My puppy is 10 weeks. I am teaching him to heal at home and made some progress. But when we take him out for a walk in the park, it’s like Disneyland for him. He doesn’t follow any commands, is hyper, pulls on the leash, jumps on everyone passing by. I am not sure if he is ready for a walk outside. My husband insist we should take him out and I think we are teaching him to behave like a crazy coz he is not trained yet. Any advise?
Hi @Supermom, gorgeous photo. At 10 weeks I wouldn't be worried about taking a pup out on walk. I would just train some puppy recall, basic commands and some heal work and all done on a relaxed and fun level and building a bond with you both, but at the same time using your pups brain. Pop the lead on her in the garden and just let it trail behind. She needs to get used to the lead and concentrate on you and not all those super enticing distractions in the outside world.
Hi @Supermom I am presuming he has had his second vaccination. Don't worry about heeling yet. The most important thing at the moment is socialisation. Make sure everything is fun. Let him decide whether he wants to approach something. If he is showing angst then back off. Try to let him see everything in the world now he will live in as an adult. Traffic? Motorbikes? Lifts? Shopping mall? Bicycles? Skateboards? Wooden floors? Exposure with fun.
Don't be, please. He is only a 'baby'. The socialisation with FUN is far, far, far more important than heeling at this stage. The heeling will be fine when you take it on later. I had my class members all heeling by the end of the basic course of 8 weeks duration, and not one of the dogs was younger than 6 months. Many of the dogs were 7 to 13 months of age. Remember the critical socialisation period was from 4 to 8 weeks. You're on a downward slope, where fear of the new outweighs the excitement value of exploring the unknown. The socialisation window closes at around the 16th week. Time is running out. You don't want to avoid taking him out just because he is pulling. It is impossible to re-capture the socialisation window that is open now for just a few short weeks. Find a good puppy pre-school NOW. Explore the world now. Help him now to become a confident and 'cool' dog.
Here's part of a document I had prepared for a puppy pre-school class. The socialisation period is a window of time when dogs learn at the most effective rate about what's good, bad, safe, and scary in life. The act of socialisation consists of you introducing your puppy to new situations and experiences, and teaching him to deal with them in a calm and confident manner. It is a crucial step in the foundation of having a well-adjusted dog. Many cases of fear-aggression and anxiety can be traced to a failure to socialise the puppy. Let’s take a moment to examine the following graph. It’s somewhat technical but contains vital information that you need to take on board now. Consider the bottom panel. The red line shows the puppy’s additional fear to new situations. At about 3 weeks of age it’s very low but from about 4 weeks it gradually increases. The blue line shows the puppy’s additional attraction to new situations. Over the range from 3 to 8 weeks, the blue line exceeds the red line, which means the puppy freely approaches novelty because the additional attractiveness of such outweighs the additional fear. The puppy purposely explores the world at large. The puppy, for example, climbs out of the whelping box, freely leaves litter mates and mother to seek out the world. But at 8 weeks, just about the time you are ready to bring the puppy home from the breeder, the puppy’s view of new objects and scenarios changes dramatically. At around that age, the red line crosses and exceeds the blue line. Accordingly, from 8 weeks onwards, the additional fear outweighs the additional excitement gained from novelty—at the margin new things in the world result in more fear than excitement and the puppy no longer freely seek out the new. As Kathryn Lord argues “[t]he critical period of socialization closes with the avoidance of novelty, when an animal runs away from, rather than approaching and exploring, novel objects”. Source: an integration of material found in J. P. Scott and Fuller Genetics and the Social Behaviour of the Dog, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1965, and Kathryn Lord’s lecture, Making "sense" of interspecies social behaviour in dogs and wolves, http://www.sparcsinitiative.org/wat...erspecies-social-behavior-in-dogs-and-wolves/ The task of helping the dog to become confident about the world at large is a central role played by the breeder. Here the upper panel is relevant. The green hill represents the puppy’s degree of sensitivity to novelty—it represent the so-called socialisation window. Manifestly, the socialisation period begins when the puppy’s ears first open at the breeder’s. From week 4 the puppy’s has the ambulatory ability to walk purposely, and also the sensory ability to familiarise novelty the fastest. That is, the least amount of exposure produces the most response in the puppy. During the period from 4 to 8 weeks when the puppy is purposely seeking out novelty, good experiences result in the puppy become confident, and bad experiences fearful with the least amount of exposure. Consequently, a good breeder can do a lot with a litter of puppies to ensure the pups are exposed to new things. The crucial aspect of socialisation that can be undertaken by a good breeder is one reason why you would never wish to buy from a puppy farm. Secondly, it is well worth asking the breeder whether you can assist in caring for your prospective puppy while he is still at the breeder’s place. The new owner’s role in socialisation is important too. The downwards sloping green curve represents the point that one has to undertake more and more exposure to get the same impact as the puppy experienced during the critical period of socialisation. Although the puppy older than 8 weeks no longer seeks out novelty, the effects of the critical period of socialisation can be prolonged by managing and manipulating extended exposure to novelty up until 16 weeks of age, when the socialisation window finally closes.[1] In short, when you bring the puppy home the socialisation clock is ticking. If you wish to have a dog that is confident and friendly rather than one who is fearful and anxious you must make socialisation one of your key roles in raising the puppy now. [1] Although it is possible to desensistise and/or counter-condition the dog older than 4 months and beyond to new things the dog is now predisposed to be fearful of new things. The training effort required to do so is now a major undertaking, and may require the advice and expertise of a dog behaviourist, and even then, may not be successful with every dog.
From 10-16wks, my puppies come out with me daily to a new place or experience, on a 2.5m puppy house line. I follow wherever they go. I run if they want to run. I stop if they want to sniff something. There is no way I would expect them to walk at heel. If they are looking at me and focussing on me, they are not taking in enough of the world and getting adequately socialised. Besides, it is completely unrealistic to expect a 10wk old puppy to be able to focus on you outdoors in new locations. It would be like expecting a 5 year old child to sit at a desk in a classroom all day. I am a dog trainer and behaviourist. Michael also trains dogs. There is no conflict.
Just to jump in as a new(ish) puppy owner - socialisation is way way more important than heeling or lead walking. We had a summer puppy, and now it's winter here and I'm realising there are some things I didn't adequately socialise too. These include larger furry hats and umbrellas opening. We are now working on this, but it is so much harder to teach Yalom that these things are not terrifying than it is to teach him to walk nicely on the lead. Enjoy socialising, it's really fun to see what captures their interest and makes them intrigued!
Thank you all a ton for such great info/ data/ studies and personal experiences. I will now take him out for a walk everyday and enjoy scaring the birds as much as he does!! Truly appreciated.
I agree. At this age Socialization is most important . You'll have plenty of time when he's older to work on heeling. Have Fun !!!
