Puppy Socialization &
Helpful Training
Please scroll down for helpful training videos for your puppy
Puppy Socialization starts from the moment puppies are welcomed into the world. We believe it is very important to always assist mom during the whelping and delivering. It is important for our dane babies to receive constant care, love and affection while they are with us from birth to 8-12 weeks of age. It is such a short amount of time we have to ensure they are properly socialized with other adults, children, teenagers and our other Danes.
We work on potty training the moment they are weaned from mom. Please understand that all puppies will have accidents. When puppies leave our home (the only home they know) and move to another home, accidents will happen. They are learning to adjust to their new environment and must consistently be shown what you expect of them. There are many different ways to potty train a puppy. You may have to try several different ways that will be the best for you and your family. Just like all children, each puppy is different and it's unrealistic to expect that each pet would be the same. We do our very best to help you with your puppy's transition and are available 24/7 to discuss other training methods. We believe there are several videos from very knowledgeable individuals on the subject of training and socialization and have linked them below for you to watch. If you don't see a specific task you are wanting to learn about, please contact me and I will try to help you find the right solution.
We introduce crate training gradually and by their 8-10th week with us, they usually have no problem going in and out of the crate. They sleep in the crate with the door open and can go in and out at anytime. We believe that puppies that are 8-10 weeks should not be crated more than 3 hours at a time. There is a formula, (age in months) plus 1 hour = the time a puppy could stay in a crate at a time. So a 12 week old puppy is (3 months) plus 1 hour= 4 hours in a crate at a time. Please, never use the crate as punishment. This only causes fear and they may refuse to enter the crate thus creating an unwanted behavior. I have a form that goes to every new puppy family that I have found to be incredibly helpful. I will have a link for it below.
We have found the "RULE of 7's" in puppy socialization to be very positive in our breeding program. The Rule of 7's is described below:
We work on potty training the moment they are weaned from mom. Please understand that all puppies will have accidents. When puppies leave our home (the only home they know) and move to another home, accidents will happen. They are learning to adjust to their new environment and must consistently be shown what you expect of them. There are many different ways to potty train a puppy. You may have to try several different ways that will be the best for you and your family. Just like all children, each puppy is different and it's unrealistic to expect that each pet would be the same. We do our very best to help you with your puppy's transition and are available 24/7 to discuss other training methods. We believe there are several videos from very knowledgeable individuals on the subject of training and socialization and have linked them below for you to watch. If you don't see a specific task you are wanting to learn about, please contact me and I will try to help you find the right solution.
We introduce crate training gradually and by their 8-10th week with us, they usually have no problem going in and out of the crate. They sleep in the crate with the door open and can go in and out at anytime. We believe that puppies that are 8-10 weeks should not be crated more than 3 hours at a time. There is a formula, (age in months) plus 1 hour = the time a puppy could stay in a crate at a time. So a 12 week old puppy is (3 months) plus 1 hour= 4 hours in a crate at a time. Please, never use the crate as punishment. This only causes fear and they may refuse to enter the crate thus creating an unwanted behavior. I have a form that goes to every new puppy family that I have found to be incredibly helpful. I will have a link for it below.
We have found the "RULE of 7's" in puppy socialization to be very positive in our breeding program. The Rule of 7's is described below:
- Been in 7 different, safe locations
- Eaten from 7 different containers
- Met at least 7 different people
- Ridden at least 7 miles in a car
- Been in a crate at least 7 times (more is better)
- Played with 7 different kinds of toys
- Been exposed to 7 different contexts
- Been played with or taken somewhere alone, without mom or litter mates at least 7 different times.
- Been on 7 different surfaces: carpet, concrete, wood, vinyl, carpet, grass, dirt, gravel, wood chips, newspaper, etc.
- Eaten from 7 different containers: metal, plastic, cardboard, paper, china, pie plate, frying pan, concrete, etc.
- Eaten in 7 different locations: crate, yard, kitchen, laundry room, living room, play pen, etc.
- Met and played with 7 new people: including children, teenagers, men, women and elderly.
- Played in 7 different locations: including front yard, backyard, basement, kitchen, living room, laundry room, bathroom, garage, crate, kennel, etc.
- Played with 7 different types of objects: such as a ball (small, medium and large), soft fabric toys, fuzzy toys, squeaky toys, metal items, wooden items, paper/cardboard items, milk/juice jugs, tug ropes, Tupperware, etc.
- Been exposed to 7 challenges: such as climbing out of a box, climbing into a box, climbing onto a box, climbing off a box, climbed up steps, climbed down steps, climbed over obstacles, played hide and seek, gone in and out of doorways, gone through a gate or barrier, walked on slick surface, etc.
I came across Laurie Luck through my own search for "how to" train our danes for certain commands. I feel her videos are the easiest to follow and implement with our own puppies and adult danes. I have added what I find to be the most helpful videos. She does show how to use a clicker to train, which is something I, myself grew to like after watching her videos. We now include a clicker in every puppy pack. I also encourage you to subscribe to her YouTube channel to view her other videos. You can click the button below to transfer you to her channel to view and subscribe.