Crate Training Your Puppy....By Richard Martinez

View our Dog Crates and Ex Pens

A crate does three very important things. First it will make the housebreaking process go a little more smoothly by teaching the puppy where to go to relieve himself. By using its own natural instincts the puppy will not urinate or defecate where it sleeps, provided you do your part. Secondly it will relieve the stress of being alone while you are away at work. Third it will get you through the teething stage when your puppy will want to chew on every thing.

A few reasons that pop into my mind are...my puppy's own safety, my home, all it contents and last but not least my sanity. A puppy comes into this world not knowing what we as humans expect of it. Right or wrong we teach them everything they learn, lets make it positive!!

There is no magic to house breaking it’s really only common sense and a understanding of your dog. House breaking consists of a few very important rules which are:

1. Putting your puppy on a daily schedule when you feed and water it. The following is my schedule that I would use for myself.

7:00 A.M. Get up and take the puppy outside to go to the bathroom. Bring the puppy in and put its food and water down for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes the food and water is taken away.

7:45 A.M. Take the puppy outside again.

While I am getting ready for work and can not watch my puppy he is in his crate. I will take the puppy out at least three times before I leave for work so he can empty his system.

9:00 A.M. Put the puppy in its crate and leave for work. I leave no food or water in the crate while I am gone. Remember what goes in must come out, so if you leave food and water in the crate you are making it harder for your puppy to learn the rules of house breaking.

If you come home at 3:00 P.M. use your same schedule that you used for your morning feeding.

The same would apply if you came home at 5:30 P.M.

I never feed past 7:30 P.M.. Between 7:30 and the time I go to bed I will take the puppy out a lot so when I crate my puppy it can sleep all night with out having to go to the bathroom.

I never leave food and water down all the time. Remember Food + Water = GOT TO GO!!!

Remember we take up food and water at 7:30 P.M.. During the course of the evening after playing with you and your children I would give the puppy a little water to wet his whistle. Do not sit there and let him drink tons of water. By putting him in his crate full he will have an accident during the night. Always take the puppy out just before you go to bed. The more you can take him outside the faster he learns where to go. Help him not to make a mistake.

2. Know the key times your puppy needs to go outside. Which are 20 to 30 minutes after you feed it, every time it wakes up and any time you are playing. Remember activity stimulates going to the bathroom. If you are watching your puppy while it is outside the crate and it starts to sniff the floor while walking around in a small circle simply pick it up and take it outside. This is a sign I would really pay attention to. If your puppy has an accident in the house it is YOUR fault not his because you where not doing your part.

3. Puppies urinate a lot so if you take him outside and he gets distracted or is involved in playing and does not go bring him back inside and put him in the crate for about 20 minutes and then take him back outside again. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

4. When I take the puppy outside I will take it to the same spot every time. I will also praise the puppy after it goes to the bathroom. By doing both of these it will help him understand what is expected of him.

1. VERY IMPORTANT: If you can’t physically keep your eyes on your puppy he should be in the crate. I am sure if you have had children you used a play pen when you could not watch them.

2. Do not put his crate where he is isolated from you. Dogs are pack animals and you are his pack. Even though he is in the crate if he can see and hear you it makes it much easier on him.

3. Remove any type of collar or harness while your puppy is crated for safety reasons.

4. Never use a crate as punishment, this is your dogs room so it is always a positive place.

5. When you first crate your puppy more than likely it will cry, bark and howl on the hopes of you letting him out. WRONG!! This is typical puppy behavior. If you go to comfort him all you are doing is making it harder for him to get use to the new situation. All of this behavior will go away in a few days once he gets the hang of things. When I am home with the puppy I will still crate him. By this I mean one hour in and one hour out so he sees the crate as a positive place and not just a place where he goes when your not at home. As he gets older he can have more time out. Most people make the mistake of leaving a puppy out to soon. This causes problems so be patient.

6. If you take your puppy out side and he gets distracted and forgets to relieve himself simply bring him back inside and crate him for about 20 minutes and then take him back outside again. Now that he has gone the puppy can have some supervised time out to be with you and your family.

Basic housebreaking information.

Who Is Training Who?

Read this you might be surprised!!

Have you ever thought about why your dog seems to be hard to train? There are probably several reasons for this. The equipment you are using is not right for your dogs temperament, your dog tries every other thing except the action you are trying to teach, your correction is not meeting the distraction level of your dog and finally you have NO dog attention - to name just a few.

The equipment we use while training our dog: For basic training we use a 6 foot leather lead and a choke chain or a pinch collar. We first start with a choke chain and if we get success that is the collar we will use. But if our dog has a high tolerance for corrections or we need a better correction, then we will use a pinch collar.

A properly fitted choke chain is very important in training. It should be the size of the dogs neck plus 2 inches. If your choke chain goes over your dogs head a little snug that's alright because most breed of dogs have a larger head than neck. Now to put the choke chain on right drop the chain through either ring and make the letter P of the alphabet. Now with you looking at the letter P slip it over your dogs head. With your dog on your left hand side if you pop up on the leash and release- the choke chain should also release the tension on the dogs neck. If you are using a pinch collar remember it does not go over your dogs head, you must unhook it at a link in the collar then go around your dogs neck and hook the collar back together. You can add or subtract links from a pinch collar to change sizes. A pinch collar should fit semi snug on your dog. If a pinch collar is fitted too loose it will not give an effective correction.

Some ways that your dog will try to get out of training or learning commands: When you first start training a new dog many times your dog will do things to get out of training. Dogs will do silly behaviors that you must stop before you can train a certain action. Have you ever read a dog training book that said to teach a command do such & such - but to your amazement it just didn't work with your dog?! That's because they didn't tell about the crazy stuff dogs do to try and get out of training. Below is a list of some of the most common things dogs do on certain exercises.
#1 Heeling or walking on leash: Sniffing the ground, pulling on the leash, lagging behind, going to your right side instead of staying on your left, jumping on you, biting the leash, trying to grab the leash with its front paws, refusing to move forward or lying down on the ground and refusing to move. Most dogs will get their owners to stop if they do one or more of the above actions while training.
#2 Sit: Your dog will simply not sit while teaching this command, lays down, the dogs body seems to turn to Jell-O, stands stiff as a board, starts sniffing the ground and gets up, tries to jump on you while you position him into a sit
#3 Down: Brace themselves with their front legs so you can't make them go down, you get your dog down but he rolls over on his back, tries to bite you or snaps at you, tries to crawl forward, yells and screams and pitches a fit, goes down in the front but the rear stays up, will not stay down after being placed in the down.
#4 Come when called: Sniffing the ground, tries running away even on leash, the dog runs past you, freezes and does not come, lies down and does not come.
#5 Stays: Tries to follow you as you leave on the stay, dances around with its front feet, creeps forward on the stay, breaks the stay as you walk around him/her, gets up on the down stay and lies down on the sit stay.

Correction and distraction levels: A correction is a pop and release of the leash not a pull. Most people will pull on the leash. How much do we correct our dog? We only correct the dog with the amount that is necessary to get the dog to comply with our command or to stop an unwanted action. Each dog has a different threshold when it comes to a correction. Threshold or correction level has nothing to do with age, sex, breed or weight of the dog, so you need to find your own dogs threshold while training. You will also need to understand that when your dogs distraction level goes up so must the correction level. An example of this would be that you are training your dog on a command, like walking on a leash, and the correction for your dog would be a pop and release on the leash if he starts to pull , tell your dog to Heel, and your dog complies with the command. You continue walking and now meet another dog and person but this time the same amount of correction is ineffective. You will need to increase the correction due to the distraction of the other dog and person.

No dog attention: At the basic pet training level the main things that will cause lack of dog attention are sniffing the ground and everything else your dog sees, pulling on the leash and jumping. If you have your dogs attention it solves 80% of your training problems. In my 24 years training dogs I have found the easiest dogs to train are NOT sniffing, pulling, or jumping. So if you can get just these three problems under control you can train a dog that will learn new things very fast because he is now focused on you and ready to learn. I will let you in on a secret - sniffing leads to pulling on the leash, so if you stop the sniffing ( while training) you will start gaining more attention towards you and the commands you are trying to teach your dog. Remember I am not saying that your dog can never sniff, I am saying they can't sniff while you are training. When you release your dog from a command they can still sniff to go to the bathroom and explore but don't let them pull. I will always believe sniffing ( Leave It command) is the first thing I would get under control then everything else starts falling into place. If this article helps drop me an e-mail with some feed back.
Richard Martinez

This is a basic level training article.

Why Train With A Remote Training Collar

• Reliable off leash recalls
• To leave things alone (food on counters, garbage cans, other dogs, cats or livestock)
• No jumping on people
• Sit and down stays off leash
• Stop trash barking
• Digging

It is amazing when people come for a private lesson and I ask " What are the commands you want your dog to do?"
The top three answers are:
Coming when called -off leash (Recall)
No jumping on people (Off)
Leave things alone when told (Leave it)

With a remote training collar you can have all three of these basic commands in 7-10 days. Can you imagine your dog coming off leash the first time you call him, even if he is distracted!!

Remote training collars are not magic wands. There IS training that must be done so your dog will understand the collar. If you learn better by watching someone do it, the Three Action Introduction Videos by Tri-Tronics are an excellent tool. We send printed lessons with each collar to help you train also. You cannot put a remote collar on a dog and start "zapping", you will not succeed! I can't stress this enough...follow training steps so your dog understands what is expected of him. Your dog may know the commands but he does not understand how to put the command together with the collar stimulation. While we talk about collars being a great way to have off leash control, initial training is done ON leash with a remote collar till the dog understands what is expected of him.

I think when people imagine working with a remote collar, the first thing that comes to mind is "I don't want to electrocute him!" or "it will cause nerve damage" or "it will change the dogs personality"...all false! People who say using a remote collar is cruel are people who have never used a collar or have never seen a dog trained PROPERLY with a remote collar. Customers are amazed when they see our dogs working. They are all collar trained and are very happy dogs...sometimes too happy!!
Our dogs have lots of play time and receive lots of praise when they do things right! They also know when a command is given it means to do something and they comply...not out of fear but because they were TAUGHT what the command meant.

We know more than 675 people who have trained their dogs with remote collars. These are not all professionals, most are everyday people who want to enjoy living with their dog. Once you have off leash control, you and your dog start having more fun!

The major change with remote collars has been the technology to allow for multi levels of stimulation. The old days of one level (high!) are gone. You need only give enough stimulation necessary for your dog to comply to a command and not overwhelm him.
Just remember to think of remote collars as a POSITIVE training tool. Yes, it corrects bad behavior but it is also used to reinforce all obedience commands.

Introduction article on the use of remote collars.

How To Avoid Dog Bites:

• First and Foremost always ask the owner before petting or approaching a strange dog.
  
• Let the dog come to you first. Do not force yourself on the dog.
  
• Never get face to face or make strong eye contact.
  
• Never smother, hug or rough house a strange dog.
  
• Never approach a dog that is tied up or confined behind a fence, in a crate, or in a car. The dog being behind a barrier is the key that triggers aggression.
  
• Don't disturb a dog while it is eating, chew on toys, sleeping or nursing puppies.
  
• Never enter a house without the owner being present.
  
• Never run from a aggressive dog. Stay still !!
  
• Always keep a close eye on small children when around strange dogs.

Where Are Your Eyes..... by Richard Martinez

...watch me, watch me, pay attention. Do these words sound familiar? Go to almost any training class and this is what people will be chanting, but this is what your dog will be hearing *@#$!@%#*%, and this is what your dog will be thinking (WHAT in the Hell do you want me to do). Believe it or not dogs do not understand English. It seems that when we teach the other exercises in obedience we always put an action with the word that we use as a command. When we start training a dog it seems that we automatically think that our dog should give us its undivided attention or that our dog will just do it. WRONG! Attention work is just like any other exercise it is definitely a trained response. Dog attention solves so many of your problems that if you dedicate yourself to teach your dog this basic exercise you would wonder how you trained so long without it. But it takes hard work and a mental picture of what your final goal should look like. With out the mental picture how do you know when you have achieved your goal.

Week 1 - RESPONSE TO NAME: The first thing we teach in the attention work is to get the dog to respond to his name. Put the dog on a 6' foot leash and let him wander ahead of you or get interested in something else besides you. When the dog is not paying attention I will call the dogs name, give a pop on the leash and start moving backwards for about 8 to 10 paces while praising the dog in hopes that the dog will try to catch me. The second your dog reaches you, you should give him a treat or piece of food with a lot of praise for doing the correct response. After a few seconds we start this catch me game or Beat The Jerk as I call it all over again. If you play this game right you will start to see the dog looking up at you and not wanting to leave your side. When we can no longer fool the dog we need to start adding distractions. A distraction can be anything your dog finds more interesting or appealing than you. One distraction that you can use is another person or dog. Let someone call the dog and when he gets close to the person call the dogs name, give a pop on the leash and move backwards while praising your dog for coming. Within a week it should be very hard to fool the dog into not coming on leash to you. Remember the timing of the pop and praise is the KEY to keeping the dog up and happy. You should only use enough force with the leash pop to get the response of the dog coming to you eagerly and happy. End the session on a happy note.

Stationary Attention: Stationary attention is when your dog can sit on your left hand side and watch you regardless of distractions around him. When teaching attention you must give this exercise a name so your dog will know when it is supposed to be watching you. I use Ready or Watch. It really makes no difference what word you use for this exercise just remember to use the same word every time so your dog will start associating a word with an action.

Week 2 - SHOW: During the first week you should introduce attention without distractions or corrections. Have food readily available so you can reward your dog for doing the correct behavior which is to look at you. You can have your dog sitting in front of you or on your left side in the beginning. Some dog find it easier to sit in front of you. At the end of the week you should be able to do this exercise on the left side if you started with your dog sitting in front of you. With your dog in the sit position show him the food, now draw the food up toward your face so that the dog is now looking up at you. Now the second your dog gives you eye contact give him the Ready or Watch command as you give him his food reward while calmly praising the dog for watching you, then release him and play a few seconds and start over again. After a few times of getting eye contact with a single piece of food we start with the same game but we also start trying to expand the time the dog has to watch us by using the food and praise to keep the dogs attention on us. Remember when praising the dog you should talk to your dog not at him. At the end of the week you should be able to have your dog maintain eye contact with you while you feed him for at least one minute.

Week 3 - REINFORCE: We are still working in a distraction free environment and the food is still being used. Now we are ready to start adding mild corrections which are no more than a light pop straight up on the leash if your dog starts to look away. Anytime you have to correct your dog it should be followed with a food reward and praise the second the dog is watching you. At the end of the week most dogs will start to respond when they hear your watch command.

Week 4 - ADD MILD DISTRACTIONS: Never over power your dog with distractions. If you can't keep your dogs attention on you simply put some distance between the dog and the distraction. Some examples of mild distractions are another dog and handler working at a distance, someone clapping their hands, someone whistling, cars going by on a road at a distance etc.. Remember to correct for any lack of attention with a light correction followed with food and praise.

Week 5 - MOVE DISTRACTIONS CLOSER TO DOG: We are still using a mild correction with food and praise. Now it is time to see if all of your hard work is starting to pay off. When the distractions start getting closer your dog should keep his eyes on you. Be creative with your distractions but remember if the distraction is to strong back up and make it a little easier so your dog can have some success and win the game by paying total attention to you.

Week 6 - FIRST CORRECTION IS GIVEN WITHOUT FOOD: Now we are going to start weaning away from the food. If while doing the attention exercise your dog looks away you simply give your dog a straight up pop on the leash followed by praise the second you have your dogs attention back on you. Remember it is very important to give the correction the second you dog starts to move his head and not wait until he has turned his head completely away. Be critical of head position.

Week 7 - SIT AND EXPECT PRAISE Sit and accept praise is the next step we teach. When we start teaching this exercise I like to be in a distraction free environment so that the dog can focus on watching me instead of everything else. This exercise teaches the dog that he can be praised but still be under control, which is helpful in advanced exercises. With the dog sitting on your left side begin praising your dog lavishly. Correct the dog for ANY movement or lack of attention with a quick jerk up on your leash. The minute your dog quits moving or is doing the response you want start praising again. You need to determine how much of a jerk you will need to give as a correction, every dog is different so learn to read your dog. After a few seconds of praising and while the dog is doing the correct response give your dog his release command. Play with your dog a few seconds then start the sit and accept praise exercise over. At first if you can only get 10 seconds that should be a easy starting point. Over the course of a few days try to expand the time up to a minute before you release your dog.

Goal For This Exercise: To have your dog sit at your side and be praised for a minute without moving or getting up until released with your OK command.

Release Command: The use of a release command is to let the dog know when it is working and when it's ok to relax. It does not mean he can pull me over to what ever distraction that catches his eye. When you finish giving your dog a command and he has completed the act - tell him OK and play for a few seconds. While you are doing this stay standing upright - do not bend way over to praise. You want to start getting your dog used to LOOKING UP and making eye contact with you. With your praise voice or by stroking upward under your dogs chin your dog might start thinking that it is not so bad to look upward at you.

Goal For This Exercise: When you give your dog the OK command your dog can play with you or just hang out.

Week 8 - MOVING ATTENTION: Teaching the moving part of attention work is where most people start having problems. Straight line heeling is the first thing we teach in the moving part of attention work. It is also the most important part of heeling. If a dog can't heel in a straight line with total attention the change of pace, turns and the halts will all suffer. With your dog on your left side and LOOKING UP at you start walking in a straight line trying to keep the dogs eyes on you. Your goal is for the dog to walk with his head up paying attention to you. If you lose his attention you MUST DO SOMETHING!

What you do when you lose attention should depend on why you lost attention and at what level of training you are at. You can break the exercise off with your OK or Release command or correct for lack of attention with a light pop straight up on your leash or take a side step to the right where you would pop toward you, praise and release. In the beginning only try to go a few steps while maintaining your dogs attention. Break the exercise after a few steps and praise, then get the dogs attention and start playing the game again this time trying to increase your distance a few more steps before you break and praise. When you can heel in a straight line with TOTAL attention for about 100 or so feet it is time to start adding distractions into your straight line heeling. We now teach the rest of the heeling parts in the following order, slow pace, fast pace, left turn, right turn, about turn and the halt. As always we will teach each separate part of heeling as a individual exercise. We will not start on another part of heeling until the dog has mastered the one we are teaching. I know we didn't talk a lot about heeling but this article is about DOG ATTENTION. I hope this will help with some of your training problems and until next time remember WHERE Are Your Eyes!

A more advanced article on heeling with attention.