TO TRAIN A PUPPY By: Marty Greer, DVM, Director of Veterinary Services at Revival Animal Health 3 Safety Skills Advertisement Feature
T eaching an emergency down. Making sure your puppy comes when called. Learning how to walk on a leash. There are certain skills that are important for every puppy and dog to learn, for their own safety and the safety of those around them. Emergency Down An emergency down is the most life-saving skill you can teach your puppy. In a split second, your well-behaved puppy can race across the road, out of reach. And when you try to call them back, they may race back to you in front of an oncoming speeding semi-truck. You may think it could never happen to you, but that is a risky bet to make. What can you do to keep your puppy safe? Teach an emergency down. An emergency down is a down, drop your belly to the ground and stay put when the puppy is instructed to from a distance. By giving a command from across the road and having your puppy follow it, you CAN save your puppy’s life.
Once puppies reach four months of age, they start to see activities outside their immediate circle and where you are. Once this happens, recalls are much less reliable. Chasing the squirrel or just playing “catch me if you can” is much more rewarding than showing up at your side for a treat. So be sure you have a rock-solid recall BEFORE she is old enough to become independent. Leash Training Every dog, regardless of lifestyle, at some point in their life will need to be able to walk on a leash. Typically, the speed you want to walk at won’t be the speed the puppy finds suitable - they usually lunge ahead or lag behind. Start with letting the puppy get used to wearing a collar such as the Breeder’s Edge ® ID Me ™ Perfect Fit Training Collar . A training collar is different from a normal collar because it has sewn in elastic
that will stretch if the pet gets caught on something. This allows the animal to easily slip out of the collar if needed. Always make sure to watch your puppy as they get use to wearing a collar. Once he tolerates the collar, put on a leash such as the Breeder’s Edge ® ID Me ™ Take Me Home Collars and Leashes and let him acclimate to that. Then, you can start walking. Using a long-handled plastic or wooden spoon with peanut butter or soft cheese on it, hold the leash in your left hand, the
Every dog, regardless of lifestyle, at some point in their life will need to be able to walk on a leash.
The two tricks are that the puppy must be able to drop belly down at a distance and the command must be able to be seen and heard from a distance. The verbal command can be whatever you want, but not sound like any other command or other word you commonly use in conversation. The visual cue must be a brisk move of your hand from your side to fully extended arm and hand over your head.
spoon in your right hand at your left knee and start walking, using the food-coated spoon as a tool to help your puppy forget about the leash. If you have enough yummies on the spoon, he will follow the spoon and eventually end up walking politely at your side. Take along enough treat to refill the bowl of the spoon as he is learning to heel. Head halters are another great tool to use to help teach your puppy to heel while not causing too much trauma to your arm as they tug you down the sidewalk. Halters are how we lead horses and cows - they are not muzzles and are kinder than having your puppy choking on a leash and collar.
How do you teach it? Start young and work hard. Teach the puppy to lie down, belly on the floor. Then start teaching the puppy to lie down, further and further away. Then keep practicing with the puppy on the other side of a gate so they don’t count on being at your side to follow the command. Be certain to work on this long and hard as it truly can be life-saving. Come When Called Coming when called is an important life skill. When puppies are under four months old, this is easy as puppies want to be near you. This is the time to practice a perfect “recall”. The steps are to call the puppy to come, using the same word every time, a thousand times a day. When they arrive, provide a delicious but small treat - cheerios work great. Then release her to go back to playing. NEVER call her to come if you are planning to end whatever fun activity she is engaged in. You want coming to you to always have a positive end - a treat and a release back to an enjoyable activity.
For more puppy training tips, visit the Learning Center at RevivalAnimal.com
72 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, MAY 2022
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