Every interaction with your Presa Canario puppy is a training opportunity.
Training a Presa Canario puppy when you first bring them home is critical. It is obvious that you need certain physical items such as a dog crate, food and water bowls, food, collar, leash, toys, etc. Equally as important, all family members must decide and agree on routine, responsibility and rules.
The first few days are extremely important. Enthusiasm and emotions are up. Everyone wants to feed the Presa Canario puppy, play with the Presa Canario puppy and hold the Presa Canario puppy. Pre-established rules are easily broken. Everyone agreed that Presa Canario puppy will sleep in her crate but as soon as she's home, someone melts and insists that Presa Canario puppy will sleep in bed. Everyone previously agreed not to let Presa Canario puppy jump up on them, but in the excitement, no one even notices that Presa Canario puppy is jumping up. No one sleeps the first night. Presa Canario puppy wins and gets to sleep in bed. The next morning we find Presa Canario puppy has eliminated all over the bed. So the following night Presa Canario puppy is banned to her crate and screams all night. No one sleeps tonight either.
Grouchiness sets in; enthusiasm is down. No one wants to get up at the pre-agreed upon early morning feeding time. Who will be responsible for house training the Presa Canario puppy? How are we going to sleep with her constant whining and crying?
Your new Presa Canario puppy has just been taken away from her mom and littermates. She is vulnerable and impressionable. What she needs now is security and routine. Set up a small room to be her very own special haven for the next couple of months. Paper the entire floor and put her food/water bowls and bed in one corner. Scatter her toys everywhere.
Play with her quietly and gently. Don't flood her with attention and activity. If she looks like she wants to sleep, leave her alone. Puppies need lots of sleep.
Decide who is responsible for feeding and cleaning up after her. Don't deviate from the schedule. Routine is especially important for your Presa Canario puppy. Don't spend all your time with her. If she is going to be alone during the day or night, she needs to start getting used to it now. If she wakes up from a nap and whines, resist the urge to run in and comfort her.
House Training
You might be a little frustrated right now because house training is not progressing as fast as you had hoped. Your Presa Canario puppy just doesn't seem to get it... Or, maybe you are planning ahead and want to start potty training on the right paw!
Every Presa Canario puppy presents different challenges, but there are common instincts that will facilitate the house training process. We will detail a training program with techniques that will house train your Presa Canario puppy as soon as possible and foster a trusting and loving relationship between you and your pup.
It's normal for a young Presa Canario puppy to be a little 'input-output' machine. Since they are growing and developing rapidly at this stage, they eat more food, burn up more energy and seem to need to eliminate constantly! Puppies have not yet developed bowel and bladder control, so they can't 'hold it' as long as adult dogs.
Puppies need time to developed a "den" instinct to cause them to want to 'hold it' and not soil the den, i.e., your entire house. In their litter, puppies just go whenever and wherever they happen to be! Successful house training depends upon your diligent supervision so you can be there to show your pup where to eliminate.
Just so you know, a Presa Canario puppy is never completely housetrained until they are 6 months old.. This means that though you may be making tremendous progress housetraining, there will be "mistakes". Sometimes for reasons you can't figure out! Don't fret about it. Stay focused on the progress you are making. Your confidence in the techniques you are using to house train your Presa Canario puppy will ensure your success.
Crate Training is one of the most efficient and effective ways to train a Presa Canario puppy.
The single most important aspect of Presa Canario puppy training is that you reward and praise your Presa Canario puppy each and every time she does the right thing. For example: praise her when she chews her own toys instead of the couch or eliminates outside instead of in the house. The more time you spend with your Presa Canario puppy, the quicker and easier it will be to train her.
The key to house training is to establish a routine that increases the chances that your Presa Canario puppy will eliminate in the right place in your presence, so that she can be praised and rewarded; and decreases the chances that your Presa Canario puppy will eliminate in the wrong place so that she will not develop bad habits.
It is important that you make provisions for your Presa Canario puppy when you are not home. Until your Presa Canario puppy is housetrained, she should not be allowed free run of your house. Otherwise, she will develop a habit of leaving piles and puddles anywhere and everywhere. Confine her to a small area such as a kitchen, bathroom or utility room that has water/stain resistant floors. Confinement is NOT crate training.
What is Crate Training?
Crate training can be an efficient and effective way to house train a Presa Canario puppy. Puppies do not like to soil their resting/sleeping quarters if given adequate opportunity to eliminate elsewhere. Temporarily confining your Presa Canario puppy to a small area strongly inhibits the tendency to urinate and defecate. However, there is still a far more important aspect of crate training. If your Presa Canario puppy does not eliminate while she is confined, then she will need to eliminate when she is released, i.e., she eliminates when you are present to reward and praise her.
Be sure to understand the difference between temporarily confining your Presa Canario puppy to a crate and long term confinement when you are not home. The major purpose of confinement when your are not home is to restrict mistakes to a small protected area. The purpose of crate training is quite the opposite.
Short term confinement to a crate is intended to inhibit your Presa Canario puppy from eliminating when confined, so that she will want to eliminate when released from confinement and taken to an appropriate area. Crate training also helps teach your Presa Canario puppy to have bladder and bowel control. Instead of going whenever she feels like it, she learns to hold it and go at convenient scheduled times.
Crate training should not be abused, otherwise the problem will get drastically worse. The crate is not intended as a place to lock up the Presa Canario puppy and forget her for extended periods of time. If your Presa Canario puppy soils her crate because you left her there too long, the house training process will be set back several weeks, if not months.
Your Presa Canario puppy should only be confined to a crate when you are at home. Except at night, give your Presa Canario puppy an opportunity to relieve herself every hour. Each time you let her out, put her on leash and immediately take her outside. Once outside, give her about three to five minutes to produce.
If she does not eliminate within the allotted time period, simply return her to her crate. If she does perform, then immediately reward her with praise, food treats, affection, play, an extended walk and permission to run around and play in your house for a couple of hours. For young pups, after 30-45 minutes, take her to her toilet area again. Never give your Presa Canario puppy free run of your home unless you know without a doubt that her bowels and bladder are empty.
During this crate training procedure, if you have her on a regular feeding schedule, she should soon adopt a corresponding elimination schedule. Once you know what time of day she usually needs to eliminate, you can begin taking her out only at those times instead of every hour. After she has eliminated, she can have free, but supervised, run of your house.
About one hour before she needs to eliminate (as calculated by your diary) put her in her crate. This will prevent her from going earlier than you had planned. With your consistency and abundance of rewards and praise for eliminating outside, she will become more reliable about holding it until you take her out. Then the amount of time you confine her before her scheduled outing can be reduced, then eliminated.
Mistakes and Accidents During Training
If you ever find an accident in the house, just clean it up. Do not punish your Presa Canario puppy. All this means is that you have given her unsupervised access to your house too soon. Until she can be trusted, don't give her unsupervised free run of your house. If mistakes and accidents occur, it is best to go back to the crate training. You need to more accurately predict when Presa Canario puppy needs to eliminate and she needs more time to develop bladder and bowel control.
Presa Canario Puppies are Pack Animals
The majority of the larger breed dogs are very pack oriented, which can make for a simpler method of training. You don't need to fight nature when you can use the wolf within to train your Presa Canario puppy to do everything from sit to stay.
The first step with any dog is to assert dominance; be the alpha dog in your family pack. Puppies normally do better with training if it's performed by one person. You want your dog to listen to everyone in the family and eventually it will, but at first setting that base understanding of obedience is important. There can be only one alpha dog. If your Presa Canario puppy isn't sure whose number one so to speak they may think they are, and everyone else is under their command. This can result in your Presa Canario puppy sleeping your in bed, not allowing you to take toys, or things that aren't toys away without a fight, aggression, lack of obedience and just a generally bad dog.
So how do you establish yourself as the top dog?
Starting at a young age engage your Presa Canario puppy in non-aggressive trails of dominance, an example of such a trial:
Hold your Presa Canario puppy either up off the floor holding from behind the front legs in your lap, or if it's a larger dog, straddle him and standing over him picking him up by under the chest. You can also hold him down with a hand on his middle back if you wish. If the Presa Canario puppy growls or struggles, give a low guttural growl back. Keep this up until you can hold your dog down, or up without it putting up any resistance. Be sure to support this positive behavior with praise, you may also begin to teach the command, "stay" with this technique by saying it as beginning the test.
This may prove more difficult if the Presa Canario puppy you're attempting to train is not a Presa Canario puppy, and has had previous owners. If the dog bites you, professional help should be obtained at once. If it is a Presa Canario puppy and it playfully nips, remember the low growl, and if behavior continues turn to discipline covered in the coming paragraphs. Nibbling may be cute now but when your Presa Canario puppy is grown he could hurt children, or even adults. This is true with all Presa Canario puppy behavior, if you don't want your dog doing it as an adult don't allow it as a Presa Canario puppy.
Once your Presa Canario puppy has a firm understanding that you can make it stay and are the stronger member of the pack, you can further establish yourself as alpha dog by using eye contact. Only the alpha dog is allowed to maintain eye contact. Look your Presa Canario puppy in the eye, and when he looks away praise him. You must not be first to avert your eyes.
It shouldn't take long for your Presa Canario puppy to understand you are boss with these training techniques; now you can use your leadership to train and discipline your Presa Canario puppy as well.
To discipline a Presa Canario puppy in training no hitting is necessary. Show the Presa Canario puppy what it is its done wrong. ( as in wetting on the floor) hold the Presa Canario puppy by the snout, look it in the eye and say "No" in a lower voice, very firmly. No is the first and easiest command a Presa Canario puppy learns. He will avert his eyes, then grab his scruff (or the loose skin and fur on the back of the puppies' neck) and shake. Don't give the Presa Canario puppy attention for about 15 minutes after wards.
To praise a Presa Canario puppy in training for properly performing a command you can either, pet them, praise them in a positive tone or even offer treats. If you expect a Presa Canario puppy to learn repetition is important, but do no attempt long training sessions. Puppies have very short attention spans; it will only result in you and your Presa Canario puppy's frustration. Use opportunities like feedings to add in extra time. (ex/ ask to "sit" or "lay down" before receiving food.)
The alpha dog method of training doesn't normally work as well with smaller breeds of dogs, this is perhaps because they are further removed from wolves, and have lost more of their pack instincts, but if you've chosen a large breed dog this method is by far the easiest.
After your dog is well trained it's only a matter of establishing that the rest of your family is also above the Presa Canario puppy in rank, but not above you or whoever will be the main handler of the dog. (The main handler should be the puppies trainer) Soon your dog or Presa Canario puppy will listen to you and your family as well as have an established pack bond with you, which will promote a good guard dog and a safe house.
Having a good dog can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life, or one of the most obnoxious. The difference between the two is behavior, and behavior is for the most part a result of Presa Canario puppy training.