Tomorrow, we go and get Gus, he comes home to live with us. I am eager to understand the lure and feeling of the small dog, this is the first one I have ever owned. I love training puppies, it is like the grand game of chess for me, and I am working to get prepared. Maria and I had a big planning session this morning, we prepared one of Gus’s two crates inside the house, making the crate small for him at first.

In a crate where a puppy is being housebroken, the crate should be small (we packed the back with blankets and a cardboard petition) room for him to turn around a bit, but not too much. We expand the space as he moves around and grows. The crate will be covered with blankets so it will have a protected, den feeling.

The key to my idea of housebreaking is to give the dog a chance to succeed, little chance to fail. There will be accidents, of course, eight-week old puppies do not have large bladders or strong bladder control. All of his meals will be in the crate, he will come to associate it with food and safety. Five minutes after eating, he goes right outside, carried or on a leash.

I am not into punishment, it is usually pointless and ill-timed. If the puppy is being obnoxious or too boisterous, I simply put him in a crate with a bone or toy until he chills. One of the most important things I have to teach Gus is how to do nothing, it’s one of the only things dogs don’t know how to do themselves.

When he eliminates, as he will, he will get praised and reinforced (treats if useful). Then he will go back into the crate. He will come out only when we are with him, so there should be few accidents. This should take two or three days, and when he is housebroken, of course, he will only be in the crate when we are not around or to sleep at night.

Dogs do not like to eliminate where they sleep, so there is a natural inclination to go away. The animal and other natural smells of the outdoors stimulate them to eliminate, that is their natural preference. So we will give Gus plenty of chances to go outside and eliminate, very few to go inside. Going outside will become his habit.

It is very important to me not to scold puppies when they have accidents. It happens, and I just clean up and move along. Dogs should be reinforced when they do what we wish, not when they don’t.  I am keenly aware of the difficult change that new lives present for dogs.

Our definition of a “good dog” is a god that does not behave like a dog, but like a person. In our twisted lexicon, a “bad” dog is a dog who behaves like a dog. That is, they eliminate when they feel like it, eat disgusting stuff, dig holes, chew on the sofa legs, jump up on people, squabble with other dogs.

The truth is, there is no such thing as a “good” dog or “bad” dog, only dogs that are well and lovingly trained and dogs that are not.  Dogs do not have human consciences, they don’t act out of noble or evil motives. They act out of instinct and experience and breeding. Grounded, well bred dogs want to please people, they don’t need to be bullied or frightened into submission.

There are good and bad people, and caring for a dog calls us to be better humans.

A puppy is challenged to behave in ways that are completely unnatural and alien to him or her, the human’s job in my view is to be clear, firm, consistent, patient and always loving. People hate to accept it, but dogs don’t speak English or any other language, so we have to be clear and creative about explaining what we want.

There is an emotional component to dog training and a practical one. One needs to think ahead and be empathetic. It is not useful to be shouting at puppies, commands should bed loving and clear. You can frighten a dog into doing almost anything, that often has other consequences, and is unnecessarily cruel.

The burden is on us to think through what we are doing and help the dog succeed. When it fails, it is most often our fault, not theirs.

Maria and I divvy these things up. She is a visual person with little patience for puppies and training, I am more into the grand strategy of the thing.

So we put up a metal pen (above) in the back yard where we often sit, and I ordered another one for the dog area out back, in front of Maria’s studio. This is like having two more crates, one outside, one in the back. When we do farm chores, or are mowing or gardening or sitting and reading, Gus can we with us. I’ll throw in some toys and chew things. It doesn’t matter if he has an accident out in the pen, and he has room to move.

This will also give Red and Fate a chance to see him and get used to him (the donkeys and sheep as well, they will be close by) and get acclimated to him. And we won’t have to be shouting at home or chasing after him.

Control is essential when training a puppy. When a puppy is free to roam, he or she is also free to chew on furniture and rugs, pee all over the place, get into myriad kinds of trouble. Once a dog picks up a bad habit unchecked and uncorrected, it begins a regular habit, and it can be tough to break. My motto is give them a chance to succeed, not fail.

The pens are easily moveable, and just as playpens give babies a chance to play by themselves and be safe, the same applies to dogs. We will have an inside crate downstairs by the door, and another upstairs in the bedroom. We both expect Gus will eventually be sleeping in bed with us – Boston Terriers are known for this – and that is fine. But not until he is housebroken and past the teething stage.

The other pen will be outside of Maria’s studio, she can see it from her windows and he can be outside near her while the two of us work, or inside with me in his crate. Puppies in my house are never allowed to wander freely without supervision until they are housebroken, however long that takes. It shouldn’t be long.

Gus will have safe chew toys and playthings in the house, but no ball chasing inside. Our house is a calm place, a place of work and quiet. Mayhem can reign outside

I have several bags of good-smelling puppy training treats. I won’t start serious training for awhile, but I hope to have him sitting and perhaps coming to me on command by the end of next week. I will share this process of course.

Socialization begins instantly. Taking him in the car (yes, I am well aware of not leaving a dog in the car alone in the summer, please don’t tell me about it. I don’t take dogs anywhere on hot days except in an air conditioned car, and I never leave them in it for any reason, engine running or not.)

With Gus (as with many small dogs) heat is something to be mindful of because if their short snouts and respiratory concerns. Border collies are incredibly hardy, but I will want to be cautious with Gus on warm days until I get to know him better and understand his  limitations. I’m pretty convinced that he won’t need a sweater.

We are going to the Mansion over the weekend and I have arranged for other people to care for him for an hour or so on different days – the dentist office crew has volunteered, so has the Round House Cafe, the Mansion, and the Battenkill Bookstore. I am a huge believer in giving young dogs every opportunity to meet new people in different circumstances, especially is he is going to be a therapy dog, as I hope Gus will be.

So I think we’re ready. We even have a nighttime plan. Maria loves to get up in the night and be outside  in nature (she is wonderfully strange in many ways) and so she will get up in the middle of the night to take Gus out. We do not put any water down for puppies after 6 p.m., that will reduce accidents in the night. In the daytime, they can drink as much as they wish.

Then around sunrise, I’ll get up, take him outside feed him, play with him and train him a bit, and then put him in his outdoor pen with the other dogs while I shower, get dressed and have breakfast. On rainy days, everybody goes inside. We’ll bring him out to the pasture (holding  him) so the other animals can get used to him. The donkeys are guard animals, they are capable of attacking strange animals.

Once they know the animal lives on the farm, then they will protect them, not hurt them. You just have to be cautious and give them time.

So that’s it. Phase One, Housebreaking, acclimation and socializing. We’re ready.