Welcoming Your Puppy from Planet Dog: How to Go Beyond Training and Raise Your Best Friend

by Kathy Callahan

Oddly enough, the Magic Answer to all of puppyhood is empathy. Not some fancy dog-trainer technique. Plain old empathy.

it turns out that once you temporarily back-burner part of your life to make way for the puppy, your front burner starts to overflow with things that bring happier days, a more relaxed psyche, and a more hopeful window on the world. One of the unexpected outcomes of puppyhood can be a permanent rearrangement of the burners.

We want to instill the lesson that novelty is just fine, before biology starts to tell the pup that anything new could be a threat. The only way to do that is to expose the puppy, carefully and always at his comfort level, to new sights, smells, sounds, and situations.

A yawn is much more often a sign of stress. You’ll see it in a training class, you’ll see it when guests come over, you’ll see it if you’re petting too much, and you’ll see it when kids hug a dog. If you see a yawn, ask yourself what might be stressing your dog.

Training is great, but when the behavior has to be perfect, responsible owners turn to management. Want proof ? No group of people has more gates stashed throughout their homes than trainers.

Catching your dog doing something right is the easiest, cheapest training available.

The science of learning theory says that none of us does anything for very long unless it is somehow reinforcing, rewarding, or clearly in our own best interest.

Have a plan. What’s the verbal cue? What’s the hand signal? When will you mark and reward?

For you and your puppy to grow as a happy, in-sync team, the key is to delight in small victories. If you do that, training will keep feeling light and fun for you both.