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Training Options We offer a training program to our buyers.
Training Your Doodledawg Puppy We use the reward system in training our puppies, as well as positive energy, pack leader methods. I also think highly of the clicker training method, though we don't find we need it. I am using clicker training in teaching tricks to the older pups. Watch this page for an upcoming video of Tatum the Airedale performing her tricks. Our dogs will do wonderful things for one of our homemade . . .
Collar and Leash Training When you receive your puppy, it will already have had three weeks of puppy training. At five weeks of age, when the puppies begin their weaning period, we introduce them to the collar and leash. At first the puppies will scratch and paw at the collar but will adjust to the feeling in a day or two. During this time we spend a lot of time with the puppies, to ease the transition from nursing and cuddling up to their Mommy. We will put the leash on each puppy for a few minutes at a time, since their attention span is still short, and not try to lead, just let them get used to it. Usually they begin by mouthing the leash and some will even take the leash in their mouth and lead us. During this time we also begin to introduce them to new sights and sounds. This part is easy since we live on a farm with goats, chickens, guineas, cats, and so on. The exercise pen has a puppy playground, with things to climb on, over and through. Under careful supervision the puppies will be introduced to other dogs, such as our very loving Great Pyrenees/Border Collie dog, Windy, who will allow the puppies to chew on her and wrestle with never any danger to the puppy. And of course, they continue to wrestle with their littermates. You can continue this early leash training after you get your puppy, if you choose to get the puppy at eight weeks of age. Before twelve weeks of age, let the puppy have a loose leash and never pull. It's fine to coax the puppy to come along on the leash by offering tasty little tiny treats for every right response. They figure it out pretty fast and next thing you know the puppy will be walking beside you. At twelve weeks they can begin the heel command. Before that it's all kindergarten. Bite Inhibition
Our Airedale puppy, Tatum, at 9 weeks of age, wrestling with Windy
Tatum, at 3 months in this photo, is still learning "bite inhibition," wrestling with Pierre who will show her any second that she is biting too hard. Puppies learn an important thing called "bite inhibition" from wrestling with other puppies and dogs. This means they learn to control their bite and know when enough is enough. Dogs who have not learned this can sometimes inflict a bite wound simply because they do not know how hard is too hard when biting. Thus, even after you get your puppy, it is important to continue helping them to learn bite inhibition. This can be done by getting together with a friend who has a healthy vaccinated puppy or gentle dog, or if you have another dog who will allow it and will not harm the puppy, allow them to wrestle. You can also teach them somewhat by your own response when they bite too hard. Let them know that they hurt you. Stop the play and walk away or hold your fingertips in a biting position and using firm pressure on the back of their neck, hold them down for just a minute, as another dog might do to show them not to bite so hard. This is the equivalent of an adult dog disciplining them for biting too hard. Never, never allow the puppy to think it is OK to bite hard or to hurt someone. It may seem like a cute game when they are little but will not be so cute if someone gets bit when the dog is older. The purpose here is not to teach that they can't bite but to teach them how to control their bite. That's what they learn from each other when they wrestle and play. Some choose to teach the puppy that biting is not allowed - period. The problem with that reasoning is that dogs use their mouths much as we do our hands. A dog taught not to use its mouth will be inhibited, for example, from helping pull a drowning child from the water. He has been taught never use your mouth on a human being. On the other hand, a dog that has been taught bite control and can control the pressure of his moth can be a wonderful asset. For example, I have had dogs assist a goat who had their head stuck in a fence to get unstuck, gently working them loose. One of our dogs even brought a baby rabbit to us, in her mouth and unhurt. Once when I was trying to catch some guinea keets, one of our dogs assisted by finding the keets and holding each one for me until I got to him to get it, all without hurting the babies. I have even had a dog who grabbed a telephone repairman by the ankle and held on firmly. The fellow had put a ladder up to the outside of our house, inside our yard, right above my son's bedroom window. The dog climbed the ladder and grasped the guy by the ankle, firmly enough to scare him real bad but did not hurt him at all, not even a mark. How was the dog to know the fellow was the phone repairman? Had the dog not known how to control the pressure of his bite the ending to this story may have been different. As it was, we called off the dog and asked the fellow to please knock on the door next time. These examples are to demonstrate why bite inhibition is a good thing for a dog to learn and why it is not always best to just teach them not to bite at all. The point is to teach them to control their bite and when it is appropriate to use their mouth and when not.
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