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Puppy First Day Home Tips - Professional Dog Training Tips - YouTube
Channel: McCann Dog Training
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- Do you think can handle
this much cuteness?
[4]
Well, today we're gonna talk about
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your first day home with your new puppy.
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And I've got this adorable
little eight-week-old
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puppy named Levi.
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We're gonna talk to instructor Kim,
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who is one of our head instructors
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of our Head Start for Puppies program,
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and she's just brought Levi home
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just a couple of days ago,
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and we're gonna talk to her about
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her first couple days home with this
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adorable four-legged family member.
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I'm Ken Steepe, and welcome
back to McCann Dogs.
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(strumming guitar and dog barking)
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So Levi isn't actually my puppy.
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Levi belongs to Instructor Kim.
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He is an eight-week-old Border Collie,
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and she just brought
him home the other day.
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Now, Instructor Kim is one of our
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head instructors for our Head
Start for Puppies program,
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so she knows a thing or two about
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puppy behavior and puppy training.
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So I thought this would
be a great opportunity
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to help you guys in our YouTube audience
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to learn a little bit
about what a professional
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dog trainer would do when
preparing to bring a puppy home.
[56]
Now Kim, you have another
Border Collie at home, Charlie,
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and it's been a while
since you had a puppy,
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so what did you have to get
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to prepare for bringing little Levi home?
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- Yeah, it's actually been
about nine years, Ken,
[68]
since I've had a puppy.
[69]
So I didn't have a lot of
my regular stuff at home.
[73]
For example, I had to
purchase a small collar
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that would fit the puppy.
[77]
I was lucky enough, I
found two 21-inch crates
[83]
that I can use on their Vari
kennels, the plastic crates.
[88]
- Yeah, that's perfect.
[90]
- On YouTube, not YouTube, sorry.
[91]
- That's all right.
[92]
- On Gigi.
- Yeah.
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- So I found those at a great price,
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and I already had them,
so I had one for my house,
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and then one for the car.
[99]
And they both have blankets inside.
[101]
I bought some chewy bones, ones that are
[104]
appropriate for a puppy of this age,
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so the softer, less opaque
ones that Nylabone makes.
[112]
That was just a brand name, but--
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- [Ken] Yeah, they're great
bones, and puppies love them.
[116]
- Yeah, they're really good,
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and they have a flavoring to them,
[120]
so they're kind of enticing.
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I also bought a bag of our,
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the food that I want to
transition him over to.
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So when I picked him
up, the breeder provided
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a small bag of what she
had been feeding him.
[133]
And just because I have great success
[137]
with the product that I'm
using on my older dog,
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I want to stick with that name brand,
[143]
and use the puppy version.
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So I bought a small bag of that,
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so I can transition slowly.
[150]
You never want to just introduce
[151]
new food to a puppy right away,
[154]
because that will upset
their sensitive stomachs.
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- Yeah, yeah.
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Bringing a new puppy home can be stressful
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for both the puppy and
for the puppy owner.
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So talk a little bit
about how you prepared
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for that, for the first
night, for example,
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that little Levi came home.
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- So the night before,
I made sure I got done
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some of my housework that I wanted to do,
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my laundry, just sort
of organized everything
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so everything was set up and ready to go,
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and I went to bed early.
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- Okay, that's really important,
and don't overlook that,
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having all of those chores and things done
[188]
ahead of bringing the puppy home,
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because I'm sure when the puppy comes home
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for those first days, you're really busy.
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- Yep, there's a lot to think about.
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I mean, puppies require
constant supervision,
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so whenever the puppy
is not in his create,
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I'm always there within eyes
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distance away from him, literally.
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- Sure.
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- So that I can make sure that he
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doesn't get into anything he shouldn't.
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I keep him safe.
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- Now, it's likely that your puppy's
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going to have an accident in the house,
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whether you're supervising them or not.
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Sometimes they just, they've gotta go.
[222]
Their bladders are small, they
haven't learned to hold it
[225]
since they've come home from the litter,
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so tell us a little bit,
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you mentioned that he had an accident
[229]
before you came to the hall here.
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So tell us a little bit about how you
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manage that situation and what to do
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if your puppy does have
an accident in the house.
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- Yeah, it was funny, because I knew that
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I should have been supervising him,
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and I made the mistake of supervising him
[245]
by knowing where he was,
not actually seeing him.
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- [Ken] Sure.
[250]
- And that's the opportune time
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when accidents do happen, of course.
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- It can happen to anyone.
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- Absolutely, and it's generally when you
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have to be somewhere, which
is the case for tonight.
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- (laughs) Yeah, exactly.
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- So, for the most part,
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I'm, as I mentioned early,
I'm always supervising,
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I'm always watching
him, but I also keep him
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on a very tight schedule.
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So as soon as he comes out of his crate,
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we get our leash on, we go outside.
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I live in a condo, so I'm lucky
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that I'm on the first floor,
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and I'm close to an exit door,
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but I still make sure that I
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take him outside right away
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as soon as he comes out of his crate,
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and I try and give him a chance
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to do everything that he needs
to do while he's out there.
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So if he gets a little bit distracted,
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we'll try and take him to
a new place and go again.
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If he doesn't go, if there's
nothing that he's done,
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then I would put him
right back into his crate
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and try him again in
maybe five or so minutes,
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and take him back out again.
[307]
Sometimes the world can be
a little bit distracting
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for these little guys who
haven't seen a whole lot
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from where they were.
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- For sure.
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Now, being a professional dog trainer,
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some of our viewers might think that
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the training starts as soon
as the puppy gets home.
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But we know that's not really the case.
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So tell us what you do for the first day,
[324]
and the first couple of
days that Levi comes home.
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- Yeah, it's extremely
stressful for a puppy.
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If you can imagine they have just spent
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the last eight or so weeks
with their litter mates,
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and in their home environment.
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That's the first place
that they've ever known,
[340]
and they get taken away
from their litter mates
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and brought to a strange environment
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where there could be a wide variety
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of things that are kind
of frightening for them.
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Potentially other dogs
or other animals, cats,
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I have cats at home.
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Just even the sounds of a
house could be different
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than what they were used to in their
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kennel environment, perhaps,
so I really take the time to,
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allow him just to adjust
to his surroundings,
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to investigate and check
things out, but in a safe way.
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So he's, again, always supervised,
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and I prevent, I put things away,
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making sure that he can't
really get into too much trouble
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while he's investigating,
and just taking his time,
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and also I'm being very respectful for the
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animals that I have at home,
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my cats and my other
dog, and I'm giving them
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the space that they need.
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So keeping them a little bit separated,
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doing shift, so to speak.
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- Sure.
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- I'll have him in his
crate for a little bit,
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and the rest of the animals can have their
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run around the house, and then
I might put those guys away
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and just let him out, and take turns,
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alternating a little bit here and there.
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I'm trying not to overwhelm him too much,
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you know, really keeping an eye on
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what he's able to actually manage,
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and then give him that quiet time, too.
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One of the things I noticed that,
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especially a Border Collie,
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but a lot of puppies are like this,
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they don't have a self-moderator.
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So they will continue to
play themselves too hard.
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- [Ken] Right.
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- And they really do need that sleep time.
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We don't need to be doing
a whole lot with them
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all the time for those first few weeks.
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So I might have him out and I might
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play with some toys, let him
investigate a little bit,
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and then maybe after an hour or so,
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I put him back in his
crate for a couple hours,
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and bring him back out,
you know, to keep work--
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- Totally, yeah.
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It's a great way to
install like an off switch.
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- [Kim] Yes.
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- So that he knows when
he goes into his crate
[460]
or his kennel that it's
time that he can relax,
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and you know, recuperate and recover.
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I think that's really important,
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and that's something, the
mistake, one mistake that I made
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with my Lab puppy, before
I was a dog trainer,
[471]
before I really understood,
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is I gave her complete freedom.
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And she was harassing our older Lab,
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and it was just a really,
it was an unfair scenario
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for the other animals in the house.
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So I think that's a
really important point.
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When Instructor Kim talks about her puppy
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being out of his kennel
and supervising him,
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she doesn't just trust
it'll make good choices.
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We know that puppies
will explore the world
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with their mouths, and get
into all sorts of things.
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So even in the first day,
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or the first couple days home,
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Instructor Kim got a house line for Levi.
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And if you haven't seen the video
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where I talk about the house
line, I'll link it above.
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But tell us a little bit about
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how you've used the house line with Levi.
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- Yeah, it's a great tool.
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It allows him the freedom,
but also my control,
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so that he can't get
into too much trouble.
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If he were to, let's say,
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take off with my shoe and
run underneath the bed,
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I say this because this has
actually almost happened,
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with the house line I was actually able to
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step on it, stop him from getting too far,
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and just redirect that.
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So any of that unwanted behavior,
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I can just stop it right away.
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And it's also great, too,
because I don't want him,
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being a herding breed specifically,
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but I really don't want
him getting in the habit
[542]
of chasing my cats.
[544]
I want them to live very
cohesively in the house,
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and respectful of each other.
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And so if they decide
that they've had enough
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and they don't want him in his space,
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the white line is a really great tool,
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because I can actually stop him
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from getting to a point where he's
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really upset my cats.
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- Sure.
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I want to thank Instructor Kim for
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helping us out today,
and I certainly want to
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thank little Levi.
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If this is your first time
on the channel, make sure you
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hit that Subscribe button.
[570]
We publish new videos every single week
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to help you to have a well-behaved
[574]
four-legged family member.
[575]
You see that video beside me?
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That video is all about using a house line
[578]
and what a powerful
training tool it can be.
[580]
So if you enjoyed this
puppy training video,
[582]
you're definitely going
to want to watch that.
[584]
On that note, I'm Ken,
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this is Instructor Kim, and this is Levi.
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Happy training.
[589]
(jazzy piano music)
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