Upbringing

I am not a professional of course, but I do have many years of experience with dogs of various breeds and through those years have developed my own views as to how one should approach this.

The process of bringing up dogs should begin as soon as possible, from the very moment the dogs are brought home even. One cannot expect puppies to walk obediently by their owners legs when they are not even capable of walking on a leash yet! The more important place to start in my view is with the use of voice commands from the owner. The owner should really take the time to make sure which commands he or she wants the dogs to learn and which words will symbolize those commands so that all members of the family can be informed and the training will be consistent. If everyone is not on the same page and using the same commands with the dogs, the poor things can quickly become confused; for example, if one family member says to the dogs “come to me!” and another family member says “walk here!” and yet another family member uses another phrase when they are attempting to get the dogs to walk by their legs, well, one can easily see that this is a recipe that is sure to confuse the poor creatures!

Similarly, in addition to clarifying which commands one desires the dogs to learn, a non-violent upbringing can be started from the very beginning as well. It is important to remember that for young puppies it is extremely useful to use treats as a learning tool, for example replacing sweet sponge biscuits with small cut pieces of children’s ham (because they are not so salty) or even by using some hard cheese. These treats should be given after every properly listened to command and it is important that consistency in this area is maintained because it helps to motivate the dogs to behave well and listen properly, which will of course transfer into later months and years and will prove most beneficial when it comes to dog shows, as the dogs will immediately have a reaction when they hear the same sounds being by the motion of treats being taken out of their bags by someone outside of the show ring whom they recognize; both posture and behavior will be favorably affected as the dogs associate such sounds with positive reinforcement, etc! At the end of the day, the goal is to get the same reaction out of the dogs with their favorite toy or umpire toy.

Which of the basic commands should be used first? From my own experience and perspective it is the following: No! Bad Dog! Come to Me! and of course “Wait!” At approximately 4 months Taffy began training to retrieve by voice command and the key words were “Fetch!” Bring!” “Give!” and “Let Go!” A first, she did not want to let go after bringing the object back but now, however, she is 8 months old and fetches like a dream, despite being a teenager! This is wonderful because when time is running short and I do not have the time to take her for a longer walk, all I have to do is play fetch with her for 30 minutes and she will be exhausted! :) In addition, Taffy is able to perform the “Sit Down” command but I do not require her to sit down immediately after each retrieval as this could lead to problems in the show ring as the dogs sit and are not able to simply stand.

I would like to return to the raising of puppies again. The most basic of tasks for all owners, of course, is to train their dogs to learn how to use mother nature as their toilet rather than an enclosed structure such as a house or a garage! :-) While our dogs have always been outside, when they were tiny puppies they were always in the home with us. For example, when Taffy arrived home with us there was snow on the ground which lasted approximately one month. It is impossible to leave such a small and vulnerable creature outside in such conditions and besides, like any new mother even if it were possible, my conscience would never allow for it!

I am familiar with the standard advice given for potty training dogs; that of covering a section of the floor with newspapers for the dogs and then leaving them to do their business and simply start moving closer and closer to the door on a gradual basis until the dog realizes that it must go outside to go to the bathroom. I personally do not agree with this approach and feel that dogs should go immediately outside to the toilet from the very beginning. This method is very demanding and requires close concentration and persistence but one tends to find that the dogs learn very quickly.

Quite honestly, as a mother of 2 “real” children, I find that caring for small puppies is a lot like caring for small children; when they were small babies, I had to get up in the middle of the night, etc. When Taffy was a small puppy I would go to sleep very late and when it was still dark early in the morning I would get up as well; she managed to last those hours without relieving herself and I managed to get her out to do it in time. There were several times, of course, when she could not hold herself completely, but she quickly came to learn. Today, however, I am happy to report that Taffy has come so far that if we are in a hurry to get somewhere it is enough to simply tell her “toilet!” and she will go immediately and be finished! :-)

From the commands I listed above, Taffy has managed to master all of them. I do not let her run free in our village or town, as not only is there a municipal ordinance against this but I am afraid of the sometimes crazy Czech drivers and that Taffy could get run over! Fortunately for me, Taffy obeys exceptionally well so that when I have to call on her to “Wait!” she stops immediately and waits. For the moment, everything is going exactly as I hoped and imagined it would! :-)

Rottweilers have to learn how to track and defend as well and with this portion of the upbringing I have no experience; I am really hoping that the people from KO Ricany-Strasin, where we are going for training classes, can help me to teach both of my female dogs what they need to know! I will definitely let you know when they have passed their exams!

Some last thoughts, be watchful for signs of aggressiveness as immediately from a small age the dogs will try to show their strong will in an attempt to get what they want, again, just like small children! :-) The biggest signs of aggression usually appear during the teenage years or when the dog is fed. From the very beginning, I did not tolerate even the slightest hint of aggression, even if it meant getting bitten while disciplining them.

Malamuts are kennel dogs and their hierarchical structure is really a function of their kennel system way of life. Dogs have their very own distinct language and ways of communicating with one another and taking their positions within the kennel (leash). Of course, this is dependent upon the age, strength and sex of the dog. This is all natural of course as the younger dogs are always trying to reach the status of its’ owner for some period of time. This behavior pattern is the same in Rottweilers and I must admit to being in shock when Taffy attacked me on our journey home with her from Slovenia, it made me realize that I was not bringing home a Malamut but a dog of a completely different personality and character all together! As a protective measure and to use as a teaching method, I used a technique from childhood and took away her treats, only to return them when the need for praising arose.

This method should not be pushed too far of course, the dogs need to be allowed to eat peacefully as you do not want him or her to grow up thinking that they have to fight for their food every time they are hungry! This will only further enhance the dog’s aggressiveness rather than putting a stop to it. As with anything in life, it is critical to use common sense and to find that so called “golden” middle way; this means that it is very important to always be observant of the dogs, to learn to understand them and in that way one might be in a better position to predict the their behavior.

It is not a cliche to say that by observing dogs’ characteristics such as overall behavior, posture, positioning of the head, look on the face, and the way they carry their tails, etc. it really is possible to recognize what kind of mood the dogs are in and to pretty accurately predict behavior for the near future. It is good for me to know that when the dogs are outside and I can see that they might have a desire to run off when I do not wish for it, I can immediately call out a firm command to stop the behavior before it has time to develop and I know the dogs will stop! Similarly, in a tense situation where I need to get the dogs’ attention quickly I can do so with ease, thus avoiding a runaway situation or any potential aggressiveness.

I am of the opinion that it is important to praise a lot and I rarely punish the dogs physically as they will eventually become too afraid to come again, or they will start jumping in front of me, running, etc. If my dogs are not coming to me I will go for them and in a very firm tone of voice I will say “How come you are not coming to me!” “Come here!” or “What is it?” etc. If the dogs are really naughty and do not listen again, they are afterwards led on a long leash which they trail behind them. I will manipulate the situation on purpose when I know that they do not want to come. However, if they still do not come after approximately 2 seconds, I will pull them back with the long leash.

I truly believe that the key to success is consistency in the enforcements and execution of commands. If I give a command to the dogs, they must obey. I will add this little caveat, however, and that is that the commands given should be necessary ones and only given if they make sense and fit the situation and when the dogs actually have an ability to obey, in other words, one cannot expect dogs to obey commands that are impossible to obey from the outset. This comes back to one of my central points, that it is absolutely vital that one knows his or her dogs and that the owners can read them well enough to anticipate different forms of behavior.