Dog Training: Should You Send Your Dog to Dog Camp?

Do you live in one of the over 43 million households in the US that include the family dog? In a 9 month span in 2017, there were almost 600 adoptions of dogs in Chicago. That's a lot of dogs!

Dogs are the most popular pet that Americans own, and if you have one, you already know exactly why. Dogs, in general, are perhaps the most loyal, loving creatures on the planet.

You may have heard about board and train programs, or dog camp. Is this a viable option for your pup?

Let's take a look.

What Is Dog Camp?

Sending your dog to dog camp is kind of like sending your kid to summer camp. Except instead of spending their days canoeing and taking archery classes, your dog will be learning to behave (and having fun!)

However, not all dogs are saints. Some need a little help in the "behaving themselves" department. What do you do if you don't have time (or don't know how) to train your dog well?

Some dog camps offer basic courses. Your dog will learn to sit, come, not to jump on people, not pull on the leash, not to counter-surf, etc.

Other camps are more intense and are designed for more specialized training. For example, if your dog is anxious or overprotective this type of dog camp can help.

Important Considerations

For some families, the mere idea of sending Fido away for a few weeks is unbearable. After all, you'd be without a beloved member of the family for that time. If that's your family, doggie day camp may be a better option for you.

For other families, this may sound like an attractive method of getting a well-behaved dog. In today's world, many people are simply too busy to spend the time necessary to properly train the family dog.

However, there are various things you should take into consideration before sending Fido away. Let's look at some of them.

Professional Trainers

One of the most obvious benefits of sending your dog to dog camp is that your dog will get to work with professional trainers. Well-run facilities offer excellent training services for your dog.

While they are at camp, they will be exercised, stimulated, and socialized with other people and animals. The dog that comes back to you from a few weeks at dog camp could be a completely different animal than the one you sent.

You Aren't "Trained" 

The advantage that you don't have to do the training is also a disadvantage. Dogs have a hard time generalizing so they may have difficulty applying what they learned at dog camp to home life.

Also, unless you know how to properly treat the dog and reinforce what the trainer did, your dog's behavior may revert once he gets back home.

It's easy to avoid this problem, however. The best way to do this is to visit your dog a few times at camp. The trainer will bring you in on the training session and show you how to work with the dog.

This also teaches your dog that you are in charge in the same way that the trainer is. When you return home, you simply have to enforce the same rules so that your dog understands that what he learned at dog camp is the behavior that you now expect.

However, the big benefit is that reinforcement takes far less time than having to do all the training yourself. Plus, every dog is unique and has their own learning style. You may not be an expert dog trainer but professionals will know the right ways to communicate with your dog regardless of their learning style.

In addition, sometimes being around other well-behaved dogs is exactly what Fido needs to learn more quickly, which is what he'll get at dog camp!

Length of Time at Camp

How long your dog may spend at dog camp is determined by several factors. A mild-mannered, easygoing dog will learn much quicker than a more stubborn dog and require less time at camp. Plus, how much training your dog already has is a factor.

On average, most dogs can learn to behave within a few weeks. At K9 University we offer packages of up to 4 weeks. You'll receive regular updates on how Fido is doing so you can rest easy.

Finances are also a consideration. If full-on doggie boot camp is a little out of your price range, you may want to consider doggie day camp. This option offers the same benefits of training with the added perk that you still get to see Fido in the evenings.

Facilities

Aside from quality and professional trainers, the facilities of dog camp are also an extremely important piece of the puzzle. You want Fido to be happy during his stay at dog camp.

The facility you choose should ensure that your dog gets plenty of exercise and time to play each day. Socialization with other dogs is also important. Like a kid at summer camp, your dog should be having so much fun at dog camp that he won't want to go home!

We offer climate-controlled facilities where your dog will be safe and comfortable. Our accommodations are so large and luxurious we even like to refer to them as "condo kennels"!

How to Choose the Right Dog Camp

If you decide to send your dog to a dog camp, you'll need to carefully choose the facility. Be sure to choose a reputable company. You want your fluffy friend to be happy and well taken care of during his time at dog camp. Talk to past customers and check out reviews.

Always visit the premises first. Pay close attention to how the current resident dogs are behaving. Do they seem happy and well adjusted? How do the ones who have been there a while behave?

From the instant you step on the grounds, it should be readily apparent to you that the dogs are happy and in good hands. The last thing you want to do is put your dog in a place that doesn't offer proper care.

Is Dog Camp for You?

For most families, the benefits of dog camp are well worth it. Your dog will come home happy, well-adjusted, and, most importantly, a more well-behaved version of himself.

Doggie day camp and overnight boot camp are both great options and which one you choose is totally up to you. Pro tip: if you're going on vacation and need to board Fido anyway, that's a perfect opportunity to sign up for boot camp!

Have more questions? Feel free to contact us today!

THIS ARTICLE WAS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AT: https://k9uchicago.com/blog/should-you-send-your-dog-to-dog-camp

Puppy Problems – Part III – Puppy Separation Anxiety

In part three of our common puppy problem series, we’re discussing puppy separation anxiety. Keep reading to learn how you can help your pup cope. Is your puppy excessively whining or drooling when you leave the home? Barking for minutes, even hours? Separation anxiety in dogs, however common, can be stressful for both pet parents and their dogs. If you live in an urban environment like a condo or apartment high rise, it can put strain on relationships with your neighbors, too.  Thankfully, there are some easy ways to train your puppy to deal with the transition of you leaving.

What is Puppy Separation Anxiety?

New puppies, during the period when they are adapting to their new home, may experience some unwanted behaviors. As they acclimate themselves to your home and to you, they will likely become attached to one or more members of the household. Then, when you begin to adopt a routine, you may notice that when you leave your puppy alone for a short period of time, they become extremely anxious. Not sure if your puppy is experiencing separation anxiety? Read on to learn more about the signs and symptoms and explore solutions like puppy play sessions to start socializing your puppy early.

Signs of Puppy Separation Anxiety

Here are some signs your dog may be suffering from separation anxiety:

• Excessive drooling
• Continued barking or whining
• Unwanted chewing (furniture, baseboards, etc.)
• Scratching of walls and doors
• Self-harm from trying to escape their crate or gated rooms

Whether your puppy is experiencing one or more of these signs, there are some preventative things you can do to help your puppy feel calmer.

What You Can Do to Improve Separation Anxiety

Here are some tried and true tactics you can implement to ease your puppy’s separation anxiety:

Start Crate Training Early

Crate training is an ideal way to put your puppy in a safe place that assists in relieving some of the symptoms of separation anxiety. Why? Because if trained properly, your dog will know their crate is their safe place. As a reminder, you should never place your dog in their crate as a disciplinary measure. If they fear the space, they will never want to enter, and it will induce even more anxiety. Also, you should never crate dogs under six months old for more than a few hours. Once you trust your pup not to be destructive around the house, you can let them out when you leave the home for brief periods of time. To motivate your dog into using the crate regularly, place treats or food in their crate. Then you can graduate to feeding them full meals in their crate. While they are eating, you can close the door for a few minutes and see how they react. Slowly increase the time they spend in the crate. If your puppy starts to whine or bark, pull back and reduce time in the crate. For more information on how to crate train your dog, visit our guide on welcoming your new dog home.

Create and Stick to Your Schedule

Like children, puppies need schedules they (and you) can rely on. A routine gives them an idea of when to eat, when to go to the bathroom, when to play and when you are expected to leave. Of course, a puppy’s schedule varies from that of an adult dog. Puppies need to use the bathroom far more often. So, in these early months, it’s crucial that you are at home often,so you are available to let your dog out according to the schedule you have set.

Make Coming and Going Uneventful

Leaving your home shouldn’t be a big deal, so don’t act like it. No long “goodbyes” or extra pets for your pup are allowed. In fact, it could increase your dog’s anxiety. Calmly walk your dog to their crate and close the door behind them. Practice with short absences and increase them over time.   For example, leave your pup alone when step out to get the mail.   Then maybe for a trip to the gas station, a short shopping spree at the store, lunch hour, etc. This is especially useful for work at home dog parents, who leave less frequently, potentially increasing the likelihood and severity of separation anxiety when they do leave the home.

Consider Puppy Daycare

Puppy daycare is a wonderful service offered by a variety of organizations, including K-9 University Chicago. Puppies need special attention in their first years. Puppy free play and daycare are two options we offer to keep your pup active and social. In addition to receiving much needed play and training, you’ll avoid all the perils of separation anxiety.

Make Sure You Have Time for a Dog

This should go without saying, but so much of your puppy’s anxiety could be improved by lots of exercise, attention, and routine. If you are often not at home, reconsider getting a puppy. If you already have a puppy and are struggling, try some of the above tactics to reduce your dog’s separation anxiety.

Summary - Training Your Puppy to Cope

In summary, training for puppy separation anxiety should be done as a preventative measure for all dogs. We advise not waiting for your new pup to exhibit symptoms. All early training should focus on mitigating your dog’s stress - from crate training to establishing a routine. Your behavior matters too. Not making a big deal out of leaving your home, being present, and sticking to your routine will influence your dog’s behavior. For more guidance, explore our puppy training classes. Want more insights into common puppy problems? Read Part I and Part II of our series.

THIS ARTICLE WAS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AT: https://k9uchicago.com/blog/stopping-puppy-separation-anxiety/

Puppy Problems – Part II – How to Stop Puppy Jumping

This is the second blog in our series to address the challenges we face with our cute puppies during their maturation process.  In this blog, we offer 4 methods to stop puppy jumping.Puppy jumping is adorable, but soon it becomes one of the most annoying, bordering on rude, dog behaviors.  It is important to control this behavior early on before the dog becomes a juvenile delinquent --bruising, scratching, or knocking you or your neighbors down when they launch and plow into others.

What Do we Mean By Puppy Jumping?

Puppies don’t mean to be rude or mean when they jump.  Jumping is their way of playing when excited, a way to get closer to our faces and find out what's going on there.  When they are puppies, we interpret the behavior as “love.”  When they are adult dogs, we are just annoyed or even scared. Here are a few common scenarios when puppies naturally are inclined to jump:

• Home comings and departures - Jumping up on you and other people to greet you or guests at the door or to stop you from leaving.
• Saying hello – Jumping on people in the elevator when you are taking them out in a condo building, or in the park when they see or hear someone who shows them affection.
• Jumping enthusiastically and exuberantly grabbing at treats.

Puppy jumping should not be encouraged at any time and proper impulse control needs to be taught before the dog reaches adolescence, where jumping up combines with mouthing behavior, and your puppy grabs or bites your hands, clothing or other parts of you. Most training techniques are based on the principle of rewarding the desired behavior with affection or treats and withdrawing the reward when the undesired behavior occurs. Here are 4 proven techniques that are sure to nip puppy jumping in the bud.

Jumping Control Method 1 – Door training 

The key to stop puppy jumping at the door is to draw on a conflicting behavior, such as “sit/stay.”  This requires that you and the pup master the key command during calm moments first, then ask for the behavior when you come or go.  Your guests will appreciate this so that they don’t have to deal with your dog leaping at them at the door every time they visit. Practice coming in the door and teaching calm greetings. When you come home and the dog jumps at you, “punish” the behavior by walking away/turning back and waiting a few seconds.  Walk back to calmly greet her.  Reward her with your presence or treats for not jumping.  Do this multiple times until she no longer jumps. This requires that you keep treats at your side when you come home until the behavior of calm greeting is learned by you and your pup.

Jumping Control Method 2 – Sitting on a Leash 

Sitting on a leash is an effective approach to teach manners to your dog.  You simply clip a loose leash on the dog and you put your foot on the leash while you request the sit command. You can use the sit on a leash method to train calm greeting when strangers come to your house, in the elevator, or at the park when a familiar person approaches.  First, ask your friend to wait until your dog asks for permission to greet them.  Next, you simply stand next to the dog with your foot on the leash waiting for them to sit and make eye contact with you.  This is their way of asking permission, and you will have to be patient.  When they are calm and collected and look at you, then you ask them if they want to say “hi” politely. You may need to coach the human to greet calmly and avoid reinforcing jumping behavior.

Jumping Control Method 3 – Tethering 

 Tethering is a great technique to teach a puppy space management and can be sued effectively to stop puppy jumping.  You’ll need a leash and a heavy piece of furniture, a door, or a fence.  To tether, take the handle of the leash and loop it under the leg of your chosen piece of heavy furniture.  Then attach the clip to your dog’s collar.  Make sure the furniture piece you choose cannot fall on top of your dog, doesn’t have a bunch of objects on it that can fall on your dog, and won’t move if your dog pulls.  And, don’t leave your dog unattended or alone while tethered. To use tethering to control jumping simply follow these steps:

• Tether and walk past the dog
• “Punish” by walking away/turning and withdrawing affection back if he jumps
• Reward with treats for not jumping
• Always remain calm and low key while training

Use this technique multiple times a day at home or outside and try adding distractions, like approaching people, to master the desired behavior.

Jumping Control Method 4 – Tiring your Pup Out 

• Similar to puppy nipping blog, a tired dog is a dog that is not hyperactive.
• Walks, play, catch, dance, find, and other activities give them plenty of exercise and help them burn energy.

Summary – Prevention is the Best Cure for Puppy Jumping 

Believe it or not, if you are serious about it, you can actually stop puppy jumping in its track before it even begins on day 1.  The best way to do that is through prevention, which is a counterintuitive behavior when you just get a puppy.  You do this by following the “no touch, no talk, no eye contact rule” whenever you first greet your puppy. Finally, avoid inadvertently rewarding your puppy for jumping by petting him or having strangers pet him when he jumps. Sometimes you may need additional expertise to stop puppy jumping and other behaviors or to teach proper obedience.  K9U offers a menu of training classes addressing a variety of puppy or dog training and behavioral management needs.  Check out the K9U Puppy Training class to get yourself and your puppy started on the right track.


THIS ARTICLE WAS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AT:  https://k9uchicago.com/blog/how-to-stop-puppy-jumping/

Puppy Problems — Part I: Dealing with Puppy Nipping

So, your new puppy is home and you are totally in love. Unfortunately, along with all of this newfound mirth and joy, there are also challenges. We will examine these challenges one by one and offer solutions.   First up, is dealing with dealing with puppy nipping.

What is Puppy Nipping?

What do we mean by “nipping”?   Is your puppy sneaking sips from the liquor cabinet while you’re not looking?   No, of course not, but you might want to start if your puppy keeps nipping your hands and feet – even your earsand nose!  Of course, by “nipping” we mean play biting.   Since dogs are mouthy creatures (their mouths basically do for them what our hands do for us), they also use them in play. The problem with puppies playing like this is that their teeth are like tiny little razors and it can really hurt when they nip you.   They don’t mean to hurt you, but you will probably consider that fact inconsequential as you bandage your big toe for the tenth time.   Until you correct this behavior, you’re going to spend a lot of time saying “ouch!”

Puppy Nipping Control Method 1 – Telling your Pup to Stop

Actually, saying “ouch!” is a good first step towards stopping your pup from nipping you.  Dogs do it with each other when they are playing, only they don’t enunciate that word as we humans do.   When you see two dogs or puppies playing rough and one of them lets out a high pitched “yipe!”, usually when a sensitive area like the ear is chomped on or pulled, well, that’s the dog version of “ouch!”.  It immediately sends a signal to the offender to back off the rough play for a bit, and that’s exactly what they do. If your pup can regulate rough behavior from another dog, it stands to reason that you can do the same with your pup.   Try this exercise at home:

• Begin playing with your puppy (it probably won’t be too difficult to get him or her engaged)
• A little soft biting is OK, but at soon as your pup nips too hard, let out a loud “ouch!” and pull your hand away
• If your pup responds by backing off, reward with an effusive “yes!” and treat immediately
• Repeat until your puppy listens to you three times in a row

This accomplishes two things.  1) It defines the audible cue to stop nipping, and 2) reinforces the good behavior of bite cessation on command. Practice this at least once a day until the problem stops. You might want to wear a pair of light winter gloves to give your hands a break.  Just make sure they aren’t your stylish pair, unless wearing gloves with dozens of rips, tears, and holes suddenly comes into vogue.

Nipping Control Method 2 – Giving an Alternative to Nipping

Method 1 showed you how to stop your puppy in the act of nipping.  This method takes it a step further – giving them an alternative to nipping you.  Remember, puppies are mouthy – they like to bite and chew.   So, when you stop them from biting you, the desire to chew something is still there, they just agreed to give you a break for a moment, at least until you start playing again. But of course, they will bite again when you resume playing until you give the audible cue again.  Why don’t you give your hands a break and let them chew on something else? Do the same exercise as in Method 1 above, but this time as soon as they stop nipping, give them a suitable alternative. These work great:

• Ball or chew toy. There are plenty of options here for teething pups, just make sure it is durable and can withstand heavy chewing without breaking or tearing.  Hard rubber toys are ideal for this and are available at any pet store.
• Frozen treats. Freezing some peanut butter, Greek yogurt, soft dog food, etc. in a hollow chew toy can be a great way to keep your dog happy and occupied for a long time.   This is also a good solution for pups that suffers from separation anxiety when you leave the house, but more on that later.
• Chew stick. Bully sticks are a good choice here, just watch that they don’t get too short, when they can become choking hazards. You probably want to avoid harder chews like antlers and bones, which can fracture puppy teeth if they are too hard.
• Frozen washcloth. Yes, you read that correctly.   Ring out a wet washcloth, pop it in the freezer for an hour, and voila – you have a great chew alternative for your pup that will also help with teething pain

Now that your puppy has stopped chewing you and started chewing something else, you can relax.

Nipping Control Method 3 – Tiring your pup out

Your pup nips when she’s got pent up energy and wants to play rough.  So, it stands to reason that if you burn that energy, the desire to nip dissipates.   Puppies sleep a lot (16-20 hours is recommended), but when they don’t they want to play, so play with them, just in a way that doesn’t involve piercing your hands with needle like teeth:

• Go for long walks
• Play a nice game of fetch
• Have a vigorous tug of war
• Schedule a play date with another puppy (just make sure your pups are both up on their shots and supervise them while they romp)

The moral of this method:  sleeping puppies don’t nip.  Tire that puppy out!  One of the best ways to tire them out is to send them to supervised dog daycare where they will have be able to play with their match.

Summary

Puppies bite and nip, it’s all part of growing up.  That doesn’t mean your hands and feet need to suffer the consequences. Hopefully this blog has armed you with methods to stop this habit in its tracks while also serving your puppy’s needs while teething.   Feel free to schedule a consultation with our of our puppy trainers if the puppy need more intense intervention.

THIS ARTICLE WAS PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AT: https://k9uchicago.com/blog/dealing-with-puppy-training/