The Perfect Puppy: Take Britain's Number One Puppy Care Book With You! by Gwen Bailey

Author:Gwen Bailey [Bailey, Gwen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, epub
Publisher: Octopus Books
Published: 2012-05-07T22:00:00+00:00

1You will need two people and two toys. Begin by throwing a toy past your partner, who should be standing facing you some distance away. Do this several times and allow your puppy to chase after the toy and bring it back to you.

2About once in every ten throws, at random, throw the toy towards your partner, who should catch it and tuck it away out of sight. As your puppy begins to run after the toy, shout ‘Leave!’ loudly. Since the toy he was chasing has effectively disappeared, he will eventually look back at you to see if you have it.

When this happens, tease him with the other toy and throw it in the opposite direction. Allow him to chase and retrieve this one, but try to make this chase more exciting, either by pretending to go after it yourself or by using a more interesting toy.

Eventually, your puppy will learn that when he hears the voice-cue ‘Leave!’, there is no point in continuing with the chase because the more rewarding chase game is now back with you.

Tug-of-war games

When playing tug-of-war games, win more often than you lose. If you always win, your puppy will rapidly lose interest in the game (no dog or human enjoys games they are not very good at). If you always let the puppy win, he will get the message that he is stronger than you. By winning more often than you lose, your puppy will enjoy playing and you will be giving him the right message about his status and strength.

Allowing him to win occasionally means having to let go of the toy at some point. If you have great difficulty in recovering the toy once you have let go of it, attach a house-line (a 2 metre/6½ foot length of cord, one end of which is fastened to his collar, the other end left loose) to his collar before doing so. If your puppy teases you with the toy, or runs and hides, pretend to ignore him, walk over to the end of the line, stand on it, pick up the line and pull him towards you to recover the toy. (Always remove the line before leaving your puppy alone.)

Remember that puppies’ mouths are full of teeth that are either about to fall out or are newly growing. For this reason do not play too roughly. Let your puppy do most of the pulling. You are there to be the anchor and to make the game exciting by occasionally pulling gently on the toy. Do not hold the toy up high and wait until your puppy drops off as a means of getting the toy back, because this can cause damage to his mouth.

Your puppy will need to learn to stop pulling and let go when asked, even during a really exciting game. It is helpful to have two tug-of-war toys for the tug-of-war exercise: a favourite one and one less favoured.

At first, only teach this exercise when the game is unexciting – that is, when you have only just begun to play.

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