Dog Training Videos - Puppy Training - You And Your Puppy: First Homecoming

02/18/2017

Each week we pick great dog training videos from Youtube and share them here.
These first videos will all focus on puppy training.
We hope that you find them helpful when training your puppies.

Steve: Hi, Carolyn. It’s good to see you again. And we’ve decided to get a new addition to the family.

Carolyn: So what you’re going to get?

Steve: A puppy.

Carolyn: You come to the right woman.

Steve: I hope so.

Carolyn: What breed have you decided on?

Steve: I’ve seen the dog, it’s … I wanted a dog, a boxer originally, but I don’t think our house is big enough for two boxes. Chances are I’ll be the one that lives on the outside and be kept, so I decided against that one. But I’m going to go for an old favorite of mine, one that we had when we’re very young, and it’s a Staffordshire bull terrier, like a smaller version.

Carolyn: So if you’ve seen him have you picked a name yet?

Steve: It’s a crappy, I’m going to call him Stan.

Carolyn: Stan the Staffy, I like that. That’s a good name.

Steve: Yeah, there you go. I didn’t call him Stan for that reason. I couldn’t even get a name, but Stan the Staff goes well …

Carolyn: [Cross talking 00:56]. You obviously got to remember that before you bring Stan home is make sure your house is ready. Never forget that puppies can chew, can get into all sorts of trouble, and then can squeeze into all kinds of spaces that you would never have thought possible.

Steve: Sounds like my kids.

Carolyn: Oh, puppies are far worse than kids. Before you puppy comes home you need to go around your house and look at it from a puppy’s point of view, and looking for all the possible dangers.

Steve: Apart from the obvious stuff, what else should I be looking for?

Carolyn: Well first of all let’s start with the most dangerous – electric cables. Anything that’s on the floor just looks like a chew toy to puppies. So electric cables have to either be removed if you can or if not you need to put them behind a box or just some way that the puppy can’t get into them and can’t chew them. Household plants, that’s another one, quite a few household plants are poisonous for dogs. So get them out of the rooms where the puppy is, put them on a really, really high shelf or just have them in a different room. Children’s toys as a big one, children’s toys and shoes, puppies just gravitate towards those because they just look that great chew toys. So the rule has to be if you don’t want it chewed don’t leave it on the floor.

And then puppies can get themselves stuck and hide in all sorts of places whether that’s under the bed or under furniture. So just go around and blocked off any of those areas where you puppy could hide.

Steve: Right, well I do have a lot of household chores to do at home, so on top of our cooking and cleaning I now have to go and make sure it’s a puppy-friendly and safe as well. Besides in the home, I mean, what dangers are outside like in backyard, in the garden? I mean, what dangers lay there?

Carolyn: You’re right on thinking about the garden because there are lots of dangers in the garden. So let’s go and look at the garden and we’ll have a check.

Steve: Absolutely. Well, Carolyn, is this a great garden for your puppy play and explore and have a good time?

Carolyn: Well it looks perfect because there aren’t many places that you can lose them or any dangers. But first of all have a look at the fence. It looks like lots of gaps underneath the hedge that a puppy could sneak out into, so have a look at that and think about fencing that. Also have a look to see if you’ve get any poisonous plants around. You can get on the internet and find a list of poisonous plants and just check your garden for them. And then just look for anything else that you’ve got left lying around that a puppy could hurt himself on.

Steve: Well, there’s something I see now which is quite popular and we have an electric cable running around the edge here because we have some garden spot lights coming from and so on. And I don’t want lose those lights, so what do you suggest we do?

Carolyn: Just dig them in. Just dig a channel, put some molding, whatever over the top of it but well spotted. Apart from that I think Stan’s going to have a great of a time in here. Let’s go and get a cup of tea.

Steve: Yes. Thank you.

Carolyn: So now you’ve got a nice, tidy house, Steve. Have you thought about what you’re going to have to buy for Stan before he comes home?

Steve: No. I didn’t actually thinking about it all, the stuff I have to get him. I have a funny feeling it’s over the credit card, it’s going to cost some money.

Carolyn: It might not be as bad as you think. To start with, he’s going to need a crate to sleep in overnight. So a nice dog crate with lined with a nice cozy vet bed.

Steve: I’ve never heard of a vet bed before. Sorry, what’s a vet bed?

Carolyn: It’s a nice fluffy warm material that can’t trickle up in the bed, that you can cut to whatever size you want for your puppy wherever you want to put it. And the great thing about it is you can cut a piece off and send it to your breeder so Stan can sleep on it before he even comes home.

Steve: Yes, when the breeder … I get the pup from the breeder he’s got that familiar smell with the piece of vet bed which will help him kind of settle in more because he can smell it’s comfy with you.

Carolyn: It might just help him settle in that little bit quicker because he can still smell his mum and his little mates. But as well as his overnight bed you also want a bed for him anywhere you want him to settle with you. So if you want him with you when you’re watching television he needs a bed there, or when you’re working. Anywhere he’s going to lie down and sleep he just needs something comfortable.

So you’re also going to need a collar and lead for him and an ID tag with your name, your address and phone number on it for when he starts to go out and about. He’s going to need a brush so you can get him used to getting clean and so you can keep him clean and tidy. A bowl for his food and for his water. And get a supply of food from your breeder that she’s already been feeding him, because that’s what he’s already used to. He needs some toys and it’s really useful to get a baby gate because you can put that up in the door of any rooms that you don’t want him going in or at the bottom of the stairs, because obviously when he’s young he’s too small to be going up and down the stairs on his own.

So you can see there’s an awful lot of shopping to be done.

Steve: Yeah, I mean there’s a lot more there than I would have thought about, but I now know. I’m glad and I’m looking forward to him coming home.

Carolyn: He’s going to have a great time with you.

Steve: Oh, absolutely.

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