There are lots to think about when it comes to kids and dogs, needless to say precautions must be taken but wonderful relationships can also be forged between everyone in a family and the family pets.
Below is the most amazing resource when it comes to dealing with children and dogs and babies and dogs:
If you have any further questions please get in touch with Miranda or Jeff.
Miranda runs private family sessions where all family members (from the very small to the very old) can learn how to train and interact appropriately with the family canine. She is also very happy to have families and children in her general classes.
Chewing is essential for maintaining the health of
your dog's teeth, jaws, and gums. Puppies
especially have a strong need to chew to relieve the
irritation and inflammation of teething. Dogs chew
to relieve anxiety and boredom, as well as for
entertainment. Your dog’s jaws are his tools for
carrying objects and for investigating his
surroundings. Essentially, a dog’s approach to all
items in his environment is “Can I chew it?”
Chewing is Normal, Natural, and Necessary
Dogs generally sleep at night and in the middle of
the day. However, chewing is your dog’s primary
form of entertainment during his morning and late
afternoon activity peaks. After all, there are only so
many things your dog can do when left at home
alone. He can hardly read a novel, telephone
friends, or watch the soaps! Indeed, most chewing
sprees stem from your dog's relentless quest for
some form of occupational therapy to pass the time
of day when left at home alone or un-monitored.
Chewing is a perfectly normal, natural, and necessary canine behavior. Prevention and
treatment of destructive chewing focus on management and education—to prevent your dog
from chewing inappropriate items and to redirect your dog's natural chewing-urge to
appropriate, acceptable, and resilient chew toys.
Prevent Destructive Chewing When leaving home, confine your puppy or dog to a long-term confinement area, such as a single
room or puppy play pen or crate —your puppy’s playroom—with a comfortable bed, a bowl of water, a doggy toilet (if not
yet housetrained), and nothing to chew but half a dozen freshly-stuffed chewtoys. Housetrained
adult dogs may be confined (with their chewtoys) to a dog crate. Your dog will happily settle down and entertain himself with his chewtoys as soon as you leave in
the morning, and later he will be more inclined to search for chewtoys when he wakes up in anticipation
of your afternoon return. This is important since most chewing activity occurs right after you leave
home and right before you return. When you return, instruct your dog to fetch his chewtoys so you can extricate any liver or treats which he could not get out and give them to him.
When you are home but cannot watch your puppy carefully, confine your puppy to her doggy den (crate) with nothing but a freshly-stuffed
chewtoy for entertainment. Every hour on the hour (or at longer intervals with housetrained adult dogs),
take your puppydog to her doggy toilet (see Housetraining), and if she goes, praise her and
play some chewtoy games with her before putting her back in her crate with a freshly stuffed chewtoy.
The purpose of confinement is to prevent your dog from chewing inappropriate items around
the house and to maximize the likelihood your dog will develop a chewtoy habit. If you can watch your dog carefully he or she does not need to be crated, if you need to answer the phone, have a shower etc be sure to put your puppy back in his/her doggy den.
Redirect Chewing to Chewtoys The confinement schedule described above optimizes self-training;
your dog will train herself to chew chewtoys. In fact your dog will
soon become a chewtoyaholic. With a good chewtoy habit, your
puppy will no longer want to destroy carpets, curtains, couches,
clothes, chair legs, computer disks, children's toys, or electrical
cords. Your dog will be less likely to develop into a recreational
barker. And also, your dog will happily settle down calmly and
quietly and will no longer be bored or anxious when left alone.
You must also actively train your dog to want to chew chewtoys.
Offer praise and maybe a liver treat every time you notice your dog chewing chewtoys. Do not take chew toy chewing for granted. Let your dog know that you strongly approve of her newly acquired, appropriate, and
acceptable hobby. Play chewtoy games with your dog, such as fetch, search, and tug-of-war.
Chewtoys should be indestructible and nonconsumable. Consumption of non-food items is
decidedly dangerous for your dog's health. Also, destruction of chewtoys necessitates their regular
replacement, which can be expensive. However, compared with the cost of reupholstering just one
couch, £50 worth of chewtoys seems a pretty wise investment.
Kongs, Tuff Toys, Biscuit Balls, Big Kahuna footballs, and sterilized long-bones are by far the best chewtoys.
They are made of natural products, are hollow, and may be stuffed with food to entice your dog to
chew them exclusively. To prevent your dog from porking out, ensure that you only stuff chewtoys
with part of your dog's daily diet (kibble or raw food) with a few nuggets of really yummy treats for him to be surprised by. Firmly squish a piece of liver in
the small hole in the Kong, fill the rest of the cavity with moistened kibble and a few yummy treats, and then put the Kongs
in the freezer. Voila, Kongsicles! As the kibble thaws, some falls out easily to reinforce your dog as
soon as she shows interest. Other bits of kibble come out only after your dog has worried at the Kong
for several minutes, thus reinforcing your dog's chewing over time. The liver is the best part. Your
dog may smell the liver, see the liver, (and maybe even talk to the liver), but she cannot get it out.
And so your dog will continue to gnaw contentedly at the Kong until she falls asleep.
Until your dog is fully chewtoy-trained, do not feed her from a bowl. Instead, feed all kibble,
canned food, and raw diets from chewtoys, or handfeed meals as rewards when you notice your dog
is chewing a chew toy.
Here is a great video on stuffing Kongs:
Here is my video on being prepared for puppies, bored teenage dogs and adult chewers:
To learn more, read Doctor Dunbar's Good Little Dog Book and our Chewingbooklet, available on-line from www.amazon.com. Reprinted by www.dogstardaily.com with permission of Dr. Ian Dunbar and James & Kenneth Publishers, behavior blueprint by Dr. Ian Dunbar
House soiling quickly
becomes a bad habit because dogs develop
strong location, substrate, and olfactory
preferences for their improvised indoor toilet
areas. To housetrain your puppy: first,
prevent any more mistakes; and second, teach
your puppy where you would like him to
eliminate.
How to Prevent Mistakes
Mistakes are a disaster since they set a bad
precedent and create bad habits, which can be
hard to break. Consequently, you must
prevent mistakes at all cost. Whenever you
are not at home for longer periods of time, leave your dog in a long-term
confinement area, such as a single room
indoors with easy-to-clean floors (bathroom,
kitchen, or utility room)—this will be your
puppy’s playroom.
Provide your dog with fresh water, a number of stuffed chewtoys for entertainment, a
comfortable bed in one corner, and a doggy toilet in the corner diagonally opposite from his
bed. Your dog will naturally want to eliminate as far as possible from his bed, and so will
soon develop the good habit of using his toilet. And remember, good habits are just as hard
to break as bad habits.
For a doggy toilet, use sheets of newspaper sprinkled with soil, or a litter tray filled with a roll
of turf, or a concrete paving slab. Thus your dog will develop olfactory and substrate preferences
for eliminating on soil, grass, or concrete.
The purpose of long-term confinement is to confine your dog’s natural behaviors (including
urinating and defecating) to an area that is protected (thus preventing any mistakes around the
house when you are not there), and to help your dog quickly develop a strong preference for
eliminating on soil, grass, or concrete.
Teach Your Dog to Eliminate in the Right Place When you are at home, confine your dog to a short-term confinement area with a number of
stuffed chewtoys for entertainment. A portable dog crate makes an ideal doggy den. Alternatively,
keep your dog on a short lead fastened to an eye-hook in the skirting board near her bed, or attach
the lead to your belt. This way your dog may settle down beside you while you read, work at the
computer, or watch television.
Every hour on the hour, say "Let’s go to the loo" (or some other appropriate toilet
instruction), and hurry your dog (on lead) to her toilet (in your garden, or in the street outside the front door of your house or block of flats). Stand
still with your dog on lead and repeat the instruction to "go to the loo". Give your dog three minutes to empty herself.
When your dog eliminates, praise her enthusiastically
and offer three liver treats (or other fresh meat treat). Most puppies
will urinate within two minutes on each trip to a toilet
area, and defecate within three minutes on every other
trip. Once your dog realizes that she can cash in her
urine and feces for tasty treats, she will want to
eliminate in her toilet area. Soiling the house just does
not have comparable fringe benefits. Moreover, after a
dozen or so repetitions, you will have taught your dog to
eliminate on command.
If your dog does not eliminate during the allotted
three-minute toilet break, put her back inside her crate
for another hour.
The purpose of short-term close confinement is to prevent any mistakes around the house when
you are home (but cannot devote undivided attention to your dog) and to predict when your dog
needs to eliminate. Temporarily (for no more than an hour at a time) confining a puppydog to a
small space (e.g., a dog crate) inhibits elimination, since the dog does not want to soil her sleeping
area. Consequently, your dog will want to go immediately upon release from confinement—
especially since hurrying to the toilet area will jiggle her bladder and bowels. Since you choose
when to release your dog, you may choose when your puppy eliminates, and since you can predict
when your dog needs to eliminate, you may be there to show her where to go, to reward your dog
for going, and to inspect and immediately clean up after your dog.
Once your pup is old enough to go on walks, make sure she eliminates (in the garden, or in front
of your house) before each walk. If your dog does not go within three minutes, put her back in her
crate and try again an hour later. However, if your dog does go, praise and reward her as usual
and then say “Let’s go for a walk.” With a no-feces/no-walk policy, you will soon have a very
speedy defecator. Moreover, elimination close to home facilitates clean-up and disposal; you will
not have to stroll the neighborhood weighed down with a bag of doggie poo.
To housetrain your dog, you need a dog crate, a number of chewtoys, and
some liver treats.
Raising and Training Your Puppy - The First Few Weeks
The first week your puppy comes home is the most important week of her life. From the very first day, start an errorless housetraining and chewtoy-training program so that you prevent any future housesoiling, destructive chewing, excessive barking, or separation anxiety problems.
When you are not at home, leave your puppy in a long-term confinement area (puppy playroom, or crate with a puppy play pen attached), which has a comfortable bed, fresh water, several chewtoys stuffed with food, and a temporary indoor toilet. Long-term confinement prevents mistakes around the house and maximizes the likelihood your puppy will learn to chew chewtoys and use her toilet.
When you are at home but cannot pay full attention to your puppy, confine her to a small, short- term confinement area (doggy den or dog crate) with a couple of stuffed chewtoys. Confining your puppy to a den prevents any mistakes around the house, maximizes the likelihood your puppy will learn to chew chewtoys, and allows you to predict when your puppy would like to relieve herself. Knowing when your puppy wants to go makes housetraining easy because now you can show her where to go and reward her for going in the right spot. Confining a pup to a den temporarily inhibits elimination, so that every hour, you can take her to an appropriate toilet area. When she promptly pees (and sometimes poops), give her three liver treats as a reward.
Confinement is a temporary management and training measure. Once your puppy has learned household manners, he may enjoy full run of your house for the rest of his life.
Other important things to do over the first few weeks include (check out are articles on these too):
Playing with your puppy is
essential!It builds your relationship
with him, teaches him control and is fun!However, puppies have sharp teeth, so play needs to be safe.
Follow the guidelines below to ensure that your
dog plays by the rules!
1.Always use a toy!It’s unacceptable to allow your puppy to
mouth your hands, clothes or hair or to wrestle on the floor – this is
basically teaching your puppy to bite people when anyone plays with the puppy (for more information on this see "puppy biting and bite inhabition") .Use a long rug boy, a ball on a rope or other boy that keeps your hands well
away from your dog’s mouth.
2. Teach your puppy to tug by
holding the toy LOW TO THE GROUND and moving it as if it were a snake along the
floor.Allow your pup to chase the toy,
then pounce on it and grab it.Have a
gentle tug game!It’s OK for your puppy
to rug and growl – it just means he’s enjoying himself!
3. Now teach your puppy to
drop the toy when you ask.After a tug
game, keep your hand on the toy, but don’t put any pressure against it.Now offer your puppy a really tasty titbit so
eat.It’s impossible for him to keep the
toy in his mouth and eat the food as, so as soon as he drops the toy, say
“Good” and let him eat the food.KEEP
THE TOY WHERE IT IS!As soon as your pup
has eaten the food, play again and repeat the routine.After three or four repetitions, most pups
are dropping the toy voluntarily when they see the food coming.As soon as this starts to happen, say “Drop”
or “Give” very quietly, just before your pup let’s go.This then leads to your pup dropping the toy
instantly on one quiet command!At this
point, you can just use the food as a reward from time to time, as being
allowed to carry on playing is a reward in itself.
4. Your pup must abide by the
golden rules of play.If he so much as
touches your hand or skin with his teeth while playing, you say “Too bad” and
the game finishes that instant!Your
whole family need to be consistent with this!
Teach your puppy to play by himself
Puppies need to learn to play
by themselves so that they can be occupied
when you are busy or need to go out.Chew toys are best for this. Kongs or hollow toys that can
be filled with food are perfect as they
reward the puppy for playing at the same time as
keeping him busy!
However, old cardboard boxes,
and safe, empty plastic water bottles make
great playthings for active pups which need
novelty and stimulation.
This video shows how to teach any dog of any age how to use a Kong toy:
This video shows how in expensive items can be made in to interactive toys:
