Puppies do NOT make good gifts
At Christmas time, and sometimes at other holidays, people often like to give gifts of puppies. This is a very bad idea. The holidays are usually very busy with people rushing about, guests coming to visit and much hectic activity. This is not an ideal time to bring a new puppy into your family, unless of course you totally devote your time to making the holiday frenzy a totally positive socialization experience for the new addition. Take him with you as you shop. Let him meet only calm, dog savvy individuals who are interested in helping form your puppy into a confident pet (no puppy gropers or screaming children). Call your holiday parties or functions "puppy showers", so the focus is on the new "baby" and make his welfare the central focus of everything. Basically, it's not too likely that this is going to happen. So let's go back to plan A: Don't give puppies as holiday gifts.
When the newness wears off, many times the puppy becomes forgotten (like many of the child's other "toys"), and his welfare goes by the wayside. Children who begged for the arrival of a new puppy become tired very quickly of all of the responsibility that goes with it, especially when there's so much else to think about during the holidays. Family members are not going to line up begging for their turn to take the Christmas puppy outside to do his business in the freezing weather.
Another reason NOT to give a puppy for Christmas, is that the recipient needs to be instrumental in the selection process. The pup needs to be a choice the recipient can live with. I know of a person who bought his elderly mother a Newfoundland puppy because HE wanted one. This was a relationship destined for failure. Soon the dog was bigger than the frail little old woman, and he took her off her feet one day on the icy steps and literally dragged her, face down, halfway down the block. Not a pretty picture.
The best thing to do if you have little ones begging for a puppy from Santa is to get them all of the "accessories" for Christmas. Buy them the bowls, the leashes, the bed and the puppy food, and give them a photo of a cute puppy attached to an I.O.U. to be redeemed after the craziness of the holidays is over. Or, give them a stuffed dog to go with those things, until you can get the real one, later.
This is the best advice I can give you. But, alas, many people will not heed my warnings, and you may somehow become the recipient of a Christmas puppy. Now what do you do? Here is my Christmas gift to you:
Everything you always wanted to know about
surviving your dog's puppy stage
"He's chewing everything up!" "He's shredding the children's pant legs and untying their shoes!" "He's stealing my socks and eating magazines!"
Well, of course he is. He's a puppy! He's a little predator- built to use his jaws like our hands--for grabbing and inspecting things. He will also start "teething" soon after you get him, and he will be compelled to munch on everything within his reach. It is a NATURAL thing for puppies to want to explore their world with their mouths. It's your job to make sure he only has access to appropriate things. If you fail to keep your eye on him constantly, knowing that the whole world is nothing but "chew toys" to your puppy, then get a rolled-up newspaper and hit YOURSELF several times, as you say, "BAD OWNER!-What were you thinking?"
You can't STOP a puppy from chewing. Puppies are practicing the mechanics of predation (hunting, shaking, shredding, and consuming), and exercising their teeth. Make sure your puppy has plenty of appropriate choices for chew toys. Nylabones, rawhides (if you feel they are safe), hooves, pig ears, hard rubber toys, and stuffed Kong toys should all be available for your puppy. A safe, soft rope toy is also a favorite with puppies. They like to shake and kill it. Better that than your socks and other personal items. But always supervise your puppy when he's chewing so you know right away if he's trying to swollow and pieces of the item. My first husband and I came home one day to find that our Doberman puppy had devoured my husband's wallet. He had just cashed his paycheck, and all the money was in there. We thought we were going to have to dissect the dog to get the money back, when we found the folded cash in a neat little heap, behind the large flower pot. Fortunately, "Sundance shook and killed" his wallet dinner before eating it, and the wad of cash and important papers went flying safely into the corner.
Manage your environment. Pick up your socks. Put away your magazines. Don't let your children make themselves fun targets by running and screaming. The act of chasing them is self-reinforcing, just as is chewing and eating. Remember, that's what predators are programmed to do. You must reward the ABSENCE of all of the behaviors you want to get rid of.
"He's peeing in the house!" "He's sneaky and takes a dump behind the couch." "He won't go potty outside."
Of course he is. Inside on carpet is more convenient, more absorbent, and warmer and drier than it is outside. Wouldn't YOU choose the carpet? He's not sneaky. Dogs don't know how to be sneaky. He's being smart. You must have punished him for going inside the house, and he didn't understand the message. He still has to go, but if you see him, he'll get punished, so he deliberately goes where you can't see him and "catch" him. You need to get that rolled-up newspaper again and swat YOURSELF a good one, saying, "Bad Owner!-You've taught the puppy to go behind the couch!"
What's in it for the puppy to go potty outside? What kind of "payoff" does he get? Do you think it's FUN to stand in the cold, with the wind blowing in your face and your toes freezing? Try it sometime. Why do you think we invented indoor plumbing? There has to be some kind of rewarding consequence for going potty outside, or the puppy will never develop the desire to stop using the living room carpet. I recommend clicker training, giving the dog a signal and a treat when he has done something right.
Give your puppy plenty of opportunities to empty his bladder and bowels, especially after eating, playing and waking. Go out with him, and reward the proper behavior. Keep him in your sight at all times in the house, so if he starts to make a wrong choice, you can interrupt him and whisk him outside. Never punish your puppy for going in the house. He can't possibly imagine that there is anything wrong with his choice of location, he just learns that you become an abusive monster when you see him trying to perform a normal body function. This is incomprehensible, because he HAS to relieve himself! You know it and he knows it. Punishment REALLY confuses him. It makes no sense. SHOW him what you want, and reward the behavior.
"He's jumping up on the kids." "He plays too rough." "He's mouthing our hands-he's turning them into shredded meat!"
Well, of course he is. Dog social behavior dictates that puppies should lick the other pack members' mouths upon greeting them. It's kind of hard to reach your mouth, when you walk on your hind legs all the time. It's fun to get petted, too, but it's hard to reach those hands when they're so high up off the floor. It is very frustrating being a short little puppy. The only thing he knows is to leap up. He wouldn't keep doing it, though, if it wasn't WORKING for him. You didn't inadvertently PET him when he jumped up at some point in time, did you? My heavens! Get the rolled-up newspaper! This time as you smack YOURSELF, say "Bad Owner!-I've taught the puppy that jumping up is wonderful!"
Now you have to "undo" what you've taught the puppy. Teach him that jumping up doesn't get him what he wants- and that sitting politely for petting is wonderful. Only pet him and give him your attention if he sits. If he tries to jump up, move away and ignore him. Act like he has "kooties." Remember, you have to REWARD the behaviors you want to encourage. If you reward a behavior by paying attention to it, don't blame the puppy if that behavior persists. When you decide that jumping up is a bad idea one day when he's 10 months old and covered with mud, and you have on your good clothes, it's not fair to suddenly start punishing him for something you had previously been rewarding. It's not only not fair-it's too late. The behavior already has a solid reward history.
Do not play rough with your puppy. If you do, you will teach him that you are very tough-like his littermates, and that you enjoy being bitten. If your puppy mouths your hands, you must pretend you are very frail and fragile. Do not yank your hand away (puppies like to snatch at things when you play "keep away" with them). Hold still and in a high-pitched voice, say "Owww!" This sounds like the noise that his littermates made when they meant, "You're biting too hard!" The puppy will usually stop and become immediately "apologetic" when he hears this screech. He will think that you are really a wimp. But that's ok. He will stop mouthing and biting if you do this.
I have pinpointed what I think are the three major complaints people have about their puppy's behavior. These are all NORMAL, natural behaviors that your puppy WILL engage in because he is a puppy. Not because he's a "bad seed" or a naughty dog, or spiteful because he thinks you love the cat more... He is doing these things because he is programmed to do these things. He does not have human manners or a conscience that tells him right from wrong. He doesn't realize that ANY behaviors are considered "bad" by you. So you have to TEACH him how to get what he wants through behaviors that are acceptable to you (like sitting for attention.)
Now that you know what to do to get your puppy started off on the right foot with learning your peculiar human manners, don't you dare blame the puppy if you disregard this information and choose to let his normal dog behaviors persist until he becomes an unwelcome vexation in your home.
There are not too many valid excuses for turning a dog in to the shelter. If you visit a shelter and just read the cards on the cages, it will make you sick. Look into the loving eyes of that energetic adolescent lab puppy and read the reason for surrender: "Too hyper-Jumps on kids." That's what lab puppies do!! Someone adopted him and promised to love him because he was a lab puppy. They didn't hold up their end of the bargain and TRAIN him, and now, they're getting RID of him for the same reason-because he's a lab puppy.
Dog Scouts of America tries to work like preventative medicine. We try to eradicate the CAUSE of dogs being dumped at the shelters. Eighty percent of the adolescent and adult dogs are turned over to the shelters because of behavior problems. By educating the owners about dog behavior and how to modify the unwanted behaviors by replacing them with good behaviors, using positive, non-abusive methods, we are keeping dogs OUT of the shelters in the first place.
The key to fighting the huge unwanted animal problem in this country is by tackling the "unwanted" part of the equation. Turning a dog in to a shelter and hoping someone else might adopt him and be better equipped to handle the dog's normal behaviors is not an answer. The shelters are killing millions of dogs each year. Owners feel like a shelter is not a certain death sentence for their dogs, or they probably wouldn't take them there. People hold onto the hope that the pet that they've grown tired of will somehow live "happily ever after" with some wonderful new family. This delusion is what enables normally kind and humane people to dump their pets at shelters. The sad truth is that MOST of the dogs over 6 months of age that end up in shelters must be put to death. The ones that have already learned persistent behavior problems are doomed.
DSA wants to keep you with your pet-for life. We hope you have enjoyed these tips on coping with puppy behavior. We hope that this "gift" of advice will bring you a long and happy relationship with your new family member.
Now here's the commercial:
We get fan mail all the time, thanking us for our work. One family told us that if they would have known what we taught them two years ago, a dog that they had to have put to sleep because of aggression problems would probably still be alive. If they would have known how to socialize and prevent aggression problems from developing, they could have turned him into a better pet. Another family that rescued a "problem dog" said that we literally saved that dog. This was a dog who was learning (being allowed) to do as he pleased with his former family, and had a multitude of bad habits. Even after adoption and proper training, the dog was hard to handle. If not for the skills she learned from DSA, the owner says, she would have been totally beside herself and would have given up on the dog's rehabilitation.
We love hearing success stories like this. Shelters have statistics on how many dogs were successfully re-homed, and saved from death. With preventative work, we have no idea how many millions of people benefit from our teachings and learn to cope with and improve their dog's behavior. We don't know how many have become responsible dog owners and spayed or neutered their pets, keeping more unwanted dogs out of the shelters. I strongly feel that we have more of a chance of saving dogs on the "going in" end than we do trying to save them once they're in shelters.
If you have a success story you would like to share, please contact us