Your New Icie Puppy
The Bonding PhaseWhen your brand new fluffy ball of sunshine first comes home, it can be a whirlwind for both of you. They are so fluffy and adorable, and all you want to do is scoop them up and give them snuggles – but instead they are racing around the room, doing what they want, snatching toys, and exploring. What gives???
Icelandic Sheepdogs are a Spitz breed. They can be very biddable, engaged, and love to work for and with you, but this doesn’t usually happen instantaneously. Icelandic Sheepdogs thrive with a strong bond to their human. They are inherently very social dogs and love to visit, give kisses, and interact with anyone they encounter. However, getting them to do what YOU want and less of what THEY want comes from bonding with them and teaching them that listening to you can be the best thing ever.
One of the first things to remember with building your bond is not to over train, and by training I mean a scenario where you ask your puppy for a behavior or work on teaching them a new behavior. Training needs to stay super fun and positive, while your puppy learns that engagement with you pays off. Keep it simple, use lots of treats, and keep your sessions short. Make sure that you are showing your puppy how much fun you are having! Icies LOVE smiles, laughter, and happy voices. Be sure to implement both play and food rewards when you’re doing your training sessions. With young puppies, I do very simple tasks like – rewarding eye contact, “puppy push-ups”, manners when taking treats, and other impulse control games around food. Crate games are always great to implement, as well.
An important way to foster your bond with your new puppy is to spend lots of time with them that doesn’t involve “work”. Play together with toys including tug and fetch; try to keep this play less structured and let your puppy win! I do try to avoid wrestling which may encourage biting or getting too rough and overstimulated. Adventures are also very important activities to help foster your bond. Be sure to take your puppy LOTS of places to sniff and explore. Most icies will stick very close to you when they are young, so I will often take my puppies on safe off leash adventures where they can run wild and I can easily reward natural check-ins.
While you are bonding with your puppy and teaching them how amazing and fun you are, give them lots of treats for doing the right thing. Icie puppies tend to be relatively quiet compared to adolescents, so be sure to reward them for calmly observing their surroundings. These are easy and “free” treats that increase your bond, but also help to implement a system where they notice that they are rewarded for observing things without barking about them. I use “good quiet” and give my puppies treats when they see things that may initiate a bark later in life – dogs, motorized vehicles, cats or rabbits running by, birds, etc. You can also use free treats around the house in any scenario where the puppy offers a behavior that you like! Some common scenarios are a natural settle/laying down at home, coming to check in when outside, calmly observing a new object (especially anything motorized or moving), ignoring the cat, or waiting calmly behind a barrier when you step away.
Keep in mind, while you are getting started, that icies love and thrive on a consistent routine. If you don’t have a routine in mind, be careful or they will create one for you! Try to have set times especially for when to put your puppy in their crate for bed, feeding them in the crate for meals, and what time you will get up in the morning. Most icie puppies that are over 10 weeks of age can sleep through the night from around 11pm to 5 - 6am without needing to go out to potty. Try to implement a nice sleep schedule as soon as possible so your puppy, and you, can get appropriate rest! It has also been my experience that some puppies will not actively choose to rest and take a nap – if your puppy is acting over-tired and rambunctious, they may need placed in their crate or pen for a nap. Don’t be afraid to enforce nap time when needed!
As you progress through your first few days into weeks into months with your new icie, you will see how much they begin to enjoy spending time with you. Make sure you continue to foster your bond by rewarding them often, playing and adventuring together, and just hanging out. Make sure to give your puppy space and free time to just be a puppy. You want them to maintain their natural ability to settle and entertain themselves so they aren’t always asking you to give them something to do. I spend lots of time just being with my puppy. Give them a yummy chew, spread out some toys, and watch TV together! Remember that not everything has to be a structured training session and sometimes it’s even more beneficial to spend time doing nothing but enjoying each other’s company.
