- Getting a new puppy is a really exciting time
and in the weeks leading up to getting the new puppy,
people often make some really great choices.
Getting an appropriately-sized crate for their dog,
getting appropriately-sized treats and toys
for their new puppy, as well as educating themselves
by watching YouTube videos just like this one.
But occasionally, people make some really big mistakes
and miss out on opportunities to train their dog
in the first few days that they're home.
Today we're gonna take to Kale McCann, a 20-time world
champion of Dog Agility, as well as being a dog trainer
for over 20 years, about the top three mistakes
that people make when they first bring their puppy home.
I'm Ken Steep, and welcome to McCann dogs.
- Hi, I'm Kale, and this is baby Beeline,
she's an eight-week-old border collie
and the newest addition to our family.
When puppies are about eight to 10 weeks old,
they often go through a common fear period
and that typically is a similar time
to when we bring them home for the first time.
A couple things that we like to do with the pups
so that they don't feel overwhelmed is do things
like when you first bring them in the house,
let them investigate a little bit,
try not to force them to pay attention or do certain things.
When I brought her in for the first time,
I sort of put her down, let her sniff,
let her check things out.
When I took her outside for the first time,
I carried her in and out so she didn't have to worry
about managing stairs or seeing shadows
and hearing different sounds for the first time.
Sort of one thing at a time.
The other thing that I find a lot of puppies can be
overwhelmed is their collar and that's one of the first
things people like to do when they get a new puppy
is put the flashy new collar on,
but when we first put the collar on her,
she spent the first 15 minutes itching and itching
and itching so I waited a little bit before I put that on,
just again, get her feeling a little bit more comfortable.
Using the crate can be another great way to not overwhelm
your puppy but you should use it wisely.
If you're using the crate and keeping the puppy
in a very unsocial part of your home,
that could actually cause the puppy to cry more
or get more anxious in their crate.
We try to move our crate around,
so if we're in the living room,
we'll have her in the living room in her crate with us,
when I'm sleeping at night, she's in the crate
beside my bedside table, so I can hear her
and take her out if I need to, just trying to make sure
that although she's in there and she's under control,
that she's not being separated from our family.
Another thing people often struggle with
is supervision and freedom, controlling a puppy's freedom.
When you first get a puppy home, they're often very curious,
they wanna check everything out, and if you have a busy
household and a lot going on, it's really easy
to kind of forget where they are.
Every moment of the day, your puppy's learning,
whether it's right or wrong, and if you're not there
to say whether it's right or wrong,
they could learning some pretty wrong things.
So a couple of things that we do to help control
her freedom is use a long line, so when she's out of her
crate and she's roaming around the house,
she's always dragging a light rope behind her
so that if she gets into any bad trouble,
I can redirect her very easily.
The other place I use it is outside,
so she's out on the lawn and she's running around,
having some fun or having her bathroom time,
I can control her really easily if a distraction
comes upon me and she decides to go after it,
I can stop with her the long line
and keep her safe and keep her under control.
Also in the house to make sure she doesn't get into
too much trouble, we use different barricades
and baby gates, so if I'm in the kitchen,
she's in the kitchen, she can't roam off
into another room and make any bad choices.
This allows me to set her up for success and I'm spending
more time telling her what a great puppy she is
and less time getting frustrated with her making mistakes,
which really isn't her fault, it's more mine for allowing
her to be in that scenario in the first place.
The other thing people often forget about
is natural training opportunities, so things like
breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
When your puppy wants to eat food, rather than just
putting the bowl down and walking away,
you could use that valuable time of the day
to build a relationship, like hand-feeding them,
for example, teaching them that good things come
right from you, that's a great time for me to teach her
how to respond to her name or what the word yes is
or how to sit or how to lie down,
how to lure for food, which is gonna be the basics
of a lot of the training that I do.
One of the most favorite games that we like to do
with our puppies at home is restraint recalls
or recalls down the hallway, so we sit at either ends
of the hallway, close all the doors so she can't
go anywhere but us, and we just practice calling her
back and forth and back and forth for her food,
this ties her out and teaches her that coming to her name
and coming to us is a really really fun thing.
With the right education, there's a lot of opportunities
to learn what to do with your puppy on the first couple
days you bring them home, that will really set you up
to have a great relationship with your puppy in the future.
If this is your first time watching,
please make sure you subscribe.
In the next few weeks, we have a lot of training ahead
with this baby Beeline here so make sure
you tune in and check out those videos.
I'm just gonna start again. - Okay.
- Okay, am I too close now?
She's eating the microphone.
Don't touch that, little baby bee.