puppies and wheelchairs?

I have a couple of commands that would be good preliminary things to teach your puppy. Set up these lessons and be sure to reward.

I like to teach my pups the command, "move". This would be used when the dog is in the doorway and you want to get through. You just gently walk into him so that he has to adjust and move out of the way. He can go back, or to either side of you to successfully do this task.

Another good one is "back up." This is one of the most useful phrases and I teach all of my therapy dogs this command. This is when you are face to face with the dog and you walk into him. He should back up in a straight line. You can do it in a hallway or along a wall to help keep him straight. I have videos on my website for some of these commands, so you might want to check them out.

Also, the "leave it" command can be taught so that as he approaches the chair, the command will cause him to turn and leave it alone.

Teaching your dog "go to bed" is one that could be said by your DH when he doesn't want the pup to bother him.

To specifically teach this to such a young pup, I would have the leash on your dog and just do walking where you go up to the wheelchair and turn away, then reward. Be careful not to make the chair negative, unless you never want the pup to go up to wheelchairs.

Last, take it easy with your baby and don't overwhelm him with too many formal lessons. Try to make everything a game and don't expect too much, too soon. Hope this helps!

Not to go OT by Jan I love your website great job. And codey and Bailey are gorgeous.

Hi guys, I only have a minute so I have to keep the short.  I'm a quadriplegic and I also just purchased a puppy (boy did I forget what puppies were like[sm=devil.gif]) I wouldn't worry about the wheelchair to much. It sounds awful but I've ran Mako over at least six or seven times and my wheelchair ways about 400 lbs.I would alsocheck it outthe top dog web site.Other than that I need to go but feel free to PM me any timeI live and work at home.

Have an excellent evening.

maybe putting a bell on him too will help ur husband hear where he is

You can teach the pup "excuse me" by shuffling against him with your feet as you say it.  When he moves out of your way, praise him.  Then, once he has that, you wait till hubby is in bed, climb into the chair and gently tap with the wheels saying "excuse me".  You can also train him to heel with the chair later, so that DH can have him alongside without worrying.  First thing I would do is enroll him in puppy kindergarten - you might want to try clicker training, since you might be pleased later if the dog could do some tasks for your DH - who knows, you may get out of those chores he seems to want to assign you...[]