Raising Puppies

Problem Behavior - What Not to Do

So what if you decide that your puppy has a problem behavior? If you want to stop your puppy from doing something you don't like, do not:

Knee her in the chest
Scruff shake her
Spank her
Flip her upside down or "alpha roll" her
Yell at her

If you use physical means to try to change your puppy's behavior, she may interpret your action as part of her game, so the behavior will actually get worse instead of better. (Have you ever seen two puppies or dogs playing together? They can play pretty roughly.) Or she won't engage in the problem behavior anymore because you frightened her. This will work great for you, but what about everyone else in your family? Can your five-year-old son effectively knee your puppy in the chest? Can your grandparents spank your puppy hard enough? You want your puppy to listen to everyone in the family, not just the person who is strongest.

Sometimes, using harsh methods to discipline a puppy can seriously backfire. If you frighten your dog enough, she may feel that she has to defend herself. This doesn't mean that she's stubborn or defying youshe's just frightened. For example, let's say your puppy jumps up on you and you spank her. She doesn't understand that you don't want her to jump upshe just understands that you are scary. So she growls at you to tell you that she's afraid and wants you to stop. You get really mad and spank her again. She figures that you didn't understand her message the first time, so she has to be clearer. She bites you. Is she a stubborn, willful puppy? No. You're both just communicating in very different ways. You're spanking her, because you want her to stop jumping. She's growling and biting, because she's afraid of your anger.

Problem Behavior - What to Do

You do not need to use harsh methods to discipline your puppy. Instead of getting angry with her for a problem behavior, teach her what you'd rather her do instead. For every behavior that your puppy does that you don't like, there are lots of preferable behaviors that you can teach her to engage in instead. For example, if you don't like your puppy jumping, teach her to sit when she greets people. Instead of getting mad at her for chasing the cat, teach her the leave it cue so that she leaves the cat alone. This is a much more effective way of communicating with your puppy and solving problem behaviors.