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This is the Puppy Training Podcast , episode 174

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, creating Routines with your New Puppy

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. This

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podcast is designed to help you on your

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journey of becoming best friends through love and

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learning , as you train your own dog from

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home , and I'm here to help you every

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step of the way . This is the Puppy Training

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Podcast and I'm your host , amy Jensen

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. Way

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, this is the puppy training podcast , and I'm your host , amy Jensen . Hello

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and welcome to the puppy training podcast . I'm super glad you're here . Thank you for listening

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. While we named this the puppy training podcast , we do talk

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about all things dog , any age

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, so I'm glad you're here , no matter your situation

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. If you're like me , right now you

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have a brand new puppy and you may be

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wondering what happened to my

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life . When will I get it back

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? Right ? I'm right there with you

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guys . So today I want

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to talk about routines . How can you navigate

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having a new puppy and running your regular life

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kids , work , the gym , household

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chores , sleep , whatever it is ? I

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promise it's possible and , having done

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this many times , I'm happy to offer some tips

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. But first a few things I want to make

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you aware of . Basic training with Bella

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, our new nine week old puppy , starts

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this Tuesday at 3 PM Eastern

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via zoom . You can register on our

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site by logging into our members area , then

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click classes and courses , go

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to basic training and sign up . That's

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it . This is included in your

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membership . It is a six week course . It's

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puppy kindergarten in your own living room

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. I promise you're going to love it . For

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sure it's good to go to an in-person

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class too , if you want . Your puppy will

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enjoy being with other puppies and that socialization

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is important . But the knowledge you'll gain

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in this six week zoom course will put you

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as the star of that class , and who doesn't

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want that , right ? So check

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it out . If you have a new dog and want to know how

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we train our dogs to be calm , well-mannered

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family members , that's a great place to start . So basic

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training six week course . It's

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all recorded . So if that today in time doesn't

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work for you , that's okay . You can hit

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play anytime of the week . All right

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, I get it . A new puppy is

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like having a newborn baby at

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your house . Only they don't wear diapers

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and they bark . The good thing that

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they are cute , right ? I say that a lot . Good

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thing you're cute . It's a good thing you're cute

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. Honestly , though , I love it . I

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love this phase where they have the puppy

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breath and they snuggle into you for safety . They

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where they have the puppy breath and they snuggle into you for safety . They pounce

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, they play and they tease with toys . They

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look at you intently as they sit to try

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and get that next reward . Ah , it's so good

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, so fun , but it can

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be a lot in the beginning and it can feel

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overwhelming . First

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things first . I highly recommend

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taking the first three days off

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when you bring your new puppy home . So plan

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on it , schedule your puppy's homecoming

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around a weekend If needed . I

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know it's not always possible for all of us

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to get away from work , but doing this will

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set you and your puppy up for success in

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ways I cannot overemphasize . Set

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up a pen , so an exercise pen , a play pen

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, whatever you want to call it . That looks like the

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one at their breeders's home , so similar

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to what your breeder's setup was . I want you to recreate

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that at your house . I attached

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a Midwest pen to Bella's full-size crate

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. She has a water bowl inside with toys

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, chews and a soft mat to lay on if she

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wants to . Sometimes puppies want

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soft beds , you guys , and other times they just want

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the cold , hard floor . Totally normal

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. It usually has to do with temperature . I

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fed her using food , puzzle toys in

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this pen , my hand , some in her bowl

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and then I placed that bowl inside the crate

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to help her . Like her crate , I set a timer

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and then I would just take her potty outside in my private

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backyard every 30 to 40 minutes

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. So this was the routine for the first , really

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three days . Anytime she fell asleep

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, I let her sleep and then I would take her outside

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as soon as she woke up . I didn't want her to potty

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in the pen , so twice a day I put her

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in her crate to sleep right after a play

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session . She'd had a drink and she'd gone potty and

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then I'd put her in the crate for a nap and I literally

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sat right next to her . I'm not just

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in the same room as her , I am right next to

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that crate with my leg touching the door of the crate

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until she fell asleep . Yeah , then I

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would get up once she was completely asleep . I'd get up

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and go do things that I need to do , whether

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that was catch up on sleep , like take a nap

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, or I use that time to

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catch up on laundry , dishes , make a

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dinner or a lunch , um , help kids

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with homework , et cetera . So do plan

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on three days of

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, yeah , being with your puppy as much

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as possible , helping them feel

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safe and setting up that pen to look like

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where they just came from . That's where they're going to

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live for the first three days . They're in that pen

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there . You know the crates attached . They

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can go in and out of the crate , so the crate doors open

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and , um , I

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do use a smaller uh crate

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that fits her to move around my house . So

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for those crate times that I was talking about , I

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have a small portable plastic crate that I would just

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move to the living room or I'd move to the

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kitchen or I'd move to my office , things like that

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. But the pen is

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attached to a crate , her full-size crate , and

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she can practice going in and out of it and eating in it

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and all sorts of good things . So that becomes

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her decompression zone . This

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is where she gets to learn

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about her new environment , start to feel safe

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in her new environment . But it looks like

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home as best as we can , right

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? So if you have a family , letting

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them know that those first three days will

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be a bit out of the normal , as someone

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needs to be by the puppy to help them feel safe as much

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as possible . At my house we just rotated

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. My daughter would play with Bella in the pen while

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I made dinner . My husband took a turn every

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morning while I went to work out . You'll find

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, by doing so your puppy will relax in their

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pen and relax in their crate because

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they feel safe . Now

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I have two spaces the Bella's

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crate and then her pen that's

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attached to her full size crate . Those are

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two spaces that she feels safe in . For

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days four , five and six , we came and went a lot

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. I would stay by her crate for five to 10

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minutes until she fell asleep and then I'd leave for

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30 to 60 minutes while I knew she was napping

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. If she was awake in her crate , I'd make

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sure to come and go . So I'd leave the room for

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two to three minutes . She couldn't see me anymore

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and then I'd walk back in and I'd do dishes or whatever

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needed to be done . And I did that throughout

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the crate time , adding the time that

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I was away . So

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adding time to that to make it a little longer . Was

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there whining ? Absolutely . Did she settle

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herself when she could see me . Yes , don't

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make it about the whining or your

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puppy . Simply come and go , helping them

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build trust that you always come back

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. Day six , we all

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left the house and went to church for an hour and a half . The next

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day she did two two hour crate times

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, one in the morning , one in the afternoon while I went to

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the gym and the other in the afternoon while I worked

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. So you can see , within the first

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week we went from being by her a

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lot to her being independent

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alone . It happens quickly , but

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it really is important that those first three days

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we help them decompress and feel

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safe . This also helps build a

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bond with you . Recognize

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puppies don't know how to be alone and it is our

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job to help them learn this . They come from litters

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of multiple puppies . They are often found

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sleeping on one another . We call it a puppy pile

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. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen . We're

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playing with each other for entertainment . This

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is new . For our puppies to come to our house

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where they are the only puppy in the playpen or the

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crate , there will be crying and whining

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, as they are communicating with you . They want to

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be where you are . They want to be with you

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. They want to do what you're doing , but they can't

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always be , and that's kind of a hard lesson . But

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it's important to teach our puppy that lesson . Teaching

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your puppy to be alone is a gift you can

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give them , even if at the beginning it doesn't seem

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like a gift . Doing this

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process , most puppies will settle themselves

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within five to 15 minutes or so . If

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they get really worked up . Or they start to get really worked

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up , go sit by them for two to three minutes until

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they calm down . Don't look at them or

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talk to them . You're just there . Your presence is

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a comfort to them . So I read a book or

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I check my emails , but I'm present . Once

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they calm down , go about what needs to be done

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. Yes , that first week

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is going to be a bit messy . Your life is

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going to be different and your schedule you had before

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is gone . But

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after that first week , if you follow this advice , you'll start to settle into a new routine that works

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for you , your family and your puppy . That actually looks pretty

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similar to your old routine . You'll

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start to schedule crate times when you need

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your puppy to be alone . Old routine You'll start to schedule

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crate times when you need your puppy to be alone . Knowing those times , two hour slots in the

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beginning , plan on feeding them an hour before

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, train

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them for five to 10 of those minutes , play with them , make sure they get a drink and

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they go potty . They can also play in their pen and entertain themselves . Then it's crate time

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and you can now have the next two hours to do what

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you need to do . When your puppy

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is three months old , they can hold it in a crate for three

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hours , four months , four hours . At

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that point , I always give my dogs a break at

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four hours if possible . If

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I can't , I have a neighbor come over or

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I hire someone on rovercom to

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come let my dogs out and give them a break . So

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if you work again , see if a neighbor can

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come , let your puppy out for a potty break and a play session

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and then put them back in their crate . If

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you don't have any neighbors you know or trust , you

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can hire a dog sitter , as mentioned on rovercom

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, to help . Puppies are social creatures

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and they enjoy being with their people , so

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it's important that we provide this interaction

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with them throughout the day . Let's talk

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for a minute specifically about morning routines

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, when you're trying to get kids out the door for

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school and you have a puppy who wants your

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attention . Here's what my morning

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looks like to give you an idea . As I have two kids , I'm

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getting off to school each morning . Obviously

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this works for us and hopefully gives you some ideas

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of how you might structure your morning . Do

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what works for you , but that word structure is going

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to be your key . Bella right

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now is waking up at 7am . That's when we meet

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as a family for morning prayer and study . So I

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take Bella out to potty right away . Then

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I grab some long , dangly toys that are fun

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for her and give them to family members to

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engage with her without the biting . We

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sit in the front room on the floor letting Bella run from person

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to person to play while we discuss . This

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is a good time to reward her for sit to

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say please , using her toys . If

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you have young kids at home , they can interact with your puppy through the play pen . That

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will prevent a lot of biting . Definitely get an exercise pen for your puppy , you guys . It is as valuable

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as the crate . Now , at seven 15 , I run the morning carpool

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, so Bella comes with us in her crate in the car

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. This is a great outing opportunity . She

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gets to meet the people who get in the car and she gets

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to go for a car ride . As an adult I

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plan to take her places , and so when

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she's young like this , I want to get her used to car rides

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. Morning carpool works great . When

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we get back home , it's time for her breakfast . She's

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in her pen eating out of a food puzzle toy . While

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I help my other daughter get out of the door to school

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, I try to get in two to three minutes

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of sit to say , please practice luring

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her into a down a roll , maybe

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go to bed , whatever

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positions I can think of to just start to see what she'll offer me . And then she gets

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the rest of her breakfast in a bowl that's in her crate . This just helps her like her crate

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. Once my daughter leaves for school

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is just me , my husband and my older dogs

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. My older dogs get up at 8 AM , so

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at this point I take them all outside . We

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play in the yard . We work on , sit to say please for

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a few minutes and I clean up the yard . Once

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Bella goes potty we can come back inside to

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play some more . I often at this point

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we'll put her in her playpen while I get to

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work on emails , blogs , podcasts , calls

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, et cetera . This is when I want her to

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entertain herself . So

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this is when she needs to start to learn how to self-manage , because I have things that need

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to get done , so this is a good time to pull out a good chew to help her entertain herself

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. You can also drop a few pieces

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of food every so often to give her something

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to find and reward her for being calm . We call

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that food scatters . We

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want our dogs to learn to entertain themselves , so I give them

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plenty of time in their pens and crates to practice

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this , and in their pens and crates they have

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toys soft toys , hard

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toys , squeaky toys , crinkly toys

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, things that she will find that are fun

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and she starts to learn how to play with toys

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. Now , if she comes to the gate and starts

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to whine at me or whimper at me , I try to

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ignore it . I'll

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wait for a break in it where she's sitting to say please at this point . I've taught her sit to say please , so if I see

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her in her pen doing a sit to say please , I do want to acknowledge it . I'll go over , drop a little food scatter or

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give her a little belly rub or some kind of reward

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for asking so nicely for

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a bit of attention from me , and

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then I'll let her go back to entertaining herself . And

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we repeat this process in those first

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few days home . I am modeling

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what I want my dogs to do , what I want this new

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puppy to start to do . We play hard but

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we also settle often . Now

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Bella's pen is set up in my office area so she

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can see me come and go easily . Yes

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, again , as I mentioned , there's some fussing at times

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but she works through it . That's important to let

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them work through their frustration . And but she works through it . That's important to let them work

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through their frustration . And , as I mentioned , if she does her little sit to say

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please , I'll make sure to reward that . It's

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you have to notice those because they're quiet . They're

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not the barky , whiny hard

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to not pay attention to behaviors . It's the nice

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sit to say please , quiet behavior . But

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you've got to notice those and reward those , even just a little . At 9am she's ready for a morning nap

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, so I take her out to go potty and then I put her in her crate , sit by her for two to three minutes until

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she calms herself down . I like to turn on the rain sounds and

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a fan and then I go to the gym . Okay

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, I'll stop there before I bore you all

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with my entire day . Actually

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, I love my life , you guys . I so appreciate

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the business that I have and the clients

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that allow me to do what I love . But you

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get the idea right your routine

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will evolve over time . So , while I

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preach , structure your day and set a routine

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. That's super important . You also have

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to be somewhat flexible in the beginning to

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work with your puppy's needs too . It

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may take two to three weeks to figure out what

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works best for you , your family and your

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pup . You guys , that's okay

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. It's 100% okay to

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be messy . I promise

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. Try to relax and enjoy your

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puppy Every day . It does get

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a little better , a little easier , simply because

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you start to fall into a

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routine . As I speak

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, baxter is stretched out on my tile floor

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sleeping and Bella is also

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at my feet sleeping on the tile . I

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mean , you guys , it's a balmy 60 degrees here

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in Utah today , so we are soaking up the

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sunshine and the pups are loving the

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cool tile floors and I'm

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working and we're settling into

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a routine week two with Bella . So

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, yeah , sometimes she sleeps at my feet and that's okay

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. All right , you guys

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, you can do this . If you need any help , we are

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here to coach you through this . That's what my entire program

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is about . We want you to be successful raising

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a puppy to live with your family . Please

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contact us . Set up a one-on-one

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session with my trainers . You can reach

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us via email to ask us questions . We

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want you to succeed . Have a

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great week , you guys , and happy training questions

14:27

. We want you to succeed . Have a great week , you guys , and happy training . If

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you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast

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or any other puppy training question , visit my site , baxter and

14:35

Bellacom , to contact me .