How To Spoil Your Puppy: The Right Way
For most people that are bringing home a puppy, spoiling the new addition to the family is the last thing on their minds. Everyone agrees to follow the rules, to make the puppy mind their manners, and to avoid allowing the puppy to get away with bad behaviours. However, the best-made plans of the family are all-too-soon dissolved into remnants of the original plan once the puppy actually arrives!
Typically this drift from the original plan on how to work with the puppy starts almost immediately. Here's a list of the most common ways to create spoiled puppies and ultimately spoiled dogs:
1. Organise everything around the puppy. That puppy will rule your life if you let it! So don't let it! While scheduling housetraining, feeding and exercise is important, the puppy also has to learn to wait their turn, to amuse themselves or play by themselves, and above all to spend some time away from humans on their own when necessary.
2. Immediately attend to the puppy when he or she whines or cries. Puppies will soon learn to bark or whine to get attention if you teach them it works! This becomes a nightmare situation if you don't teach them that YOU are in charge and you'll respond to them when you're ready.
3. Carry the puppy everywhere and fuss it every time it seems at risk of a fall, bump or trip. Now, nobody wants their puppy to have an accident but you can't treat a puppy as if it's made of glass, or it will believe it's the no 1 person in the house!
4. Don't allow the puppy to walk and explore. A puppy is not a precious little piece of decoration; it's a living animal that needs exercise to stay healthy. Carrying or keeping a puppy on the lead 100% of the time is safety at first, before it has received all it's vaccinations, but once it is no longer at immunological risk, it needs to learn to play and explore or it will grow up a shy, retiring, possibly nervous and highly strung prima donna!
5. Feed the puppy treats whenever he or she looks hungry, begs or gives you those adorable puppy eyes. We've all done it, but begging is a HORRIBLE habit to encourage, and it's a lifelong nuisance once they learn it works. Harden your heart and NEVER reward begging.
6. Don't let your puppy play with other dogs and puppies, as they are just too delicate to be out with the other dogs. Puppies need to socialise, so play is VERY important for them to learn manners and not to be too aggressive or nervous.
Eventually these bad human behaviours (because it's YOU causing the problem not the puppy) will result in a young dog that thinks they run the house, refuses to follow directions and shows signs of possessiveness, anxiety and even aggression when humans try to take a leadership role. So do try to be sensible and not let the puppy get the wrong idea from the very start. Prevention will always be better than cure.
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