Leans N Slobbers

Training your Great Dane Puppy

This information is not intended to be a replacement for finding a good, positive obedience class for your new puppy. Rather, it is intended to help you and your pup get off to a running start until you can get into a training class.

One of the main concerns people have when they get a new puppy is biting. Puppies use their mouths to explore their world. If they were with littermates instead of humans, biting, growling, tugging and wrestling would be the most natural thing in the world for them to do. However, bite inhibition is one of the most important, life-saving behaviors you can teach your dog. My preferred method of teaching bite inhibition to a puppy is to very simply end all games as soon as the puppy touches human skin with teeth. If you are lying on the floor and the pup grabs your arm, simply stand up and walk away. Come back in 2 minutes and reinitiate togetherness. If you are consistent, this is one of the simplest, most effective ways to end puppy biting.

If your pup is really incorrigible and wants to keep on biting even though all the fun ends every single time he bites, use a time-out in the crate instead. This will not give the pup a negative association with the crate! It simply gives him a nice safe spot to calm down and see that the fun really does stop when he touches skin with his teeth. The important thing here is the attitude of the human putting Puppy in the crate. Be very calm and very matter-of-fact. Don’t yell or scold or spank. Leave Puppy in the crate for no more than two minutes, then with your attitude completely neutral, quietly open the crate and let him rejoin the household.

The other main tooth-related concern with new puppies is indiscriminate chewing… shoes, furniture, carpet, wood, everything in a puppy’s world is at risk. When you bring your puppy home, buy him four toys. Only four to begin with! His toy box should contain a Kong (a little peanut butter or cheese inside will pique his interest), a rope toy, a soft stuffy with a squeaker, and a hard rubber chew toy with squeaker or a bone. Anytime you catch the puppy sharpening his teeth on a non-toy object, simply redirect his attention with an unemotional "Uh-Uh" or "Oops!" and give him a fun toy to play with. It doesn’t hurt to play with him for a moment, so the toy really is more fun than the banister.

Only having four toys makes it very easy to discriminate what is "his" and what is not. A box full of toys looks, to a young puppy, like the world is his for the shredding. Again, consistency is key here. Don’t let him keep chewing on that shoe because it was old and worn out anyways. He doesn’t know that, and will learn that shoes are part of his toy box.

Crate training is by far the easiest method of potty training any puppy. With a Dane puppy, it is most economical to get the colossal size crate he will need in the long run, and buy or make a divider to make it smaller while he is small. The portion of the crate your puppy is in should be large enough for him to stand up, turn around, and lie down comfortably. Put a comfy bed in the crate as well. A pup is naturally averse to messing in his den, and this is what we are creating for him.

He may fuss when first being introduced to the crate. Make sure the crate is in an area where he will not feel isolated from the family. If he really hates it or panics when placed in the crate, spend a few days getting him to associate good things with being crated. Hide treats in his bedding when he isn’t looking, so when he wanders in or you put him in, there is always a special surprise waiting for him. You can also feed him in his crate. That is a surefire way of building good associations! If he gets frantic when you close the door, spend some time with him in the crate with the door open. Every time he falls asleep, move him to the crate, but leave his door open. Supervise so you can take him right outside as soon as he wakes.

When he is comfortable and enjoying the crate with the door open, close the door briefly and praise the entire time the door is closed. Start with just a few seconds, and work your way into longer amounts of time, until he is absolutely comfortable in his crate.

If he is screaming and crying and whining, under no circumstances short of life or death should you open that door. Instead, wait until you get at least 5 seconds of silence, then praise and open the door. If you open while he is screaming, you just taught him screaming will get him out of the crate, and you will have a much harder time getting him quiet in the crate.

Your responsibility in making the crate an effective potty-training tool is to make sure he is never left in the crate longer than he can hold his bladder. A general rule of thumb is one hour for every month of age, within reason. Being a 24 month old Dane doesn’t mean a dog can go 24 hours without urinating. But an 8 month to one year old Dane should be able to effectively hold it all day if he has to.

The key to potty training is to be sharp eyed and consistent. The less opportunity you give the puppy to have an accident in the house, the less it will occur to him to potty in the house. Puppy should be taken outside, on a leash, every time he eats, drinks, wakes up, plays hard, or starts sniffing. Take Puppy to where you want him to potty, and when he does, praise, praise, praise like you lost your mind. If your neighbors don’t think you are ready for the loony bin, you aren’t praising enough!

If puppy does have an accident in the house… if you see him start, try to interrupt and get him outside to finish BUT be careful not to yell or scare him. Yelling will not teach him not to potty in the house. It WILL teach him not to potty in front of you. If you don’t see him potty, but come across a puddle somewhere, just clean it up and remind yourself to keep him within view at all times. Use a good enzymatic cleaner to decrease the chances of him associating that spot in the house as the right spot to potty.

One of the first steps after you get your puppy home is to teach him his name. This is very simple, and if you teach it right as a puppy it will hold you in good stead the rest of his life. Get a handful of treats and sit by the puppy. Say his name ONCE, and then wait for him to look at you. Say "YES!" or click your clicker, and give him a treat. Repeat this until he looks at you instantly when you say his name, then start treating 3 out of 4 times and praise instead of treat the fourth time. Continue to decrease the amount of treating you do over time until he is mainly getting praise, with an occasional treat thrown in for a surprise.

Now that he knows his name, it will be handy to be able to call him to you. Treats in hand, sit on the floor and say, only once, his name and "Come!" in a bright cheery tone. The key is to make yourself more fun than whatever he is doing. If you have to pat the floor and hoot and whistle and cheer him on, do so. As soon as he takes a step in your direction, begin praising effusively. When he does get to you (and you should be pretty close to him to begin with), take hold of his collar gently, and feed him three treats one at a time while you praise him for being the smartest puppy ever! Repeat this until he comes to you readily every time, and then start weaning him off the treats as outlined above.

Make sure you never follow up Come with something the puppy doesn’t like!! If you want him to come to you so you can clean his ears or clip his toenails, treat the come, then play with him and praise him for a few minutes before subjecting him to anything he finds unpleasant or uncomfortable. If it takes him a long time and he leads you a merry chase before coming to you NEVER scold him when he gets to you. Instead, rethink if he is really ready to be called from that distance or when he is that distracted. It may be time to begin focusing on getting a good response with minor distractions and some little distance. If he is too involved in what he is doing and your training hasn’t progressed to a point you are confident he will come to you, go to him instead.

Another easy command to begin teaching is sit. To get your pup to sit, simply take a treat in your hand, hold it close to his nose and draw it slowly back over his head between his eyes. He will follow the treat and his rump will naturally hit the ground. Congratulations! You just taught your puppy to sit! Make sure he will follow that treat into a sit every time before you add in an actual verbal command. Again, only give the command once then encourage the obedience in other ways rather than repeating yourself. Repeating yourself gives puppy the option of which time he has to listen, instead of expecting obedience the first time every time.

The leash is a very important but often traumatic part of puppy training. It doesn’t have to be traumatic. If you can, try to let the puppy drag the leash around himself for a while so he learns it won’t hurt him. Then pick up the leash, but let him lead you wherever he is going. Once that is going smoothly, then you can add some tension to the leash. Encourage the puppy to go your way with happy, bright sounds. Now is the time to decide on a "Let’s Walk" command, and use it to encourage the puppy to come with you. Once he is coming with you, start working now on things like keeping the leash loose no matter what while you are walking. One way to do this is to stop moving one step before the puppy gets to the end of the leash. Stand absolutely still and get the puppy’s attention back on you. Wait for him to return to you before moving forward again. Make absolutely sure pulling never gets him to what he wants to see or smell. Only allow him to approach things he really wants when he is walking nicely on the loose leash.

Especially with giant breeds like Danes, it is critical to teach good leash manners before the dog outweighs you and is far stronger than you. Practice leash manners in the house and yard before venturing out onto the sidewalks or dog parks.

Now that things are pretty smooth at home, it’s time to get signed up for that obedience class. Look for positive trainers that use reward based training instead of correction-based training. Talk to lots of people about where they got their puppy classes. Vets can be an excellent referral source, as can friends and strangers alike. If you like how their dog behaves, ask where they went for obedience school. Check your local Kennel Club. Many Kennel Clubs offer training classes that will take you from puppy class all the way into obedience competitions and beyond. Talk with the trainers about their methods, and drop in and watch classes to make sure you agree with their style of training.

Most of all… have FUN with your new puppy, and take lots of pictures because they grow up so fast it will be hard to remember he was once only 15 inches tall.

This article was provided by J at Pawsitive University. Thanks J.