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When your dog accepts contented
confinement such as "close tethering," or in kennel, your dog has learned to
simply relax, rest, and be in "park" mode.
Put
Your Dog In Park
From
DAY ONE, take a long term view of how you want your new dog to see life and
her/her role in your household.
Help your dog to adjust
in the first days and weeks to your long term plan.
For example,
DO teach contented confinement. Do NOT allow the
dog on the couch unless you plan to allow the dog of the
furniture long term.
Do NOT lavish attention on the new dog 24/7 unless you plan to keep this up
for the dog's lifetime. It is much harder on you and on the dog if the rules
and expectations change after settling in to a routine.
The more consistent
you are in establishing expectations and rules from DAY ONE, the easier it
will be for your dog to learn to adjust and behave
in acceptable ways.
|
The best time to begin
teaching house rules is the
day you bring a
new dog home.
Make
house rules fair, clear, and consistent. |
When your dog accepts contented
confinement such as "close tethering," or in kennel, your dog has learned to
simply relax, rest, and be in "park" mode.
From
DAY ONE, take a long term view of how you want your new dog to see life and
her/her role in your household.
Help your dog to adjust
in the first days and weeks to your long term plan.
For example,
DO teach contented confinement. Do NOT allow the
dog on the couch unless you plan to allow the dog of the
furniture long term.
Do NOT lavish attention on the new dog 24/7 unless you plan to keep this up
for the dog's lifetime. It is much harder on you and on the dog if the rules
and expectations change after settling in to a routine.
The more consistent
you are in establishing expectations and rules from DAY ONE, the easier it
will be for your dog to learn to adjust and behave
in acceptable ways.
|
The best time to begin
teaching house rules is the
day you bring a
new dog home.
Make
house rules fair, clear, and consistent. |
Rules
of thumb for dog exercise
- Provide enough daily exercise -
Dogs need a minimum
amount of exercise each day.
Don't be
mislead if you have a large
backyard. Just like people, dogs
need the mental stimulation of
getting out of their immediate
environment. In other words,
your dog needs to experience new
smells, sights and sounds as
much as he needs the physical
work out. Less active dogs may
need less aerobic exercise.
- A tired dog is a more relaxed dog
- Walk until the
dog is panting and be home
before the dog stops the walk on
his or her own. Walk the dog one
city block for every ten pounds of body weight or provide thirty minutes
of aerobic exercise every other day.
Teach Contented
Confinement
-
Insist on
compliance - Keep your dog on lead indoors so
that your dog will not start any
bad habits such as house soiling
or destroying your things. Use
being on leash indoors to
exercise gentle leadership. The dog goes where you go, in other
words, follows your lead.
-
Supervision
-
During your dinner and evening
reading, computer or television, leash your dog to
you and provide a
dog mat and an irresistible
rawhide chew that your dog only
gets when leashed indoors or in
a kennel.
-
Praise quiet, calm,
chewing behavior. Ignore
tantrums. Use the leash to move the dog to a
five minute
time-out dog-proof
room
if the dog is too disruptive. Do NOT
be emotional when moving the
dog, DO be neutral like
a robot. You want your dog to
learn simple cause and effect. You
never want your dog to feel
threatened. Instead, you want
your dog to learn reliable consequences to home behaviors.
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