By popular request, I’m starting a series on training and socializing puppies. Hopefully I can help you with your new puppy and if I can prevent even one new owner from making some of the mistakes that I did, then this series will be worth my time and effort. Teaching people to train puppies is a passion of mine.
The purpose of this series is to change your mentality toward training and socializing puppies. I will teach you what to do, how to do it, and I’ll bust some myths. Keep in mind that I believe in a balanced approach to training, so this series won’t have instructions on how to positively reinforce your way out of every issue. And, please remember that I can’t cover every problem behavior that pops up.
Hopefully this series results in more well-behaved, robust, confident adult dogs. Puppies sometimes cause us to forget that they grow up, but we need to remember that they do and the end goal is a good adult dog.
I have really struggled with this one and I’ve been working on it for over three weeks now. If you subscribe to the newsletter, then you know that I promised to publish this over a week ago. Sorry, subscribers! I know that some of you might be turned off by what I am about to say, but I hope you will keep an open mind. Like many of my posts, this one began in one direction, but evolved as I was writing. So, I decided to split what was intended to be one post into two: this is the prequel.
The Crime of Cuteness
First, I want to address an issue that contributes to many, many behavioral problems in adult dogs…
…And that is how cute puppies are. Y’all, I know this sounds ridiculous, but their cuteness causes a whole basket of bad behavior. You know why? Because we can’t resist it. We look at them and all we want to do is cherish them forever and never hurt their feelings. Trust me, I get it. Eevee was the cutest freaking puppy I have EVER seen. Seriously, look at that face!
Puppies deserve to be loved and cherished to no end, but they also deserve to be trained. When we laugh at them for unrolling the toilet paper and barking for attention, we reinforce the behavior. A lot of funny puppy behaviors become nightmare issues by the time the puppy is 6-9 months old.
Wait… You Mean Puppies Don’t Have Souls Made of Glass?
Their cuteness also causes us to think of them as precious little glass balls that will break if we do anything remotely negative to them. Some people even go through life believing that dogs should literally never experience stress. This one makes me laugh because it’s so ridiculous. Other people believe that dogs should be treated in the same way as humans. This one makes me shake my head. The more we treat dogs like humans instead of dogs, the more behavioral issues we instill in them – possibly for life. Say it with me, “Dogs are not humans.” We train puppies to be good dogs not good humans in this house.
The Way You Train Puppies Now Affects the Future
The way we treat puppies now – the way we train puppies now – affects the rest of their lives. The first 16 weeks they are alive is so, so important for the future. The first 8 weeks are on the breeder, but the next 8 weeks are on you. Training and socialization after they come home sets the foundation for adulthood.
When you train puppies, you train an infant of another species. For the first few months, you need to show them how to be a dog in a human world every step of the way. If you don’t teach your puppy what is acceptable and what is not, you could have a monster on your hands by the time they are 9 months old. Especially if it’s a medium to large breed.
Speaking of size, don’t let a small dog get away with things you wouldn’t allow for a larger dog. Size doesn’t matter when it comes to puppy training. Just because small dogs can’t physically do as much damage doesn’t mean they should be allowed to get away with being turd muffins.
Anyway, it can’t always be sunshine and rainbows. You have to set boundaries for that precious ball of fluff or they will develop nuisance behaviors. Boundaries mean structure and discipline, and a greater understanding between human and dog. Setting boundaries is part of how you train puppies to be the best dogs.
Clear Communication is How We Train Puppies
I hope your puppy is perfect and soaks up everything like a sponge and never misbehaves. If so, your puppy is a unicorn. If you have an actual dog – like me – you need to communicate with that dog like it’s a dog.
Dogs don’t speak human. Although they are remarkably quick on the uptake of human body language. The bigger issue is that most humans don’t speak dog. We are SLOW to figure out what they are telling us. So, if you have never studied dog behavior – or really any animal behavior – you need to educate yourself. Find some reputable sources and learn about how dogs communicate.
Oftentimes, clear communication means well-timed and placed rewards. It means praise, food, and play for a job well done. Sometimes though, communication means corrections. You should strive to be firm, but kind. Tough, but fair. Clear communication is part of how we train puppies to be the best dogs.
Correct Your Puppies, Y’all
Corrections are part of how you train puppies, whether you like them are not. Proper corrections are an extremely valuable tool in your toolbox. If you are not willing to correct a misbehaving puppy, then you need to find another way to deter bad behavior. Or you need a different species as a pet. Or maybe even a stuffed animal.
I do not believe in coddling baby puppies. Cuddling? Absolutely. Coddling? No. Especially if they were raised properly by a reputable breeder. You will not break their souls if you give them a correction. In fact, they often understand a proper correction quicker than redirection or some other tool. Remember: allowing bad behavior now is ensuring it in the future.
Don’t be a Joey here, correct your puppies people!
Misinformation Station
There is a lot of misinformation out there about corrections and the balanced training approach. You may have heard that balanced trainers only use corrections and never use rewards. That’s the opposite of balance, y’all.
You also may have heard that all corrections are abuse and that correcting your puppy will damage your relationship permanently. Or that you should never intentionally stress your puppy. Or that the positive-only approach results in less stress on the dog. None of these things are true.
Most trainers that consider themselves to be “balanced” use positive reinforcement the most, but they don’t ignore the other quadrants of operant conditioning. Balanced trainers strive to follow the LIME protocol: Least Invasive, Most Effective. Effective being the key word here.
Let me say this louder for the people in the back: PROPER CORRECTIONS ARE NOT ABUSE.
One more time, just in case: proper corrections are not abuse and will not damage your relationship with your puppy. Corrections are information. The more information you give your puppy about how to be dog in a human world, the happier they will be.
Puppies need the right kinds of stress so they learn how to handle it. The type of stress puppies experience from a correction is fleeting. However, persistent stress is a bad thing. There are many “purely positive” trained dogs that are constantly stressed because they are constantly confused. They don’t know what their human wants. I put “purely positive” in quotations because the majority of people using the positive only approach don’t truly understand it. Therefore, the burden ends up entirely on the dog to figure out what you want so it can be rewarded. This is not fair to the dog.
So, what exactly are corrections?
A correction is an action taken by the human to deter undesirable behaviors. Corrections are often uncomfortable or cause stress. Again, they are not abuse and they do not break puppies. Corrections are part of how we train puppies to be the best dogs.
Corrections can take many forms, but most are within the positive punishment quadrant of operant conditioning, although some corrections can be negative punishment or negative reinforcement. Yes, I get that word punishment sounds scary, but not all punishment means pain or fear. For now, we will focus on positive punishment.
Allowing bad behavior now is ensuring it in the future.
Positive punishment corrections involve adding something to the scenario to reduce the occurrence of the undesirable behavior. These corrections typically take two forms: verbal and physical.
Verbal Corrections
Verbal corrections fall into the positive punishment category because you are adding something to the circumstance: your voice. A verbal correction is some form of “no” or a negative marker word. “No” and negative marker words should be used for different purposes. “No” needs to be given meaning in the early stages.
I will discuss this in more detail in the next post, but basically, “no” should mean that the dog did something egregious. Use a loud, stern tone, but don’t shout.
Negative marker words are used to mark an incorrect performance. In general, negative marker words are used when teaching a dog a new behavior. They inform the dog that the behavior was incorrect and they will not be rewarded. I use “uh uh” as a negative marker word. One of my favorite obedience trainers uses “wrong”. Use a more neutral tone for a negative marker word as opposed to the tone used for an egregious error.
Physical Corrections
Physical corrections are mostly used to deter bad behavior, but are used in competition obedience training for things like heeling and formal retrieves. Depending on the type of bad behavior, I use a ruff correction, a collar correction, a startling correction, or some other type of physical correction. A lot of people like to use spray bottles – I don’t, but they aren’t without merit.
Some dogs will melt if they are given a verbal correction. Other dogs are the total opposite: they melt for a physical correction, but completely ignore a verbal correction. Figuring out what type of correction your dog needs is a trial and error process. You aren’t going to get everything right on the first try. That’s ok. Dogs are very forgiving creatures.
Hindsight is 20/20
Looking back, I wish I had corrected Rocket more as a puppy. I realize now that he was stressed often because he didn’t know what we wanted. We gave him too much freedom at a young age and not enough information on how to use that freedom.
The more information you give your puppy about how to be a dog in a human world, the happier they will be.
Rocket didn’t know how to be a dog in a human world for quite awhile. Eventually, we started correcting bad behaviors. His stress increased for a short time, but once he understood the rules, he was perfectly happy to comply. Now, he is the perfect pet.
On the Other Hand…
…Eevee didn’t begin life in our home that way. She learned how to be a dog in a human world at a younger age and with less stress overall because we corrected her when she misbehaved. Which, to be perfectly honest, was quite a lot at first.
However, Eevee handles stress better than Rocket. She naturally has a very confident temperament, but we made her work through stressful situations without babying her. We didn’t raise Eevee perfectly. We made mistakes and learned from them, but because we corrected her for bad behavior – because we communicated with her in a way that she could understand – she didn’t spend the first two years of her life stressing about how to get rewarded. Or worried about getting in trouble.
Eevee goes through life with total confidence. She knows what is expected of her. And trust me, she does not lack enthusiasm, zest for life, or personality. My bond with her is stronger than any bond I’ve ever had with a dog. Because we talk. We communicate in a way that she understands. Now that she is 2.5 years old, she doesn’t need corrections often at all.
How To Properly Correct (Train) Puppies
After that walk down memory lane, it’s time to explain how to properly correct puppies. I am only giving a few examples here, so don’t think of this list as an end-all-be-all. You can be creative, just follow the rules listed at the end. These are some methods to prevent the madness.
The Ruff Correction that’s Not Rough
Just in case you don’t know: the ruff is the back of the puppy’s neck where they have loose skin. To correct bad behavior, just pick up your puppy by their ruff. The quicker the better because timing is important. They might protest, but I promise – I PROMISE – this does not hurt a healthy, uninjured puppy.
The ruff correction actually is one of the most natural corrections you can give a puppy, and you can do this to most any breed. Do you know why they have loose skin on the back of their necks? So their mothers can carry them without hurting them. Mother dogs also do this to correct them for being little turkeys. The photo below shows what a ruff correction looks like. Except puppies usually take more offense than Eevee is here.
You can use ruff corrections for many things: puppy biting, chewing, counter surfing, humping, pulling on the leash, etc. This is my favorite type of physical correction. It gets the point across, but doesn’t hurt.
You Scared the Fluff out of Me!
Startling a puppy is another way to correct them for misbehaving. Think about this: You walk around a corner without looking and someone jumps out to scare you. They do it a few times in a row. You start looking before you walk around the corner. You are now conditioned to look first to avoid being startled. Are you fearful of everything? No, you are just more careful. Your puppy is not going to become fearful of everything either.
The same principle applies to puppies and bad behavior. For example, if you see your puppy chowing down on your new dress shoes, take another shoe, sneak up behind them, and slam it on the ground next to them with a simultaneous “No!”. I guarantee you will startle them. Do that a few times consistently and pup will think twice about chewing on your shoes.
We taught Eevee not to counter surf by sneaking up on her when she was doing it. We used a ruff correction when we got to her. Combining the ruff correction with scaring the fluff out of her stopped her counter surfing really quickly. And no, she is not afraid of us or the countertops. She just doesn’t counter surf anymore.
Rules for Correcting Puppies
Proper corrections aren’t just in the “how”, they are also in the “when” and the “why”. If you choose to use positive punishment with your puppy, you need to do it the right way. Here are a few simple rules for correcting puppies:
- You MUST have good timing. If you don’t catch them in the act, don’t correct them. Timing is important for both rewards and corrections.
- Be consistent. Correct undesirable behaviors every time you see them.
- NEVER correct out of anger, even if you allow the behavior to go uncorrected in that instant. Dogs can tell the difference between true anger and a normal correction.
- Do not hurt your puppy. Do not hit your puppy.
- Be fair. If you are correcting a behavior that has never been corrected before, don’t use your maximum correction.
- Use common sense.
Have To vs Want To Is How We Train Puppies
Now that we’ve covered correcting bad behavior, it’s time cover the “have to vs want to” concept. Learning the difference between “have to” vs “want to” is part of how we train puppies. Several things that new puppies learn in my house are “have to” things. This means the dog doesn’t have a choice in the matter. These include behaving while being handled, not going through doors without permission, and coming when called (recall). Different people will have different rules for their house, but these are the big three for me. You (the dog) DO NOT go out a door without permission at my house. Remember those egregious errors I mentioned earlier? This is one of them.
Basically, “have to” behaviors should happen every time without fail. They should become habits to the dog. “Have to” behaviors must be heavily rewarded when done correctly and liberally corrected when not done correctly.
Staying Safe and Staying Sane
“Have to” behaviors are about safety and your own sanity. Coming when called and not going through doors without permission are 100% about the dog’s safety. Not being a jerk while being handled is a little of both. My sanity remains intact if the dog doesn’t spend the entire time on the grooming table fighting me. The vet can make sure the dog is safe and healthy if they are compliant while being examined.
”Want to” things are behaviors that you teach the dog to want to do every time. “Want to” means that you build the dog’s desire (or drive) to do the task through rewards. These are positively reinforced with food and/or play. Use a negative marker word for incorrect performances. The most common “want to” behaviors are sit, down, tricks like shake and spin, and sometimes stay/wait. Anything that is not on your list of “have to” behaviors is a “want to” behavior.
I’ll go into more detail on how to teach these things in the next post. The purpose here is to introduce the concept and get you thinking about it. Your homework is to come up with your own list of “have to” behaviors before I publish the next post.
How We Train Puppies To Be The Best Dogs
If you made it through the previous 3,000-ish words, thank you, seriously. You are doing yourself, your dog, and the general public a favor by educating yourself on puppy raising. Obviously I think both of my dogs are the best, but one had a much shorter and easier road than the other.
Treat your dog like a dog, communicate clearly, use the tools presented here, and your dog will also be the best. You won’t have to spend months or years working through nuisance behaviors if you do the training up front.