Train your Puppy!

Maybe I’m not the best person to talk about this as I have determined that I will never have a puppy again. Or maybe I’m not the right person because I haven’t done training classes with my current dogs. However, we are working on Larry’s issues, and most of Junebug’s are called being a Beagle, not saying she couldn’t be better, but I don’t think it would be much.

What has really brought this to mind, though, has been a couple visits in just the last week. Last Saturday, we were at the park with a good friend and her new dog, and there was a couple there with a puppy. It was like the puppy didn’t know its name or their voices, most of the time. It didn’t respond to them except when they came to physically drag it where they wanted it to go.

My friend, noticing their problems (and having some similar ones with her rescue dog) asked if they’d started training yet. She and her dog had just started training classes and it was already making a difference.

The guy’s response was “No”. Not a no, but he starts in a couple weeks, or even a no, we keep meaning to sign up but haven’t gotten around to it, but more of a no, why would you ever think our dog needed to go to a training class.

The thing is, it was a Husky or Malamute puppy. (I really should be able to tell the difference, but I can’t, at least not until they’re adults.) This is a dog that’s going to be big, powerful, and are known for needing dominant owners and lots of training.

At the current rate, the dog wasn’t going to be fit for dog park consumption in just a few months.

And again, Tuesday night at the park, there was a young couple with a pit bull puppy. He was so cute, and still baby soft. And when I say puppy, I mean young enough that I’m not certain he has had all of his shots yet, and maybe shouldn’t even have been at the dog park. He was clumsy, awkward, and all around adorable.

The couple also had another little dog with them, that the girl couldn’t really control, but at 10-15lbs, it wasn’t a big deal.

But when she held the leash of the puppy, she let him drag her around, just like she did the other dog. He’s still 15lbs max, I mean really little (compared to what he will be) and should have been easy to control, even for a small adult.

My guess is that she doesn’t want to pull back or discipline either dog. But with a small adult dog, one that’s never going to be more than 10-15lbs, you can get away with that, because you can drag them away, pick them up and carry them away, if need be, even if you normally don’t control them.

However, for a dog that’s going to be closer to 60lbs of all muscle, this is a bad, bad plan. Now, when he’s small, you need to teach him that you’re stronger than him. Teach him that he not only can’t he pull you around, he shouldn’t try. Because otherwise, he’s going to be a big dog you have no control over. And no matter how sweet, the only thing many people will see is an out of control pit bull.

That’s bad for your dog. That’s bad for you. And that’s bad for every other pit and person who loves them out there.

Puppies are cute. They are soft and cuddly and playful and all sorts of wonderful things. And it can be oh so hard to tell them “No”. I get it, I do. But if you want to have a dog that can be around other dogs and people, you really, really have to do some training- even if its not in an official class.