Installing confidence in your puppy, from birth onwards

A good breeder will have planned ahead and has strategies in place to introduce the litter to a wealth of experiences before they go to their new homes. When you buy from this kind of breeder, your puppy should arrive well-rounded and confident. Such breeders are not common, though. Many litters are brought up very well but are not exposed to much beyond regular visitors and the other dogs in the household. Proper exposure takes time that some breeders do not have — and if it is done incorrectly, it can have a detrimental effect on the developing puppies.

We should include the bitch in this too. The puppy farms of yesteryear may have reduced in number, but some of today's breeding bitches are still kept in isolation, never leaving the kennel, not allowed the joyous and fulfilled life that every dog deserves. The bitch should have a fully active, healthy and happy life, and be allowed to experience everything the puppies are expected to.

A happy, healthy and confident bitch produces happy, healthy and confident puppies. Working bitches especially will pass their working traits on to their offspring.

Too often, breeding bitches — and occasionally stud dogs — are treated purely as money-making machines. They are kept by people who see them as a commodity, and who, without the breeding and the money, would not keep these dogs as pets or for work at all. A sign of a good breeder is one who keeps many dogs of the same breed that are not used for breeding at all, but for pleasure, work or sport.

What does a good breeder expose their litters to?

A good breeder of working stock will already have certain stimuli the litter is exposed to. A gundog breeder, for example, may have introduced the litter to gunshot and to scent. Sporting breeders may introduce toys and conditioning exercises.

Personally, my own list of exposures for my litters runs to pages.

From day one, the litter is exposed to travel — every day, to and from work and exercise areas. I have a whelping pen set up in my van so the litter and mum can travel safely, and travel becomes normal.

When the puppies are only days old, they are handled, and turned this way and that to help stimulate their coordination. They wear whelping collars and are placed on different surfaces to help develop proprioception.

The whelping pen at work is close to the washing machine, the drying machine and pump machinery. They have a secure, sanitised area on the yard where they can hear traffic, trains and general city noise — first from a floored cage, then from a puppy pen. Their area has a small piece of turf, some Astroturf and some concrete, so they learn to toilet on different surfaces.

They can see the other units on the yard working, and people coming and going. They see clients and dogs coming into my clinic, and they hear all the sounds of my work.

When they are old enough, they have a secure area in our training field where they can see horses and farm animals, as well as our agility classes taking place.

On our travels we go to lots of places they can experience from their pen in the van — shops, shoots, play areas in parks, outside schools, anywhere they may need to be familiar with to make a confident puppy once they have left me.

They will also have been handled by lots of people, groomed, washed, nail-clipped and examined as if by a vet. Many of these veterinary tasks are covered below, such as muzzles and cones. I believe in making these experiences positive from the very start.

At home they have an area of the garden where toilet training starts and recall training begins — coming back inside for feeding. They have different bowls for food and water — metal, ceramic, plastic — so they get used to all types.

Toys such as balls and tuggies are introduced early, and I play with them as well as letting them play together.

I set up puppy conditioning areas where they learn to negotiate obstacles — soft cardboard boxes, fleeces draped over chairs like tents — so they learn coordination and problem-solving. All of this before they leave me at eight weeks.

What does your puppy need to be exposed to once you bring them home?

The answer is easy: your puppy needs to be exposed to everything they will have to deal with in later life, in some degree or another.

Granted, some owners will not take their puppies out until vaccinations are complete, so busy parks, traffic and crowds can be difficult to reach. But there is nothing stopping you carrying the puppy into the park, along a roadside, or outside a supermarket. Even the biggest puppy can be driven to the park and lifted out of the car into a secure pen or cage, so they can see the world in safety.

Your puppy should be confident in their own surroundings and comfortable with regular stimuli such as the washing machine and people coming and going from the house.

There are, however, experiences your puppy may meet as they get older that can cause stress and fear simply because they have never been acclimatised to them — through no fault of the owner. These things just haven't happened yet, and some never will. Either way, it is good for your puppy's mental and physical development to be prepared for situations that may arise when they are older.

These experiences might be negative — veterinary treatment after an injury — or positive — car travel to a holiday, and staying somewhere new. Whether negative or positive, if the puppy is prepared and already feels confident in that situation, they can get through it without excessive stress or over-stimulation.

Let's take an example: your puppy has injured themselves

No owner wants their puppy to need veterinary care for injury or illness. But regular vet checks are part of dog ownership, and showing your puppy that these experiences can be as un-stressful as possible matters.

The vet may need to examine your puppy's eyes, ears, joints and tummy, and may have to give injections or tablets. The pup may be handled by nurses and stood on a table to be examined.

If there is an injury and the puppy is in pain, the vet may need to cause a little more discomfort to examine the site. That can make a puppy stressed, and they may try to bite in defence. Some vets will want to use a muzzle — to protect their staff, and to stop the puppy doing further damage to the injury. The puppy may then have to recover in a kennel, with unfamiliar sights and sounds around them. Bandages may be applied, and it will matter that the puppy leaves them alone — both to prevent further damage and to avoid eating the dressings. A cone may be needed to stop them interfering with a bandage, and it may have to stay on for several days.

In short, a visit to the vet for something as simple as a cut paw can become a whole series of stressful experiences — enough to affect a puppy's confidence around strangers and in unfamiliar places.

Look at that list of experiences and they are almost all negative and stressful. We can help prepare the puppy by making each one more positive and less frightening before it is ever needed — taking each experience in turn and teaching the puppy to meet it in a good way. Rewarded for accepting each part, the puppy feels far less stressed when they eventually face the whole of a real vet visit.

Breaking the visit down

We can't take the pain of the cut paw away. But we can give the puppy the confidence that we are in control. If we become stressed ourselves, we make the puppy frightened — they may even think they have done something to upset us. Be calm, confident and positive, and your puppy will keep their trust in you.

Travel to the vet. Is your puppy used to the car? Are they secure in it — a cage, or a seatbelt restraint, to stop them moving around? If you usually rely on another person holding the puppy on their lap (very much not recommended), invest in a harness that clips to the seatbelt correctly, or a cage, or a dog guard across the boot, so the puppy is safe without being held. And have they travelled often? Some dogs who only ever have street walks rarely go in the car, so make a point of making it fun — give them their breakfast in the car, drive them somewhere good to walk, or just go for a drive and talk to them. After a couple of enjoyable trips, your puppy will be happy to travel.

Being handled by different people. Is your puppy used to being handled by lots of people? To being picked up and held? To walking into a strange place that might have other dogs and cats inside? If your puppy had their vaccinations before you collected them, you may not have been to the vet yet. Most practices are happy for you to bring a puppy into the waiting room just to meet the sights and sounds, and many have scales so you can practise weighing them. Ask family members to get the puppy used to being picked up and held. Ask a neighbour or friend to call in, or take your puppy somewhere strangers can — with your permission — pick them up. Have treats, and keep it happy. Make sure your puppy is touched all over — along the body, around the face and ears, down the legs and paws. Tell them what a clever puppy they are for having their ears looked at and their paws examined. Use a special treat and have someone else check around the paws and toes while you hold them. Everything gentle, positive and fun, in a reassuring tone, so the puppy enjoys it too. While people handle the puppy, put (and hold) them on a non-slip surface, to mimic a vet's table.

Grooming and nails. If your puppy is a breed that needs regular grooming, make sure they are used to being brushed, washed and dried. Nail-clipping can be traumatic if they aren't used to it, so handle your puppy's feet regularly and clip a nail or two every few days for a big reward, so it becomes a positive experience.

The "nosy box", the "necky warmer", and bandages. A few more veterinary experiences are well worth getting your puppy used to: muzzles, bandages and cones. For the cost of a small puppy or cat cone, a soft muzzle and a small bandage, you can get your puppy used to the feel of them, which will be far less stressful if they ever need to wear the real thing. You can even improvise — a cardboard cone, a long sock for a bandage or muzzle.

Top tip: put some liver paste in the end of the muzzle so your puppy can lick it for a few seconds while the muzzle sits over their nose. Reward them and tell them how clever they are for licking while the muzzle passes over the nose.

When I do this, I call the muzzle the "nosy box". I talk to my puppy in a loving, excited voice: "Wow — look at this! It's a nosy box… it's got liver in it…" I get excited and pop it over the puppy's nose and tell them how amazing they are for licking the paste. Then I take it off and pretend to lick it myself, making yummy noises, and offer it back — and nine times out of ten the puppy sticks their nose straight in to get the liver. You don't need to actually fasten the muzzle; just pass it over the nose and remove it again. Talk them through it, joyful and full of praise.

With the cone, pop it on while your puppy has their dinner or some treats, and take it off again. It's just like putting on a collar. If your pup learns that the cone means rewards, it becomes fun. I teach it the same way as the muzzle, so the puppy wants me to put the cone on just to get the liver paste. I call cones the "necky warmer": "Let's put your necky warmer on… oh, you look sooo amazing with it on."

Bandage the lower part of your puppy's leg — not tightly, just a couple of wraps. Reward them for leaving it alone, play a game, or give them their dinner as a distraction. Then take it off, and try again another day. These tasks can be spread over a few weeks, and your puppy will come to accept them as positive rather than something to fight.

Getting used to a kennel. If your puppy ever has to stay at the vet, they will need to cope with being in a kennel, surrounded by other animals and people moving about. A cage-reared puppy will find this easy and much less stressful. If yours hasn't been caged, it is worth getting them used to being confined away from you — another room, a playpen, a crate. This has the bonus of heading off separation problems, because the puppy learns to be out of your sight and sound while still safe. Just a short time helps. They may also have to toilet on the lead or on a different surface, so practise a toilet cue and take them to different surfaces, so they are happy to go on concrete, grass, gravel and the rest.

The other common reason for a vet visit: eating something they shouldn't

We've looked at the vet visit that follows a cut paw. Another common reason a puppy ends up at the vet in the first few months is that they have picked up, stolen and swallowed something they shouldn't — a household item, a piece of clothing, a dead rat, a rotten burger from the park.

Dogs are opportunists by nature, so anything they see as food, or as a possession worth guarding (in some breeds), becomes desirable to pick up and, sometimes, to swallow. That can be very dangerous if the item isn't food, or is poisonous.

Another top tip: teach your puppy a "leave it" or "drop it" cue. Get them used to swapping something they have for something you are offering — food, or a special toy. Start in the house, swapping one toy for another, and praise them for the swap. Never grab or force it from them; that only makes them keener to protect what they shouldn't have. Some puppies will happily swap for a tasty treat, so use that as your bargaining tool. Once they are happy to swap, add your cue — "drop it, please" — and offer the reward the instant they let go. Practise it out on walks until it becomes second nature. It's easy to carry a few treats or a favourite toy, and it may save your dog's life one day.

Laying the foundations

By laying the foundations early, we can help our young puppies become confident, outgoing, easy to train, and able to accept whatever life throws at them. Dogs are the most amazing creatures. They ask so little of us compared with what we ask of them. They accept second-rate care if that is what is offered. They cannot tell a good owner from a bad one.

One of my own quotes runs along these lines:

These amazing creatures did not ask to be brought inside. They were perfectly happy sharing our campfires and our scraps of food. But we decided to bring them in and bargain with them — food, in exchange for guarding our stock. We destroyed their coats. We destroyed their ability to heal fast. We made their stomachs and immune systems react to their own environment. We made some of them struggle to walk and to breathe, for our own visual pleasure. The least we can do is look after them, mentally and physically. Whether the family pet or the mountain rescue dog, these creatures depend on us now, and it is our responsibility to maintain their wellbeing and provide for their basic and stimulatory needs. That includes breeding bitches, elderly dogs, and dogs who may not fit the criteria their owner wanted for show, sport or work.

As a breeder, treat your litters, your breeding stock and your puppies in the best possible way, and prepare them for a joyful, healthy and rewarding life.

As a new owner, prepare your puppy for everything they may meet as an older dog, and give them the confidence to deal with it well.

— Kate