Rules for the Home

Setting boundaries and rules for the home is one way to ensure training runs as smoothly as possible. House rules should be consistent, easy to understand, and fair. Every interaction with the puppy or new dog is essentially a training session, whether we intend it to be or not. The more consistent we are in training "wanted" behaviors, the faster the "unwanted" behaviors get eliminated. House rules can vary from owner to owner, but there are some good boundaries to set when deciding rules for your pup to follow. 

Doorways:

• Ask your pup to wait in a place or behind or beside you when a door is opened. This is a great way to help reduce the risk of bolting out the door or unwanted jumping on guests. To start: Go in front of the door and stand in front of your puppy so they can't get too close to the door. Ask for a "sit" by cue or lure and mark it with the word "wait" or "stay", and reward when done. Once he/she is seated, open the door and he/she may follow you. IF he darts for the door when it opens, close the door and try again. *The "wait" at the doorway needs to become a habit for the human before it can become a habit for the dog. Try to remember to ask for the "wait" every time before your dog goes in and out of the door.

Say please:

• Get into the habit of asking your puppy/dog to sit or down before he/she gets anything. 
• Keep in mind when the puppy is excited, it is a hard time to remember the rules, so patience is important. 
• Once the puppy remembers that sit or down leads to fun things, they will start problem solving when they want things and go to what worked last time (the sit/down).

Leave it:

• "Leave it" is an easy cue that works for a lot of things. Jumping: leave it. Guests arriving: Leave it. Counter surfing: leave it. Dropped something on the ground that puppy should leave alone: leave it. Starting simple with an object on the ground and tell puppy to leave it.  Reward them when they do by offering a valuable treat. 

Decide if furniture is ok to be on or if it is off limits:

• If it is ok to be on, teach your puppy to wait to be invited up by sitting and waiting for a response.
• If it is not ok, cue the puppy by saying "leave it" or block access when they try to get up. Ignore them while you are blocking their access, so attempting to climb up doesn't become an attention seeking game. If they gain access, simply lower them to the ground. No punishment, just simply not an option. Be sure they have access to fun activities to keep them busy when not on furniture. 

Consistency is key when training puppy and establishing house rules. For more information, talk to your veterinarian or certified dog trainer.