The Importance of Puppy Training

In honor of National Dog Day, I'm going to dedicate this post to our pups, and how we can effectively train them. Training is important because it establishes communication, and more importantly, a social hierarchy in your household. Remember that dogs are pack animals, and you need to establish your role as the "pack leader." You need your dog to respect you, and a dog who is disobedient does not. 

Luckily, with proper instruction, puppies are rather quick to learn. With that being said, puppies are quite impressionable, so its first days at home are especially critical, because they set the precedent for how your puppy will behave in its adult years. 

When you first bring your new puppy home, it's easy to get swept away in your emotions, and break any pre-established rules and boundaries. This is exactly what happened to me when I attempted to train Rusty. I let him get away with bad behavior, because I was swept up in the excitement of a new puppy, and I allowed his cuteness factor to cloud my better judgement.

What I learned from that experience, however, is that puppies need guidance from day one. If you decide you want your dog crate trained, but allow him to sleep in your bed "just that one night" (I put that in quotes, because I think we all know how well that doesn't work), he wont understand why he's suddenly in his crate on night two (or three or four, depending on how often you let him get away with the former). If you allow your puppy to jump on you, it will be very hard to retrain him not to do so when he's bigger and it's not so cute anymore. Allowing bad behavior and later changing the rules will only leave your puppy feeling confused. 


Remember that dogs are animals, and they will behave as such. Without training, they will do what is inherently natural to them. They will chew on your furniture. They will soil your house and ruin your carpet. They will dig up your yard and destroy your beautiful garden. They will even exhibit aggressive behavior to you, your guests and strangers, and even other dogs. While these are normal dog traits, they are less than desirable, and they need to be treated as such. 

But remember, training is an ongoing process; your job is not complete just because you've trained your puppy at an early age. You've simply built the foundation for good behavior. As your puppy grows into adulthood, its behavior will continue to change, and new problems will develop. These new problems will need to be corrected.