Puppy Prepping
Hey Everyone,
I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for good puppy books, websites or training practices. I'm hoping to be puppy prepped by the time I get my dog. There's so much information out there and since I've never owned a dog before I don't have a compass to determine what's good, effective or just plain useless.
I'll also take tidbits of tips if you want to throw them my way; i.e. I just read in another post about a CD with random sounds, ( cars honking, babies crying, etc ) to get your pup socialized. I think that's a great idea if it works!
Thanks!
Lisa
I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for good puppy books, websites or training practices. I'm hoping to be puppy prepped by the time I get my dog. There's so much information out there and since I've never owned a dog before I don't have a compass to determine what's good, effective or just plain useless.
I'll also take tidbits of tips if you want to throw them my way; i.e. I just read in another post about a CD with random sounds, ( cars honking, babies crying, etc ) to get your pup socialized. I think that's a great idea if it works!
Thanks!
Lisa
Comments
Here's a recent thread on the topic:
http://www.nihonken.org/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/8088/ideal-first-day-for-shikoku-puppy/#Item_7
I really REALLY wishes I got Sophia Yin's book before I got Meichan home. A young puppy is so different from getting a grown dog.
RE: socialization,
Besides pup social, obedience class, dog shows & breed picnics, here are my unofficial list of places to take pup... For many of these, we don't take the dogs inside but just stay in the car or sit nearby for them to observe activities & be exposed to the smells/noises and see "stuff happening". I don't necessarily want strangers to come up to my dogs in some cases, I just need my dogs to know this is normal part of the world that they live in.
Airport, mass transit (train, light rail, subway, bus) stops
Ferry stations/docks/light house (fog horns are great)
Construction sites (houses being remodeled counts, it's the power tool & hammer noises you want to expose them to)
Outdoor shopping malls
Coffee shops
Diners/burger joints with outdoor seating (but make sure it's clean so puppy doesn't pick up garbage)
Apple stores, Tiffany & Co. High-end dept stores, car dealerships. Generally high end places have excellent customer service & will accommodate dog visits in case you make a purchase. Please avoid Abercrombie & Fitch or places that play loud music and are crowded.
Gas station and car repair shops (grease monkey smell)
Churches or places of worship (wait outside when people exit service & bells are ringing)
Little league games (baseball, soccer are better since they are outdoors)
University or high school campus, especially when a game is going on (band noises)
Track race or boat race (you want to expose then to gun shot noise but don't take them to a shooting range!)
Libraries & post offices, hospitals, nurseries & home improvement stores (lots of interesting smells)
Fire station, police station (siren/noises, or just to see fireman in their gear, can be scary looking to pups)
Street fair if allowed (usually away from food vendors), is few options where dogs might be exposed to concerts/bands
Office buildings, banks, hair salon, home improvement stores (many posts sign that pet animals aren't allowed, so please ask)
-take with me to places like malls/conventions/fairs/universities/ect if puppy is small enough to fit in a bag, and then become bold enough to put a fake service dog vest on as puppy grows up. Anarchanism!
-put puppy on lead around the house.
-let puppy on couch.
-puppy socialization classes early and often. (i've never had a problem with Toki's dog or obedience skills, but next time i want to enroll in puppy classes, even if its just petsmart)
-titer test!!!!
I work in a really high-end mall in downtown Dallas. I second bringing your dog to high-end department stores. I see people bringing their toy dogs to the mall all the time. One time I had a midget customer with a tiny little yorkie. It was rather adorable. Another time I saw a husky mix walking on a leash during the slower hours. Usually I've seen dogs at the mall during the slow hours, which would still be very good socialization towards people.
We typically do dog walks with the shiba friends once a month, and Stanford Campus is a popular destination w/ lunch at the shopping center afterwards. Meichan's only been on these walks twice since she has all her shots. We were there today, passed by both an Apple store and Window store today, but both stores were crowded so we didn't go inside. Keep in mind this is was among the mini-sized Apple stores and not as ideal for visiting the inside of the store, but great for people watching.
We met a shiba that was riding a stroller coming out of the Window store.
Oh oh, we did go riding on the escalator in Nieman Marcus, I'll post a video!!
If you've never been owned by a dog before, I also recommend a couple of books by Patricia McConnell, they were very helpful to me before I got my shiba 9+ years ago:
The Other End of the Leash
Leader of the Pack
http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/store/dog-training-books/
Most recently I'm reading The Misunderstood Dog, which does a good job comparing schools of dog training in lay people terms early on, I haven't finished it yet:
http://doggiedrawings.net/post/36381548121
Assuming you're getting a Nihon Ken, I recommend staying away from books/training schools that advocate rolling the dog on its back (ex. Cesar Millan and Monks of New Skete) or choke collar training
One of the reasons I really value everyone's opinions on this forum is because I know that different dogs respond to different types of traning, enforcement, etc and I want to know which methods are best for Nihon Ken. However, there's no way I'd ever consider Cesar Millan's methods which to me seem incredibly inhumane.
I'm REALLY looking forward to socializing my pup, bringing him out to all those different places!
If I told my hubby about some of those places you mentioned ( i.e. Neiman Marcus and Tiffany's!), he'd get suspicious and probably make me leave my wallet at home, LOL !!
http://pinterest.com/rikumom/k9/
ps, You want to take pup places where people will woo- and ah- after them, not places where they get weird/dirty looks. We reference the high end stores to socialize pets b/c they tend to be more tolerant people bringing their dogs along, and other patrons are used to seeing other dogs. Whereas mass merchants like Target have discrete signage that pets aren't allowed.
YES! Culture Clash is a great book, I missed that one!
I guess better safe than sorry??
Critical periods in puppy development: http://ice.ucdavis.edu/~robyn/Korina/Criticalperiodsinpuppydevelopment.html
It's just really important to do a lot of careful socialization BEFORE all the vaccinations are complete. And it's fun--it's when puppies are really curious and open to a lot of new experiences and I read somewhere--can't find it now--that new experiences and learning in this critical time period actually help with the pup's brain development; it was something I read about it literally being tied to brain growth and development.
Maybe puppy pads would be the way to go until the pup is a bit older, and has at least had the first round of shots (then careful outings (perhaps being carried in "dangerous" areas, and allowed to get down in areas with a little less dog traffic).