My Puppy Project

A Twelve Week Chronicle of  Puppy Development and Training

Fifth Week

This is the week that I begin training the puppies.  They all had their first lesson at 28 days, when we  “powered up the clicker.” Below is a video of one of the puppies being conditioned to the clicker.

From about day 21 on, I try to add a new toy or challenge for the puppies each day.  Some examples of the kinds of novelties/challenges I add to their lives are:

·   A puppy mountain made from an upside down soup pot with a fleece blanket over it

·   Cat play tunnel

·   Frozen meaty deer bones

·   Different textured toys—rubber, fleece, small squeaky, tug toys, or toys that make crinkle or rattle sounds

Another challenge that I formally introduce at this stage are barrier challenges.   I start by putting toys and blankets in between the puppies and their eating area when I put their food down.  Some of them figure out right away how to negotiate a path to the food, and some of them just sit there and scream.

 

Here is a little video of the puppies’ first “real” lesson.  I am teaching them to sit automatically when a person approaches them, instead of jumping up and mugging people for attention.    In this little training session, not only does the puppy learn a useful behavior, but she learns that she can manipulate me by offering a behavior (in this case, sitting).   She realizes that she can open up a dialogue with me.  It is very exciting to watch this happen!