Thread: Tell me about training a new puppy

So my grandparent's just got a puppy about a month or two ago and she's about up to my knee and weighs about 40 or 50 lbs. I take her for a walk every day of the week, and I think I'm the only one who does. (I don't walk her on the weekends because I'm usually not there) I have a few questions for anyone who knows about dogs and is willing to share the knowledge.

She's a pretty well behaved puppy but a few times she's gotten into a biting mood. She'll jump and make to bite my hand and start biting the bottom of my shirt and the pockets to my pants. I'm definitely never going to hit her, so what are some techniques to teach her not to bite?

Also, my grandparent's own and live on a farm that's about 150 acres and they don't trust her not to run away if left unleashed. There's fence around most of the property but not all of it. Beyond taking her for lots of walks around the perimeter and constantly keeping her on the property, I have no idea how I am going to train her to stay on the farm. I'd rather not walk the perimeter as it's probably a good few mile hike. This is pretty important for the dog and myself. I know she would rather have free reign and run around all she wants and I would rather not get dragged a few dozen yards every time a cat, bird, or rabbit jumps out of nowhere. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Well with the biting, just lightly tap her on the head when she does, just so that she learns that its bad, and when she stops give her a biscuit. That way she associates rewards with being good.

With the running away, don't let her outside without a leash on for a while. In the time when she's not outside in the garden, makesure your Grandparents give her attention and really bond with the pup. After a bond has been made, she will want to seek proximity and not run off.

Well thats what I did with my dog and she's very loyal now and won't go too far on walks.

Another small thing, when the dog starts biting during play, then it's time to stop playing for a short time. She'll then learn that if she starts biting, you'll stop playing.

not to sound mean but is your dog over weight? you should put it on a diet if it is. also dont give in to mooching... beggging, in the longf run it makes your new dog live longer

When our 15 week old puppy play-bites our hands, I give him a little slap on the muzzle and say "NO", then disengage in the attention/play for a few minutes. The association you want to impress on her is BITE = NO PLAYING. Use a low tone of voice when correcting her.

Also, don't give her a chance to play-bite - meaning, always use a toy to play with her, not just your bare hands. Don't set her up to fail. If you are just petting her and she does it, do the little slap and stern "NO", then stop the petting. Then every time you pet her and she doesn't play-bite, reward her with a treat.

It's a good idea to keep a baggie of treats in your pocket so you can use them on short notice. Puppies only associate action/consequence within 2 seconds of each other. So if she does something bad, and you wait after 2 seconds to correct her, she will not associate the bad action with the correction - and same goes with positive reinforcement - if she does something good, and you wait more than 2 seconds to reward her, she will not associate the good behavior with the reward.

Before letting the dog loose in the yard, you should be pretty confident that she will come when called. You can practice on a long lead (one of those long retractable ones) out in the yard. Bring treats with you. Practice the "come" command, and use her name often. If she is very food-driven, usually calling your word for treat will result in her coming to you.

Once you are fairly confident she will come when called, you can try her off the lead. *Usually* puppies won't venture very far off on their own since they want to stay close to the "den". Only let her go a few yards, then call her back and reward her when she comes. After a few times of this, put her back on the lead, reward her, and end the training session. ALWAYS end on a good note. Don't let her run away and you have to chase her down and correct her before you end the training. Do several short training sessions per day, if possible. Puppies have short attention spans so several short sessions are more productive than one long session.

Hey, thanks for the advice everyone! I'm relieved that both problems are easily fixed. (Didn't we have a smilie wiping his forehead that was either "whew!" or something to the effect of "what a relief"? I always thought we did)

I'll check back if I have anymore problems and when the advice starts working.