Management, Management, MANAGEMENT!

Any responsible parent would not leave their toddler unattended in a room with alcohol, cigarettes, knives, cleaning chemicals, and the like. Why? Because we know better. We know toddlers get into things, so parents often choose to utilize cribs, baby gates, and active supervision to ensure their child’s safety and best behavior. 

However, at least once a day I walk into a client’s house where their young dog is allowed to wander about the house with no supervision or management. Then we sit down and these owners explain to me how horrible of a dog they have: he gets into the trash, he chews things, he is up on furniture, he is harassing the kids, harassing the older dog, digging at the carpet…. the list goes on and on. I have to bite my tongue with each visit to refrain myself from saying “well, what were you expecting?”

An 8 week old puppy is about the equivalent of a 2-4 year old child. All of the safety, management, and learning protocols you’d have in place for a toddler need to be put in place for a puppy. 

This starts with giving your puppy a safe place to call his own, very similar to a baby’s crib. A crate (or ex-pen) should never be seen as a form of punishment, but rather a safe resting place for the dog to go when owners need some time to themselves. Crates should be appropriately sized so the dog has enough room to lay comfortably, but not enough room to designate a separate “sleep area” and “potty area.”  While crates are a fabulous management tool, be careful they are not overused because doing so can build negative associations and increase hyperactivity. 

When a puppy or new dog is not in a crate, active supervision must be used. This means you must be WATCHING the puppy the whole time. All too often I hear “my puppy chewed up my shoe and I was right next to him.” My response? “Well, what were you doing when your puppy was chewing on your shoe?” Their response is typically along the lines of “I was watching TV, facetiming my girlfriend, reading a book, etc.” Just because you are in the same room as your puppy does not mean you were supervising them. My favorite tool to aid in supervision is tether training. While having a puppy tied to you at all times may be annoying, it greatly aids in bonding, reinforcing calm behavior, and teaching the puppy not to wander off and start doing inappropriate things.

Okay, but where does the actual training come in? Well, everything starts with management. 

If you want your dog to stop doing a particular behavior (i.e. jumping on guests), you must first MANAGE the situation by limiting access to whatever causes your dog to exhibit that particular behavior. Going along with the jumping example, this means limiting your dog’s access to people coming into the home. This can be done by placing an ex-pen or baby gate in your entryway so the dog can’t reach guests when they first walk in, or keeping your dog on a leash for that same reason. 
Then we must think about WHY the dog was exhibiting this behavior in the first place. What is motivating them to do this “bad” thing, even though they’ve probably been disciplined for it countless times. In the case of jumping, they want attention. So, how can they get what they want (attention) while we get what we want (no jumping)? Think of a very simple action your dog can do to replace the bad behavior. Four paws on the floor is an easy one. If your dog has four paws on the floor, they are allowed to interact with the guest. The moment they no longer have four paws on the floor, the guest either retreats behind the baby gate in place, or if the dog is already leashed, then they are walked away from the guest. Once the dog is calm, they can get a second chance. 

It all starts with management. 

If the dog is always getting the opportunity to jump on guests at the door, even if they are punished afterwards, the behavior will continue because 1) the dog is getting away with it, even if only for a second and 2) we’ve never communicated to the dog what the correct thing to do is. With no motivation to complete an alternate behavior for the same reward, your dog will continue with the existing behavior which they already have motivation for. 

Manage your dogs. Set them up for success. Think about what they are trying to do when exhibiting “bad” behavior, and redirect that motivation into a more appropriate behavior instead.

The more we manage our young dogs like the little toddlers they are, the more we’ll start to see drastic improvements in their behavior.

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