1. Preparation
2.
Feeding
3.
Grooming
4. Training
5. Health
4. Training
BEFORE you read the rest of this page, please download and
carefully read the following article and keep it for
reference. I have found that timing and treating the dog as a
human child are the two biggest problems people have when
training their puppy. Even though quite old, this article still
addresses this problem the best way I have found to date.
Click HERE
to go to article on
UNDERSTANDING CANINE DISCIPLINE
by Gail Tamasses Fisher
Taken from the 5/87 AKC Gazette
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As mentioned under "Bringing Home Your Puppy" a crate
approximately 18 X 24 inches is about the right size. If you
already have one that is larger, try to cut it down in size for
the time being until the puppy is reliably housebroken. The
trick to housebreaking is to NOT let the puppy go "potty" inside
your house! Remember, this puppy went potty in MY house, not
yours. At your house it is starting with a clean slate. If you
can get through the first week or two without the puppy going
potty in your house or in its crate, whatever effort it takes to
do this, your puppy will be well on its way to being housebroken
to the limits of its muscular control at that time. At 3 months
of age, 4 hours is maximum during the day, 6-7 hours for the
night (when the puppy is not eating every 4 or 5 hours). I
suggest you get a few washable beds for the bottom of the crate,
a couple of towels will do the trick. Please leave a clean bed
in the crate at all times unless you must be away for an
extended period of time. In this case I do suggest lining the
crate with newspaper as you cannot expect your puppy to hold it
that long. If the puppy manages to stay clean, praise him/her
effusively. It is goes on the paper don't mention it. For those
of you who work, you will have to do this every time you leave
for work and will not be able to expect the puppy to hold it for
8 daytime hours consistently until it is at least 6 months
old. But you CAN still housebreak the puppy completely for when
you are home. I HAVE done it myself! Many times!
At first, keep that puppy in its crate or in your arms at ALL
times unless you can give it your COMPLETE attention. Just
remember that EVERY time it accidentally goes potty in the
house, it is one step backwards. You must watch the puppy very,
very carefully. Cavalier puppies make VERY small puddles. If
you have carpeting and do not see the puddle within the first 30
seconds it will have soaked deep enough into the carpeting to be
missed completely. Puppies are notorious for playing and peeing
at almost the same time. A puppy running after a toy may pause
the slightest instant before grabbing the toy and running with
it, and pee in that instant of time, especially if it has done
it before and gotten away with it. Puppies that are not going in
the house will almost always go potty immediately upon being
taken outside (within 30 seconds). If your puppy seems to play
around outside for 5 minutes or longer without going potty,
chances are very high that your puppy is peeing in the house
quite often. If the puppy then goes potty in your house after
you take the puppy back inside, then I can guarantee your puppy
has been going potty in your house consistently and has learned
that that IS the place to do it--time to start all over if
so. This may seem to be a lot of work, but if you watch very
carefully and do what I mentioned above, after just 2-4 weeks
you will probably be able to loosen up a tremendous amount. If
you don’t, it will take a LOT longer lol! It is a good idea to
keep your puppy's crate within sight of the door it is to go in
and out of to go outside to potty, although as the article below
mentions you may want to bring your puppy and crate into your
bedroom or the hall near the bedroom at night. Please see the
article on Crate Training below.
Always take your puppy out the same door every time so it learns
that this is the door to go to. Another suggestion that seems to
work well for 'busy' people is to buy a bell that has a loud
ring and tie it to the door knob of the door the puppy goes
through to go outside. Tie it low enough so that the puppy
'hits' it when it goes near the door, even accidentally while
playing. EVERY TIME the puppy 'rings the bell' you drop
everything, come running instantly and take the puppy
outside. It if goes potty, praise the puppy enthusiastically, if
it does not within a minute or two, bring the puppy back in and
go about your business. If the bell rings again--run. In a very
short period of time your puppy will understand the ring of the
bell brings it instant attention, and not too long after will
understand how to 'ring' the bell when it wants to go potty
outside. If your puppy goes potty in the house, do not punish it
unless you catch it totally 'in the act' (NOT when finishing up
but right WHILE peeing or pooping). If you do catch it in the
act, grab the puppy and RUN--DO NOT WAIT until it is done going
potty. Say 'no, no, no, potty OUTSIDE' several times while
running the puppy outside. Once outside, put the puppy down and
keep saying "Go Potty" (or whatever words you want to use--some
like "hurry up"). If you get lucky and there is any potty left
and the puppy goes--praise, praise, praise! If you have any
problems with housebreaking, please do call me. I have
housebroken many puppies, I should be able to help you too.
There are other articles included below that will help you with
housebreaking, but the following are the three biggest reasons
for failure:
The NUMBER ONE biggest mistake is letting your puppy have too
much unsupervised freedom in the house. All canines have a
natural desire to avoid soiling their den area. Since you are
using a crate for your puppy's initial 'den', your Cavalier will
naturally try to avoid soiling it; however, it will take some
training before your pup can extend the notion of 'den' to your
entire house--a house is a huge area to call a den to a young
Cavalier puppy!
The NUMBER TWO biggest mistake is overuse of punishment. Even if
you catch your dog in the act, overly enthusiastic correction
tends only to teach the dog not to relieve itself in your
presence, EVEN when outside. This is why you should reward with
words and possibly a treat as well when the puppy does relieve
itself outside. Punishment doesn't make clear what is desired
behavior, but reward makes it clear very quickly. Punishing a
dog for a mess it made earlier is totally fruitless; it only
succeeds in convincing the dog that every once in a while, for
no apparent reason, you are apt to go insane and attack it. It
is a perfect recipe for ruining a trusting relationship. That
'guilty' look you may think your dog is exhibiting is really
fear that you have once again lost your mind.
The NUMBER THREE biggest mistake is pushing the puppy outside by
itself and closing the door. After five minutes the puppy is let
back in and promptly relieves itself on the rug. Bad
dog? No--bad owner. The solution? You must go outside with
the puppy every time until it definitely understands what is
expected. Don't take it for a walk, don't play with it, simply
go with it to the relief area, say "go potty" (or use whatever
words you have decided to use) and be ready to praise and
perhaps give a treat when the puppy does its deed. Then
you can play with the puppy or go back inside.
Click HERE
to go to article on
CRATE TRAINING A PUPPY
by Doreen Malone
Taken from the 12/88 AKC Gazette
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This is one of the best books on Housebreaking a Dog
I've found. I highly recommend it.
It can be
found on many book sites
including Amazon.
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![How to Housebreak Your Dog](Housebreak%20book.jpg)
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OBEDIENCE TRAINING
I strongly advise all Cavalier owners to take their puppies to
obedience class, more to train the owners than the dogs!By 3 to
4 months of age you should get your puppy into a puppy or
kindergarten class. Later, after about one year of age, a formal
obedience class should be taken. Cavaliers are very easy to
train so long as the owner knows what to do. Always use only one
or two words to teach an activity and always use the same ones
Every Single Time. One of the strongest suggestions I can
make is to use the command phrase ONLY once, give your puppy a
very short time to respond and gently get the puppy into the
position you want. Do this again and again and you will
find the puppy doing what it is asked the first time you
ask--and quickly. Saying the command a second time just
reinforces the puppy to wait even longer to do what it is
asked. If you really want the puppy to respond immediately, make
it a game!Don't just train your puppy during a training
session. If you are walking through a room and the puppy is
following you, very suddenly say "sit" or "down" or whatever
ONCE and make the puppy do it immediately if it doesn't respond
immediately. Then praise like crazy releasing the puppy from the
commanded position immediately. Very quickly your puppy will
learn to respond almost instantaneously, almost as if it is a
game to outthink you. Formal training sessions are necessary and
good but these quickie lessons really put the zip into the
response and the excitement. Not only that, but they also
reinforce that the dog must obey at ALL times, not just during a
training session.
CLICKER TRAINING
If you desire a puppy that will WANT to learn and will respond
with excitement, clicker training is the way to go. Clicker
training is done with a little clicker and treats. I have never
seen puppies learn so quickly and with such enthusiasm as I have
with clicker-trained puppies. It is all positive reinforcement
training which is exactly what works best for puppies. There are
also many wonderful websites on the internet on clicker
training, all with books and videos that will teach you how to
clicker train. I believe some pet stores have a clicker training class as well so
you might want to check into that.
RECALL
The recall should be done separately from the other
training. This is an absolute necessity for your puppy to learn
and may sometime be a lifesaver. The first rule of the recall is
to NEVER EVER call your puppy to you unless you can say "Fido
Come" one time and then MAKE SURE the puppy comes to you
immediately (unless your puppy is completely trained and ALWAYS
comes when called). This means, do not teach your puppy the
recall unless it is completely leash broken and on a leash
during the training sessions. I suggest buying a short
leash--without a choke collar to keep on the puppy most of the
time when it is loose in the house while you are training the
recall and just let the puppy drag it around. No choke collar so
if the puppy gets stuck on something it won't panic and choke
itself, a short leash so the puppy will hopefully not get the
leash caught on something. A good leash for this is something
called a
show lead. They are the perfect length for recall training. At
various times during the day WHEN THE PUPPY'S LEASH IS WITHIN
REACH, suddenly say "Fido Come" while grabbing the leash and
start to run backwards so the puppy runs toward you. The moment
the puppy is next to you, praise effusively and release. Do this
for several weeks. Do not attempt a recall without the leash
unless your puppy is coming quickly and EVERY single time you
call it.
If you do happen to call the puppy
and it does not respond, say nothing further. Go get the leash
immediately, or get close enough to the puppy so you can grab
the leash if it is on the puppy, and do a quickie training
session on the recall right then and there. DO NOT WAIT or your
puppy will have learned it can get away with not responding. Puppies are just like children, if they can get away
with it once, they think they can get away with it again and
WILL try.
Please note that the use of the word
COME should be limited to either training times when you are
positive you can reinforce the command or at other times when
you are positive your dog will come on the first command. If
there is EVER a question of whether or not the dog will respond
(such as when the dog is playing outside and you are getting
ready to leave and want to call the dog in), use the dog's name
only to get his/her attention. Just don't use the word COME and
you should be okay. Leaving off the COME word during times like
this does not seem to reinforce a lack of response to your
commands because technically you didn't give a command!
Dog's temperaments do vary but so
long as your dog is very happy in responding to your commands
you will know you are praising enough and giving the right
amount of correction. If the dog cowers, there is
something wrong, either too much correction, not enough praise,
or just plain old confusion. Figure out what the problem is and
fix it. Your puppy will learn what it can and cannot do
eventually and will grow up to be a well-behaved dog, one that
can literally be free in the house 100% of the time. As the
article on Crate Training says, DO leave the crate open for easy
access. You are sure to find your Cavalier cherishes its "place"
as her/her very own "home" -- much like a teenager cherishes
his/her own bedroom. While you are training, please remember to
put your Cavalier on a table from time to time--even if it is a
pet. Remember your Cavalier will go on a table every time
it goes to the vet and/or groomer (if you choose to have one
groom your Cavalier) so it will help to have your Cavalier used
to being on a table. Again, call me if you have ANY questions
whatsoever.
PLEASE READ and download for
reference all the articles on this page. These are some of the
best I've ever seen on training, timing, and how a dog
thinks. You must realize that you are ALWAYS training your
dog--every moment of every day that you are with your dog and
that the dog IS doing what YOU have trained it to do whether
consciously or subconsciously. If you don't like how your dog is
behaving--remember this because you DID train the dog to behave
that way! You need to change how you are training your dog so
that it behaves the way you want it to. Without understanding
how important timing is with dogs because of the way they think
so strongly in the present, you are going to have a much harder
time getting your dog to behave just the way you want it to.
Click HERE
to go to article on
TEACHING YOUR PUPPY BITE INHIBITION
by Ian Dunbar, Ph.D., MRCVS
Taken from the AKC Gazette
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