Raising a calm city pup

[tamapup]

Tama is 13 weeks old now, and overall he's doing very well. Our main issue is getting his excitement under control whenever he is outside or meeting new people. I realize that it's perfectly normal for a small pup to be overwhelmed and overstimulated by the world  - I just want to make sure I'm going about training him the right way to make him as well-adjusted as possible as an adult. We live in a big city, so this is especially important. 

What I'm doing for now is this: taking him to bookstores and hardware stores (and other places that allow dogs), and then leading him to a quiet spot away from people. Usually, whenever he sees a person, he gets extremely excited and jumps up at them, wagging his tail and kissing them. I'm happy that he's not shy of people, but obviously want him to be polite. For now, I take him to quiet spot in the store and work on getting him to focus on me. I give him treats whenever he looks at me/responds to his name, or listens to a command, or just sits quietly for a few seconds. When a person gets close, I sit down next to him, say his name, and reward him if he pays attention to me. Getting him to walk politely on a leash seems futile at the moment - he's just way, way too excited and doesn't fully understand the concept of a leash for now, although he does very well with it at home. I am thinking that this will come with time, but for now I just try to reward him whenever he moves with me. 

Secondly, I sit with him at a bus stop by the busiest road for about 10 minutes a day. He gets startled by the loud trucks that go by and whines - but doesn't panic - and just pet him and reassure him.

Does anyone have ideas for what else can I do now, with a 13-week-old pup, to prevent him from being a fearful, reactive, or overexcited adult? I'm considering playing "city sounds" for him at home, but don't know how useful this would actually be. Again, I know this stuff takes lots of time - I just want to make sure I"m doing everything possible, especially while he's still this little.

[D'Elle]

I would suggest limiting these exposure times in stores or at bus stops to ten minutes tops. You don't want to over-stimulate him and that is very easy to do with such a young pup. Work on leash training at home and only when it is really solid at home should you take him on leash elsewhere, because if you take him into a store and he gets to pull around on the leash and act nutty, you are un-doing your training efforts at home. What he is being taught if you let him do that is that he has to behave on a leash at home, but when in a store he can get away with pulling, and this is the exact opposite from what you want him to learn. It is not futile to get him to walk quietly on a leash. But you cannot expect him to do it in such a stimulating environment. You need to train hard at home, and then work up to a more stimulating environment very, very slowly. 

If you still want to take him to quiet areas of a store and work with him as you have been, and I see nothing wrong with that, I would suggest carrying him to that spot rather than allowing him to pull wildly on the leash to get there. This crazy behavior on the leash, while normal for a pup that age, is also a self-rewarding behavior and you don't want to allow it. If you cannot carry him to a spot, then try going somewhere that you can simply let him out of the car and then stay with him close to the car and work the same way with people who walk by, rewarding for calm behavior and working on his focus. Leash manners will not "come with time" unless they are carefully and consistently trained, and proofed carefully at each baby-step level working up to being in public in a stimulating place. If you let this go until later, it will only be much harder to train, especially with a border collie; they are so smart they don't miss a thing and he will know that he can get away with it sometimes even if not at others.

[tamapup]

This is great advice and very useful - thank you. I do think he may be getting over-stimulated so I'll try shortening our outings. I know he's still very tiny and I have to be very patient with him and build him up very slowly. He really does do wonderfully at home on the leash, but I think my next task will be finding some intermediate environments to work in, rather than going from 0 to 100. Like you said, baby steps.

[D'Elle]

Excellent. Please report back and let us know how it is going.  Also do not forget that everyone here likes puppy photos. 

[tamapup]

Just an update - I know it's soon, but he's made so much progress just the past few days and I'm feeling like a proud mum. 

We go to the local store for 10 minutes a day now, just to train for walking on a leash. We get there, I carry him to the back, and set him down. He's so smart and has learned on SO quickly what he has to do there: look at me and sit quietly (and eat treats ). In just three days, his distraction has gone way, way down. He follows me on the leash and I click and treat every couple of steps. No pulling from him, and if he runs ahead we stop, I tell him to sit and come back to me, which he does without any issues. Then we change direction and I have him walk alongside me, looking up at me every few steps. 

I didn't think he would be that focused and behaved after just a few days of these shortened, more specific training sessions in a new place. I could not be happier with his progress, it's  incredible to watch him learn so much.

[GentleLake]

Awesome! Well done, both of you.

[Lawgirl]

Awesome work to both of you, congratulations! They really are such smart dogs, I love to see their brains working behind their eyes.

I also second the notion that we like puppy photos!

[D'Elle]

Not only has he learned, he has also taught you what works to train him. I have found that the dogs I have trained taught me far more than I taught them, in the long run. Congrats on the great progress. :-)