One of the biggest complaints I get from my clients is that their dog won’t listen when there is a distraction, especially with the “come” command. I’ve talked before about teaching puppies and dogs to sit nicely before playing with other dogs to encourage reward (playing with other dogs) for quiet behavior and owners making decisions about which dogs their own dog gets to play with.
For many people, there is a sense that dogs should be free to be dogs. While this seems like a charming idea, we need to understand that the consequences of that can be life threatening for the dog. When dogs make their own decisions about how to behave, they can quickly revert to feral behaviors, which are not always appropriate in our human society. The reason dogs have been domesticated is that they were the wolves that were most easily TRAINED and willing to have relationships with humans. When we don’t honor that, there are very deep-seated, hardwired behaviors that will soon surface.
With puppies, I see so many that are allowed to run off-leash, sleep on beds or on the furniture, and destroy homes because the owner somehow feels that freedom is the right and humane thing to do. In fact, too much freedom can be the catalyst for aggression, or neurotic behaviors such as separation anxiety and destruction of home items.
There is a critical imprinting period with puppies up to 16 weeks old. What we teach intentionally and unintentionally will last a puppy for his lifetime. If we teach our puppy that we are his littermates, he will treat us like that the rest of his life with biting, mouthing, jumping and disrespect for critical commands such as “come.” If we accidentally pet a dog for jumping, that jumping will last forever. If we own a big dog, jumping can become a horrific behavior that hurts someone who might have a hidden disability, or a child. Hidden disabilities can be balance problems or medications that can cause bleeding. You would never know by looking at someone that they cannot tolerate your jumping dog.
If we allow the environment to positively reinforce NOT coming when called (like another dog to play with), then our life-saving “come” command can become useless in an emergency.
Puppies are like children in many ways. No one would open the front door for a 2-year-old child and say, “Come back when you want.” And no one would give their keys to the car and a credit card to an 8-year-old child. Yet, letting puppies run without a long line, or in an area that is not confined, is exactly that. Letting puppies on a sofa or bed is literally the same thing to a dog. As a dog sees it, the higher you are, the higher you are in social status. A puppy on a bed tells the puppy there are no leaders on this bus and so you will be treated with no respect from the puppy.
I am not going to tell a puppy owner they can never let their dog on a sofa or in bed with them, BUT, they should wait until that puppy earns the privilege, just like being 16 to get a driver’s license. People need to learn rules to feel confident in their lives and to know how to make decisions. It is the same with puppies.
Take the time very early to train your puppy to give your puppy the proper attitude toward people and other dogs. A well-trained dog is such a blessing to live with!
Fran Jewell is an IAABC Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, NADOI Certified Instructor and the owner of Positive Puppy Dog Training, LLC in Sun Valley. For more information, visit positivepuppy.com or call 208-578-1565.
