Well behaved and well trained are two different things. You can have a child that has high scores on his arithmetic, a major in science, knows tennis, and is a wizard with a violin, but still be a jerk no one wants to be around. Well trained does not equal well behaved. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been approached by someone who remarks, “your dogs are so well trained!”. He had been walking with me and sat down to ask if he could go say hi to the toddler. When told ok, he calmly walked to the child and sat in front of him, tail wagging. He didn’t try for the ice cream in the boy’s hands, but welcomed the tiny hands to pet him. He waited for me to invite him into a new building, and when was told to wait, he waited calmly outside for me to come out. He didn’t react to the dog that walked by us that was lunging at the end of his leash in a desperate attempt to play WWE with any dog or human that walked by. What people don’t understand is this is not well trained, this is well behaved. A well trained dog is the dog that dives through an open window to apprehend a suspect at his owners command, or the collie that swerves to his right up the herd of sheep at a long whistle, then lays down behind them at two short blasts. It’s the dog that sniffs the room surrounded by gun fire and sits at a table to indicate there is a bomb in there. You see? There is a difference. Let’s discuss a few tricks you can start with your pup so you can end up with a well behaved dog.
Keep your pup on your hands free leash while hanging around the house. He will LOVE following you around and participating in your daily life. It will also allow a safe space to explore. If you have to go to an area that the puppy should not have access to, like a cattle pen, tether your pup in a safe place, outside the fence where he can watch what you are doing. More importantly, he is learning you and what you expect from him. The more time you spend with him, the more he will learn from you. A dog that is kenneled does not learn new lessons.
Take them for a daily walk around the property (we do this leash free). This will give them exercise, allow bonding (dogs bond well when they travel), they learn their territory, and most importantly they learn to keep you in sight or come check in while off leash. If pup steps outside of the boundary, a simple word correction like ‘ACK’ and then direct pup back to your side is usually all it takes. We do not have fences. Be prepared, it does take about 2-3 years before the dogs are mature and solid enough to allow that much freedom.
Talk to your pup. Tell them what you are doing. You will soon see them picking up those words. “Time for the crate, or kennel up”, “Let’s go to the barn, or “Time to put chickens away”, “Let’s go outside”, or “Whose here?” These all become communication ques they will pick up and use in the future. They will then put those words together later. Asking “Whose at the barn?” will trigger them to go to the ‘barn’ and look ‘whose here’. There was no training involved, no treats or rewards given for an acceptable action – only time spent with you, learning you and what you expect.
Pick and stick to your commands, release words (ok, let's go, released), and marker words (clicker, yes, good). Decide if they are allowed on the furniture and if so, which ones. Letting a pup slide one time on a behavior, then correcting it the next time is very confusing for the pup. This can cause the pup to be sneaky about doing that behavior when you are not around. It’s very important to BE CONSISTENT.
A good rule of thumb is this: ‘Do not let your puppy do what you would not allow your grown dog to do’. It might be cute now for puppy to jump up to say hi – until the first rainy, muddy day that you’re in your Sunday best, or he’s 60 pounds of ‘puppy’. If you think it’s cute for your tiny puppy to sit on your lap in your recliner every night to watch tv, be prepared for your 40-60 pound dog to join you there too! It is not fair to allow the puppy to do a habit, then all of the sudden get mad and tell them they can’t do it. It only confuses the dog. He has no idea that you don’t want the sweet smelling mud on your starched white slacks. He never even thought of it. Be firm and fair. Start while they are young. Dogs learn best what they learn first.
Remember manners. Make her sit at the doors/gates and wait for a release to go through (this stops those bolting dogs before the habit even starts). They will learn to ask permission to enter a building or pasture. Sit to ask for petting and to greet people. Sit and Wait for a release word before they eat from their bowl. All of these build good manners – and stop potentially bad ones from even forming.
Interactions with children should be supervised at all times until the dog is mature. Children have to be taught how to treat puppies and puppies have to be taught that children are not litter mates. They can not place mouths on children for any reason. Watch that the puppy does not take things from children’s hands unless they are explicitly given a command (like take it, or easy). They need to learn not to be too hyper around children. It may be cute now, but your puppy grows far faster than your human child. A hyper puppy that is 8 months old will easily knock down a toddler and mug him of his graham cracker. Sitting for child interaction is best learned young.
Most importantly, the whole family needs to be consistent. They all need to know the rules and enforce those rules. English Shepherds thrive with rules and are happiest when they know them. Come up with some of your own. Our dogs know they have to get ‘cleaned up’ before they come into the house. They will stand patiently by the door as each leg is lifted to get wiped clean and a they are towel dried from top to bottom.
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