The Permanence of Puppyhood

 Puppyhood is short-lived, but what about their puppy problems?

 Dogs should be allowed as much liberty as they can responsibly handle. The greatest gift of training is that it increases the dog’s ability to handle liberty." - Chad Mackin 

    Who doesn't love puppies? They are small, fluffy, and can be very entertaining at times. Raising a puppy can be really fun and exciting as you watch them learn about the world and experience new things.  

    But puppyhood is short and they turn into full grown dogs in a heartbeat. Suddenly, a lot of the cute, innocent puppy habits aren't so cute anymore. When your 5 lb. puppy jumps on you, or they bark that tiny little puppy bark, or chew on your fingers, it's just a "puppy" thing. Now you are facing a 40 lb. dog that jumps on guests hard enough to leave scratch marks, or barks all day long. Even if your dog doesn't grow up to be 40 lbs., these types of nuisance behaviors can be just as frustrating in small dogs as well.  

    How do you avoid running into this problem?  

    The answer is training. Start young and train often. Any puppy older than 7 weeks is capable of learning basic obedience. It is often challenging to be consistent when training a puppy, because you'll always have guests or family members who don't recognize the importance of training young dogs. They may even tell you that you are being too strict or "It's just a baby." Puppies need boundaries and a clear set of expectations just as much as an adult dog. They will learn that they can always look to you for guidance in a situation and be more relaxed and trusting with clear leadership coming from you.  

    This goes beyond just learning to sit or lay down on command. This type of training is more like molding the dog you want to have in the future. This includes learning how to greet guests appropriately, how to ask for what it wants in a polite manner, appropriate ways to play and interact with people, and how to respect the rules of the house. It also includes limiting the ability to rehearse undesirable behaviors by limiting access to some situations until the puppy is mature enough to make good choices. 

When getting a puppy, many people expect the typical training they might have to do. Everyone knows to train it to sit on command. Everyone knows they'll have to house-train it one way or another. What most people don't expect is how much work a puppy really can be. They require constant supervision and attention and don't really have an "off" button.  

    To create a truly well-behaved dog, it takes even more work and discipline. That puppy is always learning, whether you are intentionally training it or not. This is why it is so absolutely crucial to put the time and effort in when they are young so that you aren't having to untrain undesirable behaviors they learned they could get away with as a puppy.  It's not very fair to the dog for it to reach a certain age or size and suddenly all of the rules change.  

    The overarching theme here is the idea of freedom and the long game. They see a small fluffy puppy that has to follow a very defined set of rules they are expected to follow and say that its not fair to the puppy. They say that they just need to be free to be a puppy and do what they want and that's how they raise their puppy. But how long is puppy-hood compared to adulthood? Two years later, those same people are watching you let your dog off leash to run around an open space or go swimming in the lake or at the beach while they can't take their dog off of its leash or it might not ever come back or worse, end up in a dangerous situation. What about having guests over? Your dog has learned to sit quietly and wait to be greeted and gets to enjoy all of the attention. Meanwhile, the other dog has to be kenneled in another room when guests arrive because it will jump on everyone or it won't stop barking. Which dog has more freedom? How many more years of freedom will your dog have, including the 10 or so months "without freedom", compared to their dog, who may never get to have those experiences?  

    I want every dog to have as much freedom as possible. There are so many great things in life that you can share with your dog if they are well-trained, like becoming a therapy dog and visiting sick children in the hospital, hiking through the mountains and sticking to the trail with you, or going with you to dog-friendly restaurants and stores. These are just a few examples; there are so many more.  

    Building that foundation as a puppy will set you up for so much success later on in life and it's my hope that everyone can put the time and effort into molding their puppy from the start so that they can live out their lives with as much fun and freedom as possible.