1 Choosing Your Puppy
selecting based on breed characteristics • choosing the right puppy
2 Behavior: Environmental Factors
environment shapes behavior • the breeder’s role is foremost
3 The First Three Months
the developmental periods • the neonatal period • the transitional period • the socialization
period
4 The Breeder’s Responsibility
exposure to mild stress • environmental enrichment
5 Puppy Goes to a New Home
preparations • age of the puppy • the first day • first night alone • first visit to a veterinarian
• house-training • using crates and kennels • the importance of play • puppies and older dogs
6 Socialization Continues
prepare your eight- to sixteen-week-old puppy for the future • stimulate those neurons • teach eye contact • socialize your puppy • introduce the puppy to pretraining activities • important basics when teaching puppies
7 Domesticating Your Puppy
shaping behavior • the bonding process • discipline • evaluating the different disciplines
• puppies will be puppies
8 Development from Three to Six Months
dominance and submission • the avoidance period • teething • the leadership concept
• the pack structure • the family pack • conclusion
9 The Importance of Personality
individual characteristics • the trainer’s personality
10 Dog Signals Using Body Language
calming signals • using calming signals • warning signals • conclusion
11 Behavioral Problems
why is my puppy acting this way? • guarding the food dish •jumping out of reach • separation distress • digging • chewing • barking • jumping up • mouthiness and biting • the aggressive puppy • find creative solutions
12 The Rewards of Puppy Training
communicating with your puppy • teaching your puppy to learn • teaching basic tasks • clicker training • then versus now
13 The Second Six Months
more exercise, less freedom • use the basic commands to control behavior • behavioral traits • communication • sexual maturity • the Canine Good Citizen Test • don’t worry—have fun!
Afterword
Appendix—Puppy Temperament Testing
Bibliography
About the Authors
Index

REVIEWS

"This book is as important for puppies as preschool is for children," said a reviewer for Dog Fancy magazine.

EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 6

With the information gathered from brain research in recent years, we are beginning to understand the whys of working with our pups at an early age. "The more sensory stimulation that the dog’s brain receives," states Bruce Fogle, DVM, in The Dog’s Mind, "the more developed his mind will become." Sensory and physical activities cause nerve cells (neurons) in the brain to grow and make new synaptic connections with other nerve cells. This results in a network that expands to accommodate and assimilate new information.

Experiences during the pup’s first months determine the actual wiring of the brain. Each time your pup learns a new activity, makes eye contact, responds to your voice, or plays with you and others (including dogs), he stimulates the connections in the networks of the brain. These connections, called synapses, are strengthened when stimulated and become part of the brain’s permanent structures. If the synapses receive no signals from the neurons, they wither away.

How do you deal with those neuron responsibilities? Take a leave of absence from your job? Spend at least twelve hours a day with your pup? Smother him with structured activities? No, that’s not necessary. But plan to give your puppy as large a variety of experiences as you can during these early months. If you work, your pup should be top priority when you’re home.

Physical activities introduce a variety of challenges that stimulate the growth of brain cells. Help your pup navigate the rungs of a ladder lying on the ground and walk a board about twenty-four inches wide, two feet off the ground. Teach him to climb an A-frame (or any inclined surface that has cleats), run through a tunnel (available in toy stores, or you can use a long box with ends removed), and climb up and down wide stairs. Other activities include jumping over fallen branches or a broomstick set six to eight inches off the ground. Don’t try to show off and have your pup jump higher. The same goes for taking your pup jogging with you. At this age, the pup should have short walks. The joints shouldn’t be stressed. Check with your veterinarian.

If puppy classes in your town are outdoors and, because of the vaccination schedule, you want to wait until your puppy is four months of age, you can devise these and similar exercises at home. Use your imagination. You don’t need specially constructed items. Introduce these activities at as young an age as possible.

Mental exercises stimulate the growth of brain cells and the connecting synapses. Teach your pup to catch a treat. Practice makes perfect. Later, add catching a bouncing ball. Teach him the names of his toys by repeating the name when you play with him. One day he’ll surprise you by bringing the toy you ask for. Hide a dog biscuit in the room for your pup to find by sniffing. Let him watch you, then help by guiding him close to it. After he knows the game, teach him to find a favorite toy.

The best part about having fun with your puppy is that he uses his senses—looking, listening, scenting, touching, and tasting (a variety of tidbits keeps his interest high). His agility increases with all of the different movements and with the muscle and mental activity.

Eye Contact

You want your pup to look at you when he hears his name. (Don’t overdo this. A hundred times a day is not good.) At ten and twelve weeks, the pup wants to look at you because you are his world. Take advantage of this. Each time he responds to his name and makes eye contact, reward him with "good dog" or a command such as "come" or "sit" when he knows them. Sometimes, as a reward, clap your hands or scratch behind his ears—anything that’s fun.

Some pups, especially independent, shy, and very active puppies, need your feedback even if they only begin to turn the head in your direction. The more hesitant, distracted, or busy your pup is, the more you need to work on the timing of your praise the instant he looks toward you. Teach your family about this. Children are notorious for nagging a dog by repeating his name. Then, when the pup does look, the kids are distracted, forget what they were doing, and ignore the dog. Adults have this problem, too. A friend complained that her four-month-old puppy never paid any attention to her. While we visited at the park, I watched her call his name three times within twenty seconds. He glanced at her two times, but she never said "good" or smiled or in any way acknowledged his glance. The third time, of course, he didn’t bother looking. You should expect your pup to pay attention to you. But first you must concentrate on what you are doing and pay attention to your pup.

If you have other dogs living at home, make the effort to spend time with the puppy one-on-one. Take your pup with you whenever you can to buy dog food at a feed store or to visit a friend. Take him for walks. If you know of a field or area that has ups and downs, rocks, fallen trees, and limbs—that’s ideal.

It’s easy for us to get preachy about this because it’s so vitally important. It’s difficult for you, the puppy owner, to know what the fuss is all about because you don’t see any specific results from your socialization activities. And you probably can’t recognize the behaviors at one to two years of age that are symptoms of a lack of socialization or indicators of success, because you will naturally assume that your dog’s behavior has nothing to do with his activities when he was two to four months of age (and seven to nine months of age, which is a secondary socialization period).

Here are the facts. The under-socialized dog often becomes fearful of anything new—people, dogs, places, anything. This is shown by excessive barking, anxiety, dog aggression, fear, and hyperactivity. The socialized dog is confident around people and other dogs and seldom displays anxiety in new environments. Best of all, he will calm down after a vigorous play period rather than stay wound up. Socialization introduces more learning experiences. The under-socialized dog has a brain that lacks the huge array of neural connections of the well-socialized dog that lives in an enriched environment with toys and home activities.

How do you socialize your pup? Quite easily. If it’s available for you where you live, a puppy kindergarten class brings together new puppies and new people in a new environment. You get a lot for your tuition fee. Choose places that are safe to take your puppy, because you probably haven’t finished your puppy-shot series yet. This includes visiting neighbors, friends, and outdoor areas that you know aren’t frequented by dogs running at large. Some pet-supply stores welcome their customers’ dogs.

Think about the potential places and people in your town and about your life-style. There might be more possibilities for socialization than you realize. If you’re gone during the day, leave the radio or TV on and have toys that can be stuffed with biscuits or cheese. Change toys daily. A rawhide chewy might ease the stress of departure time for both of you.

Socializing your puppy isn’t complicated, nor does it involve anything that is not a part of your life or your family’s life. But please remember—there is so much to do, and such a short time in which to do it.

Building self-confidence and teaching a pup to do different things is a round-robin situation. The more confidence a puppy has, the better he learns. By the same token, when a puppy is learning to do new things, he is also gaining more confidence in himself and in his abilities.

This type of puppy activity is not a rigid training session. We’re working with emotionally immature animals that are susceptible to fears and to confidence-destroying tactics similar to those that affect the human child. The term "pretraining" better indicates the intent of these activities, assuming that such a term does not belittle their importance. We assure you, work at this age will pay big dividends in the learning attitude of your dog when he is older.