5 Biggest Puppy Training Mistakes
5 Biggest Puppy Training Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Raising a puppy properly starts with preventing bad habits from the get-go.
We’ve all got a friend or family member with a dog that no one enjoys being around.
Maybe their dog barks incessantly at the slightest sound they hear, whines non-stop until they get their way, or is a veteran ankle-biter who attacks guests when they arrive.
Or perhaps their dog is still using different parts of the house as a toilet and destroying furniture and shoes for a living, making them an unwelcome guest in your home.
Whatever the case may be, these dog parents are either blind to their dog’s faults or they’ve decided to live with their dog’s bad behavior, despite the everyday stress it causes them or others - sometimes with the unfortunate side effect of friends and family members not wanting to spend much time around their dog, if at all.
So where did these pet parents go wrong?
Here are the 5 biggest puppy training mistakes to avoid to ensure you don’t raise a dog that only you can love.
1. Don’t Socialize Your Puppy
Early socialization is one of the most important aspects of foundational puppy training, especially if you don’t want to raise an ankle-biter that tries to “ward off intruders” when guests stop by or a dog that is afraid or unaccepting of other dogs.
The optimal time to socialize a puppy is during the early “socialization window” - a brief period between the ages of 3 weeks to 4 months when their brain is rapidly growing - because this is when they will most readily accept “novel stimulus” (meaning anything new or unfamiliar).
This means it’s YOUR JOB to introduce your puppy to as many people, places, and new environments as possible within the socialization window time frame to help them adapt to everyday life with you before it’s too late.
Additionally, these encounters should be pleasant, so it’s important to ensure your puppy has a good experience while exposing them to new things and not the opposite.
For instance, having friends and family stop by to meet and gently handle your puppy when you first bring it home sets the stage for your puppy to get confident about meeting more people once you’re ready to start taking it outside.
You can help a puppy acclimate to loud sounds (like garbage trucks, sirens, or motorcycles) early on by opening windows on garbage day or holding your puppy and giving it treats as you stand near a busy street corner and watch the world whizz by.
When living in a city, taking a puppy to a nearby park where it will encounter bicyclists, joggers, and skateboarders will go a long way to ensure that your puppy isn't afraid of them and won’t chase after them when it matures.
Lastly, to ensure your puppy grows up to be dog-friendly (or at the very least dog-tolerant), it’s essential to find ways to safely introduce your pup to other puppies and fully vaccinated adult dogs while monitoring those experiences to ensure they remain positive.
If you don't know anyone with a puppy, it's a good idea to look into local puppy classes designed to provide a safe place to socialize your puppy with other puppies the same size and age.
Inviting friends and family members with friendly, adult dogs to stop by your home for a supervised play date is also a good idea, however, you may want to keep your puppy in a playpen upon initial introductions to ensure the experience isn’t too overwhelming and to keep your puppy safe in case the dogs don’t get along.
2. Let Your Puppy Roam Free Unsupervised
Letting a puppy roam free all day before it’s potty trained and knows all the house rules is like setting off a ticking time bomb in your home.
That’s because bad habits that develop early on like pottying anywhere a puppy chooses or destructive chewing on furniture can be difficult to break as a puppy grows older.
It’s far better to keep your pup in a crate, playpen, or confined area if you can’t actively supervise it to keep it out of trouble and prevent unwanted habits from developing.
Exercise pens can be attached to themselves or a crate to make an instant puppy playpen and kitchens, bathrooms, and hallways can be easily turned into confinement areas using walk-through gates.
Just provide your puppy with a bed or crate to rest in and cover whatever floor space is visible with pee pads or fabric potty pads in case of a potty accident and your puppy will have a safe space to play and relax while you are busy doing other things.
Crate Training: When to Use a Crate Vs. a Playpen
Crate training can accelerate the process of housebreaking a puppy because a pup is less likely to soil where it sleeps and the lack of movement helps it learn to hold its bladder.
This is why we recommend using a crate mainly when a puppy needs a nap since it provides a calm space to rest and prevents the pup from pottying as soon as it wakes up.
The rule of thumb for how many hours you can leave a puppy in a crate is calculated by taking their age in months and adding one (for instance, a 2-month-old puppy + 1 = 3 hours); however, since every puppy is different, you should pay close attention to how long your puppy can be comfortably kept in a crate without soiling itself.
If your puppy is active and alert, it’s far kinder to confine it in a playpen with pee pads if you must be away for longer than a few hours - that way, if they have a potty accident, it’s no big deal.
Making confinement part of your pup’s daily routine is also the best way to prevent puppy separation anxiety from developing because it gets a puppy used to not being able to access you at all times.
3. Let Your Puppy Bite You During Play
“Rough-housing” with a puppy with your hands and letting it bite you may seem cute when it’s small, but remember: your puppy will get bigger!
Soon those play-bites will become harder and more frequent unless you train your puppy not to bite you during play.
As a rule of thumb, always have a toy or chewie in your hand when playing with your puppy so you can help your puppy distinguish that biting on toys or chewies is okay, but that sinking its teeth into people is not.
Puppy Training 101: The "3 Strikes, You're Out" Rule
To curb this behavior, always have a toy in your hand when playing with your puppy to give them something appropriate to bite on, and stick to a "Three Strikes, You're Out Rule” to provide consequences for biting on you and not the toy.
Here are the steps:
If your puppy bites you, say "Ouch!" and pull your hands away, stopping play momentarily (that's “Strike One”). This lets your puppy know that biting hurts and will “stop all the fun.” Wait for your pup to calm down and then resume play.
If your puppy bites you again, let out another "Ouch!" and then stand up and turn your back to it (that's “Strike Two”). Wait for your pup to calm down and then resume play.
If your puppy decides to bite a third time, it's time to take a break from play and either walk away or put them back in their playpen for a timeout (that's Strike Three).
Sticking to a "Three Strikes, You're Out" rule helps your puppy learn there are progressive consequences for biting and it will lose its playmate if it continues to bite down on human skin, so it should stick to only biting on the toy when interacting with you.
This is important for your relationship with your puppy, as well as your pup's relationship with others because a puppy that knows not to bite you is also less likely to bite someone else!
4. Let Your Puppy Jump on You & Others to Say Hello
Dogs like to greet others by licking them on the mouth, so they will generally jump excitedly when greeting a person in an attempt to plant a canine-style kiss on their face.
If you encourage this behavior when you greet your puppy, your dog will think it’s okay to jump on everyone to say hello, and you may end up with an out-of-control jumper on your hands!
So do yourself a favor and train your puppy to Sit to get your attention when you greet them.
It’s easy to do - simply ignore your pup and don’t pet them until they sit, and once they do, you can say hello!
When training your puppy not to jump on others, it's best to keep it on a leash.
That way you can step on the leash to prevent your puppy from jumping on someone, and you can actively reward your puppy's choice to sit as the object of their attention approaches.
Finish by asking visitors and guests to kneel to say hello to your puppy to help it be successful at not jumping on them.
5. Train Your Puppy to Bark & Whine to Get What It Wants
Puppies learn by association and from the consequences of their actions, so be careful not to reinforce demand behaviors.
If a puppy discovers they can get your attention by jumping on you, pawing at you, whining, or barking, they will continue to do so throughout their life with you.
To avoid this, train your puppy that demand behaviors (also known as action-prompting behaviors) will be ignored and that calm, polite behaviors like sitting and making eye contact with you will win your attention.
You can also make a point of rewarding your puppy for settling down more frequently around the house.
Your Puppy’s Education Starts on Day One of Bringing Them Home
In conclusion, early socialization and training should begin as soon as you bring your puppy home.
Investing in behavior management tools such as crates, playpens, and walk-through gates will make managing and training your puppy easier and save you a lot of headaches down the road.
It’s important to give your pup direction for how you would like it to behave, otherwise, your puppy will do as it pleases - even if it displeases you! - so puppy obedience training is an essential component of raising a well-behaved dog.
About the Author:
Alexandra Bassett is the owner and lead dog trainer at Dog Savvy, a positive dog training company specializing in game-based dog training and solving problem dog behaviors.
She is certified as Knowledge Assessed by the Council of Professional Dog Trainers (CPDT-KA) and is available for online dog training sessions via Zoom.