There are many important things for members of your household and visitors to learn about what they should and should not do with the puppy. Discussing these before the puppy arrives will provide a better understanding as to why it is beneficial to follow the puppy raising guidelines. This will make things easier and ensure you and your family will be properly increasing the chance of the puppy succeeding as a Guide Dog in the future.
Arrival of the Puppy
The big day has arrived! The Puppy Development Trainer has delivered the puppy and equipment to your home. This is sure to be an exciting time for you and your family but can be overwhelming for the puppy. Just days before, the puppy was removed from their mother and littermates, taken by car and sometimes by plane to their new home. They have no idea what to expect or what life will be like. They are only aware that the comfort and security of their whelping nest, their mom’s home and the people who have been with them since day one, are gone. This is quite a lot for eight-week old babies! The Puppy Development Trainer will be able to help settle the puppy so that they get a positive, happy start to life in their new home. Don't be afraid to ask questions while the Puppy Development Trainer is with you and remember, they are always available to provide the support whether in person, by phone, text or email, should you have any questions or concerns.
What to Expect
Eight-week old puppies are still babies, so they do what babies do: eat, sleep, pee, poo, whine/cry, and play. Right from the start, it will be important to establish a good routine with the puppy so that they will start feeling secure and know what is expected of them. Young puppies will follow a routine of waking up in the morning, going out for a pee, eating a meal, going out for a poo, having playtime, sleeping and starting the cycle all over again. Young puppies need a lot of sleep, so make sure that they get some quiet time frequently throughout the day. You will quickly learn their routine and know when to take them out and when to let them sleep.
Goals During the First Week
Our goal during the first week is to help the puppy settle into your home and start to learn their new routines. Remember, it will take the puppy some time to decompress and adapt. We need to lower our expectations and remember they are just babies. Our focus is on crate training, house training and building confidence.
Introduction to Friends and Family
On arrival day, give the puppy a chance to get to know their new home and your immediate family without being introduced to too many people. Keep things calm for the puppy. Follow the puppy’s lead about their comfort with noise level and physical touch. Allow the puppy time to explore their new surroundings while supervised but also give them quiet time to rest.
Friends and other family members can meet the puppy but give them the first week to settle in before meeting any additional new people. It will be important to let others know what they can and can't do with the puppy. It is a big temptation to offer the puppy treats and toys, but you will have to regulate this so that the puppy does not get more than their daily allowance of food or inappropriate food or toys.
Interacting with the Puppy
As the primary Puppy Raiser, you should be the main person in the puppy’s life. Your family and friends will become an important part of their life, too, but you should be the one to provide most of the puppy’s needs as far as food, security, exercise, and companionship. Spend time with the puppy, getting to know them and build the bond. This first week, you should not be expecting them to respond to training cues such as “sit”, “down” or “come”, but rather just start to build up their confidence so that when you start working on their responses, they have already developed a strong bond with you. Lots of gentle cuddles, play and just lying on the floor with them will get things off to a great start.
When the puppy is little, it is quite acceptable and often necessary to pick the puppy up in your arms, either to carry them somewhere such as the relief area, up and down stairs or just for a reassuring cuddle. The little puppy will not yet have learned how to negotiate stairs, so to be safe, pick them up and carry them up and down until they are big enough to do it safely on their own, usually within a couple of weeks.
It is best to be cautious with a little puppy, they are still physically immature, and their joints haven't fully developed yet, so keep exercise periods short and light. Too much exercise at a young age can lead to joint issues when they are older, and this will impact their work as a guide dog.
First Nights
For the first few nights, the puppy may whine and appear unsettled, but often they are just looking for reassurance from you because they are not yet feeling completely secure in their new home. Placing a hot water bottle under the blanket in the crate can be a comfort for the puppy, however, should be removed once they are fully awake. If whining persists, they may really need to go out to relieve themselves. A strategy to consider is to restrict their water intake a few hours before bedtime. This is the only time you restrict their water intake.
It is best not to react immediately by taking them out when they bark or whine. What you don't want to do is to start getting them into a habit of waking up in the night to go out to relieve. Wait and see if they settle back to sleep on their own. Within a few weeks, the puppy should be able to go for around 8 hours in their kennel overnight without needing to go out however, this may vary from puppy to puppy.
The crate should be placed in your bedroom or at least near enough to where you sleep so that you can hear them if they wake in the night. The goal is to get the puppy to sleep through the night, undisturbed.
Introduce the Collar and Lead
Before venturing outside with the puppy, they should start to wear their collar and tags. When you first put the collar on, they will probably scratch at it frequently until they get used to it. To divert their attention away from the new collar, play with them on the floor with a toy. The puppy should soon learn to accept and ignore it. It is important to ensure the puppy is always wearing the collar with the I.D. tags while outside. While the puppy is house training and with supervision, it can be a good idea to leave the collar on indoors so that when the puppy suddenly needs to relieve, you can quickly connect the lead and get them outside. Always remove the collar when putting them in their crate overnight, for their comfort and to prevent it getting caught.
Next is the introduction of the lead. Start by attaching the lead to the collar and use toys to distract the puppy’s attention. Initially, let the puppy do the leading and you do the following so there is no tension on the collar. It is important that their first experiences with the lead and collar are positive ones. Never tug or yank on the lead, especially with young puppies. Sessions should be around 5-10 minutes during the first week.
For the first month, you will only be walking around your yard and driveway. Once they are fully vaccinated, a quiet parking lot is a good place to start outside of your home.
Introduction of Other Pets
Prior to arriving at your home, the puppy will probably not have met any other animals other than their mother and littermates. Their reaction could range from fearful and anxious to happy and playful to overly rambunctious.
The important thing is that it is a controlled, calm meeting to create a good first experience with the puppy and other animals. It is also important to start the relationship between the future guide dog puppy and your other pet(s) positively as they will be living in close quarters for about a year.
During your Home Assessment, the Puppy Development Trainer would have met your family pets. Together, you will come up with a plan to help the first meeting go smoothly. The first step of the plan will, ideally, have the Puppy Development Trainer present while your pets are introduced to the puppy. If possible, the animals should meet outside in the driveway while leashed. This is more neutral territory and when all goes well, the next stop will be the relief area in your yard. If the area is fully fenced in, you can let both animals off leash to run together. Once they have settled, both animals can be brought inside.
Caution is needed when introducing cats to the new puppy. Cat's claws can cause a lot of damage, particularly when the cat is frightened or just intolerant of dogs. The cat's nails should be trimmed if around the puppy. Be prepared to pick the puppy up quickly if your cat is showing signs of aggression. Often, cats who are not used to dogs will go into hiding in the house or outdoors for a couple of days before starting to come out. If this is the case, time and patience will allow cat and puppy to grow accustomed to each other. Most cats will accept new puppies without any issue within a short time.
House Training the Puppy
One of the essential goals for a guide dog, is that they are in a good relief routine and use appropriate relief areas, so they are clean in the home, in public buildings, on transportation of all kinds and on walks.
Training a puppy to have control over what is ultimately a natural body function, can be very challenging. Making sure that the puppy is clean in your house is obviously important to you and essential for the Guide Dog Handler who will be working with the dog in future. A Handler requires a dog who does not relieve in their home or while on walks and, particularly not in a public place. The puppy stage is when all future guide dogs will start to learn appropriate relief routines, thus reducing any embarrassment, awkwardness and health risks for yourself and the future Guide Dog Handler.
In the early stages of house training, there will be accidents in the home. Despite preparing for this and knowing it is to be expected, it is still easy to become frustrated or angry. When the puppy arrives at your home, they do not yet know that to pee or poo inside the house or on walks is wrong. It helps to always go out the same door, a puppy will then naturally go to this door when they have to relieve. These are completely natural body functions and at this early stage, the puppy has no control over them. It is important to remember this while you begin one of the most challenging and important tasks you have ahead of you: teaching the puppy appropriate relief routines.
There are several stages involved in this process, one of which is teaching the puppy that they have a designated outdoor relief area. Sticking to routines for the puppy will also be important and using a cue will help to ensure the puppy relieves at the correct times and in the correct places. When these three factors come together over time, the puppy will be clean in the house.
Remaining consistent and relaxed is critical but can be difficult at times. Showing your frustration or anger when the puppy makes a mistake will only hinder the process of teaching the puppy the appropriate relief routines. Different puppies will learn at different rates, but they will all learn and understand what is required over time. Perseverance, patience, and consistency are the keys to successful training of appropriate routines. The following advice may help you attain your goals.
By the end of the first week, we want to ensure that:
- The puppy has been introduced to the "busy" cue
- The puppy is starting to relieve on leash
- There has been exposure to relieving on a hard surface
- The puppy is more comfortable wearing the collar
- Crate training is developing in a positive manner
- The puppy is only waking up 1-2 times at night