Puppy problems and how to solve them

Puppy Love or Puppy Blues?

Puppies are undeniably cute, but raising a puppy isn’t easy, they are hard work, they require a lot of time, energy and commitment. Sometimes we aren’t prepared for their testing ways and their less-than-desirable behaviours. We might forget that the adorable puppy will, at some point, grow into a larger, older adult dog whose ‘naughty’ puppy ways may be less forgivable. How do we set our puppy, and ourselves, up for the best possible life together, and maintain harmony in the home even when their behaviours become testing or frustrating?

Prevention is key

Dogs do what works, they repeat the behaviours they find reinforcing and often that reinforcement comes from us, but it’s not always intentional. If you wonder why your puppy repeatedly steals shoes and socks despite you telling them off or providing them with their own toys, look at your own behaviour. Your ‘telling off’ has probably been quite reinforcing, and now stealing items is a great way to get your attention, even if it is negative attention. Being chased around the house while you’re shouting ‘NO … DROP IT … LEAVEEEE’ is really quite FUN for your puppy!!

Before your new puppy arrives, make sure to thoroughly puppy-proof your home. This saves unwanted behaviour being practiced and avoids any expensive mistakes, either financially or behaviourally! Put tempting items out of reach … high shelves for shoes, boxes for children’s toys, or cupboards for anything else tempting. You can use baby gates or closed doors to prevent your puppy having access to rooms when you’re not able to supervise, so they can’t sneak off and practice any unwanted behaviours.

If your puppy doesn’t have opportunities to practice unwanted behaviours, like stealing or chewing items which aren’t theirs, these habits won’t be learnt or reinforced. If you can put management in place to prevent them from day one, you will have a puppy who is much easier to live with!

Reinforce the good

Sometimes we are hesitant to use a lot of food rewards with puppies because we worry they will become reliant on it or because it requires too much effort on our part. However, behaviours and choices you reinforce will be repeated by your puppy, so it pays to reinforce. Keep treats, or preferably your puppy’s own food, in sealed pots around the house so you can easily reinforce any good behaviours. You don’t need to ask them to do anything, just keep an eye out for any good choices, whether that’s lying on their bed, choosing to ignore a tempting shoe or child’s toy, or choosing to chew their own toy. Make sure you acknowledge or reward any behaviours you would like them to repeat.

We can easily miss the good choices our dogs make and focus only on the naughty or ‘bad’ ones. These often become the things we unintentionally reinforce. Think how many times you’ve battled with your dog to drop the sock they’ve stolen, but how often do you go and reward then when they’ve picked up their own toy and chewed on that? Start making note of the good things they do and focus on these, not the bad things!

Teach Them

Reinforcing their own good choices is a hugely important way for your puppy to learn, but you should still spend time actively teaching good behaviours. This could be working on ‘sit’, ‘down’, loose lead walking or any other fun or useful skills you can think of. Dogs love to learn and it’s a great bonding activity to engage them in training.

Enrolling in puppy classes can be really beneficial and give you good goals to aim for as well as working through the teaching process and any challenges you face. Choose a class which uses force-free, reward-based methods and primarily focuses on building a good relationship between you and your puppy. If they also offer some socialisation/play time with the other class members, be sure that this is done in a safe, controlled way and that dogs are carefully matched to avoid any negative experiences.

Interrupt and Redirect

Puppies aren’t born knowing what we consider to be right or wrong, so we have to teach them. When they make choices we don’t like, it’s important to gently interrupt and then redirect them onto a more desirable alternative. It can be difficult to remain calm at times when your puppy is doing something really unacceptable to you … perhaps chewing your favourite shoes … but try to avoid getting angry or doing anything which may scare them. This will only serve to damage your relationship and won’t actually teach them anything productive. Instead, interrupt their behaviour in a happy, calm way and quickly redirect their attention onto something else.

If you find your puppy chewing your carpet, call their name and reward them when they stop the behaviour, then encourage them to do something else, perhaps play with their own toy or settle in their bed. This approach will prevent the unwanted behaviour being practiced and avoids any conflict when you interrupt them. Always offer your puppy an alternative, it shouldn’t be a constant spiral of ‘no don’t do that’, ‘leave that!’, ‘NO NO NO!!’ … show them what you do want instead.

If you’re finding yourself constantly interrupting and redirecting, think about what you could change to manage this better and limit the opportunities for mistakes. Perhaps restrict access to certain rooms, ensure you’re always supervising or make use of a pen or crate to safely confine your puppy when you’re not able to keep them occupied. Remember puppies need a lot of sleep so if their behaviour is becoming relentless, think about whether they’re getting enough rest time each day and start to make rest a central part of their day.

Growing up isn’t always easy and puppies rarely grow out of behaviours, so don’t wait for that to happen because it probably never will! Remember that puppies are individuals and there is rarely one-method-fits-all, so if you are finding your puppy’s behaviour is a problem and you're not sure how to solve it, contact us at The Hound Spot and we’ll be able to support you.

https://www.houndspot.com/puppy-training