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Many dog breeders think that they are doing an excellent job if
they hand over healthy, purebred puppies between six and eight
weeks old. However, if the puppy hasn't been properly
socialized, then its behavior will be affected for the rest of
its life.
The first eight weeks are crucial to the life long worldview, or
perspective, of a puppy. During those first few weeks, a puppy
learns to regard humans as either essential or nonessential to
their happiness. They learn to be submissive, or to ignore the
wishes of humans.
I. Types of Breeders:
There are several definitions of types of breeders.
Quickly, let me mention Puppy Mills. The most common public
conception of Puppy Mills has been documented ad nauseum by
animal rights advocates: hundreds of puppies, dirty food bowls,
unsanitary small cages, etc. But in reality, there aren't
that many of those when viewed in relationship to the entire
number of breeders in the US. They wholesale their puppies to dog
brokers who then find outlets for them in Pet Shops. However,
there are also the federally registered and approved dog breeding
facilities. These are inspected and determined to be found clean,
sanitary, adequate environments for the raising of puppies. While
they also wholesale their puppies, they sometimes place them
individually. Both of these puppy producers exist solely for the
purpose of producing the maximum number of puppies with the least
amount of cost. After reading the following article, it will be obvious that there are simply not enough people in either of these facilities to properly socialize a puppy.
Besides these two types of massive operations, there are
basically two other types of breeders. There are people that
breed for additional income, and there are the show ring breeders
that breed for championships. These two types of breeders can and
do overlap, because showring breeders also make money. Showring
breeders frequently keep kennels of dogs for their genetic
properties and ability to garner championships in the rings.
There are huge amounts of money at stake in the dog world such as
advertising contracts, studs fees, photograph rights, breeding
contracts, puppy fees, championship rewards, etc.
The people that breed for additional income can keep and breed
few or many dogs. Only 10% of the puppies registered with AKC
each year are bred by Showring breeders. That means that ninety
percent of the AKC registered puppies are raised by people not
interested in championships. There are many motives for breeding
dogs, and most of those boil down to either money or
championships or both, in some form or another. This is just the
facts. There is no criticism here of either. Someone has to breed
the dogs, or the wonderful characteristics of many breeds would
be lost if and when the genetic material becomes extinct from
lack of breeding. The trick is to look beyond these factors and
investigate how the puppies are socialized.
II. Where are Puppies raised?
Many breeders raise their puppies in the kennel, garage, or in
clean little "huts" in the yard. Fewer raise
them inside the house. It is easier to raise a dog outside where
there is less cleaning to do, and less disruption to family life.
If puppies are raised inside, the puppy area must be kept odor
free (well, at least that would be my preference).
There are many psychological disadvantages to raising puppies
outside of the home. First of all, the puppy will be unfamiliar
with the noises and activities of daily family life. Until about
3 1/2 weeks, it is a good idea for the puppies to have a semi
dark, quiet corner of the house to live in. After all, they are
newborns, and their eyes and ears are closed and their main
preoccupation is to find food and snuggle close to mom's
warm body. But at about 3 1/2 weeks, their eyes begin to open,
the ears begin to hear and they are ready to start wobbling
around to explore. They are ready and eager to become acquainted
with their environment little by little. If a puppy is to live in
the wild, it makes sense for it to live outside, with little
human contact. But if a puppy is destined for a loving home, it
makes wonderful sense for it to be raised in an environment as
similar as possible to that which it will eventually be living
in. It needs to see and experience the normal activities of
family life, such as vacuuming, dishwashers, music, televisions,
and children running around. The more situations a puppy is
exposed to and regards as normal, the more secure it will be as
an adult. A secure dog poses less problems and is easier to train. Therefore, I believe it is extremely important for all
potential puppy owners to personally visit their breeder and take
a tour of their house and grounds. Look around. See if there are
any unsanitary conditions. How many breeds of dogs are there? How
do all the adult dogs react to visitors and their owners? A lot
of information can be obtained just by watching how the adult
dogs interact with the breeders themselves, the other dogs in
their environment and visitors. Are the dogs friendly, clean,
timid, overly aggressive?
III. Why is handling important?
In addition to being exposed to normal family activities, puppies
must be handled daily, many times a day, in order to accustom
them to human interaction. They must view humans as Gods in their
limited universe from whom they obtain all affection, all
guidance, all food, all comfort. If the puppy is not taught that
the world revolves around humans they will always view humans as
optional beings. Formal puppy training should start on the
49th day. I did not invent this date. This is an accepted fact in
the world of training Seeing Eye Dogs/Guide Dogs. The book,
Family Dog, by Richard Wolten, presents an excellent set of
logical and proven facts about puppy psychology regarding puppy
training and socialization. I highly recommend this book for all
dog owners and breeders.
All dogs regard life as a Totem Pole. Only one person or dog gets
to be at the top of the Totem Pole. In dog psychology lingo, this
person or dog at the top is designated the Alpha dog/person. Each
and every person in the pack/family then has his place on the
Totem pole with someone being last in line. A dog doesn't
care where he is on the Totem Pole lineup, he just needs to know
exactly where his place is to be secure. In a dog Pack, there
will be one Alpha dog. Every time a new litter is born, the
resulting teenagers will challenge that position and be put in
their place. They will then challenge every dog in order to find
out who they can boss around. Eventually, they will
know who is above them on the Totem Pole and who is below. The
exact same thing happens when the puppy is placed in a new home
with new owners. The puppy will try to "get away" with
whatever behavior it can, thereby establishing its place on the
Family’s Totem Pole. If it has already learned submission to humans from
its breeders then the new puppy owners will have a much easier time
of puppy adjustment.
Puppies must learn submission to humans. One excellent way is for
puppies to be carried around daily, cradled in the arms like a
baby doll, on their backs. However, it is necessary that many
people do this for each puppy. If only one person handles the
puppy, then the puppy may only learn submission to ONE person.
The reason I advocate this position is that a dog shows
submission by rolling onto its back and exposing its most
vulnerable parts. If a puppy is taught this psychological stance
from the very beginning then the new puppy owners will have a
puppy that regards all humans as above them on the Totem Pole.
Another important way to teach submission is to roll the puppy
onto its back while it is on the floor and to hold it there for a
length of time. It is preferable to hold it until it ceases to
struggle. Again, it is necessary for as many people to do this as
possible. I have read that it is also acceptable to hold up the
puppy by the scruff of the neck until it stops struggling. I can
understand this if the puppy doesn't weigh very much, but
I would not advise it if weighs more than 6 pounds, more or less.
The reason I don't like this particular method is that I
feel that when puppies weigh too much it could be damaging to
their throats or skin. However, I do think that holding them in
the air with both hands, under their armpits and around their rib
cages, is a good alternative. I have had upset puppies quiet
immediately when they are lifted off the ground in this manner
and suspended in the air. No ground under their feet really grabs
their attention and of course, then you the human are in complete
control.
When visiting the puppy's home and its breeder, it is
extremely important to see how many people there are to handle
the puppies. Let's be blunt. Logistically, it would be
impossible for one person to give the necessary handling to more
than six puppies on a daily basis. So if a breeder has more than
one litter at a time, the prospective owner needs to find out if
there are enough people around to help in the emotional
socialization and handling of the puppies every day and several
times a day. The absence of such training for even a few weeks
can result in lost ground that cannot be overcome during the
puppy's adult life.
There is the condition called "kennel blindness".
"They {the puppies}just eat and sleep and exist,
waiting for someone to come and plunk down some money in order to
take them home".
On page 16, of Mr. Wolten's book, "Puppies that were
completely isolated {from humans} for as little as the
first sixteen weeks of life grew into dogs that were incapable of
being trained, let alone becoming companion dogs".
"Dogs that have missed human contact for even thirteen weeks
... may be completely untrainable as workers." Then there is
the concept of "interrupted training." Research with
Seeing Eye dogs has shown that even dogs handled and trained
correctly up until 12 weeks experience problems when placed back
into a kennel situation. "The lessons stopped for a period
of only two weeks. After the two weeks, human contact and lessons
were begun again, but only 57 percent of these dogs were able to
go on to become Guide Dogs. When the formal lessons and human
contact were stopped for three weeks, only 30 percent went on ...
to become Seeing Eye dogs."
Before Dr. Scott's work, traditional dog training methods
resulted in only 20% of the dogs successfully completing Seeing
Eye Guide dog training. By starting on the 49th day, Dr. Scott
achieved 90% success in litters with the same breeding. In the
actual Seeing Eye training programs, 94% achieved successful
completion of the program, much better than Dr. Scott's laboratory
research. (these quotations are taken from Richard Wolten's book, The Family Dog, pages 14-16. I recommend this
book to everyone that has a dog.)
I sincerely believe that this is why some puppies are more
bullheaded or less submissive than others. This is why it is more
difficult to train some puppies.
One must also consider the type of people that the puppy is
exposed to before it is placed in a home. Not all puppies raised
in "homes with children" are raised in the same way.
We had the misfortune of finding out first hand what can occur.
Many years ago we purchased a puppy from a farm-like atmosphere.
The litter was born and raised in the barn and it seemed ideal.
The entire litter had had contact with the grandchild, so it was
advertised as raised with children. Here is what we found. Out of
the entire litter, only one bounded out to greet us. The rest
hung back timidly. The grandparents admitted that the grandchild
had teased the puppies. When we got the puppy home, it had no
concept of potty training because it had been allow to defecate
at will anywhere in the barn. It did not trust little blond hair
boys of about 5 years old and was extremely suspicious and
aggressive towards them. Three years later we finally gave up and
found a good home with no children for the dog. Potential owners
MUST find out and SEE/observe how the children interact with the
puppies in their home environment. Puppies can be psychologically
ruined by constant teasing, harsh and unnecessary and irregular
discipline from children. Unfortunately, such early
"training" and experiences cannot be undone in many cases since early
life is when puppies develop their lifelong concepts of the
world.
IV. What is Crate Training?
There are a lot of misconceptions about Crate Training. First of
all, all dogs are DEN animals. That means that in the wild, dogs
seek out den type homes to snooze in, breed in, hide in and just
hang out. They like dens. Terriers in particular, adore small
cozy dens.
My Irish Terriers will race for the smallest of the crates, cram
themselves into boxes two sizes too small, hunker under low
furniture, etc. I would be claustrophobic, they are rather
pleased with themselves in getting there first before the other
Irish.
That being said, crates are the human imitation of the den. It is
a safe place for the dogs to hang out in if they prefer. It is a
safe place at night for them to sleep in. It is a safe place for
a younger dog to snooze in if the family has to run to the
grocery store.
What a crate is NOT:
A. It is NOT a place of punishment if they do something wrong.
B. It is NOT a jail cell for solitary confinement while the
owners go off to work during the day.
We have crates. All our puppies are raised in an enormous crate in our
Home from the time they begin to wobble around on their
legs. It keeps them safe. It makes it very easy to keep them
clean and we can supervise them constantly. As soon as they can
wobble pretty well, they are outside in the grass with someone
watching them. After this, they only sleep in the crate. If they
are awake, they are outside, learning about playing and more
types of human/dog social interaction. They are allowed to play
with the other adult Irish Terriers.
There is a reason that puppies must be raised in an environment
as similar as possible to a real den. Dogs will do anything not
to soil their dens. Puppies learn this very early on. It is a
part of their dog psychology. By raising them in a crate/den like
environment and taking them outside as often as possible, they
learn to contain their body functions in order to keep their den
clean. If a breeder takes advantage of this inherent part of the
puppy's psychology, then they will have a very easy time
of house training the puppies.
All my puppies are crate trained
by eight weeks. They will do anything to keep it clean. However,
I must do my part. My puppies are on a regular schedule so that
everyone knows what to expect. I feed them at set times because
food stimulates the movement of the bowels within 5-30 minutes.
As soon as they have finished eating, they are carried outside
and encouraged to do their "duty". They are taken out
last thing at night and at the crack of dawn in the morning. We
carry the puppies because at this young age carpet and flooring
are indistinguishable from dirt and grass to them. They may not
differentiate between them until they are about 12 weeks old. In
order to avoid potty training problems in the future, we do not
let any bad habits start. By the time they are 12 weeks old, it
is possible to extend that sense of "den" to include
the entire house, little by little, room by room.
That is also why we refuse to use newspapers. Why start training
them with something that will have to be unlearned later on? Will
the puppy always have a slight hesitation in using the Sunday
newspaper left lying around in the future? Better to never start
that habit.
Another pitfall that I have had to deal with is the puppy raised
in a hut. I did not have the ability to visit my puppies' home
before having them flown in. I was unaware of their environment
until after I owned them and the sellers had their money and felt
free to chatter on the phone with me. Here are my
first hand experiences and observations.
These "huts" have wooden floors on one side and wire "flooring" on
the other for the feces and urine to fall through. I have serious
objections to these. The puppy's psychology tells him not to
defecate in his den. The two-sided "hut" only allows a
behavior that contradicts the puppy's psychological canine
tendencies. Since the puppy cannot differentiate between types of
flooring, he is being trained that it is OK and acceptable
behavior to defecate in the far side of his den. By the time the puppy is handed
to the new owner at 8 weeks, he has been reprogrammed against his
canine preferences to defecate in his den. It is almost
impossible to override this early erroneous training. It is also
extremely difficult to teach the puppy to respect the house as an
extension of it "den" if it never learned proper
respect for a den from the beginning.
This is a serious problem since these "huts" are viewed
as acceptable clean solutions to dog housing. This is another
reason that I maintain it is important to visit the puppy's home
before a commitment to purchase is made.
V. What differentiates a socialized puppy from a wild savage?
Again, let me reiterate. A puppy must be submissive to all
humans, not just one human. It must respect the crate as a den
and be able and willing to contain its bodily functions. It
should understand the word "no". It should be
able to anticipate a continuation of its daily routines, which
provide security. Leash training should be started on the 49th
day so that it accepts leashes as a normal part of life. It
should have enough food so that it never has to compete with
another puppy for its portion.
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