It has been quite a busy week!
A week ago we welcomed our malinois puppy, Bebop into our home! Although this month has been challenging due to Ebony’s emergency surgery and recovery, we have been expecting Bebop since January and were really excited to meet her.
Bebop (her full name – Casryn’s Cowboy Bebop: named after our favourite anime show) is a Belgian Malinois. For those unfamiliar with the breed they are a high energy working dog and are typically not suited to ‘pet homes’ due to their energy and stamina. This is NOT a dog that is satisfied with two 30min walks a day or with just one round of classes on a weekend – they need to be worked daily and are rather intense in their personalities. They also like to bite. A lot (no seriously – not like a normal puppy – but like a puppy who is bred to do bite and police work). They are therefore typically placed in performance/sport or working homes only, where the dog will be stimulated, exercised and challenged in a variety of disciplines.
This is our plan and hope for Bebop! We love high energy dogs and they suit our current lifestyle.
We had been in the ‘market’ for a malinois for years as we love the breed and their energy and I wanted to find a second performance dog to train and compete with before Ebony was retired from trialing. I wanted a dog to welcome into our family that would also get along with my clients while everyone was around the same age.
I also had a specific game plan for training them from the get go which I will go into detail about in this post and in future ones!
As a general rule, I prioritize typical house manners skills but not all pet skills (such as leave it, or stay) and I go into a little detail of why that is below. I also spent a ridiculous amount of time on foundations and simple skills to make life easier later on and to create solid behaviours.
Bringing her home
Since we knew weeks ahead that we would be picking Bebop up on a Thursday, we were able to prep! As silly as it sounds I meal prepped for a couple of days and ensured her crate and expen were all set up. We also had toys and blankets ready to go. Doing this also helped my guys realize we were having company over (and they are used to it) and gave them a day to acclimate to the idea. We tried our best to prep them for no surprises.
In addition to this I prepped some chews and kongs that are age appropriate for a puppy. Bully sticks and kongs with soaked kibble (which I had picked up the week before) were prepped for her so she had something productive to do right away!
In our home, she has two expens she hangs out in with toys and chews that I rotate her being exposed to. These pens are not meant to contain her forever, but we absolutely needed a safe space for her to be a puppy while we couldn’t directly supervise her. One is upstairs, one is downstairs. In the long term, the goal is to eliminate the pens as she earns some freedom and becomes reliably crate trained.
Allowing the pens to be up gives me time to build her crate training skills appropriately in addition to teaching her to respect boundaries and gates from the get go!
Routine
Getting puppies into solid routines is almost as important as house breaking or crate training! Dogs LOVE routines and flourish in structured schedules of training, social time, and playtime.
I also find that routines tend to empower dogs; they know what to expect and what’s coming, and for shy dogs or ones who tend to worry this can create a really positive association to your routine if they can predict it!
To see the schedule we follow see it below:
6am – wake up, pee, supervised social time/play
7am – training time, chew time, solo walk time for the dogs individually
8am – Training session, followed by chew time and nap time
8:30-10am NAP TIME
10am-2pm- Out with dogs for walks, plays and training.
2-4pm – Nap Time
4-6pm – Training session, followed by chew time and play time.
6-7 – quiet time in crate
7-9:30 – solo walk time, cuddle and quiet time
9:30 BED TIME
The other big routine factor for her? NO FREE MEALS! This puppy has not nor will she (likely) eat out of a bowl! All her kibble is measured for the day and used for training and reinforcing good behaviour. This allows us to move quickly with training goals and be a little more effective with our time.
Sleep Training
We decided to be pretty particular on sleeping arrangements for this little one! We are hoping to train her in the crate room overnight but we start this process slowly. With little puppies, it can be traumatizing to leave the litter and the only home they have known and place them with humans they don’t know, in a space they have not fully explored. I liken it to sleeping in a new location with strangers – would you feel totally comfortable? Probably not!
This is why it’s so important to have some empathy towards your new puppy and patience – the crying and whining doesn’t last forever (and frankly, rarely is it like this for more than a day or two) and once they find a pattern to the bed time routine, it becomes much easier.
For sleep training, I typically start with a crate next to the bed so that I can comfort the puppy and be easily woken up if needed. Once the puppy is comfortable with that space, we start to move the crate back away from me. This process can take some time if puppy is really anxious but typically I progress it in weekly stages. The goal is to teach the puppy to be comfortable away from me (their main provider) and self soothe.
As of now, she is rocking bed time and we have pushed back the crate from my side of the bed to the far wall for the next phase of training!
Crate Training
Crate training is CRUCIAL for this dog – we have zero illusions she will be loose in the home anytime soon! She absolutely loves to put everything and anything in her mouth so for safety sake crate training is non negotiable in our home.
I start associating positive associations almost immediately in the crate. I shape movement towards it by rewarding voluntary steps in it, and then work on closing the door and leaving the dog by a few feet. Although Bebop’s meals are not fed in a bowl, she works for part of her meal by hanging out willingly and happily in her crate. I prioritize this with the crate in the bedroom, and then slowly transition it to the crate in our crate room (which we are calling her ‘big girl’ crate!)
So far, this is where the bulk of my homework is with her! She needs many repetitions of this skill so we practice it daily right now, mostly two times a day.
House Breaking
Kudos to our amazing breeder for prepping them so well – we have had ZERO accidents in the house! This girl can HOLD it in! She is let out every two hours right now, and is starting to whine in her pen if she has to go.
As a general rule with new puppies or dogs I do hourly let outs until the dog can hold it for that long consistently, then increase that duration hourly. We continue to reward potty breaks and encourage her to eliminate by cueing a verbal ‘go pee’.
Now for the fun stuff – the things I prioritize in a new dog!
Because Bebop is a performance prospect, the way I am raising her differs from your average pet.
Instead of focusing on ‘pet’ skills such as leave it, stay, and loose leash walking we are prioritizing engagement, focus and play. Although pet skills are of course important and on our list of behaviours to tackle, engagement and focus are the foundation blocks of building those skills rapidly and with eagerness from the dog. Without focus and a desire to be with me and check in with me, teaching skills become less effective and I end up with a ‘lack luster’ dog. What I want from Bebop is to show interest in me and enjoy playing with me first – in all environments – so that building the obedience pieces of skills becomes easy and most importantly FUN.
I also prioritize eye contact for EVERYTHING (that’s right – every single thing. It is time consuming at first but pays off exponentially as the dog ages) and physical handling. This is an area I didn’t invest in with Ebony and years later it showed in her reluctance to be touched or handled by vets and therapists. With this puppy, I am immediately conditioning a collar grab, a harness grab and general manipulation of her legs, feet and ears. I want a calm happy dog that is not worried about being touched for things like vet exams and grooming.
My friend who is a groomer even helped me set up a training scenario with me to get Bebop accustomed to the set up (and being up on a tall table!)
Socialization
It is a tricky time to socialize a puppy during the COVID-19 concerns but we are trying! This is probably the most important aspect right now of our training as she is at such an impressionable age.
Contrary to popular belief socialization doesn’t mean a dog has to interact with each new thing or person! What it means is exposing the dog in a controlled matter to a variety of stimuli and ensuring the dog is confident, stable and happy to be around the stimuli. With people and dogs, our goal for her is to see them, show interest but ultimately prefer having her focus on me. In a new environment, my goal is to place her in it, have her assess the space, then seek more information from me. No stress, no concerns. A bored, rather uninterested dog is what I am seeking.
Socialization is much more than just fun interactions that can turn overwhelming quickly or reinforce poor behaviours (think of your puppy meeting new people and jumping all over them). It’s really about ensuring the puppy is stable in new environments and not fearful.
Another important factor in socializing is making sure Bebop is exposed to novel environments alone! Although her relationship with Ebony is cute to watch develop, it’s important that she learns to be OK with being solo. It is a lot of work with two dogs but it pays off long term.
What are our future goals?
For being with us just a week, she is doing great! My major goals this week include getting her to hang out in her ‘big girl crate’ longer, build upon our recall, and start some solid tug work! (in addition to position changes!)
She is a lovely, happy and goofy puppy who loves people, loves her cat Henry and looks for big sis Ebony for reassurance in new environments.
