Puppies have a lot of hyper energy and very short attention spans.
They are also infinitely curious and want to put everything that they see in their little mouths. This can make puppy obedience training something of a challenge.
When it comes to puppy training, we want to get our puppy to repeat good behaviors, and stop bad behaviors. The more a puppy practices a behavior, the more likely she will repeat it. Therefore, by encouraging good behaviors, we ensure that she will have a good repertoire of people friendly actions to draw upon when she grows up.
Here, we deal with the 3 primary elements of puppy obedience training –
- How to communicate consistently and effectively with a puppy.
- How to encourage good puppy behaviors.
- How to discourage bad puppy behaviors.
1. How to Communicate with Puppy
The first two words I teach my puppy are “Yes” and “No”.
“Yes” is used to mark a desirable behavior and “No” is used to mark an undesirable behavior.
Yes is usually followed by a positive consequence (e.g. a food reward, affection, toys), and No is usually followed by a negative consequence (e.g. withdrawal of attention, timeout).
In fact, we do not need to use the words “Yes” and “No”, and can pick whatever mark-words we want. The best mark-words are unique, and do not frequently come up in normal conversation. This helps to prevent confusion with our dogs.
For my dogs, I use Ack-Ack as a no-mark and Good-Boy or Good-Girl as a yes-mark.
- When my puppy does something good, I say “Good-Girl” and present her with a small treat reward.
- When my puppy does something bad, I say “Ack-Ack” and redirect her into doing something positive.
Consistency is very important while communicating with our dogs. We want to stick to the same yes-mark and no-mark.
In addition, we also want to establish very consistent rules and a fixed routine. This helps our puppy understand what is expected of her, as well as what she can expect from us.
One of the first things that I do with a new puppy, is set up a fixed routine. My puppy schedule includes playing time, training time, walking time, feeding time, and the ever important sleeping time. I try to keep the schedule consistent, so that each of these activities happen at around the same time every day.
Keeping a fixed schedule is good for me, and good for Puppy. It allows me to be more efficient about getting things done, and it sets aside some me-time while Puppy is sleeping and resting in her crate.
It also helps get a puppy accustomed to a new environment, without being overly stressed. In the beginning, everything is new, foreign, and possibly scary for a new dog. A fixed schedule helps to reduce stress, increase trust, and quickly integrates her into the existing family rhythm.
Similarly, a consistent set of rules will help to avoid confusion, and hasten the puppy learning process.
2. How to Encourage Good Behaviors
Puppy obedience training and even adult dog training is centered around two key areas-
- How to encourage and get puppy to repeat good behaviors.
- How to discourage and get puppy to stop bad behaviors.
It is important to recognize though that what we see as good and bad behaviors may not coincide with what our dog considers to be good and bad behaviors.
Dogs, even puppies, think for themselves and have needs of their own.
Therefore, we want to use our newly established communication system to teach our puppy what is good and bad for us. In addition, we must also motivate our dog so that she actually cares about our human values, which very likely, make little or no sense to her.
We encourage good behaviors by using the yes-mark, as soon as our dog finishes doing something good.
For example, when our puppy finishes doing a Sit we say “Good-Girl!” and then present her with a reward. The yes-mark is very helpful in training because it allows us to immediately mark the behavior that we want to reward.
To effectively train our puppy, we want to clearly indicate which action she is being rewarded for. If we wait too long, she will have moved on to something else, and we may inadvertently reward the wrong behavior.
Therefore, quickly use the yes-mark as soon as our dog finishes a good behavior. Then, we can take more time to present Puppy with her reward.
3. How to Stop Bad Behaviors
When it comes to stopping bad dog behaviors most of us think of applying a physical punishment, for example spanking the dog, jabbing the dog with our fingers, or giving the dog a collar correction.
These techniques apply pain to the dog, at which point the dog may stop her current behavior in order to avoid further pain and stress.
However, such pain based techniques are risky. If they are not executed with exactly the right force, timing, and redirection, they may cause more behavioral issues down the road; even aggression. It is especially risky to apply such techniques to puppies because of their young minds, and still developing bodies.
How then can we stop bad puppy behavior?
I have found that the best way to stop bad behavior is through the control of resources. *We* naturally control everything that a puppy wants, including food, toys, freedom, affection, and play.
To encourage good behaviors, we motivate our puppy by giving her something that she wants.
To discourage bad behaviors, we motivate our puppy by taking away something that she values, for example her freedom, or our attention and affection.
Note – This does not mean that we should tease our puppy and take away food while she is eating, or forcibly remove a toy that she is playing with. Doing so can encourage food aggression or resource guarding behavior.
What works best is to withhold something that my puppy wants, but does not yet have. Another possibility is to take away a privilege, such as withdrawing my attention or restricting her freedom.
When my puppy bites at my hands, I give her a no-mark (Ack-ack) and then redirect her to do something else, for example, chew on a toy. If Puppy redirects, I give her a yes-mark (Good-Girl), and reward her with something that she really wants, such as a yummy treat.
If Puppy ignores the no-mark and continues to bite at me, I withdraw my attention by standing up, folding up my arms, and turning away from her. In this way, she loses a valued play-mate, and no longer gets to engage in something fun.
If Puppy escalates her behavior and starts to jump on me or bite my clothes, I take away an even more important privilege; her freedom. I do this by calmly saying Timeout, and then taking my puppy to a boring but safe timeout area.
Puppies often bite at us to initiate play or to get our attention. We can effectively stop puppy biting by teaching her the following-
- Biting = No attention and no play,
- No biting = Attention, play, and treats.
How to Train a Puppy
To stop bad behavior, I have found that it is important to –
- Start by redirecting Puppy into doing something positive. In this way, we turn a negative situation into a positive one. We not only get our dog to do what we want, but also teach her that following our commands, is the fastest way to get to her heart’s desires.
- Make the punishment suit the crime. I always start small and give my puppy many opportunities to choose a path for success. If she continues or escalates her bad behavior, then I slowly escalate her punishment.
- Stay calm at all times. Puppies have high energy and are easily distracted. If we get angry or frustrated, we will only inject more bad energy into an already volatile situation. This will likely cause our puppy to lose focus, become more hyper, and behave in an even more erratic fashion. If we want our dog to be calm, we must stay calm ourselves.
- Set Puppy up for success. Carefully manage our puppy and only expose her to situations that we think she can handle. For example, start by introducing her to new objects that are not moving, then slowly move on to moving objects, then objects that move and make noise, and so on. Start small and slowly move up to bigger things. The more successful a puppy is, the more confident she will become, and the more balanced she will be when she grows up.
Goal of Puppy Obedience
The goal of puppy obedience is to learn how to communicate with our puppy, and teach her how to live well and harmoniously with us.
Obedience training can also help to protect our puppy from inadvertently harming herself and others, or from engaging in activities that may be detrimental to her health (e.g. over-eating, walking on glass).
Obedience training is *not* for acting out our anger, or venting our frustrations when our puppy poops on our furniture, eats poop, and spreads garbage all over our expensive designer couch.
We are not perfect, and Puppy is not perfect. In the initial stages, mistakes will be made, some of which may lead to chewed up designer shoes, scratched kitchen cabinets, and stained carpets. However, this is all part of the learning process.
Puppies, and indeed all dogs do not perform bad behaviors just to piss us off, make us angry, or exact revenge.
Puppies Acting Badly
Puppies or dogs act badly because …
- They do not know that something is bad because we did not teach them properly.
- They were stressed and started chewing, digging, or even pooping in order to relieve that stress (displacement behaviors).
- They felt threatened and thought it was necessary to protect themselves, or their belongings.
The key to puppy obedience training is in learning to see things from our dog’s point of view.
Once we understand what motivates our puppy, we can prevent undesirable actions and encourage desirable ones.
Dogs spend a lot of time observing us, understanding what makes us tick, and making us happy. The least that we can do, is try to return the favor.
So obviously there is no one all-encompassing method of training, but would you do anything drastically different for a Shiba pup than what you did for your Husky pup? i.e., something specifically geared toward a dog with a (possibly) dominant personality? I’m planning to get a Shiba pup in about a year or so, so I’m preparing myself for the little hurricane 🙂
Heh, Shiba Sephy is a lot more stubborn and more frequently tests his boundaries, so he has more rules and I am a lot more strict with him. He also requires more patience and calm energy because he is very sensitive to the emotions of the people around him.
My Huskies are more easy going, so they get rewarded with more freedom.
Here is a bit more on dealing with a dominant dog.
It is awesome that you are getting a head-start on Shiba training. I didn’t look into things until after I got Sephy, and as a result, had a very difficult beginning with him.
Hi how are you! I have an American Staffordshire Terrier and as we all know pit bulls have a bad reputation as a breed. He is only 11 weeks old but I am terribly afraid he might become an aggressive adult. I am trying to train him well but every time I try to give him a stern command he barks at me and he’ll bite and my hard, arms, anything. He also will never let me walk him with a leash, He’s chewed through two leashes. He will listen better if I have him ‘come’ while we’re on a walk(without a leash), but then he will get distracted by people walking by and run up to them. Obviously as he gets older he’ll need to learn the importance of a leash because he is a pit and people will be intimidated by him. I had another pit before him and he was nothing like this. He had a perfect demeanor and never bit anyone. I am afraid with this puppy because little kids love pups and they’ll run up to greet him and he whips out his teeth to start playing with the kids. I love your articles they are very helpful. I have been trying to teach him that for biting he gets no reward I always scream OUCH! and turn my back on him, sometimes though he’ll just start biting at my pants or continues growling and biting at me. I dont have a place for him in my apartment for a ‘time out’ so I use his crate but when I put him in there he barks a few times then falls right to sleep so I wonder if that is even working. I feel like each day gets worse, not better. Help Please!!
Hello Dannielle,
In general, it is best to use someplace else of timeouts. This is because we want the crate to be a positive place, and we do not want our dog to associate it with punishment.
I put my dog’s crate in the family room, so that he can still see and be around his people when he is in there. He also gets to work on special interactive toys while in his crate. My dog goes into his crate at night, when he travels, and for other management activities – so it is important that he sees it as a safe and positive area.
On the other hand, my timeout area is far away from people, boring, and very low stimulus. This will help my dog to calm down. He also learns that if he does not behave with people, then he temporarily does not get to be with people. My dog’s crate area and his timeout area serve very different purposes, so it is important that they be in different locations; appropriate to their intended purpose.
I also had a difficult time training Sephy, my Shiba Inu in the beginning. Some things that helped me turn things around with Sephy-
1. Control my own energy. To get Sephy to calm down, I also had to be very calm. If I am angry, frustrated, or fearful, Sephy will pick up on my energy, get stressed himself, and act even more crazy.
2. House rules. I set up a routine and a consistent set of house rules for Sephy to follow. I make sure to be very consistent about enforcing house rules, so that Sephy learns what his boundaries are, understands what he can expect from me, and also what I expect from him.
3. Identify motivators. I observe Sephy closely so that I understand what things motivate him most. Then, I make sure that he works for all the things that he wants, by doing simple commands for me. This is also called the Nothing in Life is Free program.
Here are a few more things that I do to control puppy biting.
Finally, I also visited several professional trainers to help me with Sephy. With dog training, timing, technique, and energy are all very important. It was very helpful to have someone right there to explain Sephy’s body language to me, and correct my timing and technique in real-time.
Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.
I loved this article! It was immensely helpful, AND has shown me what mistakes I have been making, but also what I have been doing correctly! 😀 Thanks!
I have a serra de aires puppy now 14 weeks old. She is beautiful but very unbelievebly strong willed and does not listen to me at all. She chases my legs biting as I walk and gets mad half hours where she gets so excited running around mad and if I am anywhere near her she just leaps on me and bites my clothes, hands etc and just wont leave go and it hurts as she is not gentle at all when biting and I worry she is not playing as she gets so rough. It is not through lack of excercise as I live by the beach so spend at least 2 times each day on the beach with her. When she is calm she is adorable and she is the perfect dog but I just cant play with her as she gets so rough and then the biting starts.
I am starting obedience classes with her this weekend so I am hoping it will help us both.
I had 2 german shepherds previously for 13 years and neither one of them behaved like this so I dont know if it is the breed as she is a sheepdog but I cant have her biting as I have family with small children and I worry she will bite them also.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated as I am getting worried as she is getting bigger and her biting is getting worse.
Many thanks in advance.
Some things that help with my dogs for biting –
1. Bite inhibition training.
This teaches them to control the force of their bites.
2. NILIF program.
I follow the Nothing in Life is Free program with all of my dogs. This teaches them that the best way to get what they want, is to do something for me first.
3. Calm energy.
I try to stay very calm and use a calm voice. If I am angry, fearful, frustrated, or stressed, my dog will pick up on that energy and get even more crazy.
4. Clear and consistent communication.
When my puppy bites, I no-mark and then either redirect her onto a toy, or ask her for an alternate pre-trained behavior, e.g. Sit. If she redirects, then I mark the behavior and reward her well for it with play and attention. If she does not listen, then I totally withdraw all my attention by standing up, folding my arms, and turning away from her. At this point I do not give her any attention (not even eye contact) until she calms down.
In this way she learns that –
Biting = Get ignored,
No biting = Play, attention, and other rewards.
If she escalates her behavior and jumps on me or bites my clothing, then I calmly say “Timeout” and remove her briefly to a timeout area.
Here is more on my puppy biting experiences.
I also set clear rules during play time and have many play breaks where we do some simple commands. Play breaks help to manage my dog’s excitement level, so that she doesn’t lose control of herself and learns impulse control. If she does not follow the rules, I no-mark and stop play briefly. When she is calm enough to do some simple commands, she gets rewarded with more play. In this way, she learns that –
Biting or jumping on me = Play stops,
Following play rules = More play, attention, and other rewards.
Hello,
I have a 11 weeks old siberian husky, name Baxter. I don’t know what cause it keep on bitting our hands and legs very badly(seems like he is purposely to bite on our skin). I’ve tried out to ignore him when he bite me and stand up and walk away. After few seconds, i bring his toy and let him to chew on but he still choose my hand to bite. It is kinda painful due to his teeth is so sharp right now.
Hello Nicholas,
Yeah, my Sibe Lara was also very mouthy as a puppy. Puppies are infinitely curious, and they interact and play with objects, with each other, and with us using their mouth. Some things that helped with Lara –
1. Bite inhibition training.
This teaches her to control the force of her bites, especially when interacting with people. We have much thinner skins than dogs do, so I needed to teach Lara that she has to be more careful when interacting with me and other people.
2. Set Lara up for success.
I always try to set Lara up for success. This includes not just telling her what *not* to do, but also what *to do* instead. For example, if she bites too hard on me, I will no-mark, and then tell her what to do instead, e.g. bite on a toy or do some very simple commands. I make sure to always have a toy ready right there and then, because timing is very important. I want to redirect her right after I no-mark the behavior.
If she properly redirects, then I can reward her well for her success by giving her treats and playing with her using the toy. If she does not redirect, then I withdraw my attention by standing up and folding my arms.
In this way, she learns that-
If Lara escalates her biting behavior and starts jumping or biting on my clothes, then I put her very briefly in a timeout area.
3. Frozen Kongs.
Young puppies are teething, which is another reason why they like to bite or chew so much. Frozen Kongs are a great way to keep puppy Lara occupied and to help with her teething pain and soreness.
Here are a few more things that I do to control puppy biting.
This article from Karen Pryor’s site has more puppy biting tips.
Hello,
Thanks for the information.
May i know how to determine wether they are attacking us or playing with us?
Do you have facebook or any contacts?
I got ton of questions to ask about my husky due to this is my first dog.
Thank you and will be very appreciate from your help.
In general, to interpret what my dog is “saying”, I observe his body language, environment, people and objects in his environment, and also use what I know about his temperament, past experiences, etc. Dog behavior is very context dependent. This article from UC Davis gives a short but good overview of dog aggression.
Personally, I would be very surprised to see aggression from a very young puppy. When my Sibes were puppies, they were very curious, energetic, and just wanted to explore and play all of the time. Why do you think your puppy is showing aggression? Is there something else other than the finger biting that would indicate that?
I do have a facebook account but I am not there much at all. It is best to post questions in the comments section on this site. I check site comments pretty regularly.
I would be careful about relying too much on any one source for dog training information (including me ;)). When it comes to dog training, everyone claims to be an expert, and unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation out there, whether online, on television, or in books.
Some good places that I go to, to get dog training and dog behavior information –
1. Articles from top veterinary schools, e.g. University of Pennsylvania, UC Davis, and Columbia University. I just use my regular search terms, and then add in upenn or ucdavis. Articles from these places are great because they are usually based on scientific studies and solid animal psychology principles.
2. Well regarded organizations that are known for their advocacy of dogs, e.g. ASPCA, RSPCA.
I have also gotten some good information from breed specific online forums, but in these more public/open to everyone areas, a lot more filtering is necessary.
“Personally, I would be very surprised to see aggression from a very young puppy. When my Sibes were puppies, they were very curious, energetic, and just wanted to explore and play all of the time.”
As what you mentioned above. If he acts like this, he is a very normal and healthy puppy?
“Why do you think your puppy is showing aggression? Is there something else other than the finger biting that would indicate that?”
He don’t just bite our finger, even foot etc. While bitting, he will shake his head like somehow pulling.
Let me put it this way, if my puppy is low-energy, and doesn’t want to play or explore, then I would get very worried and take her to the vet right away.
As for puppy health, I always take a new puppy to the vet for an initial check-up when I first get her. I also set up a vaccination schedule with the vet at that point.
Often, puppies will try biting on lots of things because that is how they interact with their environment, with other puppies, with people, etc. Puppies do not know what is right and wrong, what is desirable to people, and what is not. They are trying different things out and learning what works for them and what does not.
When I first got puppy Lara, she did not know what the rules are, and what her limits are. Therefore, it is important to set up some structure and rules for her, and then teach those rules to her so that she knows what we expect of her, and what she can expect from us in return.
I get it. So, that is how my little boy does. As long as we need to be patient and take the time to teach him. Slowly, when he grows up, he will become more mature and know how to think? Is this what you mean?
That is how it was with my Huskies. As long as I communicated properly with them, and carefully taught them the right thing, they learned pretty quickly what behaviors get them the best results.
May i know how to leash train if i have tried out to leash him but he just stood there and don’t move.
That would probably depend, to some extent, on why he is standing still. How did he react to you putting on a collar and leash? Was he afraid? Uncomfortable? Is this inside the house or outside? Is this in a new environment? Is this the first time putting on a collar and leash?
Sometimes, a dog may freeze because he is uncertain or afraid, especially when he is facing something new. When I introduce my puppy to something new, I always start small, go slowly, and make it very positive. In this way, he will gain confidence, and grow up to be a balanced dog. The process of introducing our dog to new things is also called dog socialization.
Sometimes a dog may not do anything, because he does not know what we want him to do.
There could be many other reasons.
Dog training is very dependent on context. I have found that to train my dogs well, it is not just about the end behavior but also about understanding what led to the behavior, the surrounding context, and more.
First of all, i introduced the collar to him and well, he let me wear for him with a very quiet attitude. But whenever put on the leash, he will start bite and pull. I try to heel him and he will just sit there and totaly won’t move at all. Don’t even bite the leash anymore, just sit.
Yeah, it can sometimes take a puppy some time to get used to something new. I try to start small, go slow, and make the experience positive. For example, to get my puppy Lara used to a lead –
1. I first use a very light lead.
2. I clip the lead onto a flat collar (*not* an aversive collar) and then just let her move around with it, under supervision. This gets her used to wearing the lead and gets her accustomed with its weight.
3. Once she is comfortable moving around on her own with the lead on, then I may sometimes pick it up and engage her in a fun, rewarding game, e.g. Find-It. This teaches her to associate me holding the leash with something positive.
4. When she is comfortable with me holding the leash, then I start to leash train her. I first train her to walk on a loose leash.
Hello,
I have been reading your tips and tricks all day. I am curious to see how to properly potty train your puppy. You state that by smacking the dog could cause some aggression later. So i was just curious to see as to what you could do. I have a 12 week old male siberian husky. His name is Nikko, (neeko), he is really good with listening, most of the time. Like “sitting”, “laying down”, “Fetch” and ever “roll-over” or “bed-time”. But what I don’t understand is that he can be really good about going potty outside and then he just hits this really bad streak and I don’t know what to do with him at that point.
Also,
When he gets really amped up and excited he becomes mean, biting, growling, lashing at the face and my boyfriend and I just tell him no and put him outside to calm him down but this doesn’t always work.
Any advice?
Hello Shayla,
In terms of potty training, I find that the most important things are supervision and consistency. Here are some things that worked well for my Husky Lara –
1. I set up a fixed schedule and routine. I always take Lara out as soon as she wakes up, and also after active play. When Lara was a puppy, she had to go after about 10-15 minutes of play.
2. I look for potty signs. When Lara has to go, she will usually go to corners and/or start circling. As soon as I see her going to corners, I call her over, we both go out, I give her the “Go Potty” command, and reward her very very well for doing the right thing.
3. If I am too late, and Lara has already started, I no-mark (ack-ack) and then interrupt her. Then we both go out, I take her to her potty spot, and give her the “Go Potty” command. Since I just interrupted her inside, she will usually go as soon as we stop moving, so I set her up for success and can reward her well for doing the right thing.
Very quickly, she learned that
– Potty outside = Get lots of attention, food, and a fun favorite game.
– Potty inside = Get interrupted and taken outside.
The most important thing was to supervise Lara well so that I not only maximize successes, but also minimize mistakes.
Here is more on how I potty trained Lara.
Here are a couple of articles on how I trained Lara not to bite on people.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-tips-solutions
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting
For timeouts I use the laundry room. It works well at calming Lara down because it is a very low-stimulus, quiet, and safe, place with very little to see, smell, or do. I let her out after a very short duration, if she is calm. I usually ask for a simple command, e.g. Sit before letting her out.
When I play with Lara, I make sure to teach her game rules. It is important to teach her that interacting with people is different from interacting with other dogs, and she has to be more careful with her teeth and her paws.
Hello! I’m getting a little female shiba inu pup soon and I know they can be little devils, so I’m reading the heck out of these training tips! Thanks for all the information! And wish me luck please, I may need it lol
LOL! Good luck!
Sounds like you are well prepared and have done a lot of research – so you are already ahead of the game.
Have you decided on a name yet?
Thank you for a very informative read. I just got a new boston terrier puppy (10 wks old) and found this very helpful. So thank you again!
Help my dog is useless
I’ve put this on facebook. My granddaughter just got a new puppy so I’ll let her know to read it. Thanks for the helpful info.