Patches
Well-Known Member
I feel a bit mean now. I had a puppy collar for Harvey and had been putting it on him a few hours a day, from almost as soon as we got him home, to get him used to it. It was a sliding fastener, which I didn't like, so I took him to Pets at Home to buy a rocco buckle one. I figured this would break should he get it caught and there would also be no hanging end to it which might dangle and tempt him to mess with it.
I did pick a nicely padded nylon one, just simple black in colour, and checked it went small enough.
I was quite surprised when an assistant came around and told me that I absolutely should not be putting a collar of any sort on him yet. Their advice is that a puppy should never wear a collar until they are 16 weeks old.
Is this correct? I was quite shocked. I've been popping the lead on Harvey's collar a couple of times a day and getting him to walk around the living room on a lead, to get used to the idea of "walkies".
People do take puppies out for walks on leads before they're four months old, surely?
I can't find anything in my puppy book that suggests he shouldn't be wearing a collar or be introduced to a lead yet. I still bought it and now Harvey wears the collar during the day and has it taken off over night. He is completely at ease with wearing it now, no longer scratching at it.
We've pretty much got sit and down sorted with a bit of kibble for a treat. He comes to call when he knows you have treats and my children can call him away from me (even though he knows I have the tub of treats) as well. They do also then reward him with a treat (again the treat is just his puppy food, as the treats we've bought say they cannot be used for puppies under 3 months of age).
I've started "trust" and "take it" (although I think most people say "pay for"). I get him to sit, lay a few bits of kibble on the floor and whilst saying trust I gently restrain him from diving for the kibble. As soon as he stops pulling to get it (which is only a few seconds) I tell him "take it" and praise him.
I always found the trust thing a good one for getting them to drop/leave food that they shouldn't have....be it food that has fallen off a child's plate, a plate placed on the floor by some silly person, food they might come across out walking or whilst putting their food bowl down, so they don't jump up for it.
You could give Jasper a sausage, say "trust" and he would actually drop it out of his mouth, sit and look at you waiting for you allow him to "take it" again.
Bless his heart.
I did pick a nicely padded nylon one, just simple black in colour, and checked it went small enough.
I was quite surprised when an assistant came around and told me that I absolutely should not be putting a collar of any sort on him yet. Their advice is that a puppy should never wear a collar until they are 16 weeks old.
Is this correct? I was quite shocked. I've been popping the lead on Harvey's collar a couple of times a day and getting him to walk around the living room on a lead, to get used to the idea of "walkies".
People do take puppies out for walks on leads before they're four months old, surely?
I can't find anything in my puppy book that suggests he shouldn't be wearing a collar or be introduced to a lead yet. I still bought it and now Harvey wears the collar during the day and has it taken off over night. He is completely at ease with wearing it now, no longer scratching at it.
We've pretty much got sit and down sorted with a bit of kibble for a treat. He comes to call when he knows you have treats and my children can call him away from me (even though he knows I have the tub of treats) as well. They do also then reward him with a treat (again the treat is just his puppy food, as the treats we've bought say they cannot be used for puppies under 3 months of age).
I've started "trust" and "take it" (although I think most people say "pay for"). I get him to sit, lay a few bits of kibble on the floor and whilst saying trust I gently restrain him from diving for the kibble. As soon as he stops pulling to get it (which is only a few seconds) I tell him "take it" and praise him.
I always found the trust thing a good one for getting them to drop/leave food that they shouldn't have....be it food that has fallen off a child's plate, a plate placed on the floor by some silly person, food they might come across out walking or whilst putting their food bowl down, so they don't jump up for it.
You could give Jasper a sausage, say "trust" and he would actually drop it out of his mouth, sit and look at you waiting for you allow him to "take it" again.
Bless his heart.
