Cookie Cutters are for Making Cookies Only, Not for Dog Training!

I spoke with a very frustrated new puppy owner yesterday.  She's read all the books on puppy training and felt confident that she had the tools she needed to get her 10-week old pup off to a great start! She didn't understand why almost nothing she'd read about crate training (her puppy hates the crate), feeding schedules (her puppy likes to graze), mouthing (her puppy grabs a hold of her arms and legs and won't let go), and socialization (her pup is terrified of the other puppies in her neighborhood), seemed to apply to the dog she had gotten.  She wanted to know if there was something wrong with her new puppy, or perhaps wrong with her? I assuaged her doubts by reminding her that all new pet parents, just like new human parents, experience feelings of inadequacy, doubt, and failure. In our effort to do everything right, we often forget that each pup (or child, for that matter) is an individual, with their own personality, learning style, and motivations. Dog training is not "one size fits all," hence my cookie-cutter reference in this blog's title; your training style needs to be tailored to the dog in front of you, not the one you saw in a picture or video, or the one described in a book. Let me give you an example.

Most of you are familiar with Ozzie, my now 5.5-year-old male collie who is a descendant of the original Lassie of film fame. As a Lassie descendant dog, Ozzie's intelligence is undisputed.  He is,  however, a creative thinker; my solutions to his problems are often not the ones he'd choose, or has ever chosen for himself.  Ozzie hated crates from the get-go, preferring to be tethered to me or near me, even at night.  Ozzie never liked to heel, preferring to walk from side to side either in front of me or behind me, as if I were a sheep, but he never wanders off.  Ozzie is quick to learn commands but will refuse those he simply doesn't feel like doing.  He often refuses those I want to videotape or demonstrate for observers...go figure. He will comply with requests such as "Be quiet!" but always has to get in the last bark first.  If I would have tried to rigidly adhere to Ian Dunbar's guidelines for raising a puppy, for example, Ozzie and I would have been epic failures.  Instead, I embraced Ozzie's quirks, found the humor in his obstinance, and found my own creative ways to teach Ozzie what he needed to know to survive and thrive in my household.  Being flexible is the key.

So, back to my client and her puppy.  This puppy was a singleton, so he didn't get a lot of experience with other puppies, though he did stay with his dam until coming to live with my client.  He had never been crated until he was crated and then driven more than 8 hours to my client's home. The breeder put a bowl of food in the pen with the dam and the puppy twice daily and they were allowed to eat, sleep, poop, and pee whenever and wherever they wanted in that pen. I suggested we start fresh with this puppy and tailor our training plan to him specifically.  Instead of using a crate, we reintroduced the pen.  We set up a schedule where food was offered four times daily for 20 minutes at a time. In between feedings, the food could be used as a reward during training.  Walks were done on leash in her yard to build confidence before we introduced one similarly aged puppy for a 10-minute play date there.  Once we got this puppy onto a set nap schedule, a lot of the biting subsided.  We used redirection and time outs for the residual biting.  I watched this puppy go from frustrated to fabulous once he figured out the rules and saw that his behavior had consequences that he could understand.  He's still a bit on the timid and shy side, but we can work on that more now that we've got the basics taken care of.  Even his house training has improved since we introduced some artificial turf into his pen area. My client is relieved and she's now using those dog training books for decorative purposes only in her home! LOL.

If you are frustrated with your puppy or feel like you are failing with your dog's training, please don't despair.  Ask for help.  That's what I'm here for.

Ozzie was a hardcore chewer as a puppy.  Puppy chew toys did nothing to satisfy his chewing desires and he would often try to chew on furniture instead.  I'd been told that giving real bones to puppies wasn't a good idea, however, when I introduced real bones anyway (with supervision, of course), he was the happiest puppy ever, choosing them over my chairs and limbs of family members!  He'd chew on a bone and then wear himself out and be ready for a nap.  Bliss!