Perfect Puppy in 7 Days: How to Start Your Puppy Off Right

by Sophia Yin

That means humans have to be aware of their every movement around a pet, because their movement is what conveys their wishes.

So with dogs, I think of leadership not like being the boss, but more like leading a partner in a dance. In a dance, the lead (usually the man) guides the follow (usually the woman) to perform a sequence of steps. The only way the follow knows what’s coming next is that a split second before a move, the lead leads her. He does so not by shouting out words, but by guiding her with subtle body movements. If at any point he daydreams and forgets what he’s going to do, the follow immediately knows and may be confused for an instant. If he is consistent in how he signals and his signals are clear, so that she understands, then she will trust his ability to lead her and they will form a stronger relationship. On the other hand, if he frequently forgets to lead or his signals are muddled, then the follow will feel the need to take the lead herself.

In this program we’ll use everything your puppy wants to our advantage as rewards for training purposes. She’ll Learn to Earn everything she wants by politely sitting and asking for it. And she’ll learn that undesirable behaviors such as jumping on you result in absolutely no rewards—no kibble, no treats, toys, play, talking, petting, going outside, etc.

She’ll earn every single kibble. For the fastest training, that means no food in a food bowl. Instead, your pup is going to earn every bit of kibble during training and for learning tricks. Dumping food in a bowl is for people who are too lazy to spend quality time training and interacting with their pet. It’s analogous to plopping a kid in front of the TV instead of reading a book to them.

When she’s perfect, you can even allow her on the furniture if you want, if she asks politely by sitting. Save that privilege until she learns that being on the floor and in her bed and crate are good. Also wait until she’s completely potty trained and will immediately get off the furniture when asked.

STEP 1 | Remove your attention when she jumps: Start with a bit of her kibble in your hand. Hold your hand at your belly button. When the puppy jumps on you, stand up straight and be silent so it’s clear to her that you’re ignoring her (that is, you’ve removed the reward for jumping, which is your attention) (Figure 5.2.1A). Once she realizes you’re not going to reward her for rude jumping behavior she will sit (Figure 5.2.1B) STEP 2 | When she sits, give her a treat: Be sure your movements are crystal clear. When you hold the treat against your belly button, to her that should signal no treat yet. When she sits, immediately put the kibble in her mouth.

INCORRECT: Avoid bending over your puppy when she’s just learning: Bending over her is a cue for her to jump to get to you. INCORRECT: Avoid holding the treat too high or you’ll lure her to jump and even to grab treats roughly. The right way to deliver treats: To give the treat (kibble), bend your legs while keeping your upper body as straight as possible since leaning may lure her to jump. It should feel as if you’re carrying a baby and don’t want to bend over. Then just straighten your treat delivery arm so that the treat is delivered right up to her mouth—actually, you should aim to push the treat into her mouth, and hold it there for an instant so you’re sure the hand-off is good.

Treat Delivery Tip • Try to get the treat to your puppy within a second of her good behavior. Dogs and other animals learn best when they get the reward while they’re performing the correct behavior. That means you must get the reward to them within a split second and before they start performing another behavior. • To get the treats to her fast, think of straightening your arm fast, as if you’re having an involuntary arm spasm. Or you can think of it as trying to press a game show buzzer when you know the answer and need to ring in faster than your opponent. The speed will make the game more fun for your puppy and she’ll want to pay more attention.

• Deliver the treats right to her mouth. Think of even putting a treat right in her mouth and holding it there for second so that you’re sure she has it. That way you will avoid accidentally holding the treat too far away and luring her to stand or jump to get it. It will also ensure she doesn’t drop the treat. Dropping the treat will train her to look down instead of at you. 5.2.2 Turn sit into a game. Training isn’t about just giving food rewards, it’s about making the exercises seem like play. That means we have to add speed, quick changes of directions, and exercises in rapid succession to keep the pup’s attention on us. Once dogs figure out that we’re really fun, we don’t have to work so hard to keep their attention.

Tip: Dealing with Puppies Who Love to Jump You can prevent jumping in a dog who really loves to jump by using a “flash lure.” That is, when you stop, quickly whip your treat hand down to her nose level before she has caught up, so she stops. When she stops to sniff the treat, raise your treat hand without giving her the treat such that she understands she can’t have it yet and then offers a sit.

Then give her the treat before she has a chance to jump. Give her several additional treats for remaining seated. So your hand + treat are acting like a stop sign to get her attention and get her to stop, but she does not get to eat the treat until she sits (which she will do if you then hold the treat away from her).

INCORRECT: Avoid accidentally rewarding or giving your puppy attention for jumping, or you’ll confuse her. She’ll think you’re not a good leader because you can’t make up your mind about what you want, and she will have no concept of your personal space. When she’s older and automatically greets everyone politely by sitting, you can train her to place her paws on your lap if you want, but it has to be on your verbal or visual command.

Use a flash lure to prevent jumping STEP 1 | Prepare as the puppy is running to you: Assume that every time she approaches you, especially in an excited state, she’ll jump. So be mentally prepared for the next step. STEP 2 | Present the flash lure: Before she reaches you and well before she has a chance to jump, suddenly shove your treat hand out into her face like a stop sign to block her from jumping and to get her attention. STEP 3 | Reward her for stopping and then for sitting: Once she’s stopped, you can give her that treat and then reward with a second treat for sitting. Or you can just withhold the first treat until she sits. The goal is to practice this so much within several days that she automatically sits without needing the flash lure.

This is the most difficult exercise for people, because humans always pet dogs without thinking. As a result, people spend more time rewarding naughty jumping behavior (or pre-behaviors) than rewarding quiet sit behavior. If you want a dog who greets everyone by sitting politely instead of jumping, it’s important to remove attention when she performs any type of attention-seeking behavior, such as pawing you, barking at you or rubbing against you, as well as actually jumping on you.

Say please to be petted: For pups who nibble on your hands or get excited when you start to pet, start by petting only when you’re giving treats. That is, give kibble and pet simultaneously, and then stop doing both at the same time. Then repeat. When she’s sitting more calmly, give treats while petting but wait more and more time between each treat.

When giving multiple or sequential treats for sitting make sure you retract your hand and arm and stand up straight between treats rather than keeping your hand near the face the entire time.

STEP 1 | Wait for you puppy to sit before tossing the toy: Show her the toy but hold it far enough out of her reach that she does not try to jump. If she does try to jump, pull it away further so it’s clear that her jumping removed the toy. STEP 2 | Toss the toy: When she sits, to make it clear to her that sitting is what earns the toy, toss it for her.

STEP 3 | Reward your puppy when she brings it back by playing tug. The purpose of playing tug is to keep her interested in the toy. Alternatively you can go directly to the next step. STEP 4 | Stop tugging the toy: To get her to release the toy stop tugging. Often this will get her to relax and let it go, because she’s already worked on the say please by sitting exercise and is in a habit of sitting when attention and play stop, she is likely to relax and let go within a couple of seconds after you stop tugging the toy. STEP 5 | Trade for a high value treat: If step 4 alone doesn’t work, then show your puppy a treat and even put it right in her mouth. Make sure the treat is large enough and of high enough value for this situation so that she releases quickly.

STEP 6 | Hold the toy out of range: Once she releases quickly hold the toy out of her range so she doesn’t grab it right back. Then you can give her a few additional treats and then repeat the entire game. When she reliably starts releasing the toy immediately with either of these two methods, start saying the word “out” right before you get her to release the toy. “Out” will come to mean “open your mouth and drop the object you’re holding.”

INCORRECT: Never let the dog pull on leash. Remember, every time you’re near him, you’re training him to do either the right thing or the wrong thing. Here, when he pulls, I stop before the dog gets to the end of the leash. He thinks, “Hey, nothing’s happening, I don’t get to go where I want.” So he comes back. . . . . . and sits in front of me.

To turn your pup’s following response (the one you trained on day one by training her to say please by sitting) into a recall, call the pup only when you know she will come. For instance, if you call her and run the other way, she’ll naturally want to chase you. When she does come, make it worth her while. Give her treats, pet her, play with her. You may need to do this with her on leash so that she has no option but to come. If she never has the opportunity to do anything but come running to you when called, and coming is always fun (that is, you don’t yell at her and expect her to come running or call her to come so you can end a game), then coming when called, even with a lot of distractions, will become a habit.

Here’s another example with a cat: Lucy just met this cat and wants to wrestle and play. The cat doesn’t like pushy play behavior and tries to escape. I hold the leash, call Lucy and then immediately run in the other direction. Lucy immediately comes running. When she consistently comes running immediately when called without feeling even a gentle pull on her leash, we can start practicing come when called off leash. Notice that I hold the treats down at her level when she’s just learning to perform in this distracting situation.

5.8 What to Do When Puppy Nips and Chews Inappropriate Objects. 5.8.1 Method 1: Distracting and replacing with an appropriate toy Puppies love to chew on objects including our shoes, pants, and arms. To them all objects are toys. We can train them to only chew on appropriate toys by providing appropriate toys and redirection play towards them.

Puppies like to chew on clothes and shoes. Here Lucy’s chewing my shoelace and my shoe. Replace the inappropriate object with a more appropriate one: I wave a more appropriate toy in front of her and she grabs it.

5.8.2 Method 2: Distracting with a treat, rewarding calm sit. Never let a puppy chew on your arm. If she does, you can try saying “ow!” or “out!” really loud—loud enough to startle her. When she lets go and looks at you, reward her with a treat and then put something more appropriate in her mouth. If “out” works to get her to immediately let go, then it can become her cue word to let go.

Puppies like to grab our waving arms the same way they grab their playmates: Never let a puppy chew on your arm. If she does, you can try saying “ow!” or “out!” really loud—loud enough to startle her. When she lets go and looks at you, reward her with a treat and then put something more appropriate in her mouth. If “out” works to get her to immediately let go, then it can become her cue word to let go. Lucy doesn’t respond to a sharp, loud “ow.” The sound does not startle her and make her stop and look at me. So I don’t use it with her because it’s just wasted breath and clouds the meaning of other words I might use. Instead, I just show her the treat. Since she’s used to the food reward routine and is earning all her food by sitting, this works well. She lets go and I give her the treat (kibble). If she didn’t let go, I’d shove the treat in her face so she would be sure to see it. Also make sure the treat is big enough. Next, I put a toy in her mouth and she falls on her back and plays with it.

This is what the first couple of days in the house were like with Lucy. 7 a.m. wake up (15 minutes) Potty then play session 1: Open up Lucy’s crate and rush outside before she has a chance to stop and potty in the hallway. She immediately pees when outside, but I stand around not playing with her for 10 minutes until she poops too. 7:15-7:45 a.m. (30 minutes) Playtime: During this time she works for her kibble playing the “chase after me and suddenly sit for a treat” game. Then we work on toy tugging, sit to have toy tossed, and food trades to get the to back. I also pick her up and practice handling her while giving her treats so she learns to enjoy it. She potties again. Then I take her inside. She also has access to water outside. 8-10 a.m. Rest in her crate: where she can’t have a potty accident. She has toys to keep her occupied and is playing with them. Note that for short periods I can let her play outside on her own unsupervised if I have a puppy safe and potty appropriate yard. 10-10:15 a.m. (15 minutes) Potty then play session 2: Take her out to potty. This time she goes right away, so I play with her for 10 minutes. Same as the first play session. I let her explore the yard, too. 10:15-noon She follows me around the house, attached to me with a hands-free leash: Whenever I stop and am standing around, if she sits I give her sequential rewards. She’s already starting to sit a lot. She lies in her bed by my desk when I work at my computer. Noon Potty then play ses...