The Power of Good Management!
Puppies get up to all sorts of mischief when left to their own devices! Proactively managing their environment and minimising opportunities to practise unwanted behaviour is so powerful. After all, prevention is better than cure!
Dogs will be dogs!
It is very easy to inadvertently allow your puppy to rehearse the exact behaviours that you don't want them to do. The truth is that, without meaning to, most people set their puppy up to fail simply not by consciously and actively setting them up to succeed (ie. NOT practise unwanted behaviours). Left to their own devices, dogs will behave like dogs - I know, shocker! - but normal dog behaviours are often quite incompatible with the expectations we have of them in our very human-led world. This is where management (prevention) comes in!
Isn't that just avoiding the issue?
Management is just about preventing your dog from getting things 'wrong' as much as possible, while they are learning what to do. It might seem like a cop-out (surely just avoiding the issue won't resolve anything, right?) but, in fact, it plays an important part in your plan. Yes, it won't teach your pup what you do want them to do but it will stop them from having fun doing all of those things that you don't like. Once we've got this in place, we can then start teaching the skills and understanding they need to be successful when we slacken off on our management as they learn and mature.
Why do I need to do this?
Quite simply, every time a behaviour is rehearsed, it's more likely to be repeated again in the future - especially if it felt pretty good to do it!
Telling your dog off for doing something is not as effective as not allowing them to do it in the first place. In addition, there are real issues which you certainly want to avoid (including increased aggressive behaviour) associated with the use of punishment-based approaches.
The other problem with inadvertently allowing rehearsal of the unwanted behaviour is that it usually results in quite a lot of attention. If your dog is generally ignored when they're being 'good' but then you look at them (even if you're cross), talk to them (even if just to tell them off), touch them (even if just to move them away) every time that they get up to mischief then, guess what... they'll probably do it all the more if their initial aim was to get your attention!
Be proactive and set your puppy up to succeed!
Think of it like holding a child's hand while you're teaching them how to cross a road safely. You don't hold their hand forever but you also don't set them up to fail by letting them run into the road to hope that they'll 'learn their lesson' when they get knocked down or when you tell them off after the event!
Make use of baby gates or pens, keep anything special or edible out of reach, use a lead to prevent them from rushing over to other dogs/ jumping up at people... the list goes on but it's all simple stuff that anyone can do. I promise... you'll reap the rewards in the long term!
Lovely to meet you!
I have seen the power of a truly proactive and personalised approach to puppy raising and training and want to share this with the people that need me most: new puppy owners and those planning to bring a puppy into their family. I’d love for you to be one of them.