Everyone is probably sick of me already but I want to make sure I'm doing right. For example: when Lincoln is chewing the blanket and trying to pull it off the bed what is the right way to discourage this? I tried leave it but that doesn't seem to work. Am I supposed to physically remove him? I don't want to scare him.
Hi no it’s ok, we are here to help if we can. Does he need the blanket? Can he sleep/rest just on his bed? Is he destroying the blanket and at what point is he doing this ie after walk or play or when he goes to bed? You won’t scare him, you are doing what you think is right
I assume it's the blanket on your bed, not his? Just distract him - make a squeaky noise, attract him over to you for a play, and so on. Then remove the blanket. Don't have flappy/dangling/loose things around puppies. Otherwise, it'll just drive you nuts. If it's a blanket on his bed, then it has to be safe for him to chew. I just have puppies on flat canvas mats, no fussy bits or zips etc. Less invitation to chew.
It's the blanket on my bed which is in the living room. (Small house) He has a blanket in his crate but he doesn't sleep in it during the day. He does it when he's in his crazy mode. Thank you.
@JulieT Also when he's doing something bad I clap my hands to get his attention, say "leave it" and praise if he does. .. It seems to work. Is this okay?
Er....well, it depends what you mean by "ok", I suppose. I don't think it will be doing a great deal of harm, in that presumably he's just interested in you clapping your hands, rather than alarmed. But it's a really, really inefficient way to train 'leave it'! I mean, what on earth does 'leave it' mean in these circumstances? He has already looked at you clapping your hands so in theory 'leave it' means whatever comes next. You saying 'good boy' I suppose. It's not all that clear, is it? There is a good book, Control Unleashed, and Control Unleased the Puppy Programme. It has good clear instructions in it about training 'leave it'.
It only seems confusing because you don't know how to put a behaviour on cue. Just learn about that one thing - really learn it - and the rest of your dog's training will be easy. A couple of days, that's all it will take. Start here: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/dog-training-stages/
Oh good. So many people progress with a dog being completely inefficient, and confusing the dog (and also looking a complete prat in public ), then achieve success - because the poor dog eventually figures it out! - and that reinforces their mad ideas about dog training. That's why so many people believe all the rubbish about pack leaders and so on. You can short cut all of that by just learning how it works from the get go.
I can't get that book but I did find a very good site to teach leave it. I'm doing it the correct way now. I'll practice a little each day. Thank you.
