How To Train A Puppy

When training puppies, an extremely important phase in the life of a dog is the response phase, which takes place from the third up to about the seventh week. In view of the fact that puppies are normally not taken from their mothers before the age of about eight weeks, your pup will have gone through this phase at the breeder’s. Hopefully, he or she knew what they were doing, because the wrong approach with training puppies during this phase leads to permanent disturbances in behavior.

Basically, during the response phase of training puppies, the pup begins to experience the world around it. It hears the sound of the television, the vacuum cleaner, and children playing, and learns that these sounds are not threatening. It is picked up, cuddled, and stroked by (strange) people and children and, as long as this acquaintance is made in a friendly way, it learns that people are a part of its life and do it no harm. Puppies born and brought up indoors in the living room or kitchen do not need extra response training. They are in daily contact with the world – this is normal for them.

The ideal when training puppies from an early age is to not keep them caged up or overly restricted in any way. If they are kept in a kennel or an isolated area, it is the breeder’s task to bring the pups into regular contact with normal, everyday life. It is not necessary to expose them for hours to stimuli and impressions; twenty minutes a day is enough for good response.

Pups that have undergone proper response training in this very important phase of their puppy training program have a sound basis from which to develop into stable, adult dogs.

Avoid Kennel Syndrome When Training Puppies

The impressions gained by the animals during this phase stay with them for the rest of their lives. In other words, what is done during this period can never be undone. If a pup is brought up in isolation in a kennel or shed where it has received little or no stimuli, it will later display chronically disordered, antisocial behavior. The dog suffers from what is known as "kennel syndrome." Whatever programs you use for training puppies, make sure the pups have lots of time to interact with their surroundings.

These dogs are extremely nervous and wary of our well-meant care. When approached, they try to make themselves scarce, and if this does not succeed will drop their tail between their legs. Their eyes are glassy, their ears laid back, and they often pass some drops of urine or roll over onto their back. They are terrified by the noise of the television or passing traffic and will try to run away. This behavior occurs again and again, even though the television is on the whole day or cars are going by continuously.

It goes without saying that these dogs are desperately unhappy. They live in a world which is, quite simply, terrifying to them. Any attempts to approach them on your part, however friendly, are experienced as frightening and the same holds for all other impressions which they missed out on or barely received during the response phase. In this situation, no matter you try when training puppies who are suffering with this condition, it’s going to be extremely difficult for both of you.

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