Rutland Manor Australian Labradoodles - Raising Your Puppy Including Puppy Training tips, Exercise, Potty Training and more.
AUSTRALIAN LABRADOODLES ARE DIFFERENT. They really are! You may not realize this until you have your own, but once you do, you will understand why, and it is good to be prepared ! The well bred Australian Labradoodle is more tuned in and clever than you may have experienced before with previous dogs you have had. This can be a good thing, but it can also be a challenge if you are not prepared for their sense of humour and fun. The first twelve months are critical and it can be difficult to set firm guidelines when you're faced with a comical clown of a dog who makes you laugh whenever it is in trouble. But gently persistent and consistent you will need to be. This will help you to mould his/her character, and behaviour, and will repay you a thousand fold after those first twelve months of giggling challenge. Although you need to be firm, remember that training should be FUN! Both for you and your dog.
The first night home - and getting a good night's sleep!
Isabelle in Japan. Note Crate Door Open
Rutland Manor Puppies are crate trained and look on their crate as a pleasant place. The crate should never be used as 'time out' or for punishment.
Remember that your new puppy will be missing its siblings and the reassurance of cuddling up with its litter mates to sleep. Rumple up the bedding, and add something like some rolled up old sweaters or similar, to simulate the way puppies sprawl all over each other to sleep. Rutland Manor puppies are raised with music or radio playing, so these sounds may help your new puppy to relate to something familiar when left alone for the first time at night. ... those long lonely hours when puppy must be wondering if you are ever coming back again!
I recommend that you put puppy's crate beside your bed for the first couple of nights. During the night, if puppy whimpers and you are sure he/she does not need to go potty outside, just reach down from your bed and dangle your fingers into the crate. Puppy will lick them, feel reassured and go right back to sleep. You will also get a good night's sleep as well! If you do not have a crate, you can tether puppy beside your bed, on a soft blanket. You'll be surprised how quietly and contentedly your new baby will settle for the night, with your comforting presence close by.
If you have a different area of the house in mind on a permanent basis, you will most likely find that the puppy will accept this change readily, once he or she knows that you will still be around in the morning!
Remember that your new puppy will be missing its siblings and the reassurance of cuddling up with its litter mates to sleep. Rumple up the bedding, and add something like some rolled up old sweaters or similar, to simulate the way puppies sprawl all over each other to sleep. Rutland Manor puppies are raised with music or radio playing, so these sounds may help your new puppy to relate to something familiar when left alone for the first time at night. ... those long lonely hours when puppy must be wondering if you are ever coming back again!
I recommend that you put puppy's crate beside your bed for the first couple of nights. During the night, if puppy whimpers and you are sure he/she does not need to go potty outside, just reach down from your bed and dangle your fingers into the crate. Puppy will lick them, feel reassured and go right back to sleep. You will also get a good night's sleep as well! If you do not have a crate, you can tether puppy beside your bed, on a soft blanket. You'll be surprised how quietly and contentedly your new baby will settle for the night, with your comforting presence close by.
If you have a different area of the house in mind on a permanent basis, you will most likely find that the puppy will accept this change readily, once he or she knows that you will still be around in the morning!
Going Potty On the Leash
It is completely unnatural for a dog or puppy to go to the toilet on a leash! A lot of dogs can be trained to do this, but they don't like it. Dogs have by instinct, a ritualistic behavior during which they select what to them is the 'right' place to go to the toilet. This behavior involves a lot of trotting to and fro, back and forth, nose to the ground, circling, sniffing, until eventually they find exactly the 'right spot'. By insisting that your puppy go to the toilet on a leash, you may possibly slow down the house training process and this can also be the reason some families have a hard time with their puppy's potty training, because the puppy refuses to go potty on the leash, but the minute he is let loose inside the house he immediately goes potty inside.
SOME OPTIONS FOR KEEPING YOUR PUPPY HAPPY AND CONTENT WHEN YOU ARE TOO BUSY TO WATCH HIM/HER
Too much freedom too soon is the major reason that puppies get into trouble. A puppy that is left unsupervised to wander about, investigate and potty at will when no one is watching, will have a difficult time learning how to behave properly in your home and also be more difficult to potty train.
TIP: DO NOT LET A NEW PUPPY HAVE THE RUN OF THE WHOLE HOUSE! Restrict the area your puppy has to run around in indoors. When you are too busy to supervise, pop the puppy into a portable play run until you are ready to watch over him again. Some newspaper in one corner will help out if the puppy gets 'caught short'.
TIP: DO NOT LET A NEW PUPPY HAVE THE RUN OF THE WHOLE HOUSE! Restrict the area your puppy has to run around in indoors. When you are too busy to supervise, pop the puppy into a portable play run until you are ready to watch over him again. Some newspaper in one corner will help out if the puppy gets 'caught short'.
DAY ONE WITH YOUR LABRADOODLE PUPPY THE BIG ISSUE - POTTY TRAINING!
Although I do recommend crating to help with potty training i believe it is cruel to confine a puppy (or a grown dog) to a crate all day whilst a family is away. It is bound to make your puppy hyper active and full of nervous energy when finally let out. Training will be difficult and unwanted behaviors will result.
Whether to crate or not is an entirely personal choice. If you crate your puppy, overnight, or when you are not able to supervise it inside your home, you will minimize toilet 'accidents' and so will speed up the house training process.
If you choose not to crate, then it is a good idea to restrict the puppy's access to any but one room at a time - the room you are in, so that you can pick up on puppy's telltale sniffing at the floor when it wants to go outside. Quickly scoop up the puppy, and CARRY it to your chosen spot in the yard, where it will soon become a habit for puppy to consider its toilet place. One room is all you can properly supervise.
Although I do recommend crating to help with potty training i believe it is cruel to confine a puppy (or a grown dog) to a crate all day whilst a family is away. It is bound to make your puppy hyper active and full of nervous energy when finally let out. Training will be difficult and unwanted behaviors will result.
Whether to crate or not is an entirely personal choice. If you crate your puppy, overnight, or when you are not able to supervise it inside your home, you will minimize toilet 'accidents' and so will speed up the house training process.
If you choose not to crate, then it is a good idea to restrict the puppy's access to any but one room at a time - the room you are in, so that you can pick up on puppy's telltale sniffing at the floor when it wants to go outside. Quickly scoop up the puppy, and CARRY it to your chosen spot in the yard, where it will soon become a habit for puppy to consider its toilet place. One room is all you can properly supervise.
Teaching puppy to use a specified place for toileting
Put some of puppy's droppings in a particular part of your yard, and you can train your puppy to use the same place every time for doing its toilet. CARRY your puppy straight outside to this spot every time and it will soon become habit.
If puppy is peeing inside, after being left outside for awhile, then it hasn't been out long enough. Just increase the time. DON'T PLAY WITH PUPPY during toilet trips. Praise and treat when puppy relieves itself outside, and then bring it back in again. Do NOT rub its nose in it's mistake.
Very young puppies need to go potty about every hour, and at some other predictable times such as after waking up from a sleep, after eating or drinking, after anything exciting....and then some!
If your puppy is sniffing the ground, walking in circles, seems a little unsettled, and you are not sure if it wants to go potty or not, this is our advice to you... IF IN DOUBT......OUT !
If puppy is peeing inside, after being left outside for awhile, then it hasn't been out long enough. Just increase the time. DON'T PLAY WITH PUPPY during toilet trips. Praise and treat when puppy relieves itself outside, and then bring it back in again. Do NOT rub its nose in it's mistake.
Very young puppies need to go potty about every hour, and at some other predictable times such as after waking up from a sleep, after eating or drinking, after anything exciting....and then some!
If your puppy is sniffing the ground, walking in circles, seems a little unsettled, and you are not sure if it wants to go potty or not, this is our advice to you... IF IN DOUBT......OUT !
He won't go outside and then we bring him back and he goes inside!
Rutland Manor Puppies and mothers out on the grass
So you take puppy outside, nothing happens and then he goes potty as soon as he comes back inside?
Puppies who are raised indoors, sometimes have a more difficult time adjusting to doing potty outside. Puppies get used to whatever surface is under their paws, which is just one good reason that the breeder needs to give them plenty of time playing outside on grass, once they have been vaccinated.
Puppies are like very young children, they have a very short attention span. When we take them outside to go potty, "we" know that it is to go potty, but in their baby minds it's just an exciting time to sniff around and play. Their attention doesn't always immediately turn to doing potty, so there are a couple of things I suggest to overcome this challenge.
Firstly, when you take your puppy outside to go potty, use the same word every time such as telling the puppy "Let's go POTTY" (or whatever name you'd like to give it). You've carried him to the spot where you'd like his toileting area to be, and he's playing around and coming to you for cuddles, or else he's just sitting at your feet looking up at you as if to say "well, what's next?"
RESIST the temptation to play with him, or even to speak to him. Let him focus on the business at hand. After awhile, he will move around and start sniffing. Try to not interrupt this process with talking to him, even to praise or remind him what he's supposed to be doing. Let his baby mind click that he wants to relieve himself. If you think it's taking too long, and you've other things you must do, go back inside yourself and leave him outside. The more often he relieves himself outside, the sooner the habit of 'going' inside will stop and be replaced with a new memory and habit pattern.
When he does relieve himself outside, praise him with 'GOOD POTTY !!!!!' (or whatever term you are using). This will associate the word with the action, and that it has pleased you.
2. Take some of his own poop and put it in the spot outside where you want him to keep on going potty. His own smell will attract him to this spot.
3. If your puppy is pooping inside the house it will probably be in the same place or near to it each time. Get some Potty pads from PetSmart and place one or two in this spot. If he potties on one of them, move it to the back door or whichever door you use to take him outside.
Hang a little bell on a string tied to the door handle and every time you take him outside, ring the bell yourself, drawing his attention to it and saying "potty". He will quickly learn that this is the signal to let you know he needs to potty.
4. You could also place a soiled potty pad out in the yard in the spot you have designated.
Puppies who are raised indoors, sometimes have a more difficult time adjusting to doing potty outside. Puppies get used to whatever surface is under their paws, which is just one good reason that the breeder needs to give them plenty of time playing outside on grass, once they have been vaccinated.
Puppies are like very young children, they have a very short attention span. When we take them outside to go potty, "we" know that it is to go potty, but in their baby minds it's just an exciting time to sniff around and play. Their attention doesn't always immediately turn to doing potty, so there are a couple of things I suggest to overcome this challenge.
Firstly, when you take your puppy outside to go potty, use the same word every time such as telling the puppy "Let's go POTTY" (or whatever name you'd like to give it). You've carried him to the spot where you'd like his toileting area to be, and he's playing around and coming to you for cuddles, or else he's just sitting at your feet looking up at you as if to say "well, what's next?"
RESIST the temptation to play with him, or even to speak to him. Let him focus on the business at hand. After awhile, he will move around and start sniffing. Try to not interrupt this process with talking to him, even to praise or remind him what he's supposed to be doing. Let his baby mind click that he wants to relieve himself. If you think it's taking too long, and you've other things you must do, go back inside yourself and leave him outside. The more often he relieves himself outside, the sooner the habit of 'going' inside will stop and be replaced with a new memory and habit pattern.
When he does relieve himself outside, praise him with 'GOOD POTTY !!!!!' (or whatever term you are using). This will associate the word with the action, and that it has pleased you.
2. Take some of his own poop and put it in the spot outside where you want him to keep on going potty. His own smell will attract him to this spot.
3. If your puppy is pooping inside the house it will probably be in the same place or near to it each time. Get some Potty pads from PetSmart and place one or two in this spot. If he potties on one of them, move it to the back door or whichever door you use to take him outside.
Hang a little bell on a string tied to the door handle and every time you take him outside, ring the bell yourself, drawing his attention to it and saying "potty". He will quickly learn that this is the signal to let you know he needs to potty.
4. You could also place a soiled potty pad out in the yard in the spot you have designated.
Exercise and Some Cautions
Exercise is necessary in living creatures to maintain health, and to develop strong muscles, bones and joints. Exercise also stimulates the flow of oxygen which enriches the blood. The blood in turn carries vital nutrients throughout the animal's whole system. There are three different forms of exercise - Free, Forced and Impact. All can be strenuous but only one is beneficial to a young growing puppy while the other two need to be limited until the baby's joints ligaments and tendons are fully developed. CAUTION: Puppies under twelve months of age should never be allowed to play on stairs nor to walk or run up or down them. Dogs are quadrupeds and as such are designed to navigate terrain in a certain way. If you allow your puppy to go up and down stairways before twelve months of age, you are risking damage to immature structures of the body and this could trigger OCD's (i.e. hip dysplasia or elbow dysfunction) later on. FREE EXERCISE - This is the exercise a puppy gets when he/she is off leash and free to play, stop, change direction, flop down, get up again, turn and twist and 'do what comes naturally'. Your puppy will regulate his or her own amount of exercise this way and will lie down and rest when it needs to. FORCED EXERCISE is when a puppy is walked or trotted on leash. During this kind of rhythmic exercise, the young animal is using the same sets of muscles, tendons and ligaments in repetitive continuous movement. Being forced to exercise this way for lengthy periods has much the same affect on the puppy as a repetitive motion for extended periods can cause 'repetitive strain injury' in human beings. Immature joints can also suffer irreparable damage. IMPACT EXERCISE is when the puppy is allowed to jump down off a higher place (not recommended until after 12 months of age) such as off furniture or down out of the car. A dog's joints muscles tendons and ligaments are not mature until he/she is over twelve months old and in very large breeds often older so exercise needs to be carefully monitored. Walking On Leash and Swimming Three to Four Months of Age No more than ten minutes in one session Four to Six months of Age Fifteen minutes maximum in one session Six Months to Twelve Months Gradually working up to half an hour and an hour up to twelve months old in one session Twelve Months and Over Develop stamina for long walks or jogging with 'interval training'. For a puppy, Interval Training means varying the pace in intensity over short bursts of timeframes, mixing up a minute or two of galloping, with a few minutes of walking, slow trotting and fast trotting. Unlimited Free (off leash) exercise can be interspersed between the regulated leash walking above. Puppies instinctively will flop down and rest intermittently before leaping up and running some more. |  This is how one family solved the problem  'FREE' Exercise  "Forced" Exercise i.e. leash walking |
START OUT THE WAY YOU WANT TO FINISH!
If you let your puppy stand on his hind legs for cuddles, now while he is so cute, he will stand on his legs, or jump up at you when he's big and cute in a different way! Start on DAY ONE with guiding your new puppy so that he/she understands what is appropriate behaviour in your home right from the start.
If you let your puppy stand on his hind legs for cuddles, now while he is so cute, he will stand on his legs, or jump up at you when he's big and cute in a different way! Start on DAY ONE with guiding your new puppy so that he/she understands what is appropriate behaviour in your home right from the start.
There is no such thing as a 'bad' puppy
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A 'BAD' PUPPY. WHAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR IN YOUR HOME MAY BE PERFECTLY OKAY IN SOMEONE ELSE'S.
THE ONLY WAY YOUR PUPPY WILL LEARN WHAT BEHAVIOUR PLEASES YOU IS FOR YOU TO SHOW HIM OR HER. SO WHY CONFUSE THEM BY ALLOWING TODAY WHAT YOU KNOW YOU WILL NOT ALLOW LATER WHEN THE PUPPY IS GROWN UP?
Beverley's Tips to get you started - Prevention is always easier than cure!
THE ONLY WAY YOUR PUPPY WILL LEARN WHAT BEHAVIOUR PLEASES YOU IS FOR YOU TO SHOW HIM OR HER. SO WHY CONFUSE THEM BY ALLOWING TODAY WHAT YOU KNOW YOU WILL NOT ALLOW LATER WHEN THE PUPPY IS GROWN UP?
Beverley's Tips to get you started - Prevention is always easier than cure!
DON'T want a dog who will jump on people?
DON'T want your dog on bed or furniture unless invited? DO want your dog to be quietly behaved indoors? DO want your dog to be gentle and sensible around the youngest children? DO want your dog to be a good eater? DO want to have a dog who is mellow? | NEVER treat or pat your puppy unless all four paws are on the ground
WHEN you cuddle your sweet new puppy up in your arms or on your lap, FIRST use a word which will always be your 'invitation' later on. If no invitation, no coming up! Then DON'T play exciting games inside the house. For the first few weeks, put the lead on your puppy for the first ten to fifteen minutes inside. Clip the lead to your belt, or tether puppy to a solid piece of furniture, with a bed and toys. Ignore protests and reward sitting or lying down quietly. DO be aware that your tone of voice and behaviour sets the scene for your dog! Especially for puppies who are still learning your ways. Quick patting and high voice are exciting and stimulating to your dog. A calm lower voice is soothing and non threatning to your dog. NEVER correct your dog in anger. DON'T leave food lying around all day. Give your dog twenty minutes to finish a meal and whisk away anything not eaten in that time until the following feeding time. Then BE mellow around your dog! |
Recommended Reading
There are hundreds of books available on raising and training your puppy.
These are my favourites written by The Monks of New Skete
Happy Training, and remember to have FUN !
Beverley
These are my favourites written by The Monks of New Skete
Happy Training, and remember to have FUN !
Beverley
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