Episode #17 Getting Ready

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This is the puppy training podcast. Episode number 17 Getting ready. This podcast is for those looking to train their own dog, whether as a family companions service or a therapy dog. And I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the puppy training podcasts, and I'm your host, Amy Jensen. Hello. How was your week, You guys, Thanks for tuning in. We had a good week here in our house. I can't believe it's already August. The time in the summer flies by. So we're having a good time enjoying our last few weeks of summer before school starts and schedules change. And we're back in a routine. I am usually ready for routine about this time of year. But I don't know what came quicker this year than it was ready for it. So I'm enjoying my last couple weeks of having my kids home with me. I really like it when they're here. We helped me a lot with my business and with my puppy training. So I'm always sad to see them go back to school. But it is nice to have a set schedule. All right, So what training successes have you guys had this week. What have you been working on? What is your dog doing? Well, what is he struggling with? I've got boots here in training. As you may know, he's a little Australian labradoodle. He's almost 13 weeks, and he has been a funny puppy to teach. Shake, too. I usually can. You know, bump a little puppy in the nose and the paw automatically comes up as a reflex, and I'm able to capture that and then market and rewarded and get him to shake. But Boots has been different. He wouldn't move his paw. It doesn't even flinch. So I practiced in practices. We can try to find ways that I could get him to move his paw and we did it. We finally did. It can now say, as of today, that I couldn't tell him to shake, and he happily gives me his paw. But it was a proud trading moment. So you guys are probably gonna have moments like that where you're asking your dogs to do something or you're trying to train them to do something, and they're just not You're not connecting. He's not figuring it out. And and you're struggling to get him to figure it out. So be patient in those times. Do what you can do and then persevere. You'll figure it out just like boots. And I did. And now he has this really great shake behavior. So it's really cute. He'll even do either paw. He's ambidextrous, you guys, he is super fun. Okay, so today I want to talk about setting up your home and getting ready for a brand new puppy. I know a lot of listeners are getting a puppy soon, or they're waiting, and it's coming in a couple weeks or in another month or even this week. I know several families in my area. The puppy is coming this week, and so I get lots of questions about how do you set up your house? What equipment do you use? You know, what should I be doing to get ready? So I thought You know what? I'm gonna do a podcast on this and anybody who's not yet got their puppy, but they're almost ready to get it. This will help you out. So the first thing is equipment. I would suggest that you get the necessary equipment so that When your puppy does arrive, you're not floundering around to find things that you need. So obviously, you're gonna need a collar and a leash and a leash. I just like to use a simple, really light weight four foot leash. I actually found mine on dog dot com. They're little tiny, thin leashes, very lightweight, very small clips, So I guess it depends on the size of your puppy. But boots, for example, is he's 12 weeks, £12 it works great. It's a very lightweight leash, so it's not, You know, that the clips not bigger than he is not heavier than he is weighing him down. It's just very lightweight. He doesn't seem to play that as much as if it's big, clunky leash. So a nice, simple, lightweight four foot leash is great for the caller. I just do a flat caller. Nothing fancy. I least trade all my puppies using a flat color because there's no jerking around or least corrections of any sort were literally just learning how to walk with basically an umbilical cord between us. So a flat color is fine now. If you have a larger breed, puppy or even a toy puppy and the, um, you're nervous about their neck or them being too large and really starting that pulling behavior than I do. Like the Freedom nopal harness. It's a front clip Parness. It actually has a back Klopas well that you can use simultaneously, but it's a no pool hardness where you clip it in the front, and if you were to pull, it would turn his body, and it also takes up pressure off his his neck. So if you are worried about a flat color, you know, providing too much pressure on their neck, then by all means, I'm used a harness, and that's the one that I like. It's called the Freedom No pool harness, and then you're gonna need a crate. So it make sure when you go to buy a crate for your puppy that you want to size it appropriately. Now the perk of being a dog trainer is that I have all sorts of crates and all sorts of sizes, and so my puppies can literally just grow with what I have. If you can ask a neighbor if they have a create that they're not using anymore or head to like a goodwill store in your area and see if they have one at a discounted price because you're gonna want to find a crate that fits your puppy. Now you want it to be just the size that he can stand up, turn around and lie back down, No extra room. So he if he has room to lay in one side and then pee on the other side, that's not gonna help with our house training cause. So you really want to make sure that that create is, you know, just barely as talented as you can stand up comfortably. His head doesn't necessarily hit the top. He can turn in a full circle, and he can lay back down. But that's it. So your other option would be instead of a plastic crate, you could buy a wire crate and the wire crates come with a divider that you can slowly move as your puppy. Gross. So that is nice about the wire crates. Just be careful. If you use the wire, create that you take their collars off before they go in, and then you know at night to make it feel a little more cozy because it is a very open create. Just throw a blanket over it or a sheet over it to make it a little more cozy at nighttime. You're also going to want to get a nice food dish and a water bowl. And I like to get some that I can toss into my dishwasher on a weekly basis and give it a good clean. There's lots of good options out there, so find one that you like, and that works for you. I also get a toothbrush and toothpaste ready to go, because I like to start brushing my puppies teeth when they're very young. I acclimating to that, and I introduce it on a daily basis So the toothpaste flavors you can find some that puppies love. So right now I'm using a chicken flavor with boots, and he absolutely loves that. He gets so excited when that toothpaste and the little toothbrush comes out and that's what we want. We want them to really like this. And so I start this very early with, um so, Yeah, go ahead and get some tooth paste and the little toothbrush. I just like to start with the little finger brush and you can, you know, really just take your finger and rub around your puppy's mouth. I like it because I can feel, you know, each tooth as I'm going, you can rub his gums, and my puppy doesn't seem to mind as much as like a hard plastic things sticking in his mouth. So I do start with a little finger brush, and then I go to a regular toothbrush eventually so that you know he's really getting a good brushing with his teeth. But finger toothbrush works really well in the beginning to introduce them to it. And so I start out with those along with the toothbrush and toothpaste is pick up some nail clippers or a Dremel. Now, if you have a puppy with a short coat, a Dremel is amazing. Um, it's a little rotary tool that files the nails. So instead of cutting the nails, you're just filing the nails. And I do really like that. If you have a doodle on the hair's long or any other breed with the longer Harry, you have to be really careful. If you're going to use the Dremel, we have to hold the hair back so that the tool doesn't catch the hair. That could be kind of painful for them. So make sure that if you have a longer haired breed that you're very careful if you're going to use a Dremel. But the other option is to just simply use nail clippers. So if you do have a doodle than you can't quite see their nails because of all the hair, then just use regular nail clippers. Well, I say regular, but they're actually dog nail clippers, not people nail clippers. Um, and they'll work. Great. All right, so you're also gonna want to make sure you have a variety of hard to toys and soft to toys and then some puzzle toys. So I like to get things like Bennett Bones or Nyla bones for my dogs to chew on for heart items. So if my puppy go set you on a table leg or he goes to two on, um, say a chair like a wooden object, I like to replace it with a heart to toy. Now my puppies really like Bennett Bones, and some people say, Oh, my dog won't chew that, But if you keep giving it to your dog. Whenever he's wanting to two, they'll start to Nana and I find that the more they break into it and the more they rough it up, then the more they want to keep chewing it. So it is kind of like a baby with a pacifier. You just keep giving it to him. Just keep giving it to him, and they will do it because puppies want to chew. They want to strengthen those jaws. They have that need their cutting teeth. So they needed to on something. And if you just keep giving it to them, then they really like to two on those for soft chew toys. I have to say, I'm gonna give a shout out here to bark box. They do a phenomenal job. I order one each month and they send a variety of toys. And I called them specifically because I don't want this toys with stuffing. And I don't want the toys that are always the hard plastic toys. I have enough Bennett bones. So I asked them if they had a middle of the line box and they do so if you call them and ask, You know, say Hey, my puppies are really tough. Juror. I don't want the toughest toys, but I don't want you know, the softest toys. Can you give me the middle of the line box? They'll send it to you, and it's amazing because it's a toys within toys. So if your puppy rips through the outer layer, then they get to a rubber ball or things like that. So there's no stuffing involved. I love them, so that's a great option if you're interested in that, um, classic Kong's. I always have a Kong available that I can stuff with something, either my puppies, kibble, I smear some peanut butter and there were some cream cheese. I get really creative and the things that I stick in there sometimes I'll just get their dog food wet and mushy, and then I'll put it in the Kong and I'll freeze it. That's really great for them as well. Just make sure you have a variety of toys ready to go. You're gonna want to mix it up. So again, if your puppy's going for your pant leg or your clothes or a blanket or a pillow, you're gonna want something soft that he can sink his teeth in two. If he's going for something hard, like your office chair, something he's gonna need a harder toy to sink his teeth in. And then, you know those food puzzle toys Air great as well, If you can find some puzzle toys were or maybe like a snuffle, Matt or, um, they have puzzle bowls. We can put the food in high, like to use something a simple as a muffin tin. You put food in the different tins of the muffin pan, and then you cover them a tennis balls and let your dog figure out how to move the tennis balls to get to the food. Any kind of things like that, that you could be creative and give your puppy. It's just gonna be mental stimulation for him. And the more exercise he gets mentally and physically than the happier you will all be, because he will be a tired puppy. Entire puppies are fun to have around and easier to manage. You guys, just so you know, you're also gonna want to have some food rewards on hand. So I always start with things like obviously his doc food. Make sure that you have either food coming from the breeder or that you're ordering the food ahead of time. So it will be there when your puppy arrives and I start training with kibble and I keep him on his same food for those first couple months. For sure, the breeder is feeding him just for his little digestive system to be easiest on it. But after that, if you need to change foods, you can but try to keep him on that same food for at least several months. And then if there's not a need to change, I wouldn't I would just keep him on his same diet. But I start out with food rewards using his kibble, and then I go and get several things. I try to get some free stride liver mill mixers or my new favorite. They're really easy to break into small pieces, and they keep your hands clean. They're very high value rewards. I try to find some things in the middle of the line as well, and again bark bucks will send you some treats every month. So if you're gonna go ahead and do the bark bucks thing, you'll get the two toys and the treats kind of all at once and again, I try not to use too many treats. I really try to get my puppies to work for their dog food throughout the day. And then I do introduce things such as frozen peas or Cheerios to kind of mix it up a little bit. You know, a good stick of string cheese is a go to for me on leash walks. And then, you know, I do find some novelty treats just for fun and to keep things exciting, if if needed. So I get a variety. All right, then, an exercise pen. Let's talk exercise pens, you guys, because your puppy's gonna spend a lot of time in the great. He's gonna spend a lot of time out of the crate, and sometimes there's gonna be times where you maybe don't want to put him back in the creek because he was just there. But you need to go do something and you can't keep your eye on him. 100% of the time, I highly recommend an exercise pen. It's a little bit more space, but it's small enough that he'll hopefully keep that area clean, but it does give him a contained area where you can leave him for just a few minutes. You can go and do whatever you need to do and be right back, and you know that he hasn't gone to any sort of trouble while you were away or in the other room. So I really recommend exercise pens. The other thing I love about exercise pens are that you can open them up and use them as gates. So I have several exercise pens. I use some on my back patio as a enclosure where my puppies can run around and get exercise. I have a neck, sir size pen in my basement where I separate my great room so that it's smaller. And it's more, you know, contains space where he can keep that area clean. And they can grow as my puppy gets better and better house training so I can move that around and section off different areas of my room in order to facilitate better house training practices. So I keep the bells by my back door. I, you know, section off that section. So he's just on my tile down in my basement, and then once he can keep that area clean, I move the exercise pin to the next section of the basement. So it's getting bigger and bigger, and then suddenly maybe we have that covered. So we go upstairs and I can take the exercise pins and wrap them around my stairs that go to my upper level so that he's not able to go up and down the stairs. I can really just keep him on one level. So if you remember my program, check out the prep unit. I have a video in there on exactly how I said at my house, and you'll see in there how I use my exercise pens. But I get pretty creative with them, and they're phenomenal tool. So if you are on the fence about whether or not you need an exercise, penny highly, highly, highly recommend you get one okay, and then you'll need an offense outdoor area. So you're gonna need an area where your puppy can just go outside and be a dog. So whether that means you know your whole fence, your holy artist, friends, or if you have a dog run where you have some kind of Kendall set up that he can run around and play in a safe area, that he'll be confined and out of any danger of any sort of exercise and just kind of be a dog and relax and not have to be so structured. That's important to let her dogs have some downtime every day. So make sure that you have some area where he can get, go out and get some fresh air, but in a nice, safe enclosure. All right, So once you have the needed equipment, how do you actually set up your house? So I set up short term confinement areas, and this would be the crate so my puppy can hold his bladder for the number of months old that he is for that many hours. So what that looks like is, if your puppy is two months old, he could be in his crate for two hours if he's three months old. Three hours, four months old, four hours at the four hour mark. I always give my dog's a break. So I have the short term confinement area where if I'm going to be, let's say, I go to get groceries and I'm only gonna be gone 45 minutes. My puppy can totally be in his crate for 45 minutes and be fine, so I would use the short term confinement area. I use that as much as possible because it's ideal for getting my puppy to hold his bladder, and I want him to learn how to hold it. I want himto learn toe wait to go until I take him outside. So if you can leave him in the crate, I recommend leaving him in the crate. If, for example, you're going to be gone longer than that, Let's say I had to go somewhere for three hours and I wasn't going to be back in time to give him a the necessary break from his Great. Then I would set up a long term confinement area so I would put a puppy bed and a water bowl in one corner and then the opposite corner. I would put a pee pad or some kind of party area for him so that he's able to go somewhere and take that break when needed. If I'm not able to get back to him now, that is my last resort. So if I know I'm gonna be gone longer than my puppy can hold it. Maybe I leave him in the exercise pen. But ideally, if I could have a neighbor come over and let him out when he needs that break, then he's gonna do better with house training. So if you can, I recommend, you know, setting up that long term confinement area just in case. But if you could have somebody come over and give him a potty break in between, that would really help with your house training efforts. You know, do what you can. Obviously, I know everyone lives in different living areas and living spaces. And you I know you'll all be successful in the way that you do it and how you choose to do it. This is just what I recommend, ideally. So okay, for so in your house, you're gonna want to make sure that you pick up any small items off the floor, make sure you Skari your house looking for a little tiny toys or things that your puppy might put in his mouth. Puppies investigate everything, and they do it with their mouths. They put everything in their mouth and try to chew it. So anything that small and on your floor, let's clean it up. Let's run a good vacuum through your house, make sure things are clean. Let's hide any electrical court's computer cords, charging courts anything that's hanging down and as a cord your puppy might find interesting and try to do it. So let's try to tape those up and out of the way so that your puppies not enticed to two on those House plans can be another issue. So I put any house plans I have up on tall tables where they're not able to even reach the plants. You don't want your puppy knocking the plan over or digging the dirt out of it or anything like that. So I just manage that situation and by just picking them up and putting them on higher tables where my puppy can't get to them. If you have any mouse traps or any other dangerous items that are on floors, sometimes we forget about these things. We put them under our beds or in pantries, and we don't really think about it. But you gotta remember if you have a puppy running through your home and you open that pantry door and one time they get in the pantry and then they stick their foot in that sticky glue trap or something. It's not gonna be pretty, so make sure that you if you have any of those things in your home that you do, pick them up and put them out of the way so your puppy is not able to access them. You also want to identify a potty location. So where is your puppy gonna go? What door is he going to go out of to get there? And then I would hang the potty bells by the door that you're planning on using and get that all set up. Now here's a tip for you if you use potty bells and I love that my puppy can alert me to when he needs to go out. So I do like to use potty bells. I hang them to the side of my door. So if you hang them on your door, especially if you have kids and friends coming over all the time and that doors opening and closing throughout the day, you're gonna get really tired of hearing those bells ring and you're not going to know when your dog's ringing the bells. So I just simply get a command hook and I stick it on the wall next to my door and I hang the bills to the site on the wall. That way, when the door opens and closes, you know if it's closing, especially in the summertime. If you've got kids, I know mine are coming and going all the time, Then I'm not hearing the bills constantly, so I'm literally just hearing them on my puppy's going over there and ringing them. So there's a tip for you on the party bills. I also hang a leash by my door. So again I have a command hook for the bells are gonna hang another command hook next to that, and I hang my leash is there. I also have a potty treat jar that's just sitting on a shelf right there, right as I'm ready to exit that door. So I always have something available that I could just grab and go. If my puppies ringing the bells and he needs to hurry out, I could grab the treat dark and grab the leash and we're ready to go, and it's a quick trip. The next step is to get your family all on board. So in our program we have a family meeting, and if you click on that lesson, it takes you through. Exactly what you should do is a family, but in general we're asking you to come up with a common vocabulary. An example would be, Are we going to say offer down? Ah, lot of people get those confused into your puppy. It is confusing if everyone's using a different word and expecting them to the to do the same behavior. So have your family meeting pick a common language. Pick common words that you're going to use for different behaviors. Itemize out your rules as well. House rules are super important. Will the puppy be allowed on furniture? Will he not be allowed on furniture? Will he be allowed to jump up to say hi to us? Will he be asked to sit to, say, hide us? So we need to really think critically about our living situation? Will he sleep in our bed? Will he sleep in his crate? Will he sleep in the laundry room so we need to really figure out what this is gonna look like, and not that you have to have all of the answers right now, but it is a good idea to talk about it as a family and really try to come up with common goals of how you envision this dog living as a member of your family and the rules that you're all going to help him learn. The more consistent you are, the better and the faster that your puppy will learn the rules of your home. All right, And then finally we have is really fun game that you guys can play. So when we train our puppies, I use a lot of shaping. I get my puppy to do some behaviors, or he offers me behaviors, and I'm breaking those down into small successes and rewarding along the way until he does the final behavior. Because we don't speak a common language, we have to come up with a common language in the beginning. It's a little tricky to figure out, you know, I want my puppy to do this, and how is he going to know what that is? And so we play this shaping game, and it's fun as a family to sit down and play it with each other so you could have maybe, you know, pick a person to be it, and they go out of the room. And as a family you decide what action you're going to get them to do. It could be something as simple as they're gonna walk around this chair and sit on it, or they're going to, you know, lay down on the sofa. Then you get a bowl of their favorite candy. So maybe Swedish fish. Eminem's whatever they like, and you start to shape them. So it's kind of like the hot cold game as they get warmer and do things you like. You're gonna mark yes and give them a little piece of candy and then keep doing that until they finally get the ultimate goal of, you know, maybe it was walking around the chair and sitting on it. So you're gonna help shape that behavior out of them and get that final behavior. We're gonna jackpot the reward to give them a hoping to candy for getting that right and praise them like crazy, and it helps everyone get excited for the puppy training. It helps them realize how the puppy is going to be, you know, perceiving the training. They'll know what it feels like to not know what you're wanting them to do. So it also helps them empathize with this little puppy that's going to be coming in and you're trying to figure out, you know, he's trying to figure out what do they want me to do? And how do I get more treats? And how do I get more rewards and praise and belly rubs and all kinds of things? What do I need to do? So I love this game. I love playing it with new families in my program and really getting them to see how training works. How do we capture behavior? How do we time it just right? You know, to mark that and give them a reward to best, you know, get results that we're looking for. So that's the basics of what you're gonna need to know and do to get ready for your new puppy to come home. I'm sure I left some things out, so if you're a member of my program, feel free to jump into that prep unit where everything is listed there for you, including tartan checklist shopping lists with a more comprehensive list of things that you might need. All right, you guys, that is what I have for you this week. That's how you set up your house. That's the equipment you're going to need. That's how you get your family all on the same page. And after that, you guys are ready to welcome this little puppy into your home. It's so exciting, so fun. Enjoy those first few days. Don't be too stressed about getting right into A, B, C and D. Just enjoy the moment and really get to know each other and help your puppy feel comfortable in his new place. Happy training and have a great week. I will talk to you guys next week. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other puppy training questions, visit my sight Baxter and Bella dot com to contact me