
but keeping it around the five to six foot length is a great length and picking
an appropriate width of that of that house line is going to be helpful.
The other thing to keep in mind is I love picking some inexpensive leash,
a nylon leash up at something like the dollar store,
cause you might go through a couple of them and having one that's made of nylon
is going to allow you to let your puppy maybe drag it outside once in a while.
And it's really no worse for the wear at the end of the day.
Sometimes people will ask, well,
what if my puppy gets caught up on something while they're wearing their house
line? I like this question because it brings up an important point about puppy
training.
Now the house line is just a tool and like any tool it requires the appropriate
use. So anytime your puppy is out of their crate or kennel,
they're going to have their house line on anytime they have their house line on,
you're going to be attentive to them. You know,
the puppy is learning all of the time,
whether you're there to give them information or not.
So in the absence of good information,
your puppy is just going to default to whatever feels good.
So if chewing on the couch, cushion feels good.
Your puppy's going to think it's right now by being attentive to them,
you're going to see them get into these situations.
Know you're going to see them get hung up on something, get caught on something.
And you're going to be able to do something about it.
But it's really important that you are attentive.
You do need to keep your eye on your puppy anytime they're out of their crate.
And what that means is that by using a house line,
now you've got that remote management tool to guide them away from disaster or
guide them away from trouble and to reward them when they make good choices.
Anytime your puppy has choices,
you need to be there to tell them what the right thing is and what the wrong
thing is. Next most common question is a really important one.
When can I stop using the house line? If you can't remember the last time,
your puppy, me bad choice.
If you can't remember the last time you needed to redirect them with a house
line, then your puppy may be ready for some more time off of the house line.
But keep in mind, puppy training is dynamic and you know,
maybe your puppy makes a bad choice.
One day it makes a couple of gets into trouble, chewing something.
Putting that house line back on is the best thing you can do.
Maybe you're in a situation where your puppy's making great choices all day,
but you have company coming over. So you need to pop the house line on,
to work on jumping up to, to work on training through some of that. That's okay.
In fact, understanding that is really important.
And it's going to speed up your puppy's training at the moment.
Part of using any piece of training equipment is how to use it.
Now we're going to talk a little bit about what to do when your puppy's chewing
on their house line.
But first you need to really understand what to do when your puppy is chewing on
anything. What is your next step?
What action do you take when your puppy is chewing on something?
And there's some really big mistakes that people make when it comes to their
next steps.
Let's take a look at a previous training clip with a little puppy named
highlight.
Kayl is working with Highlight and teaching her some response to name and all
sorts of other puppy activities, exercises,
and a highlight decided she was going to turn her training bag into a chew toy.
Now I'm going to I'll, I'll narrate over top of this clip,
but really pay attention to what Kayl does when she catches,
highlight in the act of chewing on something she isn't supposed to. Now,
you may have noticed in the last training session that there was a pink bag on
the floor. That actually it was a Highlight's travel bag.
And she had some treats, some toys and some stuff in there. Well,
after we did this exercise with her,
we gave her just a couple of moments of freedom and highlight.
I really interested in that bag and you might have a puppy that's chewing on
shoes. You might have a puppy that's getting into mischief.
Whatever the thing is, I want you to watch how Kayl adresses that with her.
So your puppy needs to have a house line on it's in redirects,
or it brings her away highlights. Like, I don't know,
I'm not leaving that thing. Now. Kayl brings her over here.
Now something is really important that I want you to really pay attention to.
Now Kayl redirected, the dog, used a treat to guide her away. However,
we don't want to highlight to feel like she's getting she's being redirected
from whatever the nuisance behavior is onto a piece of food,
because she's going to quickly learn that I do this thing.
You come in and redirect me. I get fed. So what Kayl does,
which is really interesting. I didn't really,
I wasn't paying attention to this when I was holding the camera.
But what you see her do is she gets highlight to offer something else.
She redirects her, which is very clear. Don't do this,
brings her over and then just lures a sit highlight offers a sit.
Now she's had an, she has an opportunity to reward her in that position,
but you mustn't allow your dog to continue rehearsing these behaviors.
So using something like a house line in this case,
it's just a little piece of rope with a clip on it is really,
really important that gave Kayl the control. She needed to guide,
highlight away with bump, bump. Didn't really work. She's still interested,
a little bit, bump, bump up a little more until she committed away.
Then Kayl use the food, had her offer something, some work, some effort,
and then rewarded her for that effectively redirecting your puppy and getting
them to do a little work offer. You know,
a little bit of effort before rewarding them is a really important part of
correcting some of those behaviors for your puppy.
And it really makes it clear for them so that it isn't confusing about what
they're being rewarded for. Now,
how does this apply to your puppy training house line? Firstly,
consistency is key. Remember we talked about how attentive you are.
You're going to be with your puppy when they have some freedom to choose in and
around your home. Secondly,
the same steps you would take for chewing on a training bag or a shoe maybe in
your home, whatever the thing is, are going to apply to your house line.
But what if your puppy doesn't have skills yet?
Or how are you going to teach your puppy to choose something other than chewing
on their house line in this next clip,
we're going to show you a clip from another training session where Kayl was
working with a little lab,
puppy named Hank and Hank decided in the middle of a play session that he wanted
to chew on his house line.
And here are the steps that you can take to teach your puppy,
to choose something other than their house line.
I'm going to make the toilet or the treats a little bit more appealing by
putting them right on his nose. Hey, pupadoo look at this. Okay.
So this is a good thing that's happening. A lot of times people will say,
people will say I can't use the house slide because my dog just wants to chew
it. So I'm going to do the same exercise, but with this house line out,
yes. Good boy. Now, rather than letting them go right back to it,
I'm going to engage him into my attention. Yes. Good boy. I can get,
get them doing something because if I just give him a treat and then leave him
alone, she's probably a good chance. He's going to go back to the line. No,
I'm going to keep the line in my hand.
I might even wiggle it around a little bit. Yes.
And I'm going to reward him for ignoring it.
I'm going to get some more cookies out. Good boy. Yes.
Good. Yes. Good boy. Good boy.
So I can train him. This is off limits. Yes,
but this is on limit. This is for puppies. This is for puppies.
You need to get to get it. It's all about what you teach your puppy in.
The more you let them do things that they're not supposed to,
they simply don't know what to do. So we have to make things really,
really simple for them to understand.
And you have a plan for your puppy training house line.
You can start using it appropriately and you can avoid some of those biggest
mistakes giving your puppy great information will definitely speed up your
training process,
but there are some other big mistakes in puppy training that sometimes people
will make click that card right there to avoid some of those mistakes in your
puppy training.
And if you'd like a supported puppy training journey with some help from the
McCann Dogs instructors,
make sure you check out a link in the description below to our puppy essentials
program, where you can train with us on that note. I'm Ken Happy training.