A dog with self control is an easy dog to live with. A dog with self control doesn’t steal your belongings, doesn’t bark or whine for attention, doesn’t become a demanding mess and doesn’t require 24/7 supervision. However, puppies do not come fully programmed with self control. Of course some puppies are hardwired with more of it than others, but we have to help them learn the art of self control as they grow and develop.
Two very simple exercises that you can implement to begin teaching your puppy self control are calm coming out of the crate, and calm before being fed. Easy to to put in place, everyone has 2-5 minutes to start building these exercises into a daily routine. The videos below will provide an example of how we start to teach these exercises. Remember, puppies are not robots, and we can not immediately program them to understand these requirements, however, daily practice makes progress, and if you are consistent, they will pick these up very quickly.
As a side note to the crate, we always err on the side of bathroom, especially for very young puppies or puppies who lack bladder control. We want to get those ones out as quickly as possible, so if they’ve been in for a period of time, skip this exercise and try it when you know they have recently relieved themselves.
Happy Training!
Smart Dogs Canine Training Milton 