Training Tips to Add Rules and Structure for a Hound Puppy

By: Sam Kanouse

Published Date: September 11, 2017

Captain - Training Tips to Add Rules and Structure for a Hound Puppy

Captain is a seven-month-old Redbone Hound who lives in Omaha. His guardians set up a puppy behavior training session to help Captain stop resource guarding and gain leadership through rules and structure.

When I arrived Captain was an excited puppy but calmed down quickly. When I sat down to talk to his guardians I learned that Captain had a few rules in place already. Rules provide structure for dogs, which can make dogs feel more relaxed and help them look to their guardian for leadership. I provided a few new rules for Captain: no furniture for a minimum of 30 days, or until the behavioral issues have stopped and sitting before going outside.

To help Captain look to both of his guardian for leadership and help him adopt a follower’s mindset, I taught the guardians our Leadership Exercise, which you can watch below.

The leadership exercise is a great way to help Captain gain respect for his guardians and look to them for direction. To help Captain stop resource guarding I taught his guardians our Give-and-Take method. When Captain has a high-value item, such as a bone or toy, put a treat up to his nose until he drops the item. When he drops the item say the word Drop, and then give him the treat reward. This will teach him that most of the time his guardians will not take away his high-value item, but make it even better by giving him treats for dropping it! This way, if he does get something he shouldn’t have, he will be willing to drop it for them.

By the end of the session Captain was looking to his guardians for leadership and had very calm energy. To keep up this good behavior the guardians will want to continue to use our Petting with a Purpose technique to reward him for good behavior and use our Escalating Consequences to disagree with him. Remember you have three-seconds to agree or disagree with his behavior. We wrapped up this session with Captain’s Roadmap to Success video, which you can watch below.

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This post was written by: Sam Kanouse