Recently I’ve received several cries for help! The cries are for the same problem, ” my puppy is running wild and getting into trouble” The first question I usually ask is what training have you been giving your puppy? The usual answer is he’ll come some times when I call or he sits when I tell him sometimes especially if he is right in front of me. The next question I ask is is your dog or your puppy running free even when you’re not there.? And the answer generally is I don’t want to contain him not at this age, he is still a puppy. This is always somewhat confusing to me as a puppy, if you wish to equate it to human terms, is just a baby, a toddler, a youngster. If you have a youngster would you allow him or her to run around out in the yard when you’re not there. I think the answer generally is no. So what are you to do?
The first step in getting a puppy under control is basic obedience. I don’t mean show type obedience but what I refer to as farm obedience. Sit, stay, a recall calling them to you and most definitely a stop command. So the next question to me is how old should the pup be before I start training? From the very day that you pick up the pup you start your training. It doesn’t have to be formal training. If a pup sits use a the sit command. If a pup comes running to you give it the recall command. It’s simple things like this that cause the pup to view you as the leader of the pack. If you’ve ever watched a mother dog with their pups she doesn’t put up with nonsense, she disciplines the pups if they are doing something that they shouldn’t be. Discipline can be such thing as telling the pup to stop and if it doesn’t enforcing it. If you are not with the pup it should be in a run. This teaches the pup that it is a safe place to be. Like a den.
Rearing a pup is not a difficult task. It is a responsible task and one that should not be taken lightly if you are wanting to have the “perfect dog” as the pup grows. I recently read were the pup was killing and mutilating chickens ducks whatever in one of the suggestions was if the pup has killed a chicken a good correction is to tie the pup just short of the dead chicken and leave him there all day long. If that type of discipline works it’s an extreme rarity and in fact it can do more harm then good.
As I said before it’s a simple task and a responsible job to raise a puppy so that it is a member of the family unit, co-worker, and just an all round good dog as it grows.
theworkingstockdog 