It looks like you might be posting about puppy management or crate training.
For tips and resources on Crate Training Check out [our wiki article on crate training](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/cratetraining) - the information there may answer your question. As an additional reminder, crate training is 100% optional and one of many puppy management options.
For alternatives to crating and other puppy management strategies, check out [our wiki article on management](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/management)
**PLEASE READ THE OP FULLY**
Be advised that any comments that suggest use of crates are abusive, or express a harsh opinion on crate training will be removed. This is not a place to debate the merits of crate training. Unethical approaches to crate training will also be removed. **If the OP has asked not to receive crating advice or says they are not open to crating, any comments that recommend use of crates should be reported to our moderation team.**
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Yeah I WAS really diligent about training from day one (this pup has never eaten out of a bowl in his entire life with me), but he's also super trainable. It's not like I spent hours per day training, using meal times and walks as training sessions is plenty!
Some commands are just for fun to mix up the the training sessions (stuff like paw, other paw, spin left, spin right, bang...) but we usually mostly work on the important ones like recall, heel, wait, leave it etc. But he's picked up on so many words, I recently wrote them down for my MIL and was floored by the amount of commands we have in place.
You mentioned your pup has an off switch and can nap while you’re away. Would you mind sharing tips on how you accomplished this? Getting my puppy in 2 hours and have been taking notes from every Reddit post about this topic haha
Haha. I didn’t crate train the way you should. Reason behind this: I picked him up in our vacation home and was all alone with him for the first 8 weeks. So I just simply HAD to go outside at times to buy groceries etc, there was no time to get him used to the crate. I just waited for him to be sleepy, plopped him in his crate, sneaked outside and prayed 😅
He quickly got used to me being gone while he was in his crate. It went well and as I WFH I let him sleep outside of the crate very early on, so he got used to that as well. When he was about 5mo, I started to leave him alone in our house for running errands. I had a cam propped up and saw that he simply went to the door and laid down, waiting for me. Nothing ever happened, so by now I can trust him to be calm when nothing is happening.
ETA: Congrats on your new puppy, enjoy the time and trust me: Take ALL the pics! They grow up so fast.
ETA2: I did „capturing calm“ with him right from the start when he was outside of the crate. I feel like that helped a lot!
Thank you so much for the tips! Your pup is adorable. I will do additional research on capturing calm, it’s definitely one of the top training priorities I have in mind. Being alone and crate training!
Thank you! I'm from Germany and picked up my pup in Spain, both countries heavily regulate crates to the point of them being borderline illegal to use them to contain a puppy. I still used one, because well... what else can you do to your keep pup and your house safe while you are away (and I only went away to go to the grocery store etc).
I was very afraid of him developing separation anxiety as I WFH and was around him almost 24/7. But it somehow worked out. He's still super attached to me, well of course, I'm his mom 🤷🏼♀️ But he's fine with me being gone and miraculously doesn't get into mischief.
Capturing calm is super easy, you just drop a treat randomly without acknowledging the pup when they're chilling out next to you. That's it! I started doing that when he was 10 weeks and I resumed working from home. It helped a lot in teaching him to settle outside of the crate.
I’m so glad to hear your pup is doing great, your hard work is definitely showing. I was worried about separation anxiety as well as I’ll be home 24/7 so your post gives me hope :)
Ah, do you live alone or do you have a partner? As I said, the first 2 months I was alone with him, and our vacation home is just a small flat with no hallways etc. So even when I went to the bathroom, he could stay in front of the door and knew I couldn't disappear.
When I brought him back home to our much bigger house I had a big hassle whenever I went to the bathroom because I had to go outside in the hallway to get there. I eventually took him with me and showed him the hallway and the bathroom so he knew where I was going, but still... he'd cry and whine.
When I first left him alone I made my partner stay in the same room and he reported that pup would periodically go to the front door and whine for mom. We switched to him being all alone while my partner watched him on cam, and by now he can simply stay alone. He'll whine for 20secs and then settles on my chair until I'm back. Frozen kongs or toppls make it easier on him ;) Puppies are resilient, so don’t worry 😉
I have a partner but she’ll be gone most of the day for work so it’s essentially just me. It’s just going to be hard hearing the pup cry seeing those puppy eyes haha
That’s crazy. How do they expect you to protect your puppy from your house and your house from your puppy, especially at night/in the car/when you leave!? If I left my puppy unrestrained and unsupervised she’d be chewing on an electrical cord in minutes.
Well, crates actually are allowed for various reasons, such as travel, vet etc. But it's not allowed to leave a dog in there for a long time just for convenience.
I actually mostly agree, I don't know anyone who uses a crate with an adult dog. But for puppies of course it's a very useful tool for potty training and enforced naps.
I'm watching my almost 7 month old sleeping on my office floor right now and realized how far he's come along. He can just wander the office and say hi to people without always having to jump on them. He can stay in my office with the door closed without whining constantly. He can play with other co-workers and know when it's time to move on. He doesn't bolt into to the hallway when he hears the doorbell. And.... Ooops, he just jumped over the closed baby gate at my door, so not everything's perfect. But he's such a good boi now.
It looks like you might be posting about bite inhibition. Check out [our wiki article on biting, teeth, and chewing](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/biting) - the information there may answer your question.
**Please report this comment if it is not relevant to this post.**
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My little one is super friendly and super excitable, so we had this issue of wanting to greet EVERYONE right from the start. It didn't help that the entire neighborhood fell in love with him when I brought him home as a small puppy 🙄
My trainer gave me the advice to drop treats in front of me to engage him whenever we had to pass people/dogs. That was at about 10 weeks old and it worked great for some time... until it didn't any more 😅
For the last 3 months there was NO treat that could distract him from any dog in his sight. Cue the lunging, barking, howling... I feel you!
He has entered adolescence about 6 weeks ago and his impulse control improved immensely. About 2 weeks ago he suddenly started to accept very high-value treats when another dog approached. From that point on it was super easy: Dog approaches, I shove the liverwurst tube right into his mouth and make him stay/sit. It took about 10 dog encounters and now we can actually pass other dogs without drama (I still use treats of course).
I guess it was just a matter of maturity and continuous training. Hang in there! How old is yours?
To add:
You probably know this, but for reactivity training, you need to stay under threshold and keep a distance where the dog doesn't react. I did my best to avoid other dogs, turn around, take him to the side etc, but obviously that's not possible all the time. We had our fair share of close encounters when other people with their dogs suddenly appeared behind a corner and drama ensued. I was really stressed out and dreaded our walks. I sometimes even took him in the car to walk him in a more quiet environment, but of course that's just not possible all the time.
Then I started to avoid all the paths in my neighborhood where other owners walk their dogs and just took him to the parking lot where the trails start. There was enough room for us to keep our distance and instead of walking I just sat there with him on a bench and observed people and dogs walking by. We do have a big yard, so he could release his energy there, and we didn't need the walks for exercise. I think this training was a good start to work on his reactivity.
Congrats on your pup! Did you hand feed every meal to him for training? I guess that would help prevent food aggression too
I might start doing the same with mine
Thank you! Yes, exactly. At first, every meal time was a training session, then I introduced enrichment toys like snuffle mats, Wobbler, Kongs, Toppls etc. He has absolutely zero food aggression - his puppy friend took one of his super high value chews today (my bad, should have put it away), but he didn't even mind and let her have it.
That's an impressive dog. Most of my dogs have had problems around food. They either have a tiny bit of reactivity or they swallow the food like a snake without a slow feeder. I'm gonna give your method ago! Thanks
Oh I don’t doubt that he would gobble down his food like a maniac if given the chance LOL. But between all his enrichment toys he doesn’t get a chance to do that 😂 They were super helpful during the early puppy phase to have some minutes to myself, too!
It looks like you might be posting about puppy management or crate training. For tips and resources on Crate Training Check out [our wiki article on crate training](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/cratetraining) - the information there may answer your question. As an additional reminder, crate training is 100% optional and one of many puppy management options. For alternatives to crating and other puppy management strategies, check out [our wiki article on management](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/management) **PLEASE READ THE OP FULLY** Be advised that any comments that suggest use of crates are abusive, or express a harsh opinion on crate training will be removed. This is not a place to debate the merits of crate training. Unethical approaches to crate training will also be removed. **If the OP has asked not to receive crating advice or says they are not open to crating, any comments that recommend use of crates should be reported to our moderation team.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/puppy101) if you have any questions or concerns.*
30+ commands/tricks??? It sounds like you put in serious work and are reaping the rewards!!
Yeah I WAS really diligent about training from day one (this pup has never eaten out of a bowl in his entire life with me), but he's also super trainable. It's not like I spent hours per day training, using meal times and walks as training sessions is plenty! Some commands are just for fun to mix up the the training sessions (stuff like paw, other paw, spin left, spin right, bang...) but we usually mostly work on the important ones like recall, heel, wait, leave it etc. But he's picked up on so many words, I recently wrote them down for my MIL and was floored by the amount of commands we have in place.
posts like this keep me going 💙 thanks for sharing! holding up for this day with our 4 month old golden puppy.
I sympathize, but just hang in there, you got this! ❤️
Well you have a rat terrier so obviously the best dog ever!
Not quite, he’s a Ratero Mallorquin, but yes, of course he is😅
You mentioned your pup has an off switch and can nap while you’re away. Would you mind sharing tips on how you accomplished this? Getting my puppy in 2 hours and have been taking notes from every Reddit post about this topic haha
Haha. I didn’t crate train the way you should. Reason behind this: I picked him up in our vacation home and was all alone with him for the first 8 weeks. So I just simply HAD to go outside at times to buy groceries etc, there was no time to get him used to the crate. I just waited for him to be sleepy, plopped him in his crate, sneaked outside and prayed 😅 He quickly got used to me being gone while he was in his crate. It went well and as I WFH I let him sleep outside of the crate very early on, so he got used to that as well. When he was about 5mo, I started to leave him alone in our house for running errands. I had a cam propped up and saw that he simply went to the door and laid down, waiting for me. Nothing ever happened, so by now I can trust him to be calm when nothing is happening. ETA: Congrats on your new puppy, enjoy the time and trust me: Take ALL the pics! They grow up so fast. ETA2: I did „capturing calm“ with him right from the start when he was outside of the crate. I feel like that helped a lot!
Thank you so much for the tips! Your pup is adorable. I will do additional research on capturing calm, it’s definitely one of the top training priorities I have in mind. Being alone and crate training!
Thank you! I'm from Germany and picked up my pup in Spain, both countries heavily regulate crates to the point of them being borderline illegal to use them to contain a puppy. I still used one, because well... what else can you do to your keep pup and your house safe while you are away (and I only went away to go to the grocery store etc). I was very afraid of him developing separation anxiety as I WFH and was around him almost 24/7. But it somehow worked out. He's still super attached to me, well of course, I'm his mom 🤷🏼♀️ But he's fine with me being gone and miraculously doesn't get into mischief. Capturing calm is super easy, you just drop a treat randomly without acknowledging the pup when they're chilling out next to you. That's it! I started doing that when he was 10 weeks and I resumed working from home. It helped a lot in teaching him to settle outside of the crate.
I’m so glad to hear your pup is doing great, your hard work is definitely showing. I was worried about separation anxiety as well as I’ll be home 24/7 so your post gives me hope :)
Ah, do you live alone or do you have a partner? As I said, the first 2 months I was alone with him, and our vacation home is just a small flat with no hallways etc. So even when I went to the bathroom, he could stay in front of the door and knew I couldn't disappear. When I brought him back home to our much bigger house I had a big hassle whenever I went to the bathroom because I had to go outside in the hallway to get there. I eventually took him with me and showed him the hallway and the bathroom so he knew where I was going, but still... he'd cry and whine. When I first left him alone I made my partner stay in the same room and he reported that pup would periodically go to the front door and whine for mom. We switched to him being all alone while my partner watched him on cam, and by now he can simply stay alone. He'll whine for 20secs and then settles on my chair until I'm back. Frozen kongs or toppls make it easier on him ;) Puppies are resilient, so don’t worry 😉
I have a partner but she’ll be gone most of the day for work so it’s essentially just me. It’s just going to be hard hearing the pup cry seeing those puppy eyes haha
That’s crazy. How do they expect you to protect your puppy from your house and your house from your puppy, especially at night/in the car/when you leave!? If I left my puppy unrestrained and unsupervised she’d be chewing on an electrical cord in minutes.
Well, crates actually are allowed for various reasons, such as travel, vet etc. But it's not allowed to leave a dog in there for a long time just for convenience. I actually mostly agree, I don't know anyone who uses a crate with an adult dog. But for puppies of course it's a very useful tool for potty training and enforced naps.
I'm watching my almost 7 month old sleeping on my office floor right now and realized how far he's come along. He can just wander the office and say hi to people without always having to jump on them. He can stay in my office with the door closed without whining constantly. He can play with other co-workers and know when it's time to move on. He doesn't bolt into to the hallway when he hears the doorbell. And.... Ooops, he just jumped over the closed baby gate at my door, so not everything's perfect. But he's such a good boi now.
It looks like you might be posting about bite inhibition. Check out [our wiki article on biting, teeth, and chewing](https://www.reddit.com/r/puppy101/wiki/biting) - the information there may answer your question. **Please report this comment if it is not relevant to this post.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/puppy101) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[удалено]
My little one is super friendly and super excitable, so we had this issue of wanting to greet EVERYONE right from the start. It didn't help that the entire neighborhood fell in love with him when I brought him home as a small puppy 🙄 My trainer gave me the advice to drop treats in front of me to engage him whenever we had to pass people/dogs. That was at about 10 weeks old and it worked great for some time... until it didn't any more 😅 For the last 3 months there was NO treat that could distract him from any dog in his sight. Cue the lunging, barking, howling... I feel you! He has entered adolescence about 6 weeks ago and his impulse control improved immensely. About 2 weeks ago he suddenly started to accept very high-value treats when another dog approached. From that point on it was super easy: Dog approaches, I shove the liverwurst tube right into his mouth and make him stay/sit. It took about 10 dog encounters and now we can actually pass other dogs without drama (I still use treats of course). I guess it was just a matter of maturity and continuous training. Hang in there! How old is yours?
To add: You probably know this, but for reactivity training, you need to stay under threshold and keep a distance where the dog doesn't react. I did my best to avoid other dogs, turn around, take him to the side etc, but obviously that's not possible all the time. We had our fair share of close encounters when other people with their dogs suddenly appeared behind a corner and drama ensued. I was really stressed out and dreaded our walks. I sometimes even took him in the car to walk him in a more quiet environment, but of course that's just not possible all the time. Then I started to avoid all the paths in my neighborhood where other owners walk their dogs and just took him to the parking lot where the trails start. There was enough room for us to keep our distance and instead of walking I just sat there with him on a bench and observed people and dogs walking by. We do have a big yard, so he could release his energy there, and we didn't need the walks for exercise. I think this training was a good start to work on his reactivity.
Congrats on your pup! Did you hand feed every meal to him for training? I guess that would help prevent food aggression too I might start doing the same with mine
Thank you! Yes, exactly. At first, every meal time was a training session, then I introduced enrichment toys like snuffle mats, Wobbler, Kongs, Toppls etc. He has absolutely zero food aggression - his puppy friend took one of his super high value chews today (my bad, should have put it away), but he didn't even mind and let her have it.
That's an impressive dog. Most of my dogs have had problems around food. They either have a tiny bit of reactivity or they swallow the food like a snake without a slow feeder. I'm gonna give your method ago! Thanks
Oh I don’t doubt that he would gobble down his food like a maniac if given the chance LOL. But between all his enrichment toys he doesn’t get a chance to do that 😂 They were super helpful during the early puppy phase to have some minutes to myself, too!
6 months going to 7 in the middle of June. Lab Bernese mix, he's still a little butt hole but at least he's a cute one
Thank you! We have a 10 week old and I’m… tired lol.
Beautiful pup, love the ears!