Raising the Perfect Dog; The Secrets of Law Enforcement K9 Trainers (2 page)

I realize that many dogs are bought from shelters and rescue organizations, so maybe you are thinking that none of this guidance applies to you. Believe it or not, it still applies, just in a different way. If you want to purchase a dog and you do not want to get it from a breeder nor pay the high price that often comes with many purebred dogs, then a dog shelter or a rescue organization is a great way to go. As I stated earlier, do not get a dog from a backyard breeder—someone who is in it only for the money and does not care about the dog’s health or well-being. Remember, often they are having a litter in the first place due to their negligence and irresponsibility. So go to a shelter or a rescue organization. These people truly care about dogs and want to ensure their dogs have a good home. Once you find a good, reputable, nonprofit shelter or rescue organization, you can apply the same guidance for picking a happy, confident, and friendly dog.

Now that you have found a great breeder or shelter, you need to pick the perfect pup from that litter. No matter what any breeder tells you, you cannot pick a pup that is right for you online or through a photo. Actually go to their location and choose a dog, even if it’s out of state. If you talk to anyone who has picked pups out of a litter, they will usually tell you the pup picked them. I am not saying you will get a horrible dog if you pick one online, I am just saying you will feel much more comfortable and confident about your choice if you go see them in person. Generally, at eight weeks, you can tell a lot about the pup. If they are shy, skittish, and hanging out away from everyone in the litter at eight weeks, there is a great chance that’s how they will be when they are older. However, if they are confident, very open and affectionate, and love to play tug at eight weeks, there is a great chance that’s how they will be when they are older. These are things you would know only by actually going and observing the litter for yourself. Then, based on what you are looking for, you can pick the pup that you think best suits your needs.

When picking dogs for personal protection, we use a breeder who breeds specifically for that type of work, as I stated above. Once we identify a reputable breeder, we go to their location and put their litter of puppies through a series of tests. Even if you are just looking for a regular household pet, this is still a great test to ensure your dog has an overall good temperament. First, you do not want a puppy who is away from the litter; meaning, off by itself and not socializing or playing with the others. We are looking for the puppies jumping at their gate in order to great us; this shows they are happy to socialize with people. Second, we will test their “drive,” in other words, how motivated are they to go after something? We are looking for dogs that have a great prey drive, so when we roll a ball, we want a puppy that will chase after it and preferably bring it back. This shows they have a high drive, which is essential. Additionally, we are looking for that same level of motivation when they play tug; for protection, your dog must have a great tug drive. As we go through these steps, we are slowly eliminating the pups that do not have these characteristics.

For their second phase of testing, we will take one-on-one the pups who have passed the prior steps in order to evaluate them further. One of the things we do is get them really excited by playing with them and then rolling them over to their backs to see how easily they submit. Ideally, you want a puppy that is fighting to get up. This shows they are not very quick to submit. We follow that with a drop test, which involves us playing with the pup and then dropping something loud beside it or making a loud noise (dropping a metal bowl, a loud clap, etc.). Ideally, you are looking for a puppy that does not overreact to a loud noise. If they do overreact, we are looking for a quick recovery, meaning, you can quickly get them to come back and engage them back into the play. One of the final things we do is the pinch test. While playing with the dog, we give them a pinch on the side until they give a little whimper. This is done to test their ability to forgive the handler for giving them a correction, meaning, how they react when the handler gives them an unpleasant feeling. Do they shut down and run away or do they quickly forgive and come back? We are looking for a puppy that does not immediately run away from us. For those that do run away, we want one that we can quickly get to come back.

If you are getting a dog from a shelter or rescue organization, add in the additional step of taking the dog out and around other dogs, people, and kids in order to see how they behave with them. This is done to ensure you are not getting a peopleor dog-aggressive dog before you take him home. Often, people get a dog from a shelter or rescue organization and a week later they have their first encounter with another dog or child and find their dog is aggressive. An additional step you may want to take is seeing how the dog from the shelter is with food and toys. While the dog is eating and playing with toys, touch the dog, the food, and the toy to determine if there is any possible food or toy aggression. Be proactive and find all of this out before you choose a dog.

This is the basic guideline we use in order to find a good, well-balanced, good-tempered, happy, and friendly dog. Just to clarify, there are no guarantees in dogs, however, we have found that this is a great process to follow and it is generally very accurate when trying to predict how a dog will be as it gets older. Then, once you find this perfect dog, follow the guidance in the rest of the book to continuously build on its level of confidence, drive, socialization, and happiness.

F
irst off, congratulations on your new perfect puppy! Many people do not realize how much work some puppies can be for the first six months of their lives, and that’s just the beginning. Essentially, it is like having a newborn baby in many ways as you may have already figured out. Puppies require constant attention and, just like babies, are more than likely waking you up in the middle of the night.

In general, with proper crate training, your puppy should be almost completely housebroken by the age of four to five months. This age can vary depending on how effective you are throughout this process. Remember, your dog does not decide how long it takes to be house-trained,
you
do.

You are probably wondering, “Where do I start?” First, get a crate, preferably one with a divider so you can expand the living space for your pup as it grows. It is nearly impossible to house-train a puppy without using a crate. Housebreaking a puppy is based entirely on the crate-training system. Crate training teaches a puppy the crate is
its
spot to go; it’s the equivalent of its home. More important, it becomes a location to hold your puppy during the housebreaking process when he cannot be directly supervised.

Pick a crate big enough for your dog to lie down, stand up (without his or her back touching the top of the cage), and spin around in a circle. Do not put a small puppy inside a large crate. They should have not have much more room than described above. I always recommend getting a large crate that has the adjustable divider in it. This way, you only need to buy one crate and can adjust the space as your puppy grows. If you find your puppy is going to the restroom inside the crate, you may want to reduce the size of the space. Often, if the crate is too large in relation to the size of your puppy, he does not have a problem going in the back corner of the crate because he can get far enough away from the mess that it doesn’t affect him as much.

Your puppy should be in its crate a lot for the first couple of months it is home with you. Don’t feel bad about keeping him in the crate. To put it into perspective, a crib is simply a crate for babies. You put babies in their cribs to protect them from themselves. A puppy should be looked at the same way.

Take the initiative with your puppy. As a general rule, your puppy will have to go outside approximately 30 minutes after eating or drinking. So if you know he just ate or drank a lot of water, take the initiative and take him out; do not wait for him to go in the house. Also, it is a good idea to take him out after a good play session in the house. If you are playing tug, chasing the ball, or getting the puppy really excited, it is always a good idea to take the initiative and take him out after these sessions, as well.

Using a keyword phrase during housebreaking is very important. From the first day you get your puppy, start to implement a keyword while your puppy is going to the restroom outside. Most people prefer the phrase “go potty.” So any time your pup is sniffing in the grass when you take him outside, repeat the key phrase “go potty.” As soon as your pup uses the restroom, immediately praise him (verbally, physically, and/or with a treat). Over time, he will associate the key phrase “go potty” with the act of going to the restroom, about a month into the housebreaking process. After this period, if you see your pup start to display that he is going to go to the restroom in the house (tail up, sniffing around in circles, etc.), repeat that phrase he has been hearing from day one, “Do you have to go potty?” He will recognize that key phrase he has associated with going outside and will run to the door, indicating that he does indeed have to go out. This is the first step of progress for housebreaking.

Use a bell on a string to teach your puppy to let you know that he has to go outside. Tie a bell to the end of a string and hang it from the doorknob at approximately your pup’s chest level. Every time you take your pup outside, ring the bell with his paw. Praise him immediately and open the door. Doing this every time you go out teaches the dog that ringing the bell equals the door opening. Over a period of time, your pup will learn: “If I have to go outside to the restroom, I ring bell and the door opens.”

The most important thing to effectively housebreak your puppy is total supervision. I will state it again, because it is
that
important:
total supervision..
What does that mean? Simple; it means if your puppy is not inside its crate, you or another member of the household should be directly supervising him. Until the pup is completely housebroken, there should
never
come a time when he is in a room alone. To put it into perspective, if you are downstairs with your puppy and decide to take a shower, even if it is just five minutes, put your pup inside its crate. Again, think of your pup as a baby. If you have a baby and you are going to jump in the shower or leave the room to fold laundry, would you leave a baby just sitting in the living room by itself? No, you would put it in the crib. Again, a crib is simply a crate for babies.

If, while supervising your pup, you see him squat and start peeing or pooping, immediately give a loud verbal, “No!” Pick him up, immediately take him outside, and set him down in the yard. Then repeat that key phrase, “Go potty.” As soon as he finishes, give praise (verbal, physical, and/or a treat) and take him back inside. There should
never
be any punishment involved. Rubbing his nose in it, hitting him, rolling a newspaper—these are all things that are proven ineffective. More important, it just breaks down the bond between you and your pup. Physically punishing a puppy for going to the restroom in the house is like spanking a one-year-old for going in their diaper.

Many people ask, “What if I didn’t catch him in the act, but noticed he went to the restroom in the house?” Very simple, do absolutely nothing. That’s right, do absolutely nothing. Write it off as a failure on
your
part, clean it up, and move on. Again, do not punish the puppy.
You
failed him, he did not fail you. You violated the biggest rule in housebreaking: You failed to give him total supervision. This is so important it is worth mentioning once more: If you do not physically catch your dog in the act, chalk it up to a loss on your behalf and move on. Make it your goal to catch him every single time. For every time your pup goes in the house without being caught in the act, you add a few more days to the housebreaking process. So, if he is going in the house a couple times per day without getting caught in the act, the housebreaking process can be
really
prolonged..

Your puppy should sleep in the crate every night when you go to bed (again, because if you are sleeping, you cannot directly supervise him). When you first wake up in the morning, take him from the crate straight outside and use the key phrase (“Go potty”). If your puppy does not go to the restroom, take him back in the house and put him back into the crate. Approximately 15 to 20 minutes later. take him out of the crate, back outside, and repeat the process. Repeat this until your puppy
does
go to the restroom outside. This does two things: It prevents him from coming back in and minutes later going to the restroom in your house and will teach your puppy that he has to go to the restroom or he will keep going back into the crate until he does. After a few days of this, he will just go outside the first time you take him out. After he goes to the restroom outside, bring him back into your house and leave him out of the crate, remembering to directly supervise him.