Management & Training for Common Puppy Behavior Problems

By Benah Stiewing

Welcoming a new puppy into your family is loads of fun, and brings laughter and joy into any household! However, puppies are also a lot of work and can often feel quite overwhelming and exhausting.

Remember throughout your puppy raising to give yourself and your puppy lots of breaks - rest is critical to everyone’s success. Check out our blog from a few weeks ago for training basics, including a discussion of why management like a crate or pen is so important to setting our puppies up for learning the behaviors we want them to learn!

Below you will find our recommendations for common puppy problems that can arise while raising your puppy.  Many of these are normal, and different puppies may face different challenges based on their unique combination of genetics, early learning history, and individuality.  Sometimes, puppy behavioral problems can be unique and require special attention, and we are always here to help if you find yourself experiencing any of these - or other - issues with your puppy. (Check out our Puppy Raising Private Program package for one-on-one puppy raising support - available both online and in-person in Fort Collins, CO!)

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Biting/Chewing

Chewing is a normal behavior for dogs, especially from 8 weeks - 6 months. During this period, puppies lose a whopping 42 baby teeth and replace them with adult teeth!  Additionally, while humans explore the world through our hands, dogs explore through their mouths. Together, these two factors turn puppies into chewing machines! While this behavior is very normal, that doesn’t make it pleasant or fun and there are concrete steps we can take to help our puppies chew appropriately.

Management: 

• Have lots and lots (and lots!) of safe toys and chews around your puppy at all times. Your puppy should always have access to something appropriate to chew, like Benebones, antlers, hoofs, and toys. 

• Use every meal as an opportunity to let your puppy chew! By using puzzle feeders, snuffle mats, Kongs, and Topls, you can meet your puppy’s innate need and burn some extra energy. 

• You can use sweet potato, pumpkin, canned food, raw (if you feed a raw diet), or kibble soaked in water to stuff in the kongs and topls.

• Rotate your toys/chews/feeders so that your puppy doesn’t become bored with the same items.

• Plenty of regular rest for your puppy throughout the day - puppies that are overtired are often the most bitey puppies!

Training:

• If your puppy begins to chew on something inappropriate (like your hand or the couch), simply grab an appropriate chew item and give it to your puppy.

• Try not to pull your hand away quickly or sharply as that will only encourage your puppy to chase as you’ve made it more exciting. 

• If your puppy is unable to transfer from an inappropriate item to an appropriate item, ask yourself if your puppy has an underlying need that isn’t being met. Are they tired? Hungry? Do they need to potty? Excessive teething can often notify us that our puppy may have an unmet need.

• Teach your puppy appropriate ways to interact with your hand instead. Our favorites are teaching a Hand Target, or teaching “Lick not Bite”

Lick Not Bite: Put a small amount of a delicious lickable treat, like yogurt or sweet potato puree, on the back of your hand. Present it to your puppy to lick off your hand.  Praise them while they do this!  If your puppy changes from licking to nibbling, calmly remove your hand for a few seconds, then represent your hand for them to lick again. 

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Introducing Your Puppy in a Multiple Dog Household

It’s important to remember that we made the decision to add a new puppy to our household, not our current dogs. It’s our responsibility to make sure everyone’s needs are met, and it’s not our older dog’s responsibility to babysit or parent the puppy. It’s normal for your older dog to go through an adjustment period when you bring home a new puppy, and they may not behave towards your puppy the same way they behave towards strange dogs out in the world. Below are some steps we can take to alleviate stress and meet everyone’s needs. 

Management:

• Do not leave your puppy and older dog unattended together. Puppies can be very pushy and relentless, and you might only hear the sixth correction that the older dog has given the puppy, not realizing that the puppy ignored the first five. 

• Make sure both dogs get to enjoy solo activities with you, solo naps, solo meals, and solo time in general. They should not be together 24/7. 

• Use puppy pens, crates, and baby gates to manage the space.

• Remove resources (toys, bones, etc.)  if both dogs are present in a space.

• Have a leash dragging from your puppy so you can prevent them from pestering the older dog if that’s a possibility.

• Always have treats on you to reinforce the behavior you want!

Training:

• When your dogs are together, have them simultaneously practice calming behaviors, such as sniffing. If they are struggling to relax enough to sniff, tossing cookies for each of them in separate directions (foraging) can help. 

• Simply delivering treats to your dogs simultaneously can be helpful! Have your puppy and your older dog sit in front of you and deliver cookies to them as they continue to perform the behavior. 

• Make yourself more interesting! By building value for engaging with us, we can make the older dog less exciting and have a puppy more interested in us. 

• Focus on Quality of interactions over Quantity. Give both your puppy and older dog break time away from each other, so that they are feeling positively about the time spent together. 

Resource Highlight: Our colleague Katie at Wise Mind Canine has a lot of wonderful content on creating positive introductions between a new puppy and existing dogs.

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Resource Guarding

Resource guarding can occur on a spectrum with a variety of objects, including yourself or others. To a certain extent, all beings are protective of their resources, so it’s normal for your puppy to have some level of resource guarding tendencies. The advice offered below just skims the surface - to dive deeper into this topic, check out our online webinar Puppy Resource Guarding. 

Management:

• Remove all food and toys from a space if multiple dogs are present (this may include empty food containers).

• Use barriers and confinement to separate your dogs while they are eating or enjoying bones. This helps your puppy learn that meal times are a time for them to focus on their own meal, rather than investigating what the other dogs have.

• Don’t take bones or toys away from your puppy without their consent unless it is an emergency situation. If it’s not an emergency, think about trading your puppy for something else (high value treat, another toy) when you have to remove something from their possession. 

Training:

• Teach a Supercharged Name Cue, which will be your first response when your puppy grabs something off limits. Call your puppy and reward with a handful of treats tossed on the ground. Continue reinforcing until you are able to put your puppy behind a barrier to quickly remove the object, then let your puppy back into the space. 

• Practice walking towards your puppy, tossing cookies towards them and then simply walking away. We want your puppy to anticipate good things happening when you approach.

• Allow your puppy to enjoy a low-value chew (like Benebones), approach with a handful of cookies, toss the cookies at your puppy, and then walk away. 

If your puppy is demonstrating significant resource guarding behavior, such as growling and snapping, towards you or your family members, we recommend getting connected with a trainer for a Private Program as soon as possible so that you can start working on a quality behavior modification plan for this behavior.  Much of the common advice you may hear about how to respond to this behavior has the potential to make the behavior worse instead of better; we recommend connecting with a professional trainer for the best support on resolving this challenge!

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Fear Reactions

As puppies physically mature, they begin to notice more in the world and be surprised by novel objects or people. A fear reaction generally presents as barking, hackles raised, front approach, and running away. During these moments, it’s critical that we support our dogs and be their advocate - do not laugh at your puppy or force them to move closer/interact with the object or person that is scaring them. We always want our puppies to know that they can trust us to keep them safe. 

Here is Jamie the Papillion working through being startled by a statue:

Management:

• Go slowly! Do not overwhelm your puppy by exposing them to too much, too fast. If you are exposing your puppy to something new, start at a distance and gradually move closer if your puppy is calm - always staying far enough away that your puppy can feel safe and calm. 

• Reinforce calming behaviors, like sniffing, rolling, and shaking.

• Keep your puppy on-leash! Do not allow your puppy to get too far away from you and run into something scary.

Training:

• Click here to watch a brief clip about training your puppy to interact with unfamiliar objects.

• Train your friends and family to ignore your puppy and sit quietly while your puppy adjusts to their presence.

• Click here to watch a brief clip about teaching your puppy the Look At That game. 

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Confinement Stress

Throughout our dog’s life, it’s critical that we are able to safely leave them confined or behind a barrier. Whether we are out running errands or the dog has to spend an overnight at the veterinarian, confinement comfort is a critical skill. To give your puppy an excellent foundation in confinement comfort, consider our webinar Separation Anxiety Prevention Starts Now! 

Management:

• Before confining your puppy, do your best to ensure they are tired and ready for a nap, so this could be after some playtime or a walk. 

• Make sure that your puppy doesn’t have any underlying needs, like being hungry or needing to potty.

• Have your puppy’s crate or pen in a quieter area of the house with some white noise playing and a few chews available. 

Training:

• Train entering the crate to make it fun and familiar! Click here to watch a brief clip about shaping Get in The Crate. 

• Support your puppy! Stay present as they’re settling in and wait until they’ve relaxed before you start moving away.  Here’s a video of Jamie learning how to settle in his crate for nap time, with his human’s support.

• Here’s a great video from one of our colleagues on teaching puppies to love their confinement management.

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As your puppy grows and develops, it’s normal for their behavior to fluctuate as hormones impact their body and brain. During this period of rapid growth, it’s critical that we act as their advocates and meet them where they are at with their needs and difficulties. Understand that your puppy is an animal in a world that may seem very normal to us, but is all new and foreign to them - your puppy will need your compassion and understanding as they use their behavior to have their needs met. Adequate rest is enormously important, for both you and your puppy. If you are located in the Fort Collins, CO, area, our Adventure Puppy Camp is a great opportunity for your puppy to experience positive, gentle socialization and training while you take a puppy break!   If you are feeling overwhelmed by your puppy’s behavior, don’t hesitate to contact us today and get started with in-person or online training to help you feel better prepared to support your puppy.

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Summit Dog Training offers group dog training classes & private lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as online self-study courses & online private lessons for education on how to live the best life with your dog!   If you are looking for more training support, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to help you and your dog get ready for any adventure.

Puppy Training Basics

By Benah Stiewing

When we bring home a new puppy, we usually have an extensive list of behaviors we eventually want our puppy able to perform. However, before we begin teaching specific behaviors, such as a recall, sit, or heel, there is a certain way we can build the relationship between you and your puppy to set you both up for success for a lifetime of fun and understanding. First and foremost, we want a relationship with our dogs that is founded in trust, positivity, and effective communication. From day one, we have the ability to begin building this bond! 

Putting genetics aside, puppies usually come to us as a blank-slate and we are able to shape their world to help them make the choices we value. We want our dogs to consider us the very best thing in the world! To do this, we want our interactions to be positive and rewarding, and use management to set our puppies up for success whenever possible . What does that look like? In general, with puppies under 6 months, we want them either:

1. In their crate or puppy pen

2. Directly supervised by you/someone you trust

3. In a restricted area with leash dragging

Here are some example puppy playpen set-ups for good management when you can’t be supervising your puppy directly!

If we give our puppy complete freedom, they are guaranteed to begin making mistakes, whether that be pottying in the house, chewing up your favorite shoes, or stealing snacks from the counter. Instead, we set our puppy up for success by preventing the mistake in the first place, so that we don’t have to be the bad guy and end the fun activity that your puppy has found for themselves. Instead, reinforce the behaviors you do want! 

How do I reinforce good behaviors? 

The very first exercise you start with your puppy should be the introduction of a marker cue. Your marker tells the dog that they have done the correct behavior and will be reinforced. We love using clickers as our marker cue, but you can also use a word, such as “yes” (if you opt for a word, be careful to keep your tone and intonation consistent).

We teach our marker cue by clicking (or saying the word) and then delivering a treat to our puppy. The delay between marker cue and treat delivery should not be any longer than 1-3 seconds. The marker cue should always be followed by reinforcement, or else the cue will lose its significance. Repeat the steps outlined above for a couple minutes a few times a day to load your marker cue. If you see your puppy begin licking their lips or widening their eyes when they hear the cue, it’s working!

Once we have established a marker cue, we can begin using it throughout the day to let your puppy know they have done something good and will be paid for it. If your puppy is jumping on you for attention, wait for them to naturally lean back into a sitting position - mark and reward. (Here’s a video of this!) If your puppy runs to you excitedly, mark and reward. If your puppy offers attention while people are walking near your house, mark and reward. If your puppy hears a dog barking next door and looks to you for information, mark and reward. If your puppy comes back inside when you open the door from the yard, mark and reward. Quickly, your puppy will begin repeating behaviors that are paid, and we can then begin pairing the behavior with a verbal cue. 

Excluding genetics, puppies offer us the opportunity to shape the adult dog we want. We want our dogs to orient to us, their handler, regardless of circumstances, location, or distraction. Upon noticing a change in environment, such as a stranger approaching you during a hike, we want our dogs to check-in with us and wait for more information. We have the opportunity to shape this orientation from the very beginning! Set your puppy up to make the decision you desire, and mark and reward when it occurs. If we want our dogs to pay attention to us around other dogs, we can take our puppy to a local park, on-leash, and mark and reward every time a dog passes us. Our puppy will begin anticipating the reward and looking at us when they see a dog passing. Armed with your high-value cookies or toys, you will be the most reinforcing item in the environment. 

We have endless opportunities throughout every day to reinforce desirable behaviors! Make yourself the most fun, rewarding person to be around, and teaching specific skills as your puppy grows will be much easier and more rewarding. To learn more about training your puppy using this philosophy, check out our Adventure Puppy Basics online class! It dives deeper into marker training and shaping our puppy’s behavior, and is an excellent resource as your puppy develops. 

And if you are looking for in-person puppy training in Fort Collins, Colorado, check out our Puppy Basics 6-Week Class at our Training Room!

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Summit Dog Training offers group dog training classes & private lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as online self-study courses & online private lessons for education on how to live the best life with your dog!   If you are looking for more training support, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to help you and your dog get ready for any adventure.

Building Blocks for an Off-Leash Recall!

By Benah Stiewing

Rock-solid, reliable recalls are an incredibly important skill for you and your dog! Recall, or coming when called, is critical to you and your dog being able to enjoy the world together, off-leash. Building an off-leash recall is about managing our dog’s freedom as we cultivate a strong history of reinforcement between you and your dog. 

So often without realizing, we only call our dogs when we are calling them away from something, perhaps that delicious chicken leg that fell from a trash can, the dog who lives next door, or a very speedy squirrel. Our dog’s recall word very quickly comes to represent loss and our dogs are well aware of this. The dog hears their name or recall word and quickly creates more distance between them and their handler because they don’t want to experience a loss. 

To begin changing this narrative, we start by building value for a new recall word. Practice calling your dog using this word a few throughout the day, but only use this word if you are in an environment with minimal distractions (i.e. your living room, without any toys or other pets present) and have high-value reinforcement to reward your dog with when they have successfully come to you. Use motion and verbal encouragement to add value to the behavior. I toss a treat to get my dog away from me. Once my dog has eaten the treat, I say “Fido, come!” in a fun, light voice, turn away from Fido, and run away (short, small steps), saying “Yay! Wow!” as the dog continues moving towards me. When my dog reaches me, I click and reward with high-value treats. I repeat this game multiple times every day for a few days, and gradually begin adding more distance and choice. We begin to generalize the behavior by moving into different rooms of the house, and eventually into the yard. If my dog is unsuccessful, I need to take a step back and decrease difficulty temporarily before making it harder again. 

Here’s a video of the foundation pieces of this game!

We do not start letting our dogs off-leash out in the world if we aren’t absolutely confident of a few key things: 

1. If our dog doesn’t come back to us, they are not in danger. 

2. We have the highest-value item in the environment. 

3. Our dog is not going to have to make a difficult choice between us and something else. 

If we want to give our dog more freedom in a high-distraction environment before we feel they are ready for off-leash, we are going to use our recall transition tool, the long-line! This is just a really long leash (30-50 feet) that we would want on a back-clip harness. (Our favorite long-line is this one from Trust-Your-Dog!)  We reward our dogs everytime they offer engagement while we are out in the world, no matter the type of leash or exercise. We want it to be a reliably reinforcing behavior for our dogs to check in with us. This is especially important to practice on the long-line as we begin to increase freedom. 

Go slowly with your recall training! It takes time to build value for coming back when called, and know that it’s impossible to spend too much time on each expansion of freedom. We want coming back to us to represent the absolute best time with food, praise, or toys. Use your environment to reinforce! Recalling your dog away from their best canine friend? Reward with food, then release them back to playing. Remember the fundamental principle of what recall should represent, and don’t use your recall when your dog has to do something they may not fully enjoy, like being leashed and directed to leave the fun activity. 

The skills I describe here are just the beginning! If you and your dog want more guidance as you build this behavior, we have a webinar just for you! Check out the Off-Leash Hiking Prep webinar here!

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Summit Dog Training offers group dog training classes & private lessons in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as online self-study courses and online private lessons for education on how to live the best life with your dog! If you are looking for more training support, please don’t hesitate to contact us! We’d love to help you and your dog get ready for any adventure.

Our Facility Cleaning Routines for Puppy Wellness

Written by Meredith Decker & Amber Quann

When you bring a new puppy home, you want to make sure to protect them from anything that may hurt them. It can feel daunting to bring them into a space like a training room that many other dogs have occupied.  You may have gotten recommendation from your rescue, breeder, or trusted veterinarian to wait until your puppy is fully vaccinated to take them out in public.

Early socialization is so important to healthy puppy development, and there isn’t time to waste! The optimal window for early puppy socialization actually closes before puppies are fully vaccinated, so avoiding socialization opportunities before 16 weeks can actually be detrimental to the dog’s behavioral health. Because of this, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior’s position is that puppies should start positive socialization group experiences as early as 9 weeks of age, after at least one vaccination and deworming.

“In general, puppies can start puppy socialization classes as early as 7-8 weeks of age. Puppies should receive a minimum of one set of vaccines at least 7 days prior to the first class and a first deworming. They should be kept up-to-date on vaccines throughout the class. The primary and most important time for puppy socialization is the first three months of life. During this time puppies should be exposed to as many new people, animals, stimuli and environments as can be achieved safely and without causing overstimulation manifested as excessive fear, withdrawal or avoidance behavior. For this reason, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior believes that it should be the standard of care for puppies to receive such socialization before they are fully vaccinated.”

We carefully curate the our training room environment to minimize risks to our young puppy students. Our training room is thoroughly cleaned daily (we share more about our cleaning routines below!), and we evaluate each puppy during each service for health and wellness. No environment can be completely without risk, and we understand that your veterinarian may have different recommendations for when your puppy should start group socialization. Your veterinarian treats physically sick puppies and we work with behavior challenges in dogs often associated with missing early socialization periods, so we are coming at this from two different sides of the issue. Both sides are very important to consider as you decide what is right for your puppy. If you decide to wait until your puppy is fully vaccinated at 16 weeks, we'd love to see you in our Level 1 Puppy Basics class or drop-in to Puppy Playschool Plus.

We know that you want to do everything in your power to keep your puppy safe and healthy before their final vaccinations. Balancing this with the need for healthy early socialization can feel tricky. We want to do everything we can to build a safe environment for you and your puppy to come and learn, and a piece of that is by keeping our training rooms clean and sanitized.

The Summit Cleaning Routine

Both training rooms are cleaned and disinfected daily, and deep-cleaned once a month with an attention to detail.

All of the toys that your puppy may play with are cleaned daily; monthly, we also sanitize each of the shelves where those toys are stored so that the toys can remain clean once they are put away. Not only does it keep everything safe, but it also keeps things looking nice and neat.

A lot of time is spent making sure the floors where your puppies love to wrestle remain safe and clean. We always vacuum and mop after the end of our classes, and this is done at least once a day. During our monthly cleanings, any moveable item, such as our x-pens or chairs are moved from their usual spot, and each corner and crevice is cleaned. Special care is taken to make sure any debris is removed and then that area is properly mopped with kennel-grade disinfectant and there is no residue left behind. 

We never forget about cleaning our cleaning supplies either. The mop, mop buckets and vacuum are all cleared and cleaned to make sure they're working as best as possible to maintain our standards.

When it comes to our Adventure Camp (drop-off learning for puppies 9-16 weeks), we take extra precautions to make sure we keep your pups safe. Any toys they may use such as puzzle toys, kongs or chew toys are washed and scrubbed with our other dishes at the end of every Camp day. This also applies to any cots or platforms your pup might play on. We spray them with our disinfectant and wipe them down so they are clean for next time. Any accidents that may occur during Camp are promptly cleaned up and we make sure to restrict access to that area while we clean so puppies won't be exposed to the mess or the disinfectant.

We screen our Adventure Camp puppies ahead of time for health, and ask all puppy parents who use this service to keep us informed if they notice anything unusual about their puppy’s health or behavior ahead of a Camp day. If we notice any signs of illness while a puppy is at Camp, we make sure to take proper precautions by keeping that puppy separate until they can be picked up early, and initiate additional deep cleaning on that day by washing all sheets, towels, or soft toys that were played with that day, and anything that can't be cleaned (such as the popular sniff boxes) are disposed of and replaced.

Your puppy's physical health is just as important as their social development, which is why we take the time to keep our training rooms clean and safe. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

Check out these photos from our #12 classroom during a monthly deep clean:

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Check out other blog posts:

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Teaching "Picky" Pups to Eat!

Eating is a learned behavior, which means that it is something that can be taught, just like any other behavior.  If you have a “picky” or food-selective pup, it is important to think about how we can teach them how to eat more consistently. 

This is an overview of our webinar on this topic. If you want more in-depth help & support on this topic, you can check out the webinar replay Teaching “Picky” Pups to Eat here! 

Besides getting good & consistent nutrition, there are many other reasons why eating is an important behavior for our pups to know how to do appropriately! 

• Training: Eating is a very helpful component of positive reinforcement training! There are lots of other ways we can apply positive training principles if using food isn’t an option, but being able to reward quickly with a treat is very convenient and efficient for a lot of training goals!  

• Enrichment: Being able to eat food out of food puzzles is a great way to exercise our dog’s brains and provide mental stimulation. If our dogs don’t care for the food in the toy, it is difficult to encourage them to play. 

• Threshold Assessment: If our dogs can eat food in most situations, we can then evaluate how comfortable they are in other scenarios. If we first have a solid baseline of “okay, my dog can eat food easily out of my hand at home where he is comfortable…” then we know if they all of a sudden can’t eat food out of your hand because you are outside in a busy park, then your dog may be over threshold. Using food is a great, easy, way to gage your dog’s comfort in a situation and provides a channel of communication between you and your dog. 

• Health Assessment: Eating can be a great way to evaluate your dog’s health. Again, if your dog can have a baseline eating behavior such as being able to eat comfortably at home, then when they pass up a meal or their favorite puzzle toy, we can know something isn’t quite right. 

We cannot emphasize this line of communication enough with our dogs! If our dogs can learn the behavior of eating, it can tell us so many things when they choose to, or not to, eat. 

It’s also important to note that some food-selective dogs that we might label as “picky” may in fact just be over-threshold in a lot of situations. For example, if you have a puppy that eats regular meals at home, and likes working for treats in its own backyard, but then won’t eat at training class, this is likely just because your puppy hasn’t yet learned the behavior of eating enough to withstand the exciting stimuli in that environment, and thus all of the other behaviors (watching other dogs, getting excited about the people nearby, etc.) are more likely to occur than eating.  Similarly, if you have a reactive dog (one that barks at other dogs or people or other things you encounter), that cannot eat food in the presence of one of these triggers, it may not be because your dog doesn’t like food, but rather the behavior of eating isn’t built up to withstand the level of difficulty where we are asking that dog to eat.  

So how do we teach our “picky” pups to eat?

• Reinforce Eating with Other Things: What does your dog enjoy doing?  How can we make access to that activity contingent on eating a treat or a bite or two of their evening meal?  Examples that I often use are activities like playing with a favorite toy, getting attention and praise from you, chewing on a yummy bone, getting access to a new area like a yard or getting out of the car, sniffing, peeing on stuff, etc.  Dog eats a bite of food, gets let out in the backyard to play.  Repeat!

• Set Appropriate Criteria: Think about what environments your dog might feel comfortable eating in.  Do they eat at home?  Do they eat in a quiet room by themselves?  Start with building consistent eating where it’s easy for them to be successful, rewarding them when they do eat.  Then expand the criteria a bit, such as asking for a bit of eating in the front yard. 

• Start with High Value: Many, many (although certainly not all) “picky eater” situations have been resolved simply by increasing the value of what you are offering.  If your dog is turning up their nose at the milk bone crumbles you have, perhaps starting with something a little bit more exciting like a small piece of hot dog or cheese instead.  It’s important to still focus on building consistent eating habits so that if the novelty of these yummy treats wears off, we have eating behaviors that can withstand moving to treats of different values. You won’t always need to give hotdogs & cheese if we are teaching our dogs that in general, eating is a pretty enjoyable activity!

• Avoid Upping The Ante Pitfall: For both training & meal feeding purposes, it can be easy to fall into the trap of increasing the value of what you are offering after your dog has refused the first thing you offered them.  This could look like picking up a neglected kibble bowl and adding in scrambled eggs and putting it back down, or reaching into the training treat pouch and finding that cheese piece after your dog has refused a piece of milk bone.  This can inadvertently teach your dog that refusing food will get them something better!  For meal feeding, we recommend instead if you offer your dog just kibble food and they refuse, removing the food and waiting until the next meal; if you want to add something to their food to make it more exciting, do it before you offer it to them for the FIRST time rather than after they have refused the plain meal.  For training, start with the higher value treats.  You can reduce the value as your dog is getting into the behavior pattern of eating. 

We are just scratching the surface here, and there are a lot more factors to consider when working with “picky” pups.  If you are interested in learning more, check out the webinar replay on this topic for lots of specific suggestions & video examples for teaching our pups how to eat with ease! 

Flirt Pole Games

Have you heard about this super fun toy & training game you can play with your dog?  

A Flirt Pole is a tug toy attached to the end of a rope, which is attached to a pole that you control. You maintain control of the toy with the rigid end of the pole so that you can move the toy around for your dog to engage with!  It can be a fun toy, an exercise tool, and our personal favorite: a training reinforcement tool. 

Our Favorite Flirt Poles:

• Outward Hound

• Pupford Retractable (for small dogs)

• Best Buddy

What makes the Flirt Pole different from a regular toy? 

• You Keep Control: When we use a regular toy as a reward, when tossed your dog can decide whether or not to bring it back.  We can spend a lot of time teaching our dog to bring toys back, but the flirt pole gives us a convenient short cut!  That’s not to say we don’t teach great release-on-cue skills, but it’s nice to keep ourselves involved in the game a bit more easily!  

• The Flirt Pole Toy Moves! A Flirt Pole can also be more engaging for most dogs than a regular toy. If you have a pup that isn’t as interested in regular toys, this may be the perfect solution to get them engaged! When you toss a regular toy, it essentially “dies” and loses its excitement. With the Flirt Pole, you continuously have the ability to make the scenario more or less exciting depending on what you need. 

The ability to control the toy easily, and make it move in exciting ways, really makes the flirt pole a great option to be used as a training reinforcer. You can easily make it vary in excitement based on your dog’s behavior. We can change the value of the toy and be very responsive to how engaging it is because we have prompt control of the toy.  For example, if we are teaching our dog how to release a toy on cue, we can make the toy go flat, or “die”, to make it less exciting, prompting our dogs to release the toy. 

What flirt pole games & skills should you teach?
Teaching good play skills is an important part of using & training with the flirt pole correctly & successfully.  

I teach the following foundation skills as part of my flirt pole routine:

• Get Toy on Cue - Our flirt-pole-playing pups need to know when we are ready to start the game! I teach “Get It” means it’s time to grab the toy to play!

• Release When You Freeze / Release When You Cue - Releasing when you are ready for a pause in the game is so important. I start by freezing the toy (making it boring), then immediately the game starts again when the dog lets go of the toy. After dog is quickly letting go of the toy, I start adding in a verbal release cue.

• Stimulus Control: Don’t Chase the Toy Unless Cued - The game doesn’t start until the magic words happen! After my dog has a good understanding of the “Get It” cue means the game is starting, I start adding in longer pauses before I give that cue, and maybe putting the toy in different positions (ground, hand, table, etc.). I reward my dogs for waiting by giving the “Get It” cue while they are doing a calm behavior instead!

• Pick Up Dead Toy on the Ground - I teach my dogs a cue that means run to pick up the toy that is lying on the ground, then the game starts. I use this for adding distance & distraction to recall & stay cues, as well as advanced sequences like agility where I might need the toy to be away from my hands during our training.

• Settle Between Toy Play - Being able relax and take a break between exciting things is such an important life skill! I use my flirt pole to practice this!

Once I have these foundation skills built, I incorporate the flirt pole as a reinforcer into a training routine for other important life skills! 

Here are just a few of the life skills that I have used the flirt pole to train & reinforce: 

• Good understanding of stimulus control (doing the right behaviors on cue and only on cue)

• Building a positive conditioned emotional response for scary or unpleasant things like wearing coats, loud noises, playing in the cold, etc. 

• Teaching eating skills for dogs who would rather play than eat food

• Building good manners skills around exciting environmental distractions

• Rocket recall & stays

• Tricks & fun!

To learn more about Flirt Poles & see lots of videos for teaching each of these skills, check out our webinar replay on Flirt Pole Games!  This webinar goes in depth on how we teach great flirt pole skills and how we use it correctly in our training structure!

All About Support Dogs - Emotional Support, Service Animals, & Therapy Dogs

September is National Service Dog Month! This is a great opportunity for doing a little bit of learning about service dogs, and other types of support dogs, to understand the differences and how to take your dog down each of these unique career paths. We get a lot of inquiries requesting “service dog training” when actually the prospective student is looking for therapy dog training - and vice versa! There is a lot of confusion around these terms, so let’s take a minute to learn how to distinguish between these canine support roles.

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A “support dog” is a dog that is selected or trained to assist an individual or many people in some way. Who they assist (one person or many) and what they assist with depends on what type of support dog they are. In this blog, we’ll cover the different types of support dogs and the basic training paths toward your dog being successful in one of those support roles. Please note that some of this information is specific to the state of Colorado, so if you live elsewhere please confirm the specific regulations for your region. 

Before we get into the details of the different types of support dogs, let's first talk about the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) evaluation. You’ll see this evaluation referenced throughout this blog. While this isn’t a requirement for all of the support dog jobs (read more details in each support dog section), it is a great benchmark evaluation of your dog’s skills before entering any of these support roles. 

To pass the CGC evaluation, your dog needs to master 10 skills, and demonstrate these in a test administered by an AKC CGC Approved Evaluation (at Summit Dog Training, that’s Amber!). 

Skills Tested: 

1. Accepting a friendly stranger

2. Sitting politely for petting

3. Appearance and grooming

4. Loose leash walking

5. Walking through a crowd

6. Sit and down on command and staying in place

7. Coming when called

8. Reaction to another dog

9. Reaction to distraction

10. Supervised separation

But what are the benefits to achieving your CGC certification? We highly encourage all our students to work towards becoming CGC-certified because the advanced training and evaluation process promotes responsible pet ownership, as well as provides mental and physical exercise for your dog. Additionally, the certification provides socialization skills and helps your dog to be the best companion they can be! This course also encourages the human-animal bond which leads to better communication between you and your dog for successful training. 

Suggested Training Plan For CGC

Step 1: Basic obedience and public manners. Take either Summit Dog Training’s Puppy Basics if your dog is 4-6 months old, or Good Dog Basics if your dog is 6 months or older.

Step 2: Continue refining skills and building the human-animal relationship. Take a Summit Dog Training Level 2 class of your choice. We recommend taking more than one Level 2 class before moving on to Level 3. 

Step 3: Become a Canine Good Citizen! Complete Summit Dog Training’s Level 3 Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog Prep class. After the class, pass the CGC certification test provided by Amber. 

To learn more about the CGC evaluation process, click here.

Emotional Support Animal (ESA)

Update Spring 2021: Rules have changed and most airlines no longer allow ESAs on cabin flights.

Emotional Support Animals provide support to their owners for an emotional or mental disability, like: a learning disability, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), anxiety disorders, depression, motor skill disorders, PTSD, phobias, and more. ESAs are not trained to provide a specific service for their handlers, but rather provide comfort through their presence. 

Documentation from a licensed medical professional is currently the only legal requirement for your dog to become an ESA. An online registration does not give your animal any legal rights and is not required for your animal to be considered an ESA. Any online site advertising an ESA registry for your service dog is likely a scam, as a registry is not required at all. The only requirement is a letter from your licensed medical professional. 

Being an ESA gives your dog special rights. If your medical professional determines that you qualify for an ESA and provides the proper documentation, you are allowed to be accompanied by your ESA in the following places:

• “No Pets” Housing Policy under the FHA: Landlords cannot refuse you housing on the basis of your animal living with you if you have proper ESA documentation. They also cannot evict you on the basis of you having your ESA in the house. They must provide “reasonable accommodation,” which includes waiving any pet fees they may usually charge. Your ESA must not cause an “undue burden” to the landlord’s finances, and must not be a threat to other animals or tenants. 

However, being an ESA does not give your dog unlimited rights. ESA documentation does not give you the right to bring your dog into work offices if your employer has a no-pet policy. You may request through your Human Resources department to be able to bring your ESA with you to the workplace, but they may legally ask for your ESA letter and your request may be declined. Additionally, most public buildings including libraries, university buildings, and businesses do not allow ESAs on the premises. 

Even though no specific training is required for your dog to be considered an ESA, it is a good practice to teach your dog above-average public manners so that they can safely accompany you where they are permitted. One of the biggest reasons that the U.S. Department of Transportation is considering changing the rules concerning ESAs on flights is due to the increased number of incidents that have occurred because of poorly trained animals being brought on flights as ESAs. Committing to a high level of training with your ESA is essential so that they can set a good example and help those allowances to continue into the future!

Suggested Training Plan For An ESA

Note: Remember, there is no “ESA Certification” for your dog. A letter demonstrating your need for an ESA comes from your licensed medical professional and is not connected to the specific animal you choose as your ESA. Training is currently not required for your dog to be considered your ESA, but it is HIGHLY recommended. 

Step 1: Basic obedience and public manners. Take either Summit Dog Training’s Puppy Basics if your dog is 4-6 months old, or Good Dog Basics if your dog is 6 months or older.

Step 2: Continue refining skills and building the dog-human relationship. Take a Summit Dog Training Level 2 class of your choice. We recommend taking more than one Level 2 class before moving on to Level 3. 

Step 3: Become a Canine Good Citizen! Complete Summit Dog Training’s Level 3 Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog Prep class. After the class, pass the CGC certification test provided by Amber. 

Service Animal (SA or SD)

Service animals are specifically trained to perform tasks or services for an individual with a disability. Some examples of service animal tasks include:

• Guiding those who are visually impaired or blind

• Aiding those who are hard of hearing or Deaf

• Alerting people to medical needs or emergencies such as seizures, low blood sugar, allergens, to remember to take their medications, etc. 

• Assisting those with mobility impairments

• Providing psychiatric services for owners with PTSD, OCD, schizophrenia, or other disabilities that require psychiatric aid or medications

Individuals with disabilities who are accompanied by their service animal are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Service animals are allowed in any space that is open to the public. No extra fees may be mandated for housing for you and your service animal, and they are allowed in airplane cabins for flights at no extra cost. Representatives of public spaces cannot ask questions about your disability or demand proof of your animal’s certification. It is not required by law that a service animal wear a vest or any other identification. If your service animal’s status is not obvious, managers/owners/employees/overseers of public spaces may ask you to identify your animal as a service animal verbally by stating what service they provide to you. However, you cannot be charged fees for bringing your service animal into a public space, but you can be charged for any damage your animal does to the space. Your service animal can also be excluded from or asked to leave a public space if the animal represented a threat to public health and safety. 

There is no required “service dog certification,” although your dog must be trained in specific skills to help you in order to be considered a service dog. Furthermore, your service dog needs above-average public manners so that they can safely accompany you wherever you need to go. If your service dog is causing a disruption or behaving aggressively towards other people or dogs in a public place, you may be asked to leave despite your rights to a service dog under the ADA. Training for both public manners and your specific needs are both essential pieces of a service dog training plan. 

Suggested Training Plan for Service Dogs

Step 1: Basic obedience and public manners. Take either Summit Dog Training’s Puppy Basics if your dog is 4-6 months old, or Good Dog Basics if your dog is 6 months or older.

Step 2: Continue refining skills and building the dog-human relationship. Take a Summit Dog Training Level 2 class of your choice. We recommend taking more than one Level 2 class before moving on to Level 3. 

Step 3: Become a Canine Good Citizen! Complete Summit Dog Training’s Level 3 Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog Prep class. After the class, pass the CGC certification test provided by Amber. 

Step 4: Continue training to work towards goal behaviours for your desired services and tasks. Depending on the goals, Summit Dog Training may be able to help you teach these service dog tasks! We also recommend Canine Community Heroes in Greeley, CO for specialized service dog training expertise.

Step 5: Seek certifications if you would like to achieve them (but avoid unnecessary/costly online registration that don’t actually provide you any real “proof” of your animal’s status). 

Therapy Dog

Therapy dogs provide comfort, services, and benefits on a voluntary basis through the human-animal bond. Their affection and interactions improve the lives of the people who the dog visits with their owner. Therapy dogs are well-trained, friendly dogs that are welcomed into facilities, upon approval, on a volunteer basis. Some facilities require certification representation for therapy dogs to volunteer there. While service dogs and ESAs are trained to provide support to their handlers only, therapy dogs are trained to provide comfort and support to other people.

Therapy dogs are commonly seen in:

• Hospitals

• Assisted living centers

• Airports

• Schools

• Workplaces

• Therapy services

Therapy dog handlers do not fall under the provisions of the ADA, and thus therapy dogs are only permitted in public areas that are designated pet-friendly, unless specifically invited by a facility to conduct therapy work on their premises. 

Suggested Training Plan For Therapy Dogs

Step 1: Basic obedience and public manners. Take either Summit Dog Training’s Puppy Basics if your dog is 4-6 months old, or Good Dog Basics if your dog is 6 months or older.

Step 2: Continue refining skills and building the dog-human relationship. Take a Summit Dog Training Level 2 class of your choice. We recommend taking more than one Level 2 class before moving on to Level 3. 

Step 3: Become a Canine Good Citizen! Complete Summit Dog Training’s Level 3 Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog Prep class. After the class, pass the CGC certification test provided by Amber. 

Step 4: Pass an official Therapy Dog test and certification (if desired or needed for access to facilities where you hope to volunteer). 

In Northern Colorado, we refer our students to Larimer Animal People Partnership (LAPP) or Human-Animal Bond in Colorado (HABIC) for completing the Therapy Dog certification process. 

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It is important to know the differences between each type of support dog as an owner and as a public civilian interacting with them. Understanding each dog’s role helps to better set them up for success and keeps everyone safe. If your training goals align with one of these roles, you can use these sample training plans to get started, or reach out to us for more information and help!

Note: The training plans outlined here are guidelines based on the average inquiry that we receive. If you and your dog have unique goals, or have already done some training together and aren’t sure where to jump in next, don’t hesitate to reach out to us for more customized assistance!

Teaching Your Small Dog to Love Getting Picked Up

Building off of our Small Dogs Need Training Too blog from a few weeks ago, today we’re going to talk about how to teach your small dog or puppy to feel comfortable when you pick them up!  This is applicable to dogs of all sizes, but especially important for small dogs who will likely have to experience being picked up more frequently throughout their life.

Here are a few reasons that we might need to pick up our small dog or puppy:

• Safety – something dangerous is coming and we need to get them to safety

• Hot surface – boosting puppy across asphalt that might burn their paws

• Over obstacles – up and down stairs, over a fallen log on a hiking trail

 When we are raising a puppy, we also usually carry them more frequently to get them to potty areas on time, to avoid contact with outside surfaces prior to vaccination, and because they just can’t walk as far as an older dog.  At first, most pups tolerate this carrying behavior pretty well, but it’s not uncommon for puppies to get to a point where being carried is not as comfortable or pleasant as it used to be!  This is when you might see unwanted behaviors emerging like squirming to get down, whining, biting at your fingers, or growling – your puppy is using these behaviors to tell you that they don’t like what you are doing!  This change in tolerance to being picked up can happen to some extent as part of a pup’s normal physical development (i.e getting bigger makes being picked up less comfortable), but often it is also a result of us over-using picking up or not teaching the puppy how to feel calm and confident about being picked up. 

The good news is that there are a quite a few things that you can do with your puppy or older small dog to help them learn a calm picking up behavior. 

1.     Limit Use: Let your puppy walk as much as possible, and use picking up sparingly and only as-needed. Yes, it can be very convenient to carry a pup around to hurry things up, but the more we do it, the more withdrawals we are making from this behavior bank account. Try to save picking your puppy up for necessary situations only (like going up and down stairs) and avoid using this tactic at other times.   It is also important to avoid picking your puppy up as a removal from an exciting situation, as this can really add negative emotions about being picked up.  It’s so easy to see our puppy getting into trouble (like chewing on something inappropriately) and scoop them up to redirect, but this can be extra frustrating for our pups.  Instead, try redirecting them in a different way that allows them to keep all four feet on the ground!

2.     Use a Cue: Make sure the puppy knows you are about to pick them up ahead of time by adding a cue!  I use the word “Boost” for Jamie.  When I started conditioning this word, I would give it as I reached down for him, just a split second before actually picking him up.  At the beginning, I always followed each cued pick up with a reward (see #3!).  Now, a few months later, I give it the verbal cue a bit further in advance (1-2 full seconds) and wait for his consent (see #5).

3.     Keep it Pleasant: We want our small pups to think getting picked up is a great thing! Condition pleasant things for calm in your arms.  I follow “Boost” with a treat, and rehearse with my puppy the short sequence of “Boost” —> pick up —> treat —> release back to the floor —> repeat.  We want the puppy to know that getting picked up doesn’t always mean a long carry or squeeze in your arms, but sometimes they get to go right back to what they were doing before.  It’s also important to make sure that we aren’t startling our dogs when we scoop them up, as this can be very unpleasant!  So using a cue to alert your pup to what is happening is tied into this point as well. 

4.     Calm Gets Down: We can teach our pups that being calm in our arms actually gets them out of our arms!  This goes back to the keeping it short and sweet intervals from #3 - if you pick up your puppy and they are calm for a few seconds, put them down.  Repeat!  When they are still and relaxed, they get to go down.  Now, we also have to keep in mind that if a puppy is really struggling to get out of your arms, not much good is served by forcing them to stay in your arms until they settle down. This will likely only exacerbate the situation. Try to notice calm behaviors to reinforce within the short intervals of time that our pups can handle, and if they are always getting to a struggling, biting mode then we are pushing things too far!

5.     Work Towards Voluntary Participation: Your dog can learn to tell you “Yes, I’m ready to be picked up!” When I first started working on conditioning pick up skills with Jamie, I didn’t really wait for his permission to pick him up per-se, but I also didn’t pick him up if he was actively trying to avoid it. If your pup exhibits finger biting or active avoidance (walking/running away) as soon as you reach for him, we have a bit of other conditioning and baby steps we need to do first in order to build back up to picking him up. But as we are seeing a good foundation being built where our puppies are having pleasant experiences when they are being picked up, the next layer that I like to add is getting my puppy to volunteer to be picked up.  At first this looked like Jamie giving a little weight shift up and into my hand as I placed it under his stomach.  I’d say “Boost” and because he knew what was coming, he’d do a little rise up off the ground (really slight at first, almost like he was going up on tip-toes), and then I would pick him up.  Once I started seeing this weight shift consistently, I started waiting to get this little bit of consent before lifting him. If I said “Boost,” reached down to pick him up, and he didn’t offer weight shift, I just waited in that position.  Usually he would offer the weight shift within a few seconds, and started learning through this that he had control over the situation - I wouldn’t pick him up if I didn’t get his buy-in.  Now that weight shift has morphed into a full launch-into-arms behavior, so most of the time he is participating actively in getting picked up instead of getting scooped.  This control goes a long way to building a resilient behavior that the dog will want to participate in.  This isn’t something to expect overnight (Jamie and I have been working on this for about 5 months now), but start with steps 1-4 above and then move to this when you are ready!

Jamie demonstrating a voluntary boost behavior with Charlie.

 Troubleshooting

• What if your puppy growls on one occasion when you pick them up? What do you do?

 If it’s a one-off event or the first time it’s happened, don’t panic.  Put your puppy down, and take stock of your environment.  Was something different about this picture than previous times you have picked your puppy up (i.e. perhaps a bone resource you were pulling your puppy away from, or perhaps they had just woken up from a nap)?  The more details you can collect and observe, the more information you will have to develop some training plan options for moving forward. 

The other thing I always check if I have a dog exhibit a one-off growling incident in response to a physical interaction is whether there is any pain or discomfort that I wasn’t aware of.  Sometimes our pups might be sore from playing rough with a friend, or maybe they have a burr stuck in their armpit that caused a pinch.  Rule out the potential influence of pain before proceeding to any significant behavior modification plan. 

Next, make a plan to review some picking up confidence!  Go back a few levels in difficulty (i.e. start with just reaching towards your puppy) and make it positive and fun!  Even if the incident was a one-off expression of discomfort for some reason, it’s always good to go back and review and build up that picking up behavior bank account.   

• What if your puppy or dog always growls when you pick them up?

Time to avoid picking them up at all costs for now, and work on some easier steps (like just reaching towards your puppy = treat) for the time being.  A dog trainer would be a great asset to your team to help you create a step-by-step conditioning plan to help your puppy feel more comfortable with this routine!

• What if your puppy or dog’s behavior towards you when you try to pick them up is pretty severe, resulting in attempted or successful bite towards you or a family member?

It’s time to enlist a behavior professional to help you create a step-by-step plan to modify this behavior sequence.  In the meantime, avoid picking up your dog at all costs, as this will likely just continue to make this situation worse.   

Surviving Puppy Adolescence With Your Sanity (and Love for Your Puppy) Intact

Blog post by Amber Quann KPA-CTP, CPDT-KSA

Jamie is 7.5 months old now, and based on the behaviors we are seeing emerge over the past few weeks, I think it’s safe to say that we’ve officially entered into the “adolescence” developmental phase.  

Puppies start to enter this developmental period around 6-8 months of age, and it typically lasts through the dog’s young adulthood at around 2 years of age.  Of course the adolescent developmental period is wonderful, magical, beautiful and harmonious, and “teenaged” puppies are always perfect and well behaved.

Just kidding. Puppy adolescence is one of the toughest periods of development for many dogs, which makes it a pretty challenging and frustrating time for puppy guardians as well!

What does Adolescence Look Like?

During adolescence, certain behavior patterns emerge or intensify that make our beautiful baby puppies feel like little monsters!  Some of the things to look out for:

• Increased Independence - This increased independence has biological motivations across species, encouraging young to start adventuring out on their own and “leaving the nest” so to speak. It just so happens that this isn’t something we really want our household dogs to be doing much of, so it can cause a bit of conflict!

• “Forgetting” How to Respond to Know Cues - During this time, I often hear things from puppy parents such as “But he KNOWS how to come when called, he’s just choosing not to!” or “He used to be so good at potty training, now he is having accidents in the house again.”  We might be tempted to label this as “stubbornness” rearing its ugly head, but we have to recognize that this is a normal behavior of the adolescent period and not something that is inherently wrong with our puppies. 

• High Energy & Impulsiveness - At a time when our puppies are ramping up in their physical stamina and energy, they are also usually exhibiting an increase of what we might call “impulsive” behaviors.  By this I mean behaviors that choose immediate reinforcement (feels good, gratifies urges, etc.) over delayed reinforcement.  So our puppies have a lot more energy, and a lot less self-control at this stage, which can compound into all sorts of troublesome behaviors!  Counter-surfing, chewing on inappropriate items, running away from you to keep playing in the yard instead of coming when called, etc.  Your puppy is now charged up and ready to go, and their lack of self-control is allowing them to barrel off in all sorts of inappropriate directions! 

What’s the Brain Up to?

While there isn’t a lot of research on brain development during adolescence in dogs specifically, there is research on this topic that has been done on adolescents of human, non-human primates, and rodent populations.  The behaviors that emerge during adolescence in these species are similar to the ones that we observe in our young dog population, so while we still need more quality research specifically on adolescence in dogs, in the meantime we can use some of what we know from these other studies to get a closer idea of what might be happening to our puppies’ brains during this developmental period.  

Basically, what we learn from studying adolescence in other species, is that this is a period where there is a lot of extra activity of the limbic system while the prefrontal cortex is still in development. 

Limbic System - “A complex system of nerves and networks in the brain, involving several areas near the edge of the cortex concerned with instinct and mood. It controls the basic emotions (fear, pleasure, anger) and drives (hunger, sex, care of offspring).”

Prefrontal Cortex - “The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the cerebral cortex covering the front part of the frontal lobe. This brain region has been implicated in planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behaviour.”

So as individuals enter adolescence, they experience an increase in activity in the part of their brain that controls mood, emotions, and drive to fulfill urges.  Simultaneously, the prefrontal cortex that is responsible for things like self-control, calm & rational decision making, and other functions that make the individual a pleasant member of a social group is still under development.  

For our puppies, this looks like a lot of acting on what feels good in the moment instead of rational, self-controlled decisions (“I’m gonna run off and chase this butterfly even though my human is calling me!”).  This is an oversimplification of the science, for sure, but I hope that it gives us all a little bit more compassion for our puppies as they are making decisions based on the brain power that is currently at their disposal, which is often less than what we’d like them to have when they are going through this challenging developmental stage! 

What can We Do?  (Save my Sanity!) 

The good news is that this is a developmental period, meaning it’s not forever!  Our puppies do “grow up” and learn how to control their impulses and make better decisions. They just need a little time, patience, and support to get through this!  Here are a few practical suggestions for saving your sanity and continuing to love and enjoy your puppy through this adolescent period. 

• Don’t Put the Crate Away Yet - Even if your puppy is doing great with potty training, chewing, and sleeping through the night, the crate can be a really helpful tool for surviving adolescence with your sanity intact. Your puppy still needs quality naps, and as their energy increases into adolescence, they may have difficulty putting themselves into sleep mode on their own.  This is where the crate time comes in.  If you have done your crate training work well as a puppy, this should be easy to carry over into adolescence.  The crate can be substituted for other types of management like exercise pen set ups, baby-gated into a quiet “nap-zone” like the laundry room, etc.  Jamie still takes at least one nap in his crate every day, to supplement the brief naps he is choosing on his own while he is out and about.  His naps in the crate are much deeper and longer than any of his self-chosen naps in another location, so the crate is still helping him get some good quality sleep that is essential for him making good decisions during awake time!

• Use ALL the Enrichment Games & Puzzles - If your puppy has extra energy in the morning and evenings around mealtime, this is a perfect time to utilize their food from the bowl for some positive activity instead of “getting into trouble”.  We’ve written here and here about our favorite types of food puzzles.  You can also turn mealtimes into training times as well!   I also recommend having some pacifier “lickable” toys (like Kongs, West-Paws, etc.) stocked up in the freezer so that you can pull this out easily throughout the day as your adolescent puppy needs a calming activity.

• Get Creative With Your Reinforcement - Sometimes the treat in your hand just won’t be as exciting as the opportunity to chase that squirrel across the yard, especially during adolescence.  This is a great time to get creative with your reinforcement strategies, and be a little unpredictable and fun for your puppy.  Here are a few ideas for adding real-life reinforcers into your routine. Think about the 5 things that your adolescent puppy is most distracted by on your walks or other outdoor adventures. You can actually turn these into reinforcers for your puppy by giving them access to these distractions when they do something that you like.  Additionally, incorporate some spontaneous reinforcements into your routine with your puppy, where your puppy gets a big enthusiastic “surprise” treat for doing something small like looking up at you when you are in the yard.  My colleague Nina has some great thoughts on this here. 

• Review Basics - It’s never a bad time to go back and do a little review, and as your puppy is entering adolescence it is even more important.  If you see your puppy “forgetting” how to do some of the cues they were a rockstar at previously, go back a few steps and build the behavior back up.  The good news is that the behavior fluency will return post adolescence, if we continue to help our puppies remember that these good behaviors pay off consistently!  Adventure Puppy Basics in our Virtual Classroom is a great way to start off with some review!

• Set Your Puppy Up for Success - As your puppy is working through this developmental period, there might be situations that they just can’t handle responsibly & appropriately yet. Sometimes the best thing we can do to help our puppy during this is to modify the situation to a level they can handle, or avoid these situations entirely.  For example, if your puppy has recently started jumping up on EVERY person that it sees with such enthusiasm, it’s probably a good idea to avoid areas with large crowds until your puppy has some improved self-control (comes with prefrontal cortex development) and has been able to rehearse a better behavior quite a bit. Instead, stand on the outskirts and let your puppy look and get rewarded for being calm near people.  Similarly, if your puppy’s recall behavior suddenly falls apart (like Jamie’s has been), go back a step in your criteria and rely on some management tools like a long-line to make sure that they aren’t rehearsing and getting rewarded for the unwanted behavior of running off.  I’m not saying to avoid difficult situations with your puppy entirely, but think about what behaviors you want your puppy practicing a lot of, and set up the situation so that those behaviors are most likely to happen!  You and your puppy will both leave the situation feeling happier and more successful, which means you’ll want to go practice together again! 

One last note - Adolescence is often a time period where the use of aversive training methods becomes really tempting, and it is even prescribed starting at this age by some behavior practitioners.  I totally get it - after recently watching my puppy dance away from me with a “treasure” in his mouth instead of coming back when I called him, I understand the frustration!  However, if we rush to apply unpleasant stimuli as punishment in situations where our dogs are primarily acting very consistently with their developmental stage, we can potentially do more harm than good.  Since the limbic system is in hyperactive mode of feelings over-drive, the fallout of applying aversive training techniques during this developmental time period may be more severe. 

Instead, let’s do our best to remember that this is a developmental period that we need to train & manage our puppies through with patience and grace instead of enforcing the law.  If you see something you don’t like (like Jamie running away instead of coming when called!), go back to the drawing board of your training plan and pick a few places to do some workshopping. 

Puppies entering adolescence are just that - young, socially immature creatures with very little self-control and a lot of drive to get their needs met as fast as possible.  It can be very frustrating for us in the middle of it, but the good news is that it isn’t permanent!  Pull out the whiteboard with your training plan and all the patience and love you can muster.  

Your puppy needs you on their team during this developmental period, and this starts by recognizing that your puppy really isn’t trying to give you a hard time - they are just doing what puppies do, the best way that they know how right at this moment of development! 

Keep your chins & paws up!   We’ll get through this together!