We have recently become the proud parents of a new “fur baby” into our home. The new addition to the Doggy Dogma family is a 8 week old Dalmation x Border Collie, full of beans and at the very early stages of developing and showing the personality of the dog that she is destined to become.
The first 3 days of Freya arriving at our house was relitively non-eventful, as with most puppies, and even older dogs, there is a period of time where the dog needs to get use to their surroundings. It will vary between dogs – minutes, hours, days and weeks for them to feel comfortable in their new surroundings.
I like to have a family rule at this time – the puppy is allowed to approach you, but you shouldn’t be all up in the puppies face all the time. Allow your imprinting to happen by reinforcing the puppy with attention for attention. Don’t panic however – this is just for this initial phase as your puppy becomes accustomed to their new surroundings, and realises that it is beneficial to give you some focus – as you really pay off!
Lots of basic puppy recall is a must, remember to reinforce with either food or a good game with your puppies faviourte toy. Call your puppy from short distances under mild distraction only. If your puppy is not responding, you can try a treat magnet – by getting your dgos attention by putting a treat at their nose and bringing them back towards you.
We have also begun work on self control – early indicators are that she is a little pushy when it comes to food – so we have begun leave it exercises now.
In my next blog we are going to discuss biting!
