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Bond and Trust – The Human–Dog relation basis
The basics on building a trustworthy relation to your Puppy
Dog training is particularly based on a functional communication between the human being and his dog.
The tie between you and your dog isn’t there right from the beginning, but has to be developed with lot of love, devotion and consistency. The Puppy, having stayed with his mother till now, needs to receive this love, protection, contact and rules from you from now on, and of course his basic needs, like feeding, playing, sleeping and cuddling need to be satisfied.
The Puppy still needs to learn a lot, and gain experience every single day. Doing so he will of course face situations that might be scary or disturbing and this is exactly the point where the Puppy needs to trust in you. Together the two of you will face those troubles, find irritating objects and situations, and the trust that is built in those moments will strengthen the bonds between you and your dog a little more every day.
A good relation will further on be the cornerstone of your education, as the dog will only be following your wish if he feels motivated by you and has developed those bonds.
Now how can these ties be developed?
The Puppy’s phases of development
Phases of development
The Puppy passes through several stages of development after birth.
Vegetative phase (1. and 2. week)
In this early stage eyes and ears are still closed, and the sense of smell is poorly developed.
Transition period (3. week)
Now the palpebral fissure and outer acoustic meatus open up, still the Puppy is not able to see. Vision is not developed before the 17th or 18th week. The same applies for the sense of hearing. Did the Puppy so far solely sleep and drink, he’ll now be able to notice his siblings and adjacencies.
Filial Imprinting (4 - 7. week)
Eyes, nose and ears are fully developed. In this period the Puppy ideally becomes acquainted with various impressions like humans, noises or visual impressions. He consciously notices his environment und gets to know his social partners. While playing with his little brothers and sisters he will learn to find his position in the hierarchy and to test himself and the others. This is the period where personality and temper are stamped. Is a Puppy in this period kept isolated and without social contacts, it is very likely that there will be major problems with the dog’s socialization.
Puppy Potty Training
Potty Training
The first thing you want to do when a new puppy arrives to your home is to start the potty training. Potty training can be the most challenging and rewarding part of all puppy-training exercises. Potty training your new family member can be very frustrating at times, but can provide a lifetime of rewards. Being consistent while potty training will help your puppy develop a positive behavior.
The biggest challenge when potty training your puppy is to recognize your puppy’s signals when it needs to go potty. When most people first bring home their new puppy they focus on the love & enjoyment their puppy will bring, but without effective potty training this novelty wears off and soon leads to other related problems. The time spent potty training your puppy will be well worth it, both for you and your dog. When potty training, keep in mind that puppies, like humans, tend to flourish when phrased and are rewarded for their efforts.
Crate Training
Crate training your dog
Crate training a dog can be one of the most beneficial aspects of successful instruction. Crate training not only helps ease your mind when you are away from home, but it is also of assistance in potty training.
A crate for your dog will become his sanctuary. Whether or not you chose this as a home for him when you are gone or as a bed at night, it is important to make the crate experience a positive one. The crate should become a comfort zone, and should be used consistently when leaving or sleeping. Crating your pup when you leave home will put your mind at ease knowing that he will not be chewing or soiling the rest of your home. It is also comforting to know that your dog feels safe and relaxed until you can return.
Dogs need different diets at different ages
Feeding your Dog
Dogs need different diets at different ages. Yes. This is true. For example, the puppy needs milk as the major food item while an adult dog may need beef or chicken in addition to the boiled egg and milk. So depending on the age factor, the diet schedule varies in reality for the dogs like any other species.
Puppies need greater amounts of protein, fat and carbohydrates than an adult dogs. Furthermore, puppies need more frequent feeding schedules in a day, unlike an adult dog. The movement based requirements of diet are more in the case of puppies, since they are often more active than the adult dogs.
Dog commands
The Commands
How do you get your commands across to your apprentice?
Firstly there are your voice and language. It is said that there are people bringing home there Puppy, putting them to their designated spot and wonder why the command “down” is simply ignored. Isn’t that inborn?
Canines barely communicate acoustically. For them body language is equal to the human writing and language. To achieve his degree of master your best friend will only have to learn about 10 commands. Most additional are just a needless wastefulness. You may use terms that comfort you, but using the common commands makes sense for many reasons.
Before your dog does, YOU should have a good grasp of the commands you are going to use. First of all the dogs name (disyllabic, preferably with two different vowels, like Bella, Lassie, Ringo). Then “No”, “Come/Here”, “Sit”, “Stay”, “Down”, “Stand”, “Heel”, “Out/Let Go” “Fetch” and “Track”.
Those words are called commands, and maybe this is the reason why most dog owners use them and act like drill sergeants.
Home made Dog diets
Home made diets
Home made diets are important in the dog feeding. Many a times, the commercial diets consist of food items that have artificial coloring agents and flavoring agents that are harmful to the dog’s body. Home made food items have the guarantee of freshness in the preparation unlike the ready-made commercial items.
The preservatives added in the commercial food items may not be the suitable ones to the dogs from the health point of view. Even in case of renal diseases in dogs, the home made diets may be made with ground beef, slices of bread, calcium carbonate, boiled eggs etc.
Train your dog to Sit!
Training your dog to Sit!
The command Sit! would be one of the first and easiest you want your dog to learn and memorize.
Whenever a dog hears his feeding dish being handled, or his leash being taken from its place it knows what’s going to happen. So the Puppy is very early able to understand the connection food - cup, or walk – leash and anticipate the outcome. This is exactly what we are going to take advantage of.
The moment the Puppy sits down by himself we say “sit”. Repeatingly using the sit! command whenever the Puppy sits down will make your dog connect action and command. As with the cup and leash example the dog will sit down although the command is happening before the action taking place. Of course the Puppy will only sit down if not “disturbed” by something of major importance.
You may start to back your command after a few days of practice, by gently pushing your dog’s croup down with one hand and keeping his head up with the other. In doing so, we repeat the command >>sit<<, >>sit<< with a comforting voice. Should the dog sit for about 5 seconds, this should be followed by exuberant praise and visible exaltation.
Your body language and voice must be a clear signal to your dog, that it has just achieved something world-shaking.
Dry vs. Canned Dog food
A look at Dog food
These types of food materials are different with different grades of liking by the dogs. Dogs like dry foods only if they are tasty only and however, on comparison, the dogs prefer only the canned food items. Reason for such preference by the dogs is that in case of canned food items, the moisture is about seventy to eighty per cent but in case of dry food, it is only about ten per cent.
However, if you view it in terms of nutrients, often the dry food contains nearly ninety per cent nutrients whereas the canned food items contain only less per cent of nutrients and most of the times. It is only soy products that are structured so well to look like meat pieces.
Dog Insurance
Why having dog insurance is important
To have a proper insurance for the dog is a very important issue for every new dog owner.
While most dog owners firstly think about health insurance plans, good public liability insurance, covering every kind of accident or injury is much more important. Even the smallest dog may cause a car accident by running on a road, make somebody fall and break his leg, damage someone else’s property, or bite the postman to defend his home.
Make sure the maximum cover is high enough to pay even for a heavy car accident and long term rehab. Most insurance plans have a very low coverage that is no help at all. There is many insurance companies specialized on pet insurances, so take your time to compare their plans and packages.
