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Life with a puppy offers valuable lessons

Copied from an article by Ann Holland in the News & Advance

His name is Paddock and he is our puppy. My husband and I had planned to adopt an older dog in large part because we did not want a puppy. Puppies are a nuisance – housebreaking, chewing, jumping – no, thank you! And yet somehow here he is. In our house. Chewing on our baseboards.

It is a tremendous responsibility to raise a puppy to be an upstanding member of society. And when things aren’t going as planned, it’s easy to become frustrated and overwhelmed. When a puppy is little, his adorableness makes it easy to forgive him for eviscerating your throw pillows. Young puppies are also fast learners, which makes training fun. But once a puppy reaches adolescence (a period ranging from 6 to 18 or more months), watch out. Suddenly he has “selective hearing,” forgets that he’s housebroken, chews on everything and is, in general, an obnoxious brat. To make matters worse, adolescent puppies are reaching their adult size. So for a few months you may have what amounts to a 50-pound bull charging through the china shop that is your life.

Now approximately a year old, my pup is in the throes of the dreaded adolescent stage. Paddock is pandemonium personified. Yet we’ve been working with him since the beginning. He’s attended three 6-week obedience courses so far. We’ve had private lessons in our home. I’ve spent countless hours training him one-on-one. And yet we still have so far to go.

I will admit that Paddock has a bit more special needs than most. Those who know how hard I’ve worked “encourage” me by saying things like, “He’s lucky to have you. Anyone else would have sent him back to the shelter.” I secretly wonder how bad it would look in the public eye if the president of the Lynchburg Humane Society surrendered her own dog because she couldn’t take it anymore.

Okay, I’m kidding about that last part. Mostly.

And he is getting better. He really is. As I type this, Pad is lying at my feet contentedly gnawing on a sanctioned chew toy.

So I thought I’d share a few things that I am learning from this experience:

  • Patience. It took time for Paddock and me to learn one another and figure out what worked for us.

  • Consistency. This is the tough one. Whenever I slack off – even a little – Pad picks up on it and our training takes two steps backward.

  • Attitude. Training has to be a fun and positive experience for both of us. If either one of us gets too frustrated, I end the session on a positive note and try again later.

  • Positive reinforcement. Rewarding Paddock for good behavior is more effective than punishing him for being bad.

It is no surprise that there are a disproportionate number of adolescent dogs in shelters. Many more are relegated to pens or chains in the backyard where their behavior will only grow worse. Some folks are simply not prepared for their puppies to turn into obstinate nutjobs who test their owners every chance they get.

But if I can make progress with my floppy-eared monster, I know there is hope for others. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to look for my other shoe. It was just here a minute ago…

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