Training Your Kai Ken Puppy
Set your Kai Ken puppy up for success!
Raising a puppy is hard. It is a lot of time, energy, and money. Here are some tips to ensure you raise a confident and happy puppy!
My #1 suggestion is before you bring your puppy home, sign them up for a puppy class! Classes fill up fast, often months before they’re even scheduled to start! I would personally avoid big box store trainers—while they sometimes have great trainers the class area is usually too small to accommodate the dogs/puppies in the class and they’re to follow strict curriculum. How do you find a trainer then? There is this nice website that has a directory of trainers; I would search for a trainer that has their CPDT (Certified Pet Dog Trainer) and if possible is also “Skills Assessed” but they are harder to find. Additionally, trainers do not need to be certified—I am not certified as a trainer though I do consider myself skilled, but I do think this is the easiest way to find a trainer.
Should you still sign up for a class even if you’ve had dogs before and experience training? YES! You can be the best trainer in the world but classes are still valuable as they offer a safe and predictable place to train and bond with your puppy. I could train my puppy on my own at parks and pet stores, but in those scenarios there is always a possibility of off leash or out of control dogs running up to you and you are at the mercy of your environment. Take the puppy class. It is the best way to set yourself and your puppy up for success.
The next question typically is: How many classes do I take? And this really depends on you as the owner. Classes are no doubt expensive, and I certainly don’t blame anyone for not consistently being in classes. If you know you are the type that does better having a set schedule and the consistency of classes, then I would keep signing up! We have been taking weekly agility classes for 1.5 years now to grow our skills. Just obedience classes can get repetitive and boring—explore all the classes available to you! Sport foundation, conditioning, nosework, etc, can all be done with puppies! If you’re disciplined there are also online classes that are a lot of fun to take, I personally enjoy a good number of online classes from Fenzi Academy and you can even sign up for these prior to getting your puppy! Additionally, I would read up a lot on building engagement and focus on puppies. Without focus and engagement as your foundation, you will have a hard time training when distractions start to increase and you’re competing with the environment for your puppy’s attention.
Here are some videos of Bakugo's first puppy, nosework, and swimming lessons!
Should you still sign up for a class even if you’ve had dogs before and experience training? YES! You can be the best trainer in the world but classes are still valuable as they offer a safe and predictable place to train and bond with your puppy. I could train my puppy on my own at parks and pet stores, but in those scenarios there is always a possibility of off leash or out of control dogs running up to you and you are at the mercy of your environment. Take the puppy class. It is the best way to set yourself and your puppy up for success.
The next question typically is: How many classes do I take? And this really depends on you as the owner. Classes are no doubt expensive, and I certainly don’t blame anyone for not consistently being in classes. If you know you are the type that does better having a set schedule and the consistency of classes, then I would keep signing up! We have been taking weekly agility classes for 1.5 years now to grow our skills. Just obedience classes can get repetitive and boring—explore all the classes available to you! Sport foundation, conditioning, nosework, etc, can all be done with puppies! If you’re disciplined there are also online classes that are a lot of fun to take, I personally enjoy a good number of online classes from Fenzi Academy and you can even sign up for these prior to getting your puppy! Additionally, I would read up a lot on building engagement and focus on puppies. Without focus and engagement as your foundation, you will have a hard time training when distractions start to increase and you’re competing with the environment for your puppy’s attention.
Here are some videos of Bakugo's first puppy, nosework, and swimming lessons!
#2 is that exposure is SUPER important in puppies and young dogs. I am choosing to use the word exposure over socialization because the dog doesn’t have to interact or engage with the people/dogs/items, but they need to be exposed to them. I would make a goal of exposing your puppy to people, dogs, and places, no less than 3 times a week until they're at least 1 year old. If you really want a bombproof dog, set your goal to 3 years old. You heard me right. This breed is very slow to mature mentally and tend to have fear periods through out their adolescence. This means you need to be on top of the game and ready to support your teammate.
The exposure doesn't always have to be somewhere new or "big". It can be as simple as going to a farmers market one weekend, the next you're walking along a dog friendly strip mall, then you're exploring a library, etc. The goal is to think of: what are things YOU like to do? Do you like hanging out at breweries and coffee shops ? Find some dog friendly ones and bring your puppy along for some exposure and training! This needs to be done while they're young. If you don't decide to take them to a brewery until they're 4 years old and they've never been around a live band or hundreds of people, then you're not setting yourselves up for a good time. You should also do this for everything that you know will happen at some point-- do you regularly go for trips to DisneyLand and they need to be dog sat while you're away? Get them used to going to the boarding kennel or dog sitter months before your trip so that they all have a great time!
The most IMPORTANT part about exposure though is that it is always a positive experience! Take lots of treats with you or toys if your puppy prefers that. You don't have to only work on obedience like sit, down, and heel. You can teach a lot of fun tricks and have fun in these places. Spin, shake, leg weaves, hand target, etc, are all very fun behaviors to "spice" up your training. Sometimes you can let them just sniff and hang out, turning it into a decompression walk.
The most IMPORTANT part about exposure though is that it is always a positive experience! Take lots of treats with you or toys if your puppy prefers that. You don't have to only work on obedience like sit, down, and heel. You can teach a lot of fun tricks and have fun in these places. Spin, shake, leg weaves, hand target, etc, are all very fun behaviors to "spice" up your training. Sometimes you can let them just sniff and hang out, turning it into a decompression walk.
Here are a list of things you need to expose your puppy to:
tall people, people wearing hats, people on bikes, people pushing strollers, people wearing costumes, people with large bags, people wearing sunglasses, other animals, dogs of all sizes, kids, babies, rolling trash cans, rolling coolers, flowy tarps, noisy gates, trains, sprinklers, wobbly surfaces, heights, drains or metal grates, tunnels, |