By Barbara Cannon
As trainers at Baxter and Bella, we often get questions from new dog parents who have just adopted a puppy six months or older. Most are interested in where they should start in our training program. A week ago, I started fostering a one-year-old terrier mix puppy from a local rescue, so with some recent experience, I wanted to pass on some tips for new handlers of older puppies.
Like we suggest for younger puppies, the first week of your puppy’s transition from the breeder or rescue should be a time to bond with your puppy. Transitions are challenging and can be stressful for most dogs, so those first few days should be a time when you begin to establish a bond and get to know your pup. If your older puppy came from a breeder or from re-homing, there’s a good chance you will have a lot of information about your pup, such as what training your puppy has had, what preferences your pup may have with regards to food and toys, whether your puppy is food motivated, and what his experience is with crates and sleeping arrangements. But even if you have this information, you may find none true in your household. The stress of the new situation can alter those habits both short term and long term. The puppy is in a new environment with new people. That’s why it is important to give the puppy time to adjust and just spend some time bonding with your dog through play, grooming, and cuddle time while learning to communicate with your puppy.
If you are adopting a dog from a rescue, chances are good that the rescue will know very little about the puppy unless it was an owner surrender. This was the case with Sunny, the puppy I am fostering. The rescue knew very little about her, aside from the fact that she was very friendly. Our first week has been spent trying to figure out what food she will eat. The rescue said she was food-motivated. She’s not really, unless it’s the right kind of treat, so we’ve spent the last week trying to discover what foods motivate her (a reminder here that puppies of all ages can have food sensitivities, so give at least 24-48 hours between trying out new food and treats.) She’s also not a big eater, so we are slowly trying out different kinds of food. That affects her potty habits, too, so it’s taken a week to figure out how often she needs to relieve herself. As a rescue, I believe her only experience with crates and pens has been negative, so we are approaching that slowly. She also doesn’t like car rides, not so much because she doesn’t like the car but again, I think her experiences with destinations has not been positive. I’ve been trying to change that this week as well, trying to only take her to “fun” places in the car.
Speaking about potty schedules, it’s useful to get as much information as possible about where your puppy is used to relieving themselves. Some dogs can get singular with certain surfaces so if your puppy is used to going potty on grass, for instance, he may have a hard time transitioning to a new surface. It can be helpful to simulate the old surface on the new surface. For instance, if your puppy wants to go on grass but you only have mulch in your yard, think about getting a fresh green patch and putting in the location where you want your puppy to relieve himself. Then put your puppy on a leash, take him to that spot, ask him to go, and reward him when he does, like you would do if he was a younger puppy.
So where to start with training? During this first week, you want to explore how much your puppy already knows and what motivates your puppy. If the breeder has told you that the puppy is crate-trained, you might still struggle with that for the first few days. You also want to figure out how your puppy communicates. If your puppy has been trained with hand signals, you will want to incorporate those into your training. Your breeder or an owner -surrender will generally know more about your pup’s previous training. With rescues, try to think outside of the box. I discovered the first day that I brought Sonny home that she knew SIT with a hand signal but didn’t respond to a verbal cue alone. After a few days I remembered that she had been picked up as a stray in an area with a predominantly Latino population, so I looked up a few Spanish cues online and started asking her to SIT and DOWN in Spanish. She did it immediately! It’s now clear to me that someone really worked with her training, but they did it in Spanish!
After evaluating your older puppy’s knowledge and training, you can go to the STEP-BY-STEP PROGRAMS on our website and go through the program methodically. If you go back to the beginning of this section, you will find important information about our training methodology in the Preparatory section. You won’t likely need much from THE FIRST WEEK TOGETHER, assuming your pup has some experience with crates and is potty trained. However, there is some important information there about using a marker and using YES and NO in training. Then, move on to the BASIC TRAINING module and look at each step to decide whether that is relevant to your situation. Again, your breeder may tell you that your puppy knows how to do XYZ, but test this yourself. Going through the program step by step is a good way to assess how much your puppy really knows, and which cues need more work. And finally, keep in mind that older puppies and dogs may have developed certain habits that can take longer to change, but all dogs are trainable! It just may be a matter of more time and motivation.
Happy Training!
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