Five Keys To a Successful Puppy

So… You just got a new puppy (congratulations!). Is it your first dog? Or maybe you’ve had a few before and are just looking to learn something new? Well you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to Canine Conversations #3 with TNCA, and let’s talk about, in my opinion, five of the most important things to do to set your puppy up for success while still letting them be a puppy. I won’t be going into too many specifics (or else we’d be here all day), but this should give you a good starting point if you’re a new owner, and will hopefully give you a few things to think about even if you’re an experienced one.

Let’s get started with an important one that I think people sometimes overlook - crate training. Some people aren’t fond of crates because they want to give their puppy freedom, but I’ll tell you why I think they’re so important. When used and introduced properly, they give your puppy a safe and comfortable space for a variety of purposes. It’s a place to go to sleep, to hang out, and most importantly, it gives you a safe place to send your puppy in those moments where you can’t always be watching them. Crating your puppy can stop them from developing common undesired household behaviors like destroying household items when you’re not watching, counter surfing, and jumping on guests when they come over. It’s also an amazing way to start training some impulse control and restraint in a crazy puppy. By no means am I advocating that you keep your puppy in their crate forever, but crates are an important tool for all puppy owners.

Speaking of undesired behaviors, let’s introduce our second key to successful puppy training: managing your puppy and its environments. You might not know exactly what that means, but it essentially boils down to setting your puppy up for success by not putting them in positions where they’re going to rehearse bad behaviors, at least until you can teach them and be confident that they won’t engage in that behavior in the first place. The basics of this are managing the environment in the home, and when you’re outside on walks. Managing and setting up your home environment is very important. Not leaving things within reach of your puppy to destroy, not putting food in places your puppy can steal, and giving your puppy frequent potty breaks so they learn to go outside rather than inside are just a few examples of managing the environment in the home. When you’re outside, this becomes more complicated because you can’t control the behavior of other people and their dogs, but this is where for example, if you notice that your puppy isn’t particularly comfortable around other people or dogs, you keep them away until you can build up your puppy’s confidence. This way, you can stop your puppy’s uncomfortable signals from turning into something more serious like barking or lunging.

With the many poorly socialized pandemic dogs I’ve seen lately, socialization is our third key. It’s something that I often get asked about and is also something that many people misunderstand. When I speak to most owners about socialization, they often tell me they let their puppy walk over and interact with every dog that they see on the street, or I often get descriptions of dog parks, and a bunch of off-leash dogs just going nuts together. In my opinion, all of those tend to be terrible socialization options for puppies, especially the younger ones. You’re essentially saying to your puppy that they should be able to drag you towards and play with every dog that you guys see because you’ve taught them that other dogs are the best thing in the world and to value other dogs over you. This can really interfere with your relationship with the dog, can allow them to rehearse bad behavior, and can even be the precursor to serious issues like leash reactivity. Socialization doesn’t have to be direct interactions with other dogs, especially when you don’t know the other dogs and owners. It can simply be observing from a distance, or brief, leashed, and measured interactions with a well-behaved adult dog. Your goals with socialization are simply to create positive experiences around new things for your puppy, and direct interaction is certainly not always necessary. As they get a little older and have a bit more manners, training, and confidence under their belts, you can start incorporating more stimulating environments into their lives, but throwing your puppy in the proverbial ring with a huge amount of dogs at a young age, is a mistake that I think many owners often make.

Our fourth key is something that you’ll likely start doing when your puppy is a little older. You can start a little basic work as early as four months, but at that age, I would take it slow and be understanding if your little puppy isn't quite getting it right away. There's no harm in waiting a few more months before introducing the concept either. What I’m talking about is the concept of leash pressure. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s simply teaching your puppy to yield to the leash. Many dogs' natural reaction to getting pulled on a leash is to pull back. That’s the opposite of what we want. Teaching your puppy what you mean when you give them pressure on the leash is essential for the communication between the both of you and is the first line of protection between you and your dog being six feet in front of you, choking themselves on the end of the leash while they drag you down the street.

Our fifth and final key is something that I briefly mentioned before: building value in yourself. What does this mean? It means teaching your dog to ultimately value and respect you over everything. Squirrels, rabbits, other people, other dogs, food, none of it should be as valuable to your puppy as you. You love them, feed them, worry about them when they’re sick, give them a place to live, and so much more. Teach them to understand the value that you provide them. This will help you so much in the relationship between you and your puppy. They’ll want to work and train with you. They’ll respect you more and be so much more willing to listen to what you’re saying and asking of them. This isn’t by any means a catch-all. You’ll have to teach this to your puppy and it won’t solve all the problems you might run into, but I believe that your puppy valuing you builds a strong foundation and will certainly allow your relationship to grow alongside the both of you.

These are my five keys to a successful puppy. There’s a ton of nuance to dog training and this is by no means an exhaustive list, but I think it’s a good place to start for new dog owners, and I hope it gives you some ideas even if you’re an experienced one. If you’re interested in learning more about your puppy and building your relationship, or if you’re having some trouble with your dog of any age, contact us, and let us show you the potential that we know your dog has.