12.View every time you are with your puppy as a learning session. These sessions need to be positive and well guided to ensure success. If she’s not supervised well or is only “half supervised,” her chances of getting into trouble are greater.Making continuous mistakes and continually getting scolded is not fun or positive for anyone!
13.Keep your puppy’s “learning sessions” short. Learning is exhausting for a puppy! They are trying to learn how to live in a human world and this generally means that none of their “doggie skills” are applicable (rough play, food guarding, mouthing, etc.) His learning and “unlearning” must be in small doses.
14.Crating your puppy for periodic breaks will keep her learning sessions small and will not mentally exhaust or frustrate her. A tired or frustrated puppy will not learn well or eagerly. Crate time will help her recharge for the next session
15.Exploration at this stage is usually curiosity driven and not genetically driven (e.g.,hunting instincts) and therefore probably won’t cause repetitive nuisance behaviors at this stage (see chapter 12). However, an “ounce of prevention” is truly worth more than trying to “pound the cure into her.” Prevention, by supervising your puppy as she explores, is critical in maintaining curiosity and safety at the same time
Physical Needs
16.Your puppy’s physical needs come in short bursts. A small walk up and down the block is fine for a youngster. If you do a walk that is too long, your puppy will sit down and refuse to walk.You may even need to pick her up and carry her home! Keep your walks short and build time and pace slowly.
17.Don’t take your puppy jogging and expect her to keep up with you for a great distance. Keep the runs short in duration. Running on a long leash is fine if done in a soft, grassy area, but high-impact jumping or running should be avoided until your dog is one year of age.Their bones are still developing and you don’t want to risk injury or impairment of proper development.
18.One or two small walks per day along with one or two short runs in puppyhood is a rather general, but appropriate “recipe” to meet your dog’s physical needs. Keep in mind that the balance will be different with different breeds so make adjustments accordingly!
Social Needs
19.Your puppy’s social needs are extremely important right now.This is probably the most important need to fulfill at this stage because she is forming all of her impressions about the world right now. Preplan many social activities at this stage so your puppy gets proper exposure to as many different people, animals, environments, and objects as possible
20.In the case of social exposures for your puppy, “the more the merrier” doesn’t always apply. Never sacrifice quality for quantity. Control the exposures to other animals so they don’t scare your puppy. Visit new places during off-peak times so they will not be overwhelming. Use food to introduce new objects.The more positive learning experiences your puppy gets, the faster she will learn good social skills.
21.All too often it is tempting to treat puppies to a magic carpet ride,picking them up to either carry them from one point to another or to immediately try to reassure them if something (a loud noise or quick movement) startles them.While we must be aware that there may be certain times when picking them up may prevent harm and a negative learning experience, we must also be willing to allow puppies to experience new situations to their fullest potential.If we act as if there is something wrong with every new or different situation, our puppies will take our cue and assume something is wrong as well.
22.Give them a “safety net.” When it comes to navigating steps or getting in and out of cars or up and down stairs,assist your puppy.Since we don’t want their little furry joints to become injured, we must develop a sense of how much assistance to provide while still allowing them to acclimate to their environment. We can assist our puppies in these learning situations by offering the same type of “safety net” that we offer when we place our hands under a toddler’s armpits to “unweight”them as they learn to walk.
Rest Needs
23.Rip Van Puppy: At this stage, puppies need more naps than most people expect. Napping in a quiet crate, in a quiet room, will help them recharge their little puppy batteries. When a puppy is well rested, he will take direction from you better, mouth you less, learn things more cooperatively, and have more fun playing with you. Rest recharges the battery, but nothing recharges the battery like sleep. Sleep occurs during nighttime when the dark reduces stimuli and your puppy can slip into a deep sleep.
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