An important part of living with a vlcak is knowing and being able to handle it. In this case, I am not talking about psychological manipulation, which is simply called training among dog owners, but about physical manipulation - all lifting, touching, etc.
The ability to handle the dog is essential mainly for the owner, but it is also good to teach the dog as part of the preparation for the bonitation, where different people touch the dog in all kinds of ways, look into its mouth and check its testicles in case of males.
It is important to teach the puppy that a certain amount of contact will have to be tolerated. Puppies are often convinced that any contact must be reciprocated a hundredfold by biting, jumping and licking, so the owner's first step will be to teach the puppy that 1) contact does not really have to be reciprocated to that extent, and 2) that even if the puppy has a hundred better things to do, sometimes it has to endure it, for example during a veterinary inspection.
It is good to have a word/command for everything
Vlcaks are most content in certainties. When learning to touch different body parts, ideally use one-word descriptions that the dog will then associate with the part of the body that you are going to handle. Examples can be the words EARS, TAIL, EYES, TEETH, PAW. You can also expand these commands with more specific words, like if you want to manipulate the back paws or the front paws, if you want to see the front teeth, or open the mouth and see all the way to the molars.
Tail
The tail is often the last thing to catch a vlcak for before it causes trouble. It is good to teach the dog from a young age that various catching, stroking, and holding the tail is normal, this way you avoid the dog turning on you in affect and surprise. However, do not pull the dog's tail unnecessarily to avoid the dog associating manipulation with an unpleasant experience.
Ears/eyes
Due to the slightly hysterical nature of vlcaks, it is important that in case of any inflammation or injury, they have their eyes and ears treated without much protest. Ticks can also be found in the vicinity of these two organs during the season, and the fact that the dog is used to handling around them makes the extraction much easier. You can get the dog used to this manipulation, for example, by daily washing the sleep boogers in the corners of the eyes, gentle stroking, or random checks of these organs. Be careful with your nails.
Paws
Paws/feet manipulation has several useful functions in the future. Not only can the dog be positioned in a better position, it is also very useful in the case of medical examinations (blood sampling, insertion of a cannula, examination of injuries), wiping paws before entering the house from bad weather or clipping claws.
Teeth and tongue
The teeth are connected mainly with the check on the bonitation, where the committee checks the dog's full bite. So the dog must be compliant to show its teeth not only by having its lips pulled up, but also by opening its mouth wide to inspect the molars. At the same time, it can be useful in cases where, for example, a stick gets stuck between the dog's back molars and the stick needs to be removed. It is advantageous to be able to grab the dog's tongue and pull it out of its mouth, if necessary, for example when checking whether something is stuck in the back.
Balls
During the dog's life, it will be necessary for the dog to have a stranger touch his testicles a few times to check whether they are both descended in the scrotum correctly. He will undergo this check-up from his birth, so it is good that he does not forget the feeling completely, so that the check-ups are not unpleasant for him.
Calming down
CSW puppies are cute to look at, but they are all little devils. Puppies will arrive from the breeder already taught the basics of general handling: carrying in the arms, placing on the ground, calming by holding. The task of the owner will therefore be not to let these valuable basics slip away with age and to continue them while the puppies are small and easier to handle, because teaching an adult dog can be physically significantly more complex. During these calming exercises, you need to arm yourself with a lot of patience and inner calm, because sometimes the process of calming the dog can be a matter of a few minutes. However, it is much better for the dog's psyche that he fully trusts you with whatever is going on with his body than if this surrender should be forced through fear and limitations.
Clothes/bandages
CSW puppies can initially be fussy not only when handling them by hands, but actually with anything extra on their body, which is why it is often a problem not only to teach a pup to wear a collar, but also a harness, which suddenly touches a larger area of the body than what was allowed until then. In the case of various injuries, it will be necessary to give the dog, for example, a lamp-collar, or a T-shirt, or bandages, anything that will prevent the dog from constantly licking the wound. Therefore, it is good to teach the dog from a young age about the presence of these loose and tight fabrics. The advantage of exercise is that it can be fun for people, so even if the dog is not completely enthusiastic at first, it can pick up positive vibes from the owners, and this will make the whole process much easier.
In general, the puppy needs learn as many things as possible at the beginning of its life, which are then maintained for the duration of the dog's life, or improved. So do not underestimate the banality of some exercises, because it is always better to be prepared than to rely on a good relationship between you and the dog in a sudden and unexpected event and stress the dog unnecessarily.
Within this topic, it is important to point out that it is more convenient if the dog is used to this manipulation even from its veterinarian. By frequent purely for socialization only, you can avoid the panicky fear of vet offices that dogs who only see the vet for unpleasant procedures can suffer from.
Additional information:
Physical manipulation works not only from the human to the dog, but also vice versa. Vlcaks are a bit different from other dogs in their means of communication, and since, as I say, they don't have hands to communicate with us and the world, they only have their mouths and paws. So expect the vlcak to paw at you in various ways, take your hand in its mouth, and in moments of surprise, it can even lash out at you hysterically before it can sort out what's going on in its head. Of course, these are more or less not pleasant situations for us, who do not have thick fur for protection, but for them it is natural communication, and therefore by teaching them manipulation by us and other people, we try to eliminate the need to resort to these behaviours. Personally, however, if I grab my dog in a bad way, I don't consider the surprised lashing out, when I only feel the teeth touch the skin on my hand, as something for which the dog needs to be punished. Especially Gira is a dog that works 50% of the time with her mouth open no matter what, so I personally advise to avoid panic (a bad flinch could cause injury, even unintentional), unless the dog’s action is ill-meaning, most likely the whole experience won't be as painful as one tends to think at first (the vast majority of these situations aren’t even a bite, they are simply a gesture). Therefore, instead of any form of punishment, I choose to try to calm the dog and next time try to be more careful.
