How to discipline a very young pup

With the addition of Blue on the verandah and the peacocks in the Gods, the morning and evening chores have taken a reshuffle. I know that is not a particularly exciting development. But the settling and early discipline of the pup is crucial. It is important for me not to let the training of the pup get muddled.

Like a child the first thing he needs to learn his boundaries, where he is safe and can sleep safely, to come when he is called, that I am the boss and what his name is. And like with a child it is important not to ignore bad behaviour.  Misky asked me how I discipline such a tiny dog. Well, I pretend to be the mother dog.

Mother dogs will play with their pups for a short while, then when they get out of control they put their foot on their heads, if that does not work they will woof sharply at them and the pups will scatter immediately.

Straight after this the mother dog will proceed to lick and cuddle the babies settling them all back down.

For example yesterday Ton and I took Blue to meet the old codger, (this will not be a frequent occurrence as the old Codger is TonTon’s friend.) In the car I placed the pup in the well of the passenger seat. Then began to drive slowly – waiting. Of course he popped up and tried to climb into my lap. I placed him back in his place and said Good boy, Stay, showing him my Stay hand signal. He immediately struggled to get back up. No, I said, much louder. Pushed him back down. Stay, I said. He got back out again. No. I said louder and sharper, clapped my hands for a fright, then pushed him firmly and abruptly back to the floor of the car. Gave him the stay hand signal. Stay, I said.  He sat there and stared at me then lay down. Good boy, I said and patted him on the head. I continued to tell him he was good as long as he lay there and off we drove.

We got out and in at Nannys, out and in at The Matriarchs, out and in at the vets. And every time I put him in the exact same place, using the exact same tone and word and signal and by the third time he went straight to his space  and lay straight down and stayed there. Pat – pat.  Good dog

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• There are three important steps to training a pup.

• You decide beforehand what you want him to learn and how to teach him a step at a time.
•  You decide beforehand what commands to use and the repercussions and use the same tone, words and hand signal every time.
•  Put the pups head on the ground and firmly scruff him and growl if he gets it wrong, then pat, pat, good dog the second he gets it right.  The very second he gets it right. 

Good morning. I hope that is useful. Have a lovely day. Today things will have settled into a pattern I hope. Pups and grown ups need some order in their lives!

love celi