All too often, people welcome a pup or immature dog into their life, and think that they can instantly give that dog the freedoms and privileges of a dog that they have lived together with for years.
In my many years training puppies and dogs at Aly’s Boot Camp, I have found that It doesn’t work like that. You can’t skip past forming a strong foundation.
In order to have a calm and well behaved dog, you have to raise that pup up to become safe, sane and civilized. You have to establish YOUR structure & daily flow with YOUR boundaries, in YOUR home.
With rituals and structure you and your pup will be able to go enjoy freedoms and privileges, but it takes time. You will need to do more dating and getting to know each other first, with good manners and best behaviors expected and defined.
It is imperative that you take the time to establish a solid foundation of good manners and behaviors with your dog over the first six months – the most formative timeframe for your dog.
The most common mistake people make is giving their pup or dog, TOO MUCH-TOO SOON…NO FREE ROAMING or off leash privileges yet.
Freedom isn’t free. It’s earned, through time, patience, boundaries, structure, purpose-driven activities and earned affection and getting to know each other.
Allowing your dog to run freely takes time and supervision. You have to consistently watch your dog and learn to speak this language, which is of course, DOG.
Before your dog has the OPTION and ability to roam about the house anytime and anywhere they want, we evolve to ROAMING WITH RULES. Freedom to roam comes after you have spent plenty of time tethering (leash connected to the dog – leash connected to you) and your pup or dog is making good choices when not being directed by you. It’s the progression to the next step.
Here’s how to ROAM WITH RULES:
1) Your leash is on the dog, dragging the leash along in the house. LEASH IS ALWAYS ON the dog when outside of crate.
2) You have your eyes on your dog at all times. Yes, you heard me right, they can only be far enough away from you that YOU CAN SEE THE DOG. I describe it so that your dog is always in your line of sight.
Roaming with Rules only exists when you have eyes on your dog in order to be able to ensure that your dog is not becoming destructive, over-excited, silly or getting into anything inappropriate or dangerous.
Then…you go about your business. It’s not play time, it’s not PLACE time (although don’t be surprised if your dog hops onto the bed by his own choice) A dog at liberty can move around, he can stand, sit, laydown, he can sniff, he can do what he wants….to an extent, right! If your dog ramps up, then he probably wasn’t prepared for the right to ROAM WITH PRIVILEGES, so go back to tethering.
Yes, you come back to tethering, anytime things go wonky. THEN you progress to Roaming with Rules….and see how the choices are going. Basically, when a dog is making great choices 90% of the time with little guidance or intervention from you, THAT is an indicator that your dog is ready for a bit more freedom.
Still need help and clarification on training your pup for a Safe, Sane and Civilized companionship?
Our pup or immature dog DAILY SCHEDULE for SUCCESS would definitely be a great tool. It can be found in my amazing Pillars of Pack Leadership Training Academy where I will help you to establish your proper relationship over the next 90 days!
