All of my puppies have now left for their new homes, with the exception of Bento Box, who will be staying here at Four on the Floor. I will begin “training” him, even though he is only 10 weeks old. I am using the word training loosely. While he will be learning certain commands, the vast majority of what he will be learning will be taught very informally.
In my opinion, it is never too early to start working with young puppies. In fact, the younger the better, so you can capitalize on that brief window of time where their brains are like sponges. I get phone calls all the time regarding someone waiting until their puppy is six months old to begin training them. I feel like that is a lifetime to allow bad habits to form, and also to miss out on the ease with which you can train a baby puppy to accept things and shape their behaviors. This kind of formative behavior training is how Bento Box will be learning the ropes here, and also how I will be building a connection and relationship with him.
I can not stress enough how important it is to get puppies under 14 weeks of age out into the world as often as possible. Yes, I know puppies this young are not fully vaccinated. Therefore, you will need to pick places that are safe, meet dogs that you trust are vaccinated, and plan for the experiences to be positive. For example, Bento met Bear the Newfie and met a girl dog named Darby. I know both those dogs are fully vaccinated and healthy. Plus, they met where no other dogs could have been to spread disease. I made sure to have plenty of treats on hand to reward him for having fun with his new giant friend and was able to instill in him that big dogs are safe, thus creating the very high chance that seeing other dogs that are big won’t be a scary thing for him in the future. I encourage my puppy owners to take their puppies to places where they will hear all kinds of new sounds, meet new people, and have safe playdates with dogs they trust. I would never suggest going to the dog park at this age or to a place like the Egg Harbor Township Nature Reserve, where there is a high volume of dog traffic. But having a safe playdate at your home, in my opinion, is far more beneficial to your puppy than keeping them sheltered. Also, when you take your puppy out, expose them to the world safely, and feed them treats, you are building a bond of trust. This teaches the puppy that you are there for them and that they can trust you to lead them into this big, scary world.
One of the most important things that I will be working on with him is building a relationship of trust and love. Of course, Bento was born into my hands, so you would think he already does trust and love me. I think he does know me and likes me plenty. However, up until now, his life has been fairly focused on eating from his mother and playing with his littermates. Now I will be what occupies his time, not his brothers and sister. I will be saying his name nonstop and rewarding him for looking at me when he hears it with lots of treats. I will also be working on the true connection of Bento looking me dead in the eye without me prompting him to do so. This unprompted eye contact is the absolute foundation on which all of our training will be built. This may seem like an easy thing for a puppy to learn. However, the world will be much more interesting than I am, and most puppies seem to forget that their human exists. So I will start establishing that checking in with me now, when he is so young, is rewarding. This also lowers the odds of him being overwhelmed and distracted as the world starts to open up to him. This is not the same as asking him to look at me. It’s a voluntary, ingrained behavior based on the concept that paying attention to me is rewarding. This builds a connection between you and the dog like no other. Your puppy running up to you and looking you in the eye with pure joy and love in their hearts, and you rewarding it, regardless of whether they are sitting or squirming around, will build an unbreakable bond between you.
Bonding with your baby puppy should be positive for both of you. Remember to banish the puppy blues of housebreaking accidents and chewed-up shoes by using this time to snuggle, love, and play with your new addition. Your dog is only a puppy once, and time moves quickly. So get out and enjoy every second of your time with them. Enjoy the ride!
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at heidi@fouronthefloordogtraining.net.
