training with two dogs

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j12toad

Boxer Buddy
My first girl is 1.5 years old, and I just got her a brother that is 10 weeks today. When we did puppy class with our first, they said if they are doing some thing wrong to never say their name, they will think there name is bad and learn not to respond to it. So my question is, if our first, Riley, is playing with a toy, and our second, Cooper starts biting something or doing something not right, how do we tell him not to do it, with out saying his name.... I am affraid that Riley will think she is doing something wrong?
 

mobrian

Completely Boxer Crazy
With the puppy you are going to want to redirect his behavior to a good behavior and praise him for that.

I have not always followed the rule of not using Jesse's name when I tell her no. IMO, she knows the difference now but for a young pup learning their name, I am sure there is a concern.
 

Tulsa-Dan

Your Friendly Moderator
Ignore bad behavior - Reward good behavior.

If you have a 10 week old puppy, the pup doesn't know what you want of him yet so it is, in my opinion, cruelty to punish or reprimand a dog unless he knows what behavior is expected of him and how to perform it first.

There's not need to be telling the pup "No." at this stage of his life. You need to be guiding and directing him to the proper behaviors, not scolding or reprimanding him for something that comes naturally to him.

To that end, may I recommend two books for you to read: "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson and "The Dog Listener" by Jan Fennell. Both these books will be invaluable to you in learning to understand your dog, the way it learns, how to communicate with your dog and how to train the dog in an effective, non-coercive, reward based way which will only strengthen the bond and love you share with your dogs.

My form of "reprimand," at least the way I teach it to my clients is that if you need to reprimand the dog, do it silently and quickly. NEVER call the dog to you to punish or reprimand the dog. Go to the dog, remove it from the situation and isolate the dog from the pack for a period of time, ignoring the dog until YOU have calmed down. The dog learns, if you do it quickly and effectively, that his bad behavior always results in being isolated and his fun ending. But this can only be effective if the dog understands BEFORE HAND what the expected behavior is and has been guided to that behavior and knows how to perform such behaviors.

Please get these two books and I think you'll have a much better understanding of the positive reward method of training.

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
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