Essential Commands for New Puppy

 

Written by : Melissa Losh​

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1. "ME" : This command is get your pup's attention so he knows what to do next from you. You can practice many times a day, randomly, by first, getting some small, soft treats (tiny bits of hot dog work wonders!) then saying the pup's name, followed immediately by "ME" command. Then give the pup a treat and say good boy. The trick is to hold the treat close to the dogs nose, as you say "ME" and then quickly move the treat up to YOUR face, to get the dog to actually LOOK at you, even for a moment, and to get that FOCUS on YOU, not his surroundings. Then immediately after you have moved the treat from his nose to yours, you give it to him with lots of praise. This should be repeated about five times in a row, at least several times a day. Basically, you're just conditioning the dog to focus on you, and wait for his next move, every time you call his name and say, "ME!"

 

2. "WAIT" : This is a command I use ALL the time. Once a dog learns it, it's so much easier to do EVERYTHING! The easiest way to teach this is at feeding time. You get the food bowl in your hands, and say "WAIT!", while holding the dog back and waiting for a second before you put the bowl down in front of him, letting him eat, only AFTER he is able to wait for a moment. Soon, you'll have your pup looking to you as you set the bowl down, and he won't even eat until you say "OK!" This teaches the pup patience, and self control - essential in a large powerful breed like the Akita. This command also goes hand in hand with the next one, "OK." Another great time to enforce the "WAIT" command is when you're going in and out the door of the house, car, or at the base of stairways, etc. Basically, anytime you don't want the dog bolting, or dragging you through doorways, or down a set of stairs, etc. For example, when you're coming home from an outing, and you're at the front door of the house, and your dog is anxious to get in right away, you tell him "WAIT" and then YOU enter the house FIRST, then let him in and praise him for waiting. At first you can use your body/legs to physically move past him into the house first, and then let him enter, by saying "OK!" He'll get the message, as long as you're consistent. Soon, he will be waiting for you to enter first, and come to expect this as normal. Not only is this command very handy, it also enforces that you are the pack leader/alpha dog. By always entering and exiting first/in front of the dog, you are sending him a non-verbal signal that he must follow you, not the other way around.

 

3. "OK" : This command releases the dog from whatever he has done for you. Like, after you're done with the "ME" exercises, you say "OK" with much enthusiasm and a pat of affection, then the dog knows he's done, and the lesson is over. Also, use "OK" to signal the dog he's done "waiting", like when you're through the door, and he's waited for you, you say "OK" and he'll bound into the house after you, happy to know you are in control of the situation, and he can follow you. Just like kids, dogs thrive with a bit of boundaries and "rules" - they do better because of it, even if they won't admit it!

 

4. Sometimes, like kids, you have to give them a "TIME OUT," to let them cool their jets for a minute, and to reconsider their actions. For example, a common issue for a lot of people is that their puppy/dog barks too much when people come over to the house, and are acting a little too protective. Well, its OK to let the dog bark once or twice at first, but if it continues well past the initial meeting, action must be taken! What we've found works wonders, is to first of all, stay CALM!!! Don't make the barking/protective behavior worse by yelling or hitting or "loosing your cool" towards him. When you've had enough of the bad behavior, simply remove him from the situation by holding his collar, and shuttling him to another room. When you put him in there, simply say a firm "NO BARK," or "QUIET," or whatever word you choose, and shut the door. Only leave him in there for maybe 30 seconds or so, just a very short time, because you don't want him to get the idea he is isolated and you're never coming back, which will make him even more resentful and protective, because he doesn't know what is going on in the other room. After you let him out, tell the visitor to just ignore him, as if the dog isn't even there. It's OK for him to sniff the visitor or seem interested, but the attitudes of everyone must remain that the dog is NOT the most important person in the room!!! Once the dog begins to calm down and "accept" the visitor, praise and attention should be given, letting the dog know that THIS is how you want him to behave. If he starts to exhibit the undesirable behavior again, just repeat the TIME OUT. You may have to calmly shuttle him to his time-out room several times before he makes the connection that "every time I bark at the visitor, I get sent away," and that "every time I'm quiet and good I can stay in the same room as my master." He'll get the message, just be consistent! You want a well behaved Akita that at least "tolerates" a non-threatening visitor to your home.

 

5. On being "MOUTHY" aka nibbling / biting. Cute at first, but a habbit that pups need to break RIGHT AWAY! What you can do for that is, every time he bites/nibbles on you or your hubby or your kids, the person being "mouthed" upon must make a high pitched "yelp" (mimicking that of his siblings) to make him know "that hurts!!!" and do NOT accept that mouthing behavior, because if you don't stop it right away, he'll keep doing it. You want to encourage a SOFT mouth, and this technique will work. It must be a very loud, high pitched almost scream - enough to startle him into thinking it hurt you (whether or not it actually hurt you is besides the point) - then don't let it happen again, or keep repeating the screach, with a small jab under the chin/side of cheek, or a shake of the scruff, to discourage it. No beating, just a screach and an attitude of not accepting that type of behavior.

 

6. CONFIDENCE - to be or not to be... You want a dog that is sure of itself; one that is confident and not scared or nervous. Some dogs are naturally prone one way or other, but dogs do feed off thier owners' behaviors much more than we can imagine. If your puppy is natually confident - this is great, but if left un - checked, and the puppy grows to think HE is the leader of the pack, this could lead to trouble. Encourage his confidence, but also draw the boundary lines and enforce them! Don't let him get away with stuff, and be sure to assert yourself as the alpha pack leader. If your puppy is naturally a bit more timid, this is OK, but we do not want the dog to grow up to be a scared dog. To avoid this, when you're in a situation where you notice the dog acting scared or nervous, do NOT pet and stroke the dog, making soothing noises to it, telling it that "it's OK." Because, it is NOT OK to cower back at things or people. You want a dog that is sure of itself. Instead of "babying" the dog, you ignore the unwanted behavior, and praise the dog when it does start to act with more confidence (the wanted behavior).

 

7. To get your dog to "COME" - this can be so frustrating, but it does not have to be! Puppies love games, so let's make a game out of this 'task' so the puppy has fun doing it! Puppies also love to chase things that are moving, so you can start out by running in front of the puppy, encouraging it to follow you, while at the same time yelling, Fido, COME! Then after a bit, turn and praise him lavishly. Repeat this often. Also, you can get a friend to help hold Fido, while you walk a short distance away. Then run away a bit, while saying COME! He will chase you, and when he reaches you, lavish praise on him. Repeat often. This will get him into the habit of something fun and chasing you and coming back to you, when he hears the word, 'come.' Positive association! Also, many people over - do this excercize so that the puppy gets burned out on it. A few times a day is fine, and keeping it fun, then, when you really DO need your dog to come, to keep it out of a bad situation or something, he will listen to you, because he remembers 'come' as something fun and he gets lots of praise when he does this.

 

8. On being "ALONE." Many of my puppy buyers say, "oh, the puppy will never be alone - someone will be with it all the time!" This seems like a good thing, but if the puppy never experiences the feeling of being left alone for short periods of time, that ONE TIME you actually need to leave the puppy for a while, he will freak out!!! Then the owners wonder, "why does my puppy have seperation anxiety?" It's because the puppy never got taught that it is OK to be alone, and not a bad thing. From a young age, you want the puppy to get used to being alone for short periods of time, with LOTS of praise afterwards. This can either be in a kennel or just in the house. Pretend to leave the house, but only step outside for a few minutes, then when you come back inside, praise the puppy lavishly and give treats. Maybe later in the day repeat this. The next day increase the time to maybe 15 minutes. Repeat. Increase the time each day or every few days until you've successfully reached a few hours with the puppy being alone. Always praise lavishly when you get home and give treats. Now you have a dog that won't have bad seperation anxiety, the few times that it DOES need to be left alone, for whatever reason.

 

9. On "JUMPING UP": As far as jumping up on every guest who comes through the front door of your home, or when meeting people, yes that can be bothersome... You know your dog is just being friendly, but the other people don't. Plus it's just bad manners! Basically you have to put him on a leash when someone comes to the door (already have him on leash). And standing nearby to the guest, ask the dog to sit, give a treat, ask him to stay, and then ask your guest to come greet the dog, but not too excitedly! If needed, use your hand to keep his butt in a sitting position, and give a treat right away afterwards. A lot of repetition will need to happen, and rewarding that calm behavior within 3 seconds of him doing it, for his new good behavior to really stick.

 

The good ol' knee in the chest every time he jumps up at ya always does the trick, and always lots of praise when he actually does what you want him to do (greeting you or others without jumping) ...

 

THIS BASIC ACT OF IGNORING UNWANTED BEHAVIOR AND PRAISING WANTED BEHAVIOR WORKS FOR ALMOST EVERYTHING!!! TRY IT AND YOU'LL BE SURPRISED!!!

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10. Potty Training : Well potty training is a process that sometimes takes a while. However, many of my puppy buyers marvel at how fast they learn, and how FEW accidents they have. Here are some tips to get off on the right foot , er, paw :

 

Basically, every time she's out of the crate, she must be watched, and quickly shuttled outside , if she starts to go on the floor. Just a firm NO! , then take her outside, with lots of praise when she does go outside.

 

Also, don't let her have full run of the house right away. Use baby gates etc, to keep her confined say, in the kitchen, or some small other area where she can be watched.

 

And puppies have to go potty right away, after : waking up, playing, and soon after eating or drinking, so it's just a matter of you keeping track of her doing those things, and you remembering to take her outside promptly, before she has a chance to squat on the floor.

 

Also, take up her food and water dishes at a certain point each night, say 6 or 7 pm, that way she isn't having food and water right before bed, prompting whining / accidents at night etc.

 

It can be a lot of work, but I promise, a few weeks of hard work will pay off and she will make the connection soon !!

 

Hang in there, :-)

Melissa 

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11. How do I get my puppy to stop playing with and biting at the leash while walking? Use a collar not a harness, and even a regular chain choke collar , make sure collar fits well, with only about 2" slack. When walking, keep collar as far UP the neck as possible, right under her chin. Then keep the leash part at the back of her neck with the leash fairly short and taught but loose enough so her collar is not always tight. Walk onward with confidence and if she fights it, simply stop but ignore her. Once she stops fighting it, rearrange the collar as explained above and start again. Keep tiny soft treats in your hand or pocket (even tiny pieces of hot dog) and reward her FAST (within 3 seconds) of her walking forward successfully. Keep walking. Keep rewarding. Repeat all steps as necessary until she has mastered this important skill.

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Feel free to print a copy of any of this information for quick reference

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More info on my webpages : AKITA INFO , my HOME PAGE , and USEFUL LINKS

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