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Dog Training, Dogs, Life, Puppies, summer, Training Tips

Monterey, CA: Back To School! Now, What? Leaving Your New Puppy At Home

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You waited for school to be out this past June so you could pick up your newest family member from the breeder or rescue. It was planned perfectly! The family would spend the whole summer playing with the new puppy. Feeding, watering, potty training, teaching tricks, and getting to know your puppy was what filled this summer’s long days. Memories were made and thousands of pictures taken.

Now it’s September, and school is back in session. The kids are up earlier each day, cranky, rushing out the door, and gone for hours. Afternoon hits and everyone returns home. Snacks handed out, clothes changed and homework begins. We all know that can take a while. Then dinner, some down-time, and bed. All to do it over again, 4 more days of the week. Throw in sports plus after-school activities, there isn’t a whole lot of time left in the day. 

Your life changes drastically overnight, in the eyes of your puppy. There is no explaining to them, the immediate change in the amount of attention they will get during the day; however, there are ways that you can prepare them, and make it more comfortable for them when the time does come.

-Take Breaks: The most important thing to remember is to not spend 24/7 with your puppy. DO leave the house at times. Take everyone with you, so that the puppy can learn to be alone and have it be okay. Start small, build onto that time. 

-Keep Puppy Occupied: Giving the puppy something to do like chew on a Filled Kong Toy or a bone will keep their minds occupied on something yummy and good, instead of your absence.

-Leave Radio On: Get the puppy used to having something like the radio playing, or a tv on low. If you do, be sure to leave it on something upbeat and positive. Dogs do respond to the energy of the tone of what they’re listening to. I tend to leave the TV on animal shows. 

-Puzzle Toys: Give your puppy something stimulating to do and think about. Buy or make DIY Puzzle toys for your dog to sniff at, play with, and receive rewards from. Keeping their brains busy on something constructive and good, instead of your absence. 

When school starts, and you’re the only one home with the puppy – play with them! They’re going to love the one-on-one time. Plus, they will benefit from learning to play with different family members and their styles of play; teaching them social flexibility. Playing stimulates their brain and causes them to be tired. Depending on the age of your puppy, sometimes just a 30 minute session can result in a 2-3 hour nap. 

Training! I’m always going to suggest this one. Spend some time teaching tricks or basic obedience before school, when the kids are at school, and while they’re busy doing homework. It’s a perfect time to teach Leave-It, Attention getters, and Stays! 

Puppy play dates are always fun too! If you have friends that also have young dogs, and everybody is up to date on vaccinations – meet in your backyard or your friend’s backyard and have a play session. Guaranteed to cause a massive nap attack for the rest of the day. 

Something to remember? School-age children should not be held completely responsible for the new dog. You got it to help teach responsibility – which is a great idea! It definitely does. Responsibility is not something that just manifests out of thin air, it falls on you as the parent (or guardian) to guide and show them what to do and how to manage their time. When the children are busy with their primary responsibility, school, the adults in the house need to take over the roll of playmate and leader with the puppy. 

The whole family should be involved with Puppy’s raising and training. Everybody has a part in the family – including our dogs. If everybody does their piece the puppy will learn exactly where they fit in. Resulting in a much more harmonious household. 

Published by Amy Noble on 9/4/19

Amy is an Animal Behaviorist and Dog Trainer in Monterey, Ca, with over Thirty years of experience and active knowledge working with animals. Amy’s love for every dog, cat, horse, rabbit, human (and more!) that she trains truly shows in her work and dedication

Dog Behavior, Dogs

Toys, Play Dates and Pack Mates

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Dogs love to play, right? And they love their toys! So it’s natural to think that involving toys in a play session is totally normal and okay to do with multiple dogs. And it is, in some situations.

Toys can be a great addition to your doggy socials, but they can also be a source for resource guarding in some dogs. Which can lead to them having words or worse, with another unknowing dog who maybe wants to try to play with them, with that toy.

As a general rule; if I am inviting a friend dog over for the first time to hang out with my social boy who loves to play? I pick up all the toys and put them away. A new play date should be just that, a date between the pups. This keeps the environment as neutral as possible and allows the dogs to figure each other’s personality and play styles out. They focus attention on each other and will have a good time! I will continue to not allow toys between friends until they’ve built a good solid relationship with one another – after several play sessions, then I will slowly introduce toys to their dates. Which I’ll describe down below.

So, what about pack mates? The way that I have pack mates integrate has many steps and toys are a step in their bonding process that comes in time. Let’s say you started off with one dog. You have that pup for about a year or two and they’ve got their set of toys; some are favorites, most are fun, some are “eh”. Now you bring puppy into the mix. Puppy obviously needs TONS of toys and stimulation to keep them happy and nondestructive. But I don’t allow puppy to just come in and take over older dogs toys. That can cause undue stress in your pack and could lead to problems later on. Puppy gets their own area to acclimate / potty train / stay out of trouble / and play with THEIR set of toys. Baby toys. Teething toys that are softer for their baby mouths, etc. In some cases the older dog will bring some of their toys to the puppy – and those are the ones I start with.

Just like a play date, I have my new puppies play with my older dogs without anything around. Just for the first few days. I don’t allow full integration right away, it’s just how I do it, so when the dogs do hang out (and that is most of the day – when I’m there to monitor), they figure each other out and baby begins to learn their place in the family. This also strengthens the bond between dogs because, again, they only have each other to focus on. When I’m not watching and they go back to their puppy pen, everybody gets their own toys back.

This lasts maybe the first week. After that, I begin to add toys to their play. When I do, I bring out twice as many as there are dogs. The toys I bring out are the ones big dog brought to little dog to share through the pen, the bland toys, the “eh” toys. In other words I bring out all the toys that don’t mean much to the big dog. I keep their favorites up until MUCH later in their relationship. Tug toys, ropes, long floppy toys, things that they can both enjoy together and both have enough room to hold onto it at once. This minimized any jealousy or upset misunderstandings between the two. Gradually they get more and more toys to play with together, as they learn to share.

If I ever see someone getting possessive over an item I will take it and claim as mine. This keeps order in the pack, feelings from getting hurt, and prevents grudges from being built. Whoever that toy belonged to originally, I will return it to them when the puppy goes back up.

All of this doesn’t take long. They learn to share pretty quickly given plenty of time to do so. I rotate toys often and bring new ones out to keep things interesting between them. Also when you have multiple dogs, your toys get destroyed that much faster!

So what about a fully integrated pack and new toys? I ALWAYS buy multiple and always give them to the whole pack at the same time. This way they see it as all of theirs not just singularly theirs. When they receive the new toys together – they’re more likely to share them equally. Always remember though, if you’re giving something new, have an equal number of new toys to dogs, or equal +1 is better!