What does "let a puppy be a puppy" really mean?

[MooseGooser]

Thanks Rainmaker for the excellent post.

Your comment about folks postin pictures of their arms chewed to he!! from new puppy, musta been drug outof your memory of the one I posted when we got Flinch!!

She DID kinda tear me up..

She likes me now!!!

She dont bite my arms no more,, but after a training day,, the cuffs of my dungerees look a bit ragged..

She really goes after my shoes too...

Ketches owner encourages her to abuse me every chance he gets!!

I really like her though... I'm just now gettin to the point that I dont have to dangle a Pork chop around my neck to get her to pay attention..

It IS a bit disturbing though when running the T,, that after she sits,, she bares her teeth and growls at me,,, but we are comming along OK..

Thanks again for the post...... "My NEXT dog"....


P.S.

Fer the noobees.... Never pay attention to ANYTHING Gooser says..


Gooser

[John Montenieri]

Great post Kim. I think we all melt at the sight of a puppy and tend to let them get away with too much (Gooser is another story). It is easy to allow "cute" bad behavior to manifest into poor habits. Well put and everyone should copy this for future reference.

P.S. I spoil my dogs as well.

[Byron Musick]

Great stuff!! Thanks Rainmaker!

[Rainmaker]

Great post Kim. I think we all melt at the sight of a puppy and tend to let them get away with too much (Gooser is another story). It is easy to allow "cute" bad behavior to manifest into poor habits. Well put and everyone should copy this for future reference.

P.S. I spoil my dogs as well.

Shhhhh, I do too. It's a good thing they don't have human reasoning, realize I could easily be their emotional hostage, or I'd be making pancakes every morning instead of just Sundays.

[RJW]

Great post Kim. I think we all melt at the sight of a puppy and tend to let them get away with too much (Gooser is another story). It is easy to allow "cute" bad behavior to manifest into poor habits. Well put and everyone should copy this for future reference.

P.S. I spoil my dogs as well.

Haha, me to and to the extreme. But in all seriousness I totally agree. What is cute and funny when they are pups and can be handled easily or semi easily ceases to be cute and funny when they are grown and full of pizz and vinegar.

[bigylwdog]

Well stated Kim!

[Sundown49 aka Otey B]

I tell anyone that gets a pup "Do NOT let them do anything as a pup you don't want them to do as an adult dog".

[Im_with_Brandy]

I can just hear the adult male wolf in a wolf pack telling his mate to let the pups be pups for the first year.

Dogs are designed to work in packs and in doing so need and thrive with structure and expectations of behavior. I feel you do more damage to your pup by letting them do whatever they want when they want too. Then after months of finding themselves the owner is going to tell them I want you to change who you have become.

The first six months of a pup’s life are the best time to mold the behaviors you like and remove the behaviors you don’t want. This does not mean that other negative behaviors won’t rise up later that you need to deal with but it gives you a working foundation to stop the bad behaviors.

I don’t agree that structure and expectations of behavior have to include some kind of physical punishment. If you start young and you are consistent with your expectations it should never get to the point of a physical altercation with your dog.

I see dogs that come to training who blow off whistle commands get nicked, blow off more whistle commands get nicked blow off nicks and then finally make it to the bird and get rewarded.

So in the dogs mind this is how the game works, I can do whatever I want out there and deal with the shocks and all the yelling, still do whatever I want and I can get rewarded for it.

With pups all you have to do to get your point across is deny the reward.

[Erik Nilsson]

Well Done!!!

[GG]

This was GREAT! it really helped me put somethings in perspective. My only question is, When is a puppy no longer a "puppy"?

When he's ready to go into formal training.
GG