Basic training Most dogs live with people who want them to behave in ways that make them pleasant to be around, keep them safe, and provides for the safety of other humans and pets. Dogs do not figure out basic obedience on their own. The fundamental rule that must be remembered is that one should never apply human standards of society onto the dog with the assumption that the dog will understand. Never assume a dog is trying to insult, injure or deceive you on a personal level. Understand that it is acting as a dog naturally, innocently does, and should be met with patience and thoughtfulness, rather than forcefulness or retaliation. Many trainers treat their dogs with cruelty and irrational punishment, leading to measurably increased stress, illness, and tendency towards violence.
The hardest part of training is communicating with the dog in a humane way that the dog understands. However, the underlying principle of all communication is simple: reward desired behavior while ignoring or correcting undesired behavior.
Basic pet obedience training usually consists of six behaviors:
- Sit
- Down
- Stay
- Recall ("come", "here" or "in")
- Close (or loose-leash walking)
- Heel
Puppies and learning the prenatal period is a recently recognized developmental period of puppies. It is thought that "long-term effects on behavioral development may also be produced in some mammals by events occurring in utero".Previous studies tended to overlook the existence of this period, since the puppy’s behavior could not be observed. With the development of the ultrasound machine, a puppy can now be observed within the mother as early as the fourth week of gestation.
It was found that puppy fetuses would react to touch and/or pressure from the outside of the mother’s abdomen. In addition, it is theorized that since puppies have such a well-developed sense of touch at birth, the sense of touch would also be well-developed before birth. Studies have found that "when a pregnant animal is petted her litter is more docile", According to Fox, this facilitates relaxation, emotional attachment, and socialization. Other studies have indicated that puppies that receive outside contact (petting of the mother) while in utero have a higher tolerance for touching than puppies that receive no contact at all. One could theorize that gentle petting of the mother’s abdomen could help to facilitate positive, beneficial puppy socialization with people.During the first two weeks of a puppy's life, also known as the neonate period, puppies can learn simple associations. However, early experience events are unlikely to carry over into later periods. Studies indicate that puppies in the neonate period do not seem to learn by experience. It is theorized that this is due to the fact that the puppy’s brain, sense, and motor organs are still undeveloped. Based on its limited capacity to sense and learn it would be difficult to affect the puppy psychologically, either in a positive or negative sense.
The next period of development is known as the socialization period. This period begins around 3 weeks old and ends around 12 weeks old. The main aspect of this period is social play. Social investigation, playful fighting and playful sexual behavior is very important to developing social relationships during its life.New behavior patterns are directly influenced by the puppy’s interaction with its mother and other puppies in the litter.
During this period puppies develop social relationships, with other puppies as well as with people. However, there is a point at which the puppies can develop a fear of strangers. At 3–5 weeks of age, puppies will actively approach strangers. Shortly thereafter stranger avoidance begins and slowly escalates until it peaks around 12–14 weeks of age.While this natural fear of strangers could serve as a way to keep a curious puppy away from predators, it can also hinder normal relationships with people.
During this period, startle reactions to sudden movement and sounds develop. This serves to help the puppy learn to differentiate between dangerous and safe or insignificant events.During the socialization period, the development of attachment to certain locations occurs. This is displayed by an extreme disturbance in the puppy whenever a change in location occurs. This is known as localization. (Serpell, 1995) Localization often peaks in puppies between 6–7 weeks old, and then tapers off after that time until a change in location is no longer distressing to the puppy.
