Bringing a new puppy into your home is an exciting time for everyone, most importantly the puppy. Here are a few times to expect when welcoming a new Lowchen, puppy or adult, into your home.
Lowchen are incredibly intelligent. Regardless of how they were raised prior to you, they will take the first few weeks to test your intelligence. They will use their voice and behavior to elicit behaviors from you, and then start the process of testing you. Below are a few ways their wit can make them appear stubborn, untrainable, or uncooperative. Do know that the breed knows that humans are highly trainable.
- Lowchen have a wide vocal range. They can sound downright pitiful, upset, or wail. If you give in to their desires, they will use it to manipulate you.
- This can look like separation anxiety behaviors or refusal to be confined (crate or pen). Prevent this by ignoring their vocal demands, particularly with puppies that are already crate trained started. This is a good article for preventing separation behaviors: https://k9turbotraining.com/preventing-separation-anxiety-in-puppies
- Puppies that leave our home will be at various stages of crate training and practicing being alone. You will need to continue crate training protocols when you bring your puppy home. This is a great resource. https://austerlitzshepherds.com/2017/05/crate-training-for-puppies-an-incremental-approach-to-crate-training-puppies/
- True separation anxiety in the breed is rare. It is often unintentionally manufactured by humans. If you jump to give your dog attention at every whim, you may unintentionally teach your dog how to control you.
- Potty training – Lowchen are not going to wait if they do not let them out to use the bathroom. If a lowchen signals to the human that they need to go outside, the human better believe them. The breed has no qualms about relieving themselves in front of you after they have tried to communicate with you.
- You can mitigate this by being very diligent about letting your dog outside on leash into an undistracting environment so they can do their business. The leash part is important so you can keep them close by and on task.
- Do not take them outside to play. They’ll forget to relieve themselves when outside, and they will promptly relieve themselves once they are back in the house.
- Lowchen will typically have a few poops per session. This means they may make a bowel movement followed by another bowel movement a few minutes later. Don’t bring them right inside as soon as they poop for the chute is not completely empty.
- You can mitigate this by being very diligent about letting your dog outside on leash into an undistracting environment so they can do their business. The leash part is important so you can keep them close by and on task.
- Outsmarting you – The sooner you come to terms with the idea that these dogs have the upper hand in wit, the better your life will be. This can show up as stealing items, refusing to comply, playing keep away, or escaping their confinement.
- Playing keep away- Lowchen notoriously do not like to be directed, especially things like being put into the car. They would much prefer to do it on their own. They may run circles around you or hide under furniture to avoid being caught. However, if you teach them to go where you’d like them to go, they’ll do it on their own. For example: Put treats in the car where you’d like them to sit. Put them there a few times and let them find the treats. Once the lowchen is eager to get to their seat in the car, allow them to do so on leash with a treat waiting there for them. Eventually, the dog will enjoy going into the car seat without you prompting.