How to Train a Puppy

Entertained, Pandora crouched down and was rewarded when the puppy

 sprang onto her lap and licked her face.

"Where’d  you come from?" Laughing, and defending herself as best she could, 

Pandora found the card attached to the red bow around the puppy’s neck. It read:

My name is Bruno. I’m a mean, ugly dog looking for a lady to defend.

"Bruno, huh?" Laughing again, Pandora stroked his 

unfortunately long ears. "How mean are

you?" she asked as he contented himself with licking her chin.

A WIll  and a Way

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By ManuelFD - Own work fuente propia, CC BY 3.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11368669

The First 8 Things You Need to Do

Take a break from those cute puppy cuddles to make sure your new pooch learns these essential life skills.

Family Handyman

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“You should try crate-training him.”

“I got a crate. He ate the crate. Or enough of it to get out. 

I think he must be able to flatten himself like

a snake. I can’t get any work done. I think 

maybe he’s brain-damaged, or just psychotic.”

“What he is, is a baby who needs a lot of playtime, 

love, patience and discipline,” she corrected

The Search

Why do we use 'baby talk' with puppies?

“Oh, it’s a little puppy! She’s like a little toy.”

“He. This is Earl Grey. I hope you don’t mind, but I didn’t want to leave him home alone.”

“Oh, oh, he’s precious. Just precious.”

“Would you like to hold him?”

“I’d love it.” Miranda gathered the dog in her hands, immediately lapsed into lisping baby talk.

Lila just slanted a look toward Ash, and smiled. “Is there anywhere I could take him for a little walk outside?”

“Oh, of course! I’ll show you. Want to go for a walkie?” Miranda cooed, rubbing noses with Earl Grey, then giggling when he lapped his tiny tongue on her face.

The Collector

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By maxintosh / Max Talbot-Minkin - 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/maxtm/311263959/, CC BY 2.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5724965

You can't help it. You see that sweet little face and immediately begin to blabber in a sing-song voice, "Hello, sweetie pie! Who's a good boy?!"

We tend to talk to puppies as we do to babies, speaking slowly in a high-pitched voice. An international team of researchers recently looked at the science behind what they call "dog-directed speech" to find out why we do it and if our canine friends truly respond to it.

Mother Nature Network

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She cradled the pup, who immediately bathed her face as if they were reunited lovers. She caught the

faintest whiff of leather on his warm puppy breath.

“Aren’t you cute? Are you a pretty boy?”

“He’s a monster.” Simon snarled it. “An escape artist who doesn’t sleep. If I take my eye off him for two minutes, he eats something or breaks something or finds the most inappropriate place to relieve himself. I haven’t had a minute’s peace in three weeks.”

“Um-hmm.” She snuggled the pup.

The Search

Better Way To Play With Your Dog

"Uh-huh. This is a great dog, mister."
"The dog's Moe, I'm Flynn. Zoe, can Simon take Moe back out so they can run around like maniacs for a while?"
"Sure. Twenty minutes, Simon, then you hit the books."
"Sweet!"
"Straight out the back," Flynn told him. "There's a ball out there with tooth marks and drool all over it. He likes you to chase it and fetch it back to him."
"You're funny," Simon decided. "Let's go, Moe!"



Key of Light

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By Takashi Hososhima from Tokyo, Japan (It's happy running time!) [CC BY-SA 2.0

 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The researchers found that dog owners who touched their dogs more, stayed close and moved around a lot appeared to have more fun while playing with their dogs.

“In other words,” the researchers explain in the study, “people smiled more in play when they were active and moving around, and when there was a lot of physical contact between them and their dogs.” 

HUFFINGTON POST

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Maybe, in some convoluted way, his mother had been right to foist a dog on him. It forced him to get outside—which was a big part of the purpose of relocating. Gave him a chance to look around, relax, get in tune with what moved around him.


The Search

What We Say to Our Dogs Matters

Simon took Jaws on the second round, stretching the space between them on the “Stay.” 

Then, at Fiona’s instructions, a third time until dog and man were a good twenty-five feet apart.

“Don’t frown at the dog when he’s doing what he’s told.”

“I’m not frowning.”

“Let’s call it your default expression. You’re confusing him. Call him in.”

Jaws responded and took the last couple of feet on his belly before rolling over to expose it.

“You did good, you did fine. Show-off,” Simon muttered as he bent down to rub.

“He switched to submissive mode because he wasn’t sure what you were after. You asked him for

something, he gave it, and you stand there scowling at him. He gets an A.” Fiona knelt down to stroke Jaws into delirium. “You get a C minus.”

“Hey.”

“My class is coming back. Hold him. Give him the stay command and keep him still for a few seconds. Then you can give him the release, let him go greet.”

“How?”

“Sit and stay—holding him as he’s going to want to run and see who’s coming.” As she spoke she

checked her watch for the log. “Then give him the go—use simple phrasing, something natural to you. Say hi, go ahead, greet. Whatever. Then let him loose.”

She rose, walked away to meet the first of her returning students.

“You wanted me to look bad, didn’t you? You think I’m not on to you?” Simon held the puppy in

place while rubbing his ears. “Not as dumb as you look, are you? Just wanted to impress the pretty girl.”

The Search

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By MurielW - Own work, CC0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20498880

Have you ever noticed that there are several things we say to our dogs, repeatedly?  

Well animal behavioral researchers Alexandra Horowitz and Julie Hecht have, and they’ve published their research showing that what we say and how we say it elicits particular responses in them, and why they are key to the dog/human relationship.

LIFE WITH DOGS

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“You know the secrets,” he said to Bert. “Too bad you can’t talk.”

The Witness