For a very good guide to all sorts of dog training processes and dog behavior challenges, I use and recommend Clickertraining ...that link goes to the description of this terrific ebook you download immediately, wherever you are! -- Rosana

Sometimes people think that they should start puppy training at the age of several month, even at six months! To me, that’s a ripe old age when it comes to training.

Whenever I get a new puppy, I make the rest of my schedule as light as I possibly can. Since I work at home, I can make it really very light. That way, there is plenty of time to watch the pup like a hawk and scoot it outside when it needs to go potty. Also, I can take naps if I have been up much in the night!
During those first precious and demanding days, we are bonding. The little one is such a social being that it really wants to interact a lot. How often do you have a new puppy? Since several of our dogs have been older rescue dogs, I have only had a few puppies.

The only puppy I’ve had since discovering clicker training was Sunbeam, a Basenji we got at about 10 or 11 weeks. Smart little thing she was! And a bit on the maniacal side when it came to energy. In looking around for ways to entertain her, I decided to play with the clicker. This was over a dozen years ago and I didn’t know much then about clicker training. But I had the basics.

I decided to teach Sunbeam to sit. I would wave my hand over her head in a front to back motion. She followed the motion with her eyes and then with her body. She sat. I clicked.

We did this several times one day, in several parts of the house.

Early the next morning, my hand happened to make the same sort of motion I had used the day before, but I wasn’t awake enough to realize it. Sunbeam sat.

And she never forgot “Sit” from then on. She didn’t always do it when asked, but hey, what Basenji would?

If you have a young puppy, you don’t need to be told how much puppies love biting! It’s a very important part of how they experience things around them. Over time, the yelping of their littermates or the corrections of their mothers show them what is and isn’t acceptable in the dog world.

You may have to continue this training, depending on the age that the puppy leaves its mother and siblings. It’s one of the most important responsibilities you take on as the new “parent,” since dogs have tremendous strength in their jaws and a dog who bites too hard or indiscriminately may be on the way to the pound.

How can you teach this? If you have other dogs in your home, they may continue the training. Once your puppy has enough immunity that it can go out in the world, make dates for it to play with other puppies and friendly dogs. Be sure to provide good chew toys, too. But all that isn’t enough.
Noted dog trainer Dr. Ian Dunbar produced a best-selling video (now DVD) on training puppies which includes teaching bite inhibition. Here’s my review of Sirius Puppy Training. I love it. It’s great for kids and adults!

I’ve been reading a really good book on dogs and yards and gardens, Dog Friendly Gardens, Garden Friendly Dogs by Cheryl Smith. The link takes you to my review of it on this site.

The author is an experienced dog trainer who has written dog training books. She is also a Master Gardener.

At this time of year, some dogs are digging up fresh plantings to the dismay of their owners, while other dogs in similar situations are happily playing elsewhere in the yard.

What’s the difference? Training. Well, maybe temperament too but training can make a huge difference. We often think of “dog training” as just being come, sit, stay, and the like. But you can train your dog to stay out of garden areas if you realize some principles of how dogs think about their space. You can also, with some patience, train dogs to use the part of your yard that you wish as their bathroom area.

This book has great ideas on how to train these behaviors, how to design a garden that respects dogs’ natural habits, and much more. Click the link above to find out more.

For over a year now, my husband and I have been living in Mexico. We consider it an experiment and don’t know yet if we will return permanently to the small town in Colorado that we came from. Since much of our business is online, we can spend time anywhere in the world that has a good internet connection! We’re currently near Lake Chapala — I can see it from my window as I write — outside of Guadalajara.

Living in a different culture requires a lot of adjustments. Some are easy, some are great fun, some (like getting really good at Spanish) are major challenges. For me, as a soft-hearted dog lover, one of the greatest challenges has been making my peace with the life of dogs in Mexico.

This came up for me one morning recently, as I walked through the cobblestone streets to the plaza, where the weekly market was setting up. I followed a couple of male dogs down the street, noticing as first one and then the other peed, that both were intact. It figures. Neutering is not a priority here, and it’s only partly a matter of money. (On the other hand, the state of Jalisco, where we are, has an excellent rabies vaccination program and there has been no rabies reported in people or dogs in the whole state for several years. This is quite an achievement.)

After I bought my fresh fruit and vegetables, and stopped in for some still-warm tortillas, I had the walk uphill to my house. I had been dreading it because on the way down I had glanced at a tiny puppy tied to a large rock in front of one of the houses.

It was still there, and as I walked by I spoke kindly to it. I was hoping that it would be a small breed but it doesn’t seem to be. I suspect it was taken from its mother very early. The little pup wagged its tail and came toward me, whining. I was so close to tears that I didn’t want to stop because if someone came out of the house, I’d be crying.

Okay, I know that plenty of puppies in the US don’t get a great start either. This little one at least has some people caring for it. Assuming it survives, it will probably grow up to be a dog who lives in this relatively quiet street. There is an older puppy a block away, also tied up, seeming resigned to its life on a four-foot rope. The people on this street are not desperately poor but you wouldn’t call them middle class either. Life is hard, and they give the dogs some affection and care. And they are great with their children.

Because we are in a part of Mexico that is popular with Americans, Canadians, and other foreigners, there are three expat-run shelters in the region, each one caring as best it can for the dogs and cats that need help. I sometimes stop in and help a little.

Different cultures — different viewpoints, different possibilities.

For a little more about Mexican street dogs, the link takes you to a page I wrote when we were traveling around Mexico once in our motorhome. We camped overnight in a museum parking lot and got to know some of the street dogs. Go to the bottom of the page for the part about the dogs, and a photo. (This is on a website of mine about Mexico. Of course, dogs frequently come into it.)