Raising the Perfect Dog; The Secrets of Law Enforcement K9 Trainers (3 page)

We recommend that you do not put padding in the crate until the pup is housebroken and more mature. We feel this is important for a couple of reasons. Most important, if you are gone, your puppy will more than likely chew, shred, or eat this padding/bedding at some point, which can become a choking hazard for a small puppy. Additionally, often puppies who have padding in the crate will still urinate in their crate because the padding acts as a sponge and absorbs the urine. Therefore, it does not bother them to urinate there; the padding acts as a diaper.

What about puppy pads? I think puppy pads are a bad idea, especially if you have a puppy that will grow into a large dog. Puppy pads teach the puppy it’s okay to go to the restroom in the house, however, only in this specific area. I find it much easier to teach them it’s never acceptable to go to the restroom in the house. Additionally, as the pup grows into a larger dog, do you really want them going to the restroom
inside your house?
They may go in a specific spot, however, the smell usually permeates the whole house.

Another important thing to remember is to
never
let your dog out of the crate if he is actively barking or whining. This will teach your dog that if he barks and whines long enough, you will let him out. It is like the child who throws a fit in the middle of the toy store, and then the parents buy the kid a toy. The child simply learns that if he makes a big enough scene, he will get his way. Dogs learn the same way. So never let your dog out of the crate if he is actively barking or whining. Doing so rewards bad behavior. Your pup should learn that he gets out of the crate only when he is quiet. Just to clarify, your new puppy may whine in the middle of the night to let you know he has to go out. It is then acceptable to let him out of the crate, take him outside, use the key phrase, then come back in. However, once your puppy is old enough to hold it throughout the night (generally around three to four months of age), never let him out based on whining or barking.

During the housebreaking process, we usually recommend cutting off food and water around 7 p.m. This is done to ensure that all of the water has passed through the pup’s system by the time you go to sleep (assuming you are going to bed around 9 p.m. or later). If you cut off food and water at around 7 p.m., it will minimize having to go in the middle of the night. Additionally, do not put food or water in the crate with the pup; again, this will cause him to have to go to the restroom in the middle of the night.

Never use the crate as a place to punish your puppy, as hard as it sometimes may be. If you start using the crate as a place of punishment, the pup will start to hate it, will not want to go in, and will no longer see it as its “home.” Rather, he will see at is a prison. The crate should always be looked upon as something positive. The crate should be seen by the dog, as you see your bedroom, as a place to go, get away, and relax. It is also a good practice to feed him in the crate or give him a treat every time he goes in, again, associating it with something positive.

If you follow all these principles, you should have a very short housebreaking process and a dog that loves going into the crate.

A
nytime we do puppy consultations for new dog owners, one of the main things I discuss is confidence-building. To me, that is one of the most important things in getting a new dog. If you have a highly confident and well-socialized dog, the rest is easy. We will talk more in depth about socialization in the next chapter. Many people think that dogs who bite people are highly confident, and that’s why they bite. In fact, it’s quite the opposite; generally, they have very low confidence and are not well socialized. A confident dog knows you are not a challenge or a threat, so there’s no reason to try to “show you.” That’s why a lot of the smaller dogs bark at people more than the bigger dogs do. Generally, the best fighters do not cause many problems. There is a reason you do not see people like UFC star Rich Franklin in the news for getting into fights outside the octagon. Because he is confident, he does not need to prove himself to anyone. The same thing applies to police, military, and personal-protection dogs. Most of their training revolves around confidence-building. Also, that is why you almost never see in the news that a police, military, or personal-protection dog mauls a child to death. That is because they are well socialized, highly confident, and they know that child does not pose any threat to them. Unfortunately, you see it in the news all too often with regular house pets, because of, again, a lack of confidence and socialization.

So, what are some things you can do to ensure your puppy is highly confident? Assuming you got your dog from a reputable breeder, as discussed earlier, you can use the numerous drills we use with our protection dogs to make them highly confident.

As soon as you get your puppy, start immediately exposing him to as many noises as possible. Turn on the vacuum, blender, hair dryer, and any other noisy devices you have around the house. I have seen far too many dogs that run and hide at the sound of a loud noise, especially vacuum cleaners and thunder. This can be completely prevented if you expose them to these noises at a young age. Expose your dog to as many noises as possible by the time he is five months old, and while exposing him, make it a positive experience through verbal/physical praise, treats, etc.

What to do if you expose your puppy to a noise (e.g., a vacuum) and he runs and hides from it? Very simple—bring him back and make him deal with it. One of the many terms we use for this process is “flooding.” This means you find a noise your dog is afraid of and flood him with that noise repeatedly, every day. Again, flood him with this experience in a positive way, by giving praise, treats, etc. Fear of noises or things is a completely unrealistic fear that dogs have, just like humans. So, by making him sit next to the vacuum cleaner while it’s turned on, he realizes, “I’m not being hurt, I don’t feel any pain, and I am getting praised for this.” After a short while, that unrealistic fear will go away and the dog will soon realize that it is not a big deal and will soon pay no attention to it.

What if my puppy hears a lot of noise such as thunder, fireworks, or a car door slam outside and he runs to me for comfort? Never comfort your dog when he is afraid of something. This only reinforces the fear. Comfort is simply another kind of praise. Think about that for a second. When you comfort a dog, how is it different from praising him? You are petting them and talking cute to them in both instances. So when you break it down, you are praising your dog for being afraid of something. Now, any time it has a reason to be afraid, it will run to you in order to reap the praise that goes along with the action. So, never comfort your dog for being afraid. If he hears a loud noise and comes running to you, do not acknowledge him, do not look at him, touch him, pet him, or talk to him. Again, if he sees it does not get a response from you and you do not make a big deal out of it, he will not make a big deal out of it, either.

What if I expose my dog to an object that he is afraid of? Same thing—flooding. Flood him with that object in a positive manner. For some odd reason, we get a lot of dogs that are afraid of the pop a trashcan liner makes when the owner shakes it out to open it. I recommend the same process as we do with noises. Put the dog on a leash, hold him, and just keep popping the trashcan liner over and over. Soon enough, he will not even acknowledge it. Also, if he is afraid of the liner itself, put the liner on your hand and pet him with it. Again, he will soon realize that it is not that bad, it is not hurting him, and he is getting praised.

Often, if you bring a new object into the house, the puppy will run from it, bark at it, etc. Use the same concepts as above—put him on a leash, pull him over to the object, and make him deal with it. Generally, this process will last about 10 minutes or less, and then he will no longer pay attention to the object because he has now faced his fears.

Another important step for confidence-building in a puppy is get him on as many objects, surfaces, textures, and elevations as possible. There are many dogs we train that are afraid to get up on new objects. This is a direct result of underexposure to new objects at a young age. In order to prevent this, put your puppy on as many different things as possible. Set him on chairs, picnic tables, grass, asphalt, dog beds, staircases, wood, concrete, Tupperware containers, tree stumps, park benches, and anything else you can find. The key is (on the lower objects) to put him on there, praise him while he is up there, and then make him get off the object by himself. Again, you are taking away that unrealistic fear by teaching him, “I got up here and was praised. I got off on my own and I’m fine.” We put dogs in completely unrealistic situations such as a baby pool filled with empty water bottles. We create situations they are very unlikely to encounter in a real-world situation. Why do it if they would never have to go into a baby pool filled with water bottles? Simple, if they get used to being in absurd surfaces and environments, then realistic things are no problem whatsoever and they do not even think twice about getting on those surfaces.

One of the most important steps to raising a confident dog is to
play tug with your dog.
People do not realize how important this step is in confidence-building. It does not help that there is so much misinformation out there on this subject that people really do not know what to think. In order to get our protection dog very tug-driven, meaning they go crazy when they see the tug and will do anything for it is by limiting their exposure to it. In the Secret Service, our dogs were working for a ball. As soon as the handlers pull that ball out, the dogs go crazy for it by spinning, barking, etc. So, many people would ask, “How do I get my dog that motivated for a ball?” First off, it goes back to breeding and genetics, some dogs from day one just have no interest in tugging or chasing a ball. That is why it is important to know what type of puppy you are getting and who you are getting it from to ensure that the puppy will be able to meet the expectations you have for it.

In order to make your pup highly motivated for a ball, tug, or toy, it is essential that he does not have full access to it. Meaning, he should have only very limited access to that specific toy. If he has access to the ball or tug all throughout the day, he will never be highly motivated for it. Again, a toy to dogs is like money is to you: If you had unlimited access to money, you wouldn’t be very motivated to go to work because there is no incentive. The same principles apply with your puppy, if he has constant access to a toy; there is no incentive for him to “work” for it. A dog will never be too motivated for something he always has, just like people. The ball or tug becomes a new treat; they get it only limitedly and on special occasions. If you fed your dog hot dogs every day, three meals per day, for one year, they would no longer be considered a treat to him—it is now food. So think about the ball or tug the same way—limited accessibility and only when they do something deserving.

Generally, we will give dogs the toy or play tug with them only when they are doing something good. When we are training with them, we will do some obedience training, then “mark” the behavior (more on this in the training section) and immediately reward with a quick game of a tug or by throwing the ball for them to chase. As soon as we play tug for a minute or two, we will immediately take the tug back and repeat the training. If we are using the ball, they have it long enough to go get it and bring it back, that’s about it. If the pup gets the ball and lies down with it, we immediately take it away. Remember, these are not used as chew toys.

One thing to keep in mind is you do not want to over-train with the tug or the ball. Meaning, you do not want to keep playing with the dog until he loses interest in the tug/ball. Stop playing when the dog still wants to keep going. That is what builds up the drive for it. So, when your pup is still in the prime of wanting to play, we will tease them with the ball or tug and once they get all excited over it, we will simply turn and put it away to end the session. This really helps build their drive. That way, when you go to pull the tug/ball out the next time, they immediately want it and want to play. By repeating this sequence over a period of weeks, you should really see your dog’s drive building up for these devices.

Let me correct some misinformation about playing tug with your dog. The first myth is that playing tug with your dog can lead to aggression. That is completely false; actually, the opposite is true. Playing tug has never led to aggression in any dog I have ever seen or worked with. Again, playing tug builds confidence. As I stated in the beginning of this chapter, confident dogs are not the ones biting.