Helpline: Giving a Timid Pup Some Confidence

 

Hi there! Just a Quick lil' helpline adapted from Sarah Hodgson!

Giving a Timid Pup Some Confidence

Timid puppies look so pitiful. Like shy kids, you want to soothe them. But, puppies aren’t kids, they think your soothing is a sign of your fear, which means you’re both afraid. That’s a big problem.

To help your puppy, you must act confident when she’s afraid. You’re the leader. Stand up straight. Relax your shoulders. Breathe deep. Smile. Whether the fear producing item is a bag blowing in the wind, a sharp noise (like thunder), or an unfamiliar face, act calm, face the feared object, and ignore your puppy until she starts to act more like you.

If your puppy shows aggression when she’s fearful, call a professional and avoid knowingly putting her in threatening situations.

Remember NEVER soothe a timid pup when he/she is experiencing anxiety. This will only reinforce that level of fear and make it worst!

Take it one step at a time, if your pup is fearful of the steps, give him/her some time to build that confidence; associated something positive with the stairs, lure him/her with a treat, make it fun! If your pup is fearful of the vacuum cleaner, let him get used to the sound, slowly introduce it to him.

Helpline: My Puppy Bites Me!! =(

 

Ok, this is just an exaggeration.

Does your puppies' teeth and you skin seem to have an affinity for each other? Mouthing and Nipping is very common for puppies (especially when they're teething or changing into adult teeth!) but aggressive biting and growling is not. Either way, teeth and skin should NEVER go together. Today we'll talk about the problem of mouthing and nipping in puppies.  

Mouthing and nipping are two different issues. Mouthing is more of a communication skill to express a need or confusion or to simply gain your attention. It usually involves lesser force and pressure, but still really annoying and can escalate into a ruckus if we unknowingly encourage it! Nipping, on the other hand, is a puppy thing; it involves slightly more pressure. When your puppy still hung out with his litter-mates, he nipped during play and to determine his rank. When you bring your puppy home, this behavior continues. Nipping puppies are bossy and manipulative and need a firmer regimen.

To correct these behaviors, your want to create a cause-and-effect in your puppies' minds, at the same time, you do not want him/her to think that the effect is coming from you. Any reaction that you give to your puppy is a form and attention and it encourages whatever action (or state of mind) your dog is doing (or in). We need our doggies to learn that nipping and mouthing is not a fun thing to do at all. 


Please note that it is inhumane to correct a puppy younger than 3 months as they do not have the capacity to understand the concept of "wrong". Correcting them at this phase will scar your pup permanently and erode his/her trust in you! (:

Young puppies mouth a lot. They mouth when playing, and they also mouth to

communicate their needs (much like barking).
If your puppy starts mouthing, ask yourself these questions: Is he hungry or thirsty? Does he need to pee/poop? Is he tired? Does he need to play? 

Remember, puppies mouth when they have a need (even if the need is attention).

Here are some steps you could follow:

1. If your puppy doesn’t need anything and he still won’t quit, crate or isolate him with a favorite toy. Don’t scold your puppy as you isolate him. We do not want your pup to see the crate as a negative object. Calmly place the puppy in his area. 
2. Encourage you pup to lick you instead. We like to use the word "Love-Love" whenever our pup licks us. You can try rubbing some butter or honey on your your skin to get him/her to lick you, he/she will slowly learn to lick instead of nipping/mouthing!
3. It is important to ignore your pup when he/she is nipping softly. Keep your hand still.
4. If this situation escalates, turn quickly to him/her and say "NO!"is a firm voice. Stare at him/her for a few seconds. Do not be the one that breaks eye contact. (Most pups will look away quickly)
5. Refocus his mind with a "Love-Love" command (or the word of your choice) to let him/her understand you both would appreciate the licking more than nipping.
6. If your pup still persists, try spraying some "bitter-spray" (natural ingredients only, please) on your skin. Or giving a slight tug on your pup's collar.
7. If necessary, crate your pup. Remember, stay calm.

Other important points to note:

1. Changing a Pup's behavior requires consistency. Stay firm with the rules, do not relent.Otherwise, your dog will learn that rules are not meant to be followed.
2. Postpone all games of "confrontational" nature to a later age. These games include wrestling, tug of war, chasing your puppy around, and teasing. These games teach puppies to challenge you, to be confrontational, to be dominant!
3. Bitter-Sprays can be lifesavers, spray it on objects that your dog seem to like to nip on, be it the coffee table, electrical wire casings or your hands.
4. Using a lead/short leash at home, to give a quick tug if you catch him/her nipping anything.
5. If he continues to nip, ask yourself these questions: Do I look convinc-
   ing? Am I tugging or pulling? (Pulling encourages play.) Is my puppy taking
   me seriously? 
6. Always consult a professional (dog trainer/behaviorists) if in any doubt. Do not "correct" your pup too harshly.

We sure hope these little pointers helped! :D

Every doggy can be the sunshine of our lives, strict rules and boundaries just need to be enforced right from the start.

An ill-trained doggy will have  more tendencies to make mistakes, and both you and the doggy will end up feeling frustrated and upset!

Lets aim to put that to a minimum!  :D

Do keep the helpline suggestions coming in! (:

Helpline: Are you ready?

Are you ready for your new family member?

A dog can make your day and soothe you when you're down. A dog doesnt judge his owner, and will love you unconditionally. He will do all he can do please you, and protect you even if it means putting his little life at risk.

However, do you know what you're getting yourself into; the moment you decide  you would like to get a dog?

Here are some quick questions from our checklist:
1) Are you ready to devote the next 15 years of your life caring and loving your dog?

2) Are you ready to sacrifice "me" time to go back to feed or play with your dog?

3) Can you afford the added expenses for your dog? (basic expenses like food, toys and grooming may not be of top priority to some owners.)

4) Have you spent enough time reading up on Doggy Care and Doggy Psychology?

5) Are you ready to spend good time in the initial phases toilet training and basic training? [do note that different breeds have different needs!]

Dogs, as much as you would like to shower them with love, remain as canines. you HAVE to constantly remind yourselves that you have to be his pack leader. Only when your dog sees you as his pack leader, can affection come into play. All dogs, regardless of breed, needs to have walks. You HAVE to find a dog that suits the energy or is of a lower energy than you. (meaning, if your not an athlete, do not get a dog that will gladly run a marathon). Dogs are of differing intelligences as well, it is in the owner's duty to find a dog whose intelligence and "train-ability" matches their own wants (ie. requiring the dog to remember not to attack your mother's favourite Vase).

A lot of work has to be done to make sure you find your paw-fect little one.
We'd love to help you in your journey.

"Arf Arf!"
that's our pups saying "we agree!"

thankyou dogbreedinfo! (:

Helpline: HOUSEBREAKING!

Housebreaking Your Little One

       

Housebreaking your new puppy is going to take patience. You should begin to housebreak as soon as you bring your new puppy home. A good way to do this is with the help of a crate. Puppies need to relieve themselves approximately six times a day. It is best to keep them inside the crate if unsupervised. This will prevent your pup from hurting themselves or getting into too much trouble and will also speed up the housebreaking process!

It is instinctual that dogs do not like to soil their sleeping areas (their mummys will correct them if they do!). We can therefore use this to our advantage when housebreaking our pup.

First of all, you have to decide if you want you pup to pee/poop at home or outside. We'll be focusing more on peeing/pooping at home (in a designated area) in this article.

For those who intend on having their little one pee at a designated area in the house,
the puppy should be taken to the designated area EVERYTIME after ANY activity (by activity we mean waking up from nap/sleep and meals; that's just about the only things a young puppy would be doing anyway!). It's the same for those who want their doggies to pee/poop outside of the house. You just bring them outside instead! (Although this method might be harder at first because the time lapse between you noticing signs of peeing/pooping and the action inself is just mere seconds)
We must watch for signs of urination or defecation, such as turning in circles or intensive sniffing around. By keeping your puppy in a crate, you can have a much easier task of keeping track of your pup's biorhythm. In the event that your pup shows no sign of urination or defecation, play with them to encourage bowel movement!

Bring them to the area immediately once you see the signs! A very useful tip we'd like to share is to dab some urine from accidents that your pup so innocently was involved in on the newspaper/pee pad/peetray you would like your pup to pee/poop on! That way, you don't have to spend money on pee training sprays/drops and the scent from the urine is a familiar scent, which proves to be much more effective in encouraging a pup to pee/poop! And yes, accidents will happen, your pup WILL pee/poop at the wrong place.

Once you have brought your pup to the area, do not give eye contact until he/she does the action and when your pup is doing the deed you can choose to say a command word so that he/she can associate the action with the word. Once the deed is done, praise the dog as if it just invent the cure for cancer! Timing is key.

A puppy is not physically able to control the muscle that allows him to "hold it" until he is about 12 weeks of age. Before this time, good housebreaking routines should be practiced to avoid having your puppy urinate and defecate all over your house. It's all about understanding your dog's biorhythm and knowing the signs. Just make sure you clean soiled area throughly (with soap/vinegar/products that are able to break down the scent of urine/poop) It is much harder to housebreak a puppy if he smells urine in places you do not wish him to relief himself.

The two words we'd like you to remember when housebreaking your puppy is.....

ROUTINE! PATIENCE!

Housetraining may take varying amounts of time and effort! but it certainly can be done! do let us know here at Precious Pups if there's anything we can do to help make your Housebreaking that bit easier! 

 "i am still a baby, please be patient with me!! (: "