Training Archives - Apartment Dog

Puppies can be expensive. While far less expensive than other hobbies, dogs – especially puppies – come with expenses that can add up quickly. Walking the aisles of a pet supply store, it is easy to get the feeling that expensive puppy toys are a necessary expense. However, there are many options for inexpensive puppy toys that work great for young dogs. Some may actually be laying around your apartment right now.

Cheap Toys

Most dog owners know the feeling of bringing home an expensive new toy for your dog, only to find that the dog is more interested in chewing on the packaging than the toy itself. While we do recommend many commercial dog toys, many inexpensive puppy toys will do just fine.

Puppies often find the things you least want chewed to make their toys. Chew training a different, and more complex topic covered in depth in this post.

Rope

A two-foot length of rope with a knot tied on each end may seem drab to us humans. To a puppy it ticks all the boxes of an amazing toy! In fact, we at Apartment Dog rarely spend money on toys for new puppies. Instead we keep a few lengths of rope lying around. They work for fetch or tug and are safe for puppies to chew on. Our dogs were basically raised on these toys and they work great.

Tip:

Avoid nylon or fibrous ropes. The fibers in these ropes can get into your dog’s throat and irritate them. The best ropes are used rock climbing ropes with a braided sheath on the outside.

Chew Toy Alternatives

One of the all-time best hacks to occupy a high energy puppy is a chew toy with a small amount of something tasty like peanut butter hidden inside. This simple combination will occupy a dog for hours. It is also a great way to wear out your dog before a big nap.

We have been using the Kong toy for years, and definitely think this is worth the purchase. But, if you are on a budget, a racquet ball with a hole cut in it will do the trick. Simply punch out a hole in the ball about the size of a quarter, then punch a smaller hole on the other side to make it easy to rinse out. Swab a small amount of peanut butter inside the ball and watch your pup go after it for hours!

Warning for larger dogs:

Racquet balls are great toys for dogs, but it is possible for larger dogs to swallow them. This can be a very dangerous situation. If you own a large breed of dog, you might opt for a toy that is larger than a racquet ball.

Treats

There are a number of really expensive treats on the market that will likely leave your fingers smelly and your wallet empty. While we do use some of the commercially available treats, there are some common food options that work just as well. Here are a couple of our go-tos:

Kibble

Simple kibble, like the kind that you feed your pup during meals works great as a treat. These can be kept in your pocket, or a specific pouch, and doled out during training or play sessions.

Pro tip: Get the most out of your puppies meals. We often use “working meals” to combine training with feeding. These are a great way to use feed time to burn up a puppy’s energy and get a little training in. If your pup usually eats ½ cup of kibble at meals, simply put that ½ cup in your pocket and get your pup to work for it. Just remember, you can over-train a young puppy, so don’t make them work longer than about 5 minutes for their kibble. This short amount of time is enough for training. After that, simply feed them the rest. For older dogs, there’s no reason why they couldn’t work for their whole meal.

Hot Dogs

It is always a good idea to have a really extra special treat on hand. These are useful in training dogs in high-distraction situations, or when reinforcing a really important behavior like a recall. Hot dogs diced into ¼” cubes work great for this. You can go uber cheap here, but do your dog a favor and find pre-cooked hot dogs without nitrates in them.

Puppy Beds

Depending on where you shop, dog beds can feel like a luxury purchase. It is not uncommon to see fancy dog beds going for $100-200. Like most of our product recommendations, we have nothing against spending money on your dogs, especially if it makes your apartment look better. But, if you are constrained by a budget, there are some inexpensive options that will work great for a dog bed.

Most of our Border Collie puppies slept in the house on folded blankets. Old fleece blankets are great options for dogs. If you have one or two of them lying around, that will work perfectly well as a soft spot for your pup to snooze. Just fold blankets in a shape large enough for your pup to spread out on.

Shampoo

Dog shampoos vary widely from general cleaners to medicated or specific-use products. When using shampoo for general baths, a bottle of Johnson’s baby shampoo works perfectly well. This soap is gentle, non-irritating to the eyes and is fragrance-free. It is also a fraction of the cost of most dog shampoos.

A Word About Dog Scent

One of the most perplexing things to humans is a dog’s eagerness to roll in smelly, disgusting things. The smellier and more rotten, the better as far as a dog is concerned. There is an evolutionary explanation behind why a dog would want to do this. From a hunting perspective, if a wolf were coated in Gazelle poop, they smell horrible, but what they don’t smell like…is wolf. Big advantage when sneaking up on prey.

Where Not To Skimp

These are some of our favorite puppy budget hacks. But, there are some products that you simply do not want to skimp on.

Here is a list of dog items not to skimp on:

Crate
Collar
Health Products
Food

Crate

A crate is probably one of the most important things you can buy for a new puppy. Crate training gives your pup a sense of security, their own space and helps with potty training and separation anxiety. You definitely want to buy a high quality crate.

Health tip

When buying a crate for a new puppy who has not finished their vaccination series, you may want to avoid buying used unless you are absolutely sure that it came from owners whose dogs were vaccinated. Your big concern with puppies is parvovirus, which most young puppies are not protected against until about 16-18 weeks of age. Parvovirus infections cause severe illness in dogs, and the bill for the vet hospital stay might level any budget savings from the above hacks. There is no way to reliably clean used products, so you may as well buy new.

Collar

A good quality collar with a strong clasp can be a lifesaver. Most collars are not that expensive, so don’t go cheap on them. We recommend leather collars. They are long lasting, and they do not take on smell. Nylon collars can start to smell a bit “doggy” after a while.

Health Products

When it comes to health and grooming products like nail clippers, brushes, teeth cleaning products there is no reason to skimp here. Taking care of your dog’s health properly requires the right equipment.

Food

It is true, there are some supremely inexpensive dog foods on the market. I won’t name brands, but this is not an area to be cheap. Unless you are using a specific diet like raw feeding, your dog will subsist almost entirely on kibble. As their main source of nutrition, you want a product that is well formulated and made from ingredients that are healthy and well-tolerated by dogs. These tend to be a bit pricer than the bargain basement options. Good food is worth every penny.

These tips are meant to provide you with alternatives and suggestions for inexpensive puppy toys. Visit our website for more in depth descriptions of toys, products and training.

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Thanksgiving is around the corner and that means food! Having dogs that beg or steal food from the table can ruin any holiday meal. Follow these steps to train a dog that doesn’t beg or steal food.

Begging. Dog owners love it and they hate it. On one hand, your dog’s persistence and adorable attempts to woo you into giving up a treat are endearing. On the other hand, having a dog that you can’t trust around your food is no fun at all. Dogs, like any animal, are highly motivated by food. However, the degree to which they will go to get it depends entirely on the training you provide them.

Watching dogs interact with other dogs, you can easily spot how young dogs learn about boundaries. Dogs don’t mince words – for lack of a better expression – when it comes to establishing boundaries around food. Many dogs will growl, bare teeth or even nip at any dog trying to sneak in for a taste of their meal.

Puppies will often try a slough of tactics to try to get to an older dog’s food. Ultimately, the response of the older dog establishes the boundaries that a puppy needs to understand what is theirs and what isn’t.

Your role as the dog owner is to establish those boundaries with your dog. This article will include some simple steps to avoid begging and food snatching for new puppies. It will also include tips for old dogs with bad habits.

They Don’t Want What They Have Never Had

One of the basic foundations to training dogs around food comes down to a simple decision. Do your dogs get people food, or not? Some people find a lot of joy in periodically sharing their food with dogs. We admit that even though we have fairly strict rules with our dogs and people food, we too relish occasionally sharing a hunk of steak or chicken with our pups. The only caveat is that we only allow our dogs people food when they are mature and have been trained not to beg for food.

The best way to start off your food training is to simply never give your young dogs people food. It’s as simple as that. Turning that into reality requires discipline on your part. With our younger dogs, we simply never feed them from plates, tables or in the kitchen. This eliminates any association that the pup might make between the times that we eat and the times that they eat.

Our puppies eat at regular feeding times in the morning and evening so that meals are predictable. The only other feeding comes in the form of treats during training sessions. When we make food and sit to eat, the pups learn that this is not a time when they get food.

Establishing this early on will eliminate the drive and interest that a puppy might have in your food. Once they learn that plates, kitchens and tables never result in food for them, they won’t place any stock in trying to beg or snoop around them.

Get Out!

One of the very early tricks you can teach a dog is knowing the boundaries of different rooms in your house and teaching them how to “get out” when you ask. This may sound harsh, but having the ability to get your dog to exit a room can be a very valuable tool.

We teach our dogs early on to learn the command “get out.” You can start training this by starting with a simple back up. Using a clicker and treats, slowly move a treat close to your dogs nose. If they lunge or try to snatch the food, simply recoil your hand a bit. No need to use your voice, they will get the message. Move the treat closer again and the moment that they take a step back, click that and reward with the treat. Once the pup can do this reliably, we start to place a vocal command on it. Using the words “get out” is a great way to start.

Link to the clickers we like

It may seem logical to use the words “back up” for this command. This is perfectly fine to do! But we have found value in having the command “get out” that tells our dogs to back up and get away from us. For more mature dogs it will teach them to not be pushy!

Next, once you have a solid “get out” command on your pup, you can start to establish boundaries to different rooms. Doorways make an obvious dividing line between a room and a hallway. As for kitchens, it helps to have a line between tile and carpet or something similar that a dog can learn to recognize as the boundary of that room.

To train a dog to get out of a kitchen, simply use your “get out” command with your dog in the kitchen, but still close to that dividing line. Ask your pup to “get out” and wait for them to cross the line. Don’t repeat the command and don’t click until they have crossed the line. Many dogs will try repeating the task if they don’t get the treat. In this case, they will likely take additional steps back to try to appease you. Once they cross the line, click and give them their reward.

Once you have that well established, it’s your job to lengthen the distance they need to go to get out of the kitchen and gradually add distractions so you can make that command reliable.

Being able to reliably ask your dog to “get out” of the dining room is a great way to make them pleasant around the dinner table.

All Done!

If you have a well trained dog that doesn’t beg or snoop for food, that is when you can – if you choose – start to treat them with people food. We rarely recommend people food for dogs since it simply isn’t necessary and tends to create more problems than not. But, as mentioned before, even we break this rule from time to time. One way we teach our dogs not to continually beg is through the “All done!” command.

We train “All done!” during toy play sessions. Even a 10 minute tug game in the living room gets marked at the end with us saying “All done!” At that point, the toy gets put away and we stop playing. The dogs learn that “All done!” means that whatever fun they are having is over for now.

We apply the same principle to treating our dogs. If we choose to gift our pups with a nice piece of cooked chicken, we will follow that with the usual “All done!” and our pups learn to go about their business knowing that the fun is over. If they don’t, we simply ask them to “Get out.”

The “All done!” command is a big part of what we call our dog’s “Off switch.” We own Border Collies, and if you have ever worked with them you know the absolute necessity of an “off switch.” A Border Collie, and any high drive dog for that matter, will be unrelenting in their pursuit if you don’t teach them to chill out.

Breaking Bad Habits in Dogs

Many of you reading this might be thinking, “This all sounds nice, but our dogs already beg!” It’s ok if your dog has a bad habit or two around food. There is still a lot you can do to break the bad behavior.

If your dog begs at the table or snoops in the kitchen, the first thing you need to do is go cold turkey (pun definitely intended) on giving them any people food treats. You need to stop that behavior for good to be able to make progress with your dog.

Next, you need to reestablish boundaries with your dog. This is going to be far more difficult with your dog who knows it can get treats at the table or in the kitchen. You might try asking your dog to “Get out!” and they will think “Yeah, I don’t think so. I know I can get treats eventually!”

Establishing New Boundaries

Establishing boundaries can be as simple as requiring your dog to lay in the living room while you cook or eat dinner. If your dog doesn’t have a good lay/stay, then you might need to crate them while you cook and eat. This requires good crate training – another complex but important topic – so that they don’t feel punished by the crate.

If you have a dog that steals food, the first step in breaking that habit involves one rule: no dogs in the kitchen. Period. This rule means that the kitchen or the dining room is simply not a place in the house that dogs are allowed to go. If nothing else, this removes the possibility of your dog stealing from a countertop. This sets your dog up for success rather than failure.

Leave it!

Training a dog on the command “Leave it” is a great way to develop new habits around food. “Leave it” is also an amazing part of any obedience training. A reliable “Leave it!” can actually keep your dog safe when out on walks in the city.

“Leave it” is a great way to start to break bad behaviors because it ties the intended behavior (avoiding food) with a positive reward (food!). You can start with simple kibble treats to train this. Place the food on the ground near your pup. If they go for the food, simply grab the treat away. Again, no need to use your voice since the message is clear. Depending on how driven they are, you may need to be ready to snatch the treat up quickly if they go for it. Eventually you will see your dog pause before going for the food. That is the behavior your want to mark with the clicker.

Once your dog reliably pauses, you can start to add the vocal command “Leave it.” What this looks like is: your dog pauses, you click the clicker and say “Leave it” and immediately give them a treat. Eventually your dog will learn to look to you before going after something they want.

Reminder: Make sure you don’t let them get the first treat after you reward them since that would negate the training!

Next, you can replace the treat with people food. Try placing a small amount of cooked chicken on a plate and repeat the training exercise. In this case, you may want to reward the pup with something equally enticing to get the message across.

Eventually, your dog will learn that pausing and avoiding people food means they get a tasty treat.

As with any training, getting your dog to be well-behaved around food requires time, patience and consistency. Don’t expect results overnight, these things take time and effort. If your dog slips up during the course of training, don’t sweat it. Just go back a step and reestablish the basics. Eventually, with enough time your dog will be a champ around people food. A well-behaved dog is always a welcome addition to the holiday dining room.

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