Winter is upon us and with it lots and lots of snow !! I don't think I remember a snowier winter. I'm so glad that Trinity is 5 and a half months now and not the tiny pup she was just a few weeks ago. I can't imagine standing outside every hour to make sure my puppy does her business. I am very grateful that she is mostly housebroken. That is not to say that she won't make a mistake now and then over the next few months but for the most part she is well on her way to being reliably housebroken. We facilitate that in several ways, vigilance and setting limits. Puppies this age need really good limit setting and a schedule. A schedule makes life predictable for them and helps them understand what will happen throughout the day. It also makes it easier for them to predict when they will have rest time, playtime and potty breaks. Trinity is far too young to have free access to the house. We allow supervised freedom when we are watching her and are able to redirect any inappropriate behavior. She is a very curious and energetic pup that tends to find trouble when she is left to her own devices. The only way to prevent her from getting into big trouble is to be there to shape her behavior and make sure that anything inappropriate is redirected.
The safest puppy zone in our house is the kitchen. We've proofed it so that she has her toys and can play while we work or cook or do homework with the kids. We keep it to 45 minutes at first and then put her back in her crate before we go off to do other things. By not leaving her out of her crate for too long we regulate her energy level so that when she is out she is active and playful but not naughty. We have found that if left out too long puppies tend to get mouthy and fresh because they are overtired. This is an important part of teaching a dog how to live with people. It's no fun to live with a dog that is out of control and is always getting into trouble. An overtired puppy isn't practicing behavior we want to reinforce and she isn't getting the rest she need to grow and develop properly. We've raised a lot of puppies over the years and this has always worked for us. By keeping a pups time out of the crate short and supervised we've found that we have the energy to teach them what we expect of them and they are calmer dogs overall. They learn what will be acceptable and rewarded and what is off limits.
Having a good daily schedule has helped us raise all of our pups to be calm, well behaved adult dogs without giving us too many gray hairs. We've raised 7 pups in 7 years so we are bit expert on what works. A schedule has given us some measure of sanity over these last few years. We have playtime and rest time rotated all day long, with some outside play, some inside play, training time, playtime with other dogs, a good chew on a bone and of course snuggle time with the family. By the end of the day our pups are good and tired, their needs have been met and they are satisfied. The key to raising a well adjusted dog that knows how to act around people and isn't over the top excited is to give them what they need to be happy and satisfied. Playtime, rest time, a good meal, play with other dogs, a cuddle and something good to chew.
This past few months we have been diligently working on play skills with other dogs. This is a very important part of raising a behaviorally healthy puppy that can go anywhere and do anything. If puppies don't have good social exposure to other dogs on a regular basis they grow up with hang ups around other dogs. Social exposure is a very important part of doing right by a puppy and we take that aspect of their development very seriously. It isn't enough for our pups to just get along with other dogs, they need to know how to negotiate the world of dogs diplomatically and without conflict. We take our dogs to the beach, the lake, the woods, downtown Boston, Main St where we live, parties, carnivals, schools, fairs, hosptials and nursing homes, etc. We need our dogs to be able to ignore other dogs when they are on leash and be able to get along with other dogs when they are off leash. This does not mean that they need to like every dog they meet, in fact chances are most dogs they meet will not have a social skill set nearly as vast as our pups. They need to be able to negotiate conflict without conflict. They need to learn how to deal with dogs that are overly persistent and inappropriate and we work hard at this to give them this very essential skill. Trinity has gone to our dog daycare at least once a week for the last several months, this has allowed us to shape her playstyle by choosing her playmates carefully. We have found her to be a very confident dog that can get a little bossy with puppies that have less of a social skill set than she does. Once we identified this aspect of her personality we immediately went to work finding her playmates that gave her the right kind of feedback and interupted any inappropriate play. For instance as a 14 week old puppy she would tend to get overstimulated easily if the play was rowdy. She would get all excited and pin the other pup down and make alot of noise. She wasn't hurting the other pup but her "play" wasn't appropriate and would get her into trouble later on if she did it to the wrong dog. Rather than let her practice this behavior we would interupt her verbally, praise her for stopping and let her play for a short while longer. If we saw that the length of time that she played was a factor we shortened her playtime to shorter sessions more frequently. If we found that it was her playmate that caused things to go out of control we would switch the groups around so that she would be playing with dogs that were more appropriate, kept the play even and gave better feedback. By regulating her play in this way we have got rid of that behavior completely and she is now playing very nicely with other dogs.
My clients often ask me how to make sure that their pups get good dog socialization and my answer is to ask themselves if the dog their dog is playing with has anything positive to offer their dog. If the play is even and appropriate you can see it. The dogs aren't making a lot of noise when they play and they break apart frequently to go and sniff or explore. Good play is not intense wrestling for hours on end. Wrestling is part of the play repertoire but is mixed in with chasing and being chased, mouthing, playing keep away with toys, sniffing and exploring. A dog that can keep play even like that is a great playmate for your dog.
Socialization adventures have included our towns annual holiday stroll, trips to the beach, the woods and downtown Boston and varioius pet stores and neighborhood walks. We've also taken her to the sledding hill,on leash of course so that everyone was safe. She has seen snowblowers, shovels and people dressed in winter clothes complete with hoods, ski masks and gloves. Recently we went to the public garden for a walk which was great fun for all of us. Trinity got to sniff the duck statues along the frog pond, met several dogs in passing and was petted by lots of people with gloves, hats and scarves. She even got to meet a trumpet player playing the blues for her. She just stood there tilting her head form side to side trying to figure out what it was all about. There was lots of traffic, bicycles and people that day, it was a great experience for her.
Well, it's been a busy few weeks and though we've accomplished a lot I know better than to say we have arrived. We are well on our way to a very well socialized, calm and self assured dog but we are not there yet. Though maybe we don't have to worry about getting a new experience in every week we are still planning to make sure that Trinity goes to new places and has new experiences as often as we can manage. Raising a puppy who is ready for life is an exhausting enterprise but one we know pays off for years to come.
