You're Raising a Dog, not a Puppy.

I think we can all agree that puppies are the cutest thing in the world. Those little paws, sweet little faces, and warm, lap-sized snuggles are hard to beat. We want to keep them like that forever, but guess what? Puppies turn into dogs. I say this with mixed emotions. Puppy jumping is cute, but a grown dog doing that is annoying, and potentially dangerous. But what people tend not to realize, is the patterns started in puppyhood will not go away when your tiny little pup becomes a 75lb monster. And, if you ask me, encouraging that behavior for three months, and then getting mad when it happens isn’t just downright confusing, it is also a step in the totally wrong direction.

My girl Lainey (the silly little pup in the picture) is quite the vocal girl. As a puppy, her “singing,” as we like to call it, was always met with a sing-songy “what’s wrong?” or baby voiced “why you crying?” because this behavior was met with attention and fussing, it still occurs to this day. Now, don’t get me wrong, if I didn’t still enjoy having these “conversations” with Lainey, it would have been squashed quite some time ago, but it did take longer than I would have liked to stop the whining dead in its tracks if, for instance, I am on the phone or have company at the house and she is not getting the attention she “thinks” she deserves. Luckily, Lainey is a pretty soft soul, but if she wasn't, this would be something that we would have to eradicate once and for all.

​Even if your dog is a small breed, ask yourself this, “if he was 80 lbs and doing this, how would I feel? How would guests entering my home feel? Or people walking past us on the street?” if the answer to any of these is something other than “elated” put every effort towards stopping that behavior. Now. If you aren’t sure how, ask me or another trusted trainer, and we will point you in the right direction. The more like a dog you treat your puppy, the better behaved that dog will be during its puppy stage, and well beyond.  ​