A short excerpt from Judy Ziegler’s article in the 2022 NAVHDA magazine: Bonus Training Issue.
Your new puppy will arrive soon, and you are anxiously waiting with a desire to start training as soon as possible. There are many resources available to help, but it’s helpful to first understand the critical periods in your puppy’s development.
Please note that these periods are ranges built to encompass the development phases of multiple breeds.
Neonatal Period: Day 1-12. Your puppy cannot regulate body functions and relies on the mother and/or the breeder for elimination and temperature regulation.
Transition Period: Day 13-20. Ears and eyes are open, but hearing and eyesight are very poor. Your puppy moves about more and begins to control bodily functions.
Awareness Period: Day 21-28. Your puppy is actively moving around in their environment well. Eyesight and hearing function well.
Canine Socialization Period: Day 21-49. Your puppy learns by association. Human bonding begins. Your puppy now has the ability to learn simple behaviors such as recall, sit, down.
Fear Impact Period: Weeks 8-11. What your puppy learns in this period is permanent. Avoid frightening experiences as they can have a negative effect. Experiences must be positive to minimize adverse conditioning.
Seniority Classification Period: Weeks 13-16. At this age your puppy begins testing its independence. Your puppy will be teething and may show biting behavior. Praising your puppy for correct behavior is very important.
Flight Instinct Period: Months 4-8. Teething continues. Your puppy shows strong independence. During this period it is critical to shape positive behavior while minimizing negative behavior.
Second Fear Period: Months 6-14. Fear of different situations manifest in this period. New situations should be handled with patience while avoiding reinforcing negative behavior. Your focus should be on building confidence.
Now let’s explore how you can positively handle these periods as you start training your puppy.
Socialization. The idea behind socialization is helping your puppy become acclimated to all types of situations, sounds and smells in a positive manner. The key word is positive as improper socialization can impact behavior for the dog’s entire life. The world is brand new to your puppy and can be strange and unusual. Your job is to help them explore and create positive associations. Avoid doing too much too fast. Start by introducing your puppy to only a few people at a time. Introduce your puppy to many different types of people, to different places and to other dogs.
Research shows that in the first four months of life, exposing your puppy to anything and everything they may encounter in life will pay off greatly in a well-adjusted dog. Again, these must be positive experiences. Inadvertently, if a negative experience occurs, such as the puppy being frightened by another dog or person, turn the situation around by tossing some high value treats away from the adverse event and try to distract the pup. Do your best to turn this into a somewhat positive situation. Do not coddle the pup nor force the situation. Act normally and walk away while redirecting the pup into a more normal/positive behavior i.e. “sit and watch.”
Independence Training. Responsible breeders of sporting dogs will counsel their puppy buyers on the importance of independence training. A crate should be set up in a room where the puppy will be alone. Your puppy should be steered towards the crate with a soft command of “kennel” while tossing a high value treat inside the crate. Close the door to the crate and leave for a short period. Your puppy will quickly learn to be alone and will understand you will always come back. Upon your return do not your praise puppy, open the door very quietly and take puppy outside to eliminate. It is important to note that if your puppy is barking, waiting until they are quiet reinforces the behavior of quiet = door opens. Time spent alone in the crate, kennel or vehicle should be very short initially and then gradually increased.
Operant Conditioning. Dog training happens through conditioning. This is the way a dog learns. The change in your puppy’s behavior will occur, more or less, based on positive and negative results. When you take your puppy out into the field and feed him treats for sitting you are using operant conditioning. Reward based training has been shown to be an effective way to shape behavior in dogs.
Positive vs. Negative Reinforcement. Science has proven that to effectively change canine behavior there has to be some type of motivation. Punishment will inhibit the developing bond between you and your puppy and can cause avoidance, depression and behavior problems. By using positive methods, along with rewards, you will create a deeper and more meaningful bond between you and your puppy.
Positive Reinforcement. Positive reinforcement occurs when a motivating item such as a treat or verbal praise is presented after your pup exhibits a desired behavior. Consistently using positive reinforcement typically results in the desired behavior happening again.
Negative Reinforcement. Negative reinforcement can also be used to shape behavior, but you do not need to use pain and discomfort to achieve a high level of training.
Extinction Options. This method is used when you want your puppy to stop doing something i.e., jumping on people or begging at the table. One way to stop these undesirable behaviors is to totally ignore (extinction) the puppy until s/he understands the behavior will not get any attention nor a reward. You must be consistent.
Shaping Behaviors. Shaping behavior is a training technique that builds on ‘capturing.’ Capturing is a training technique in which you wait for pup to show a behavior such as “sit” and immediately reward when it happens. The use of rewards makes the behavior happen more often, which enables you to add a word or command i.e. “watch” or “pay attention.” I like to use a clicker to mark the behavior I am capturing. The clicker has a sound a puppy doesn’t usually hear in everyday life, it is quick and consistent.
Click here to read the entire article: VHD Library – NAVHDA
Excerpt posted by Castiron Kennels
Ric, Ellen of Castiron Kennels and their 4 Picardy Spaniels live in New Glarus, WI just 25 minutes southwest of Madison. A lifelong hunter, Ric has trained and hunted Small Munsterlanders, Gordon Setters, and for the past 7 years Picardy Spaniels. Ellen has an extensive background in animal genetics and a PhD in Reproductive Physiology. She bred and trained Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs prior to Picardy Spaniels.
US Picardy Spaniel Alliance 