E305: 셰이드 화이트셀(Shade Whitesel) - 고집 센 강아지 키우기

So I want to make sure my older dogs are really comfortable with being away, uh, and, um, comfortable and confident with that. And that it's not a change in their daily routine. The second the puppy comes home, you know, um, so I, I really work on brushing up on those skills. I seen, seeing what the routine, what the puppy is going to be and trying to make sure that my older dogs are accustomed to that routine basically. So hopefully that makes sense. I kind of said a whole lot. So speaking of kind of those family dynamics and maybe not introducing the puppy right away, what do you, what do you think about in advance, um, in terms of, uh, you know, dog, dog dynamics and dog people dynamics when you're choosing and then introducing that, that new puppy, um, to your existing adult dogs? Yeah, this is a great question because I'm, because of the sport I do the bitey sport of IGP. I actually pick my puppies for the sport. If I picked my dogs for my current crop of dogs, I would definitely pick a different puppy. So this is a case where I would totally recommend, uh, picking a puppy that gets along with, you know, breed wise and sex gender wise with other, with the current crop of dogs that you have. But because in my sport, I want males, uh, because there's, um, people with female dogs are going to kill me when I say this, but there's in Schutzen a lot of times, um, there's just more chance of having a dog that's going to be successful if you pick a male. Uh, so, um, I should get a female. I should get a more soft, sensitive temperament to fit in with my current males. Um, unfortunately I pick strong males and I look for that in my puppies as well. Um, the only thing I did do differently this time was that my, um, middle dog, Tallick, is not the most social of dogs, uh, including even with us. Uh, so I did pick a dog that was very, very social. Uh, and it was very apparent that he needed that people presence when he was in the litter. Um, to have him be different from Tallick because they're going to be together as, as much as, as much as I can. And if one cares about being near me and the other one doesn't, then there's less conflict that they might have. So I did think about that when I was picking. Uh, but yes, if I was picking for my current dog, I would probably get a different breed. And that's what I would totally recommend because it's, it's so much easier if you pick male, female, male, female. And if you really like don't have four adult German Shepherds at a time. Yeah. Imagine that. Oh man. So I honest, far from your like first kind of pushy puppy, right?

So, um, having raised a number of them at this point, uh, what is there that maybe you wish you'd known that with that first pushy puppy that you've kind of learned since? Um, yes, I, I, my poor first German Shepherd, um, you know, you, you, you hear that you should crate train them. So I brought her home and I stuck her in this giant crate that I had bought in the bathroom, completely isolated from me. Um, her breeder had had two litters at once. So she was basically running with like, I don't know, like 17 other puppies. So the poor puppy went from that situation in a kennel run situation, running around with all these pups to being isolated in a crate in the middle of a bathroom with me nowhere around. Cause I'm trying to sleep in the bedroom and, um, it didn't go well at all. Uh, and I just was, I didn't know any better, so I can totally forgive myself, but I just would never advise that. Um, so now what I would advise is that. Uh, those first nights and that first week, you really have the puppy next to you in a crate so that you can put your fingers through. I oftentimes, if I can fit, I have it in a little crate on the bed with me. Uh, and that mostly helps, doesn't help everybody, but it helps the majority of the dogs. So there's definitely a lot of things I would do differently. Um, I, that's the, just the biggest example I can think of. Um, but that's for all dogs. That's not just for pushy dogs. Um, I think for my first shepherd, I shut her down a lot more than I would dogs now, like puppies now, like now I'm very into build value for what you want and sort of manage what you don't want. And definitely, you know, 30 years ago with my first puppy, I would have, um, corrected her mouthing, uh, and her biting and then wondered why I couldn't get toy play later. Well, there was no trust around stuff in my hands and her mouth. So, um, there's a lot of things that, um, I do differently as far as building value for stuff and managing this stuff. I don't like, um, better, but you know what? She was an awesome dog and she turned out all right. And she led me into the sport that I do now. So she, she managed to put up with me and train me. So. And we've all got to start somewhere, right? Exactly. Yeah. So tell us a little more about Ion. What's he like? How does who he is kind of influence how you're approaching training with him and, and kind of the life that you're hoping to have together? Well, I'm hoping he's very good in Schutzen, uh, and in IGP. And I think he is. I, I think he's going to be, um, he's got a lot of the attributes.

And like I said, I, I kind of picked the dog with strong opinions. And while that's hard to see at seven months old, or I mean, at seven weeks when you're picking them, um, he is apparent at this point at six months that he has very strong opinions. So that's good. Um, but, um, he's very active. He's very pushy. He's very, he could very quickly be hectic and frantic and vocal. Um, very, very quick. And so I'm really glad that I have him now at this point in my career, uh, with the goals that I have, um, because he would be a lot of dog for me as a young trainer. And while I know that I could make him, you know, as a younger trainer, he, he would have been fine life-wise because he has a very good temperament. Um, but I think that I would have had a harder time than now at where I am in my career at creating, um, silent, obedient skills, really, uh, non-frustrated, non-conflict, obedient skills. He's a dog that goes very, very quickly to whining. Um, and I'm not going to say that I'm going to be successful because, um, who knows, but I'm so glad that I have him now when I kind of know, okay, well, you can only do two reps of something and then you whine on the third rep. So therefore we're not going to do three reps of something when you're three months old. Uh, so, whereas Talik was so different that I could basically do 10 reps and he would be absolutely fine. Uh, at least vocalization wise. Um, but Ion is like, he's in the front row raising his hand, frantically wanting you to pick him. Hey, he wants to do all the things all the time. Um, he has tremendous work ethic in spite of that low, uh, threshold for, uh, frustration. Uh, so he's very, very fun, very fun to be around, uh, and always tail constantly wagging. And yeah, so I'm, I'm very excited about his future, but you know, he's only six months old. So we'll say we have no idea. I mean, on one hand, I'm like, I have all these goals. On another hand, it's like, you don't really know them very well at six months old, you know? So you, that's part of the fun, um, of getting to know the puppy and their individual personality. So it's cool. Yeah. You meant, you mentioned in there that he's very opinionated. Do you have a, uh, example that you want to share? Um, well, he, uh, early on, he had very, very big feelings about being created and restrained in any, and, you know, being toweled off, uh, nails. Um, he had very big opinions about that. Um, and yeah, very vocal, very vocal opinions about being created. So. Tells you what you need to work on right away, right? Yeah. Oh man. Creating. Well, it's so, they're all different, you know?

And so it's also like, and spent, and even with the toys, he would take, you know, he would take the toy and he would lay down for a good chew on the toy. And, and then if you tried to get him to come to you, he would like run away. And, you know, I mean, I teach toy class. I'm used to changing this behavior, but I do remember at one point when he was about 12 weeks old, I was like, boy, it's a good thing I have faith in the process because this dog would be hard. You know, he was very hard puppy to convince to come back, uh, with the toy fence that, um, tugging was fun. Um, and of course it's six months old, he's whipping right around and that's not there, but it, it's been very interesting because I've kept such detailed notes on Ion. And so detailed notes of me thinking that, whereas I probably wouldn't remember that now because all I would have in front of me was this morning's toy play where, you know, I let him have it and he rushes right back at me. But definitely there was a time when I was questioning how, how hard it was to get him to stop chewing toys and come back to me for more play. So yeah, he's, he's opinionated in some things. Um, I did want to, um, circle back. I forgot to say that, um, one of the things about like what I would do differently, uh, with puppies now than what I did is look, thinking back to my first dog as well. Um, I created this adrenalized, uh, dog who played fetch, you know, chase the ball all the time. And I definitely use food a lot more, uh, in my puppies now, and I create value for stillness and settling. And that is super, super important to me. Um, I have drivey dogs. And so I work on the drive. I work on the toy stuff and the coming back. And I, I do play toy with them and I, I want that, but I also want them to know how to, uh, learn with food, to have good food drive, um, to value food and to value stillness. And still behaviors. And I put so much more emphasis into that as a trainer than I used to. And I think that's really important to note. Um, because when we have a puppy that is good at one thing, we tend to work on that because it's reinforcing to us. So we get toy dogs that love to play fetch and we just want to do that. And then we want to train the toys. Whereas I look at the strengths and I'm like, okay, that's cool. You have that part. But I also want to make sure that you take food everywhere, that you take food in the presence of toys and, and that you could never tell it now. Um, but that's definitely balancing those two motivations. Those two reinforcement types, uh, is very, very important to my training nowadays and to

balancing the mental health of the puppy as well. So I just kind of wanted to make sure I didn't forget that part. Yeah. And I think that's super interesting to think about too, right? Because, um, of course it's more reinforcing for us to work on the things that our puppy or even an adult dog, right. Is doing well, um, instead of just the thing that, uh, maybe they actually need to balance them out so that we can have a great sports dog. Right. And I often see it with clients when we have a dog that, um, really, really likes food and we've struggled to teach them how to, uh, like toys. And then we get our first dog that likes toys. And then we forget about the food part, you know, because it's so fun that we finally have a dog that plays toys for whatever sport we need it for. But man, that food is important and it's, it's well worth, uh, working on. I, so really, uh, one of my, one of my goals is to get dogs that work equally well for food and toys and for me to go back and forth with that in the session so that I can use either. Uh, and it's different for every dog, you know, uh, how they switch from reinforcement to reinforcement and how you work on it. So yeah. Yeah. Uh, so you described Ion a little bit and obviously that, um, type isn't necessarily for everybody. Right. Um, what advice would you have to give somebody who's, um, considering kind of bringing home just their first sports prospect? Well, do your research, you know, um, and what puppy you've got. Uh, and that works out sometimes and sometimes doesn't because all puppies are who they are. And, you know, on genetic, on paper, they can be who you think. And then you get at the moment, they're totally different and that happens all the time. Um, but I have tons of advice. Uh, and I think I probably have to like, uh, tone it down. But, uh, the first thing I do is, is have fun. I think we, um, and I, I say that first because I think when we bring home a sports puppy, it has sport. We have sport goals and we're eager to try all the sports stuff, you know? Uh, and we want all the agility stuff. We just want whatever sport we bought the dog for. We want all that sport stuff. And I want you to concentrate on teaching the puppy how to use its body and its mind and, and not think so much about all the behavior skills that it needs for its sport, but more about how it can exist in life and the life skills, uh, that the puppy needs. Um, and so first and foremost, for me, that starts with reinforcement cues. Um, these are the first words that the puppy learns, uh, is what equals food.

And so that's a huge thing for me because I want them because reinforcement drives behavior. So I need to start working and teaching, um, what is available, when is available to my puppy. And this would be regardless of, of sport or not, or pet, this would just be for training, uh, how to access your reinforcement. And this of course is assuming that you've got a puppy that's eating right off the bat. Um, not all puppies do, uh, but you know, they, for various reasons, but assuming that your sports puppy does eat, this is, I want to make those specific words that mean eat this way. Um, so that's just a big thing. And then life skills, like how to exist, uh, how to, you know, how to meet other dogs, how to, how to settle in the house, uh, how to back up, how to stand square. Um, all those things are just way more important to me than, um, the sports skills that my dog has. Those are separate. Um, and even though the morning that this morning I posted a, um, Facebook post of Ion healing, and he's six months old and he's doing gorgeous healing for five to seven steps, six months old, which is unusual for most of my dogs. I mean, normally, um, it takes a lot longer to get where he's, where he is right now, but that's in addition to all the, the life skills that he's learning, which are very much top priority for me. Um, so yeah, value for what you want them to do, uh, and don't fight them. You know, uh, some of these sports puppies or pushy personality puppies can be a little opinionated about what they want to do. And so I kind of try to manage that, you know, like the, the chewing, the endless chewing. Um, Ion went through a phase of, um, we called it log rolling because I got this rug delivered. I don't know why I bought a new rug in the middle of house training. Okay. That's not the best choice, but anyway, I did buy a new rug. Um, I, it was like rolled up, you know, how they come, they're all rolled up and I don't know, I was probably doing forums and he proceeded to rip the plastic off the rug and roll it around with his teeth, you know, like he's pushing. Um, and it was adorable. Okay. But not what you want the dog to do. Um, but I remember thinking to myself, you know, I'm exhausted. Um, you know, you just put the puppy away and, and it's just like, I forgot why I was talking about this, but I guess what I want to say is you manage the stuff that you can, but you also like, don't stress the stuff that's happening as well. Um, because he outgrew that phase. I created value for interact with me, um, to your legal to ease.

And every time he would go for the corner of a rug and try to pull it around, Dave and I would laugh and say, he's log rolling again. Um, but it was just like, it was our little joke, but, and it was cute. And we thought it was cute. We didn't reinforce it. I, or it reinforced itself a little bit, but I managed it, but also like built value for what he was supposed to be doing in the house. And it went away. And I'm so glad that he's my ninth puppy and I have the maturity or the experience of having nine puppies to be able to go, ah, it's just a phase. You know, if you build all the other stuff value for playing with me with a toy next time, he's going, it's much more fun for him to grab his toy and come and bug me with his toy, which is another whole problem, but still, um, so things like that, along with the having fun, uh, realize how adorable they are. I am how much fun that is too. So sure. I have tons of other stuff that I do. You mentioned in there, um, kind of those reinforcement cues or the marker cues for, for food and for the, for all that stuff. Um, I know that's like a big thing for you. Can you share a little more about kind of how you build consistent, consistent and clear communication kind of right from the start? Yes. Um, it basically it's location specific marker cues because I feel like we can, uh, dispense, uh, reinforcement in many different ways. Um, and I want the dog to have a clear idea of how they're going to get it and how much they're going to get and what they're going to get. So, um, kind of going back to the, you know, um, puppies want food and they want toy. Um, you can't do much, you know, when they're young with the toy stuff, but you can start, you can start, you know, teaching them to put toys in their mouth and stuff. But what happens is that those are different values for puppies. Uh, they may like a particular way you reinforce them with the food. Uh, that may be more exciting to them than the toy at first. And then when they're three months old, maybe the toy is more exciting. So I want to have different reinforcement cues or marker cues that signify that. Um, and that's very important to me because reinforcement drives behavior and that reinforcement needs to be very clear to my dog. Um, and not disappointing. So sometimes I feel like if the puppy, um, was expecting, you know, to get his toy and instead I gave him food, then they might, there might be some disappointment there. So that's really why, I mean, this is the short version of why I do location specific marker cues,

because I, I want my dog to know exactly what they're getting, uh, and, and how to get it. So, and if you think about it, moving forward to get a treat from your hand is different than like getting all excited about chasing a treat. And that's different from like sniffing a handful of treats on the ground. So all those are going to be different ways of collecting reinforcement. Um, I'm going to use, I'm going to name those different things. So they're going to be different marker cues, different reinforcement cues. I'm using marker cue and reinforcement cue interchangeably here. Uh, and they're also going to be used to strengthen different behaviors. So for instance, one of the things I want my puppy to, uh, learn early is how to settle. And I'm going to use a scatter of food sniffing out food, because that's a calmer reinforcement for my puppy than chasing a treat or something, which is going to be hard to teach a calm down stay or a calm set on your dog bed with chasing treats where the puppy's like, yes, this is exciting. Um, I do have a, um, free webinar on that explains this in so much more detail than we can get into here. Um, and you can find that on my website, uh, shades, dog training.net. Uh, there's a blog that's, uh, titled marker cues, reinforcement cues. Uh, and if you sign up for my email list, you can get that hour long webinar all about location, specific marker cues. And that's going to, if it's something that interests people, that's going to be a better way or a more involved way to learn about it than just my five minutes talking about it. So, so yeah, so there's that. Um, yeah, and kind of along those lines, a little bit of clear communication is I want to build expectations and routines for my puppy. So they know like what time they're going to bed, what time they're getting up, what to expect. Um, and while I'm not a person that like feeds every day at the same time, my life does not lend itself to that. Um, I do want as much, especially in the first couple of months, I do want a routine for the puppy that makes them feel, um, safe, safe, like they know what's going on, you know, predictable, predictable ability, uh, as much as possible. Uh, because I think those make us feel safe and puppies feel safe. And I, that's pretty important to me. Kind of on all of that, right. You're doing a webinar on the 30th for us, um, specifically on surviving that first week with a new puppy. Do you want to just talk a little more about what you'll cover in that? Yes, I was really working on it today, just now. Um, cause of course I'm last minute.

Um, yes, uh, there's so much to cover. Um, kind of a little bit that we went over, you know, before you get the puppy things, things you might want to think about before, but, um, you know, how to meet a puppy's needs, um, creating routines, a little bit about creating, um, health training, we'll be covering house training, uh, of course, because that's in the big thing, um, how to set up, you know, how to puppy proof, uh, what things to think about, um, how much to confine, how much to let loose, um, what do you want your routine to be, uh, all those things. And it's, it's kind of a blur and expect to not have that much sleep that first couple of weeks. Um, but it gets better. Um, yeah, I just kind of completed the creating at night thing. And I said, expect to get up twice a night. Um, it's a rare puppy that can hold it through the night. Um, of course there's some that can, uh, but Ion was, uh, hey, I need to get up at one day. Um, and so even though that's a blur, it's still in my mind. Uh, so things like that, those normal things and what your priorities are. Um, and boy, there's just so much, um, that first week. I mean, just think how hard it is for the puppy, all this stuff. I mean, it's so hard for us, but they're the ones going from like one location to another. Um, they're so new. Uh, so, but puppies too, um, are really resilient. I think because, um, I, I think we tend to think of them as fragile there. And I, I'm astounded by how resilient they can be with all that change too. Um, I bred one litter and before I bred that litter. So my two older dogs are, are, I bred them. Um, and I hadn't put a lot of thought into as a trainer, how traumatic the change is that day. When they go from all their litter mates, um, in the environment that they've been in to the transport time to get to their new place, to just everything is so different. And until I raised my own litter, I just didn't put a lot of thought into how traumatic that is for them. And the fact that they're not scarred by that one day, I mean, the majority of puppies are just fine. You know, they might have an even ion, like ion didn't have a good transition. It was hard for him and he's absolutely fine about it. You know, all the things that were a problem were, were, are fixed now, or he's used to. So, so yeah, it's, it's, it's fun, but it's also, um, I think easy for us humans to get overwhelmed and, uh, it will pass. So. The stage, the phase. And that first week, especially as a stage. Yeah. Are there other places that folks can go to learn more about ion and kind of follow your journey together? Um, yes.

Um, I've got, so free wise, uh, I show a lot of training videos on Facebook. Uh, you can, you can find me there at shade white soul. Um, I share a ton of videos on Instagram. Uh, same thing. So you'll see a lot of videos of ions growing up and things like that. Um, paid wise, uh, there's Patreon page that I have that is all about raising him. Um, and that's a subscription service. Um, and it's, it's, it's exclusively all about ion and kind of all about how to raise, um, puppies like that. And what I think is important, uh, puppy wise, like what we need to be concentrating on at specific. And I've divided it into weeks. Uh, like how, how old he is specific times. Um, so that is something that if, if you have a pushy puppy that I would totally recommend. Because it, I think it's helpful and valuable and we, and especially when we're getting our four first sports prospect, we don't quite know what to do. Uh, so there's that. Um, there's also, as far as training skills, which we haven't talked that much about my crucial concepts class is starting, uh, in the April term. And I, um, that's, I'd love doing that as a foundation, uh, for my puppies, just all the different ways to learn. Um, so I, I like, I like that for puppies as far as skill wise, not life wise. So, so yeah, I think, am I forgetting anything? I think that's it. Oh, the webinar, the webinar that I'm doing. Uh, so it was the end of this month. So yeah. So there's that too. Yes. Awesome. Yeah. The whole big list of things, all the things, all the things, just like Ion, it's all about Ion in my life and work. Yep. Um, so I think I covered a lot of ground, right? Are there any kind of final thoughts or key points you really kind of want to leave listeners with? Um, again, have fun. They're so cute. Don't get so overwhelmed at all the stuff they need to know. Um, because it's easier than you think. And they're so changeable. And I want people to stop in time and enjoy what their puppy is offering them rather than how fast they need to learn the weaves, you know, or how fast they need to learn to jump or all that stuff. Um, yeah, that that's really my final thought. Uh, I know it's not like profound or skill related. Um, but they're just little babies and it's really fun to see them experience the world. Um, and yeah, so they're adorable. Have fun with them. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Shade. Thank you for having me and letting me talk all about puppies. Absolutely. And thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in. We'll be back next week with Erin Lange to talk about shed antler hunting.

If you haven't already subscribed to the podcast in iTunes or the podcast app of your choice. Give our next episode automatically downloaded to your phone as soon as it becomes available. Today's show is brought to you by the Fenzie Dog Sports Academy. Special thanks to Denise Fenzie for supporting this podcast. Music provided royalty free by bensound.com. The track featured here is called Buddy. Audio editing provided by Chris Lang. Thanks again for tuning in. And happy training.