Clean Run - August 2011 - 60

Command and Control

Raising Your New Pup
By Fred Brattain In the military, “command and control” is the expression used for having eﬀective, quick, and responsive lines of communication between the generals and the soldiers in the field. This is critical to the success of the mission. Command and control with your pup is critical to the success of your mission, which is raising and training the very best dog. I don’t necessarily mean a NATCH or MAD or MACH or ADCH dog, but the best dog your canine partner can be. The burden of accomplishing this goal lies strictly with you, the human part of the team. I emphasize the team in everything I discuss regarding agility. You are a team out there, you and your pup. And we have spoken before about the fact that teammates don’t quit on each other, so you have to run hard every time out, be it practice, a fun run, or running for the National Championship. What I would like to chat about goes beyond the “don’t quit on your teammate” idea. It goes directly to your responsibilities as the leader of the team. You are the one who can read the cones. You are the one who knows the course, because you get to walk it first. We all know that if we could let our dogs walk the course a few times, most of them wouldn’t need us out there at all. Yet, they rely upon us to be correct in what we are telling them. Clear signals and clear commands are critical to a smooth and winning performance, whether you are working on your NAC, MX, MACH, or NATCH. Where does communication start? It starts at puppyhood. If you are bringing a new dog into your life in the near future, try the following. This is my procedure every time I introduce a new pup to my pack. Remember, there is a hierarchy in your dogs’ household, and you
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had better recognize that it exists, and you had better respect it. When I bring a new pup home, the first thing I do is bring her home when I have some time off. I will take two weeks off work, specifically to acclimate the puppy and bond with her. For those two weeks, I basically sit on the floor in the living room with the puppy in my lap. For the first three to four days, I sleep on the floor with my hand draped through the mesh in the crate where she is learning her bedtime manners. Sound extreme? Yeah, it probably is to most people, but anyone who has been around me and seen the relationship I have with my dogs will understand the benefit of this. Too many people, even “seasoned dog people,” treat the first few weeks of puppyhood as an adorable nuisance. During the first day with the new pup, the rest of the pack is outside, so that the new pup can get used to the sights and sounds of the house. I encourage the other members of the family to go on about their business, and we even make a point of making noise in the kitchen, talking on the phone, going in and out of the house, and so on. Then, one at a time, in comfortable in-

tervals (sometimes as long as an hour apart), I bring the rest of the dogs into the house. This is done one at a time, in pack order, with the alpha dog coming in first. When the two of them, the pup and the alpha dog, have established that it’s okay to be there together, then the next dog in the pack is introduced. During this time, I am sitting on the floor with the new pup in my lap, and letting the other dogs come over to sniff, and so on. When the other dogs show up, they are praised mightily for being nice, and I watch for any signs that they may be feeling threatened. At this stage, I will defend the new puppy more than I will later when it is time for the pup to learn her place in the household. Still, I also encourage the established dogs in the household to lie down next to me and get lots of scruffles and attention. We will even play a little with a ball thrown and returned after they have shown the appropriate level of interest in the puppy. I restrain the new pup from entering the game, even though she is interested. First, I don’t want her run over, and second, this is time to start teaching No. We are training 24/7 whether we mean to or not.

Clean Run | August 11

Clean Run - August 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - August 2011