I recently started puppy lessons with a client who has a 3 month old female terrier. This is a great puppy except for one thing. This puppy is already, at 12 weeks of age, guarding her food bowl and resource guarding stuffed Kongs.

One of my client’s young sons was bitten on the hand as he innocently reached down to pet his puppy. Those razor sharp teeth can be pretty lethal.  The puppy thought the child was going to take her Kong and defended her “rightful” possession.

Historically dogs expended a lot of predatory energy finding food and so they have developed strong instincts to guard things of value - food, space, toys you (the love and affection you provide.) 

 
While you don’t see this very often, it can occur and will usually occur in the more strong willed, leader type puppies. Being a terrier, along with the strong willed temperament, just raised the bar of concern a little higher.
This type of behavior should raise a very large red flag that this is a growing problem which needs addressing immediately.  So what do you do to get this under control?
 
In addition to putting this puppy on a learn-to-earn program – that is earning everything by doing sits and downs, there are specific exercises to do to work on “resource guarding.”  We put the pup on my 5 Step – 30 day Food Bowl Guarding Program – a progressive program beginning with hand feeding the puppy next to her empty food bowl and progressing from there.
 
The next exercise is designed to teach the puppy to release a high value article (chew bone or Kong Toy) on a command like “Drop it!”, “Release!” or “Give!”  This too is a progressive exercise program. 

We first get the puppy to release her end of a shared, high value article and then progress to releasing the article on command -  once she takes 100% possession of the article. The puppy must not aggressively guard the article once dropped.
 
They have a long way to go with their puppy but with consistency and repetition, by as many family members that can participate in these supervised and controlled exercises, the benefits will provide the family with a lifetime of good memories with a great family dog.

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children.  And remember, “Opportunity Barks!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

I was trying to a be a nice guy!  I took in a client’s 12 week old puppy to keep for a week (while she was away) and to do some training.  He’s male, HIGH energy and very very full of himself.  He bites, barks for attention and jumps on us and our dogs relentlessly - and that’s the short list!  Sound like a puppy you might know?

All of our dogs are older and well socialized so I decided to send the pup to “Sammy’s School of Socialization”  (Sammy is our 5 yr. old black lab we found abandoned under a truck at 7 wks of age).  The pup was to learn to respect the space of other dogs and to better read their body language that says “Bug off!  You’re a pain in the butt!”  He tested ALL the dogs - one at a time and got rejected by all, because his play was to too rough.

This new puppy is starting to learn his lessons from not only our black lab Sammy, who turns around and walks away from the rowdy puppy, but he’s learning from our other dogs as well.  Our youngest small dog (a 3yr old terrier mix) ran back into the house and refuses to play with the puppy because of his relentless biting, jumping and rough play.  This puppy desperately wants to engage our dogs in friendly play and is learning a valuable lesson.  Play too rough and nobody here will play with you.

Remember, dogs do what works.  The lesson here is actually being given to us by our dogs.  Don’t act right and what you want goes away!  So put some human ingenuity into this with your puppy and use Sammy’s School of Socialization tactics and tame your rowdy puppy.

We have lots of great tips on training your puppy.

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children. And remember, “Opportunity Barks!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

The dog’s non-stop pacing was the reason for the initial call.  The dog paced in the living room in front of their front windows wearing down the hardwood floors in the areas where he made his sharp turns.  The same pacing was happening in the back yard where his pacing continued as well. 

These were former clients of mine whose 5 year old rescue dog had been through basic and intermediate obedience with me.  Upon returning to their home I found the dog was still impeccable on sits, downs, stays and go to your place.  However, he had begun to have the behavioral issue of pacing, which coincided with the same time this couple moved into a new house and had their first baby. 

Until that time, the dog had pretty much been the center of their attention.  Now, with a new baby, that had changed.

So we started our behavior modification.  We kept the dog on his earn-to-learn program of working for everything (they were already doing an outstanding job of this) and we increased formal training in the form of 2 minute sits, downs and come- back and forth between the owners twice each evening.  We also put the dog back on his “daily” walking ritual with Mom, Dad and the new baby.  We made sure that all things associated with the baby were positive, happy things for the dog. 

Part of of behavior management protocol required closing the blinds for a while - especially during the day when Mom and Dad were at work.  We also put the doggie door down to close access to the back yard while they were away.  This confined him to the house during the work day but one or the other came home mid-day to let him out to go potty or they had a pet sitter come over.

In the evenings the blinds were reopened so that we could provide a training opportunity to call the dog back into the family room when they noticed him sneaking off towards the living room to pace. 

Three weeks of this and the pacing stopped.  Each time he was let out into the back yard to potty, he was on a long line so that if he began pacing or fence charging at the dog on the other side of the fence, Dad could pick up the line if necessary as he performed his recall/come exercise, praise the dog and send him right back to play.  If he charged the fence good ol’ Dad simply did the recall/come again and eventually with repetition, he began to respond without barking.

The pacing has now stopped.  All is well and the pup now once again has a “strong sense of place and purpose”.  He is a much more settled dog relaxing with his pack and feeling quite full of himself!

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children.  And remember, “Opportunity Barks!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

There is no doubt that successful dog training, even if it’s a simple come command, takes time, and in our busy lives, time is one commodity we are finding very little of these days.  Positive training with food treats is not only extremely good for you and your dog, but if done correctly and consistently, it can have an incredible relationship-building quality and doesn’t require nearly the amount of time you might expect. YES - TRAIN WITH TREATS! —BUT read my blog on weaning off food treats to do it the right way! As you look at structuring your dog training, keep these simple tips in mind:

• Keep your training sessions short.  If you get in quality repetitions, 2 minutes, 3 times daily will get the job done.  Being consistent is the key.  Who doesn’t have 6 minutes a day for their dog?  You can hard boil an egg in 6 minutes!
• Practice in low distraction environments at first.  Then, gradually add distractions that will be relevant to your situation i.e. visitors at the front door, or stay off the furniture.  Work consistently each day.
• Always train your puppy or dog on a leash or long line, depending on what you are working on.  Being consistent with leash and line work keeps the message the same - you are in control.
• Always use high value training treats.  Never allow your dog to predict what you are going to use on any given day as a treat.  Consistently keep him guessing by using more interesting and high value choices in treats.
• Be consistent in presenting yourself as a strong leader.  How do you do this?  Provide structure and expectations he can live up to for you, by keeping him on an earn-to-learn program.  He must do at least a sit for everything he wants.

So, what’s the common thread?  Consistency! Not time.  You will be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.  Keep your training simple by listing your dog’s inappropriate behaviors, what causes them and then what you would prefer your dog do instead.  Simply put in your 3, 2 minute daily training sessions (6 minutes total) on the issues you want to control and before you know it, you will have a perfect pooch.  By the way, have fun training the positive way, and remember “Opportunity Barks!” Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children. Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette

House training your new puppy doesn’t need to be complicated. I recently got an emergency call from an owner who was frantic about her new puppy peeing in the house “all the time”.

On my first visit I discovered that she was giving her new puppy free access to water and free access to unlimited play in the family room and kitchen, thinking she would just “watch her closely”.
As the morning  would progress, the owner would become increasingly busy with chores only to find out that the puppy was having accidents all over the family room. She couldn’t seem to catch her in the act.

Like I said, house training your new puppy doesn’t need to be complicated. This is what we did.  So as not to dehydrate the puppy, we allowed the puppy to have as much water during meal times, but limited (2-3 other times during the day) access to water coupled with frequent potty trips.  When in the house, the puppy was kept on a line or leash attached to the owner, which required the owner to pay close attention to her puppy. When she didn’t have time to watch her puppy, she simply crated her puppy after taking the puppy outside to go potty.

Problem solved.  See not complicaed at all.  Just always remember to set your puppy up to be successful at house training and don’t set them up to fail.

Be as comfortable with the trainer of your dog as you are the teacher of your children.  And remember, “Opportunity Barks!”

Jim Burwell, Jim Burwell’s Petiquette