But my puppy used to follow me around…

Puppy Training days are my favorite. Hands down one of the best hours of the day. But that’s ALL I do. One hour, three times a week. I know the stress of having a full time puppy is…REAL! I see it on owners faces every week as they see their cute little fluff ball of SQUISHY-NESS become a real life house destroyer and devil terror.

One of the biggest changes I see in owners exasperation as the puppy loses a bit of that puppy cuteness, is that the dog suddenly come when called anymore. On an initial consult I usually hear:

“Oh, my dog already comes when called and he’s only 11 weeks old.”

“She never leaves my side! I don’t think recall will be an issue.”

“I let my puppy off-leash all the time and he never leaves me. He’s so good!”

Then, when the puppy is about 4 months old, and has gained some confidence and can interact with the world I hear things that sound more like:

“Your are KIDDING ME! This dog doesn’t even know I’m alive!”

“My dog escapes every time I leave her in the yard! HELP!”

“My dog used to follow me around. Now it’s like he’s deaf and doesn’t listen at all!”

On the lighter side, I tell people to take a LOT of pictures of your puppy when they are little because when they hit adolescence their SOLE PURPOSE is to make you question your reality and wonder why you ever got a dog so you’ll want to look back on the cuteness and remember you love this little ball of fur and YOU trained it. No body believes me but I say it anyway.

So what happened to your cute little puppy?

Hormones. Confidence. Experience. Associations with what is good, bad, fearful and fun!

Basically, your dog is learning in a new way. Hormones develop and can help your dog gain confidence which means they feel safer wandering away from you. This means they can get into a LOT of trouble when you’re not around.

Confidence is great to have in a dog, but we have to think of two levels of confidence. There is the “I got this, I know how to act” level of confidence which is what we strive to give our puppies at an early age. This is like the confidence to solve a problem and not be emotionally overwhelmed or frustrated. Then there is the “what’s in here?” level of confidence and curiosity that has your dog tearing into every box and couch cushion, sticking their head into every bush looking for a friend (you can only HOPE that friend isn’t a rattle snake or mean animal) and tasting every morsel of anything it can reach. This is the kind of confidence that can drive humans crazy and takes a lot of environmental management.

You puppy has also had a lot more experiences so they start to know what they think is fun and worth their time and effort to do. If they have learned that other things in their environment are MORE fun than hanging out with you, they will quickly decide to go do those things instead.

Puppies learn to associate objects with emotions and as they have grown up, they have made a lot of new associations with people, places and things and have decided what is a good thing to do, what is boring, what causes fear and what is fun! We call this “Dog Law”.

Dog Law:

If the result is fun to me, it’s worth the effort and I’ll do it again and again.

If the result is boring, it’s NOT worth the effort so I won’t try it again.

If you can limit your thinking to the basics of “Dog Law”, you may have an easier time understanding why your dog is doing what they do!

Does this mean I have to CONSTANTLY entertain my dog?

Yes! Well, not CONSTANTLY! However, when you get a puppy, you are in for about 24 months of entertainment (both your dog entertaining you and YOU entertaining your dog) before your dog is ready to be calm. And, we know you can’t constantly be entertaining your puppy so you must manage their interactions by limiting access to their environment. Start this EARLY! Crates, play pens, dog runs, digging pools, frozen chew toys are all great management tools. This means when you are not ACTIVELY SUPERVISING or INTERACTING with your puppy, they should be in a crate or kennel or some enclosed area so they don’t create some expensive trouble by destroying your stuff and taking trips to the emergency vet.

Training for Value

You also want to start early on with making training FUN and establishing that you really ARE the best thing to be around. This is done through purposeful games that reward the good behavior and help your puppy let go of the unwanted behaviors. Check out our blog for some games like “Towards Me”. The thing to remember is to continuously show your dog that being around you is the best value in town. You give food, treats, water, play tug, watch out for their safety and are truly cooler than a cat, better than a ball and more satisfying than a squirrel! If you keep this up when they are young, they will continue to listen as they develop through adolescence.

AND…it’s important to remember, you can’t skip the growing years. It’s part of what you signed up for when you decided to get a puppy. Contact us for training classes - both in person and online - or find a local trainer that is FUN to work with and teaches you about dogs, not just obedience training.

Casa Luna Canines is your partner in dog training, human learning. Join us to learn how to be your dog’s best friend using 100% pain and fear free methods. Imagine what it will feel like when your dog chooses to behave well around you, no matter where you are!