Today I will be giving Alan his first formal lesson in puppy training. Daisy has been with us for six days so far. Ordinarily I would have instructed the whole family in puppy basics on day one or two. The size thing is really throwing my training sensibilities for a loop.
Please don't misunderstand me and think I'm am untried with the "mini-minis." I have trained oodles of small breeds. In fact, the smartest dog I was ever hired to train was a toy poodle named Midnight that finished an in-kennel, three-week, off-lead training program in 8 days. I've always loved training Pugs for their sheer enthusiasm and I can't count the number of Maltese headcases I've had to redirect. The list goes on. However, I always said the small breed owners are usually less persistent, consistent and demanding of their small breeds as they can simply pick them up to cease annoying or unwanted behavior.
Somehow I have become one of these less-than-demanding, complacent owners. Despite all my education. Despite every lesson I have given to the contrary of my current behavior. Despite the fact that I know I could potentially create a monster-diva that will rule the house with iron (if not supremely delicately sized) paws. In these pre-dawn hours I am ashamed to call myself a trainer and am tempted to turn in my Trainers' certificate to National K-9 and submit myself for retraining.
I find myself quite torn and my inner dialog is running like a really poorly defended Lincoln-Douglas debate.
(Daisy must NOT pull on Ella's hair as it will set her up for other negative chewing habits)
(But she is so cute! Besides Ella doesn't seem to mind and is laughing)
(Daisy will progress to chewing clothes and possibly biting if it is not stopped now. You could face a lifetime of poor habits)
(But she is so cute! Besides she's only 12 weeks old! We have plenty of time!)
(Daisy is not learning to respect NO. You must train her to respect NO and your commands!)
(But she is so cute! And she's just a puppy and having fun. And how much damage could she do? Her mouth is so little! And she's so cute!)
Etc. and so on.
You see how this is going. I would never, NEVER accept or make excuses for a Rottie, Shepard other larger pup pulling on my four year old's hair. If Daisy were a Rottweiler, she would have been treated to at least of half an hour of structured puppy-play and command training. I have to remind myself that I got Buffy, our last Rottie, when she was 5 months old and I cracked down on her immediately. She was required to sit and stay at the door and only enter or exit after her handler did and commanded her to pass through the threshold. She was required to sit and stay for her food. She was doing 5 minute down commands on the leash. Daisy, at three months old, is extremely proficient at sleeping in my lap, burrowing around our feet in bed and standing on the couch cushions cat-style. I think that because small breeds are sooooo small we trainers qualify the dog as younger and less capable. At least when they are our own and the last dog we can reference was over 60 lbs!
So in response to my own Sucker Behavior I will put on my trainer's hat and gloves and get to work today. Alan doesn't so much need the lesson as much as I need to remind myself of what I am capable of and that size really doesn't matter when it comes to the dog. This little four pounder cutie-pie can certainly do what my Rotties all did.
OK, at the very least I can teach her to hop up in my lap for a cuddle!!!
get ta work! slacker~
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