SYP Month

Last year we were inspired by APDT’s Train Your Dog Month 2010 and blogged a month of daily training plans covering lots of basics for dogs living in the human world.

January 2011 is another APDT Train Your Dog Month and this time round Pet Central is going to do something slightly different to hopefully help lots of pets and their people.

January 2011 will be Socialise Your Puppy Month @ Pet Central and we will blog a daily socialisation plan for all those new (and not so new) puppies.

Most puppies go to their new homes at about 8 weeks of age. This is most of the way through a very important period in your puppy’s development called critical socialisation which runs from 3 weeks to 3 months.

This means that when you get your puppy home you only have 4 weeks of this period left; hopefully for the remainder of this period your puppy has been with people who have actively started the hard work of preparing puppies for the human world.

It is vital that puppy socialisation escalates during this period because after 12 weeks puppies start to view the world in a very different way. New experiences will from now on be viewed as scary and this is treated as a default setting.

It’s much easier to socialise puppy during this critical period than to try to teach an adolescent or adult dog that new things are ok and not scary.

What’s involved in puppy socialisation?

Think of all the places, people, situations, sounds, smells and happenings that you might ever want your dog to be happy with – that’s what socialisation is about, preparing puppy for all of these.

Puppies have it harder than any other animal when it comes to socialisation because our expectations of adult dogs are so very high.

The sorts of exercises that we will be covering over this socialisation month include:

positive exposure to lots and lots and lots and lots of people; especially those who are different to the primary carer/s that your puppy has had up to now – this usually means men and children
positive exposure to lots and lots of puppies of different breeds and types
positive exposure to lots and lots of adult dogs of different breeds and types
positive exposure to lots and lots and lots and lots of different situations
bite inhibition training
handling & grooming training
resource guarding prevention training
toilet training
settle training
alone training
crate training
anti-destruction training
manners training

All in one month?

Yes!

But it must continue for the remainder of your dog’s life. Doing this now with puppy means that the rest of life with your canine companion will be much easier and way more enjoyable for all.

This program brings you to the end of only one period in your and your dog’s life together.

Tips for SYP Month:

- get DAP pump spray to apply to puppy’s new bed and around the house to help him to settle in

- make sure to have everything ready before puppy comes home and certainly before we begin with Socialise Your Puppy Month

- download Dr Dunbar’s Before Your Get Your Puppy and After You Get Your Puppy for free so no excuses!

- start enquiring at dog training schools now, if you haven’t already, and ask them when you can attend to observe a class before signing up. Read more on choosing a trainer. Once happy with a training school book the course and be ready to start.

- get sounds CDs of prerecorded sounds for socialisation, bookmark suitable YouTube clips or download sounds from here: http://www.findsounds.com/

Must-haves for surviving puppyhood:

crate
bedding
play pen
water bowls
puppy food
treats
Kong toys
tug toys, fetch toys and chewables
puppy collar, leash and harness (identification tag)
appropriate grooming tools

Puppy Proofing:

This involves preparing your home for the arrival of a dog or puppy. Puppies come with lots of behaviour inbuilt that are less than acceptable to people. The first and most important way of preventing these behaviours becoming a problem is to put management strategies in place.

Confining the puppy from areas that he is likely to chew or toilet in and putting away forbidden chewable items out of puppy’s reach are examples of very very important management strategies.

House Rules:

There are certain things that you will not want your puppy to do and most of these are covered in puppy proofing. But some behaviours will not be acceptable to you and your family and these must be decided upon before puppy comes home. For example, is puppy allowed upstairs or up on the sofa? Decide and make sure that everyone is on the same page.

Get ready for SYP Month:

Measure out puppy’s daily rations every night. Mix some with some of your puppy’s favourite treats and seal in a bag. Place in a fridge and allow the smells to mingle. This will be your Training Mix for our socialisation program.

Have plenty of back up stuffed Kongs for settle, alone and crate training. Mix puppy’s regular food with a little water, cottage cheese or low fat yoghurt and stuff into Kong toys. Put in the freezer for a couple of hours for a great entertainment and teething toys.