What is normal dog behaviour?

So your dog is nipping at your hands, barking at the kids, digging in the backyard, chasing everything that moves and jumping up on guests. Congratulations, you have a puppy!  These are all examples of 100% normal puppy behaviour; it is our job to teach them that it is not acceptable in the human world.

For the first 8-10 weeks your puppy lives every minute with his/her littler mates.  Throughout this time they learn from their mom and each other what is acceptable behaviour.  This play is significantly rougher than what we would call acceptable.  Once the pup is brought into our home, although the surroundings are completely different, their understanding of “play” stays the same.   We are after all, to them just giant sized litter mates.  We often unknowingly encourage these undesirable behaviours by playing games like tug-of-war (if you let them initiate the game and win), or chasing your pup and/or letting your puppy chase you (or your kids) around and nip at your pant legs.  Rough games like wrestling and allowing them to nip at you only encourages these unpleasant behaviours.  These games can also blur the lines of who is leader in the new family pack.

Fetch and hide-n-seek are better games to play that most pups find just as much fun.  To play a good game of hide-n-seek requires two people.  While one is playing with the pup or giving them a treat the other person should sneak away.  Once the person hiding is out of the pup’s sight call him/her and encourage them along using whistles and silly noises to find where they are hiding.  This is a great game to encourage your dog to always be aware of where you are.    Tug is okay to play if you make sure you start and end the game.  Use one tug toy only that is kept out of reach when you are not playing.  This way you aren't allowing them to boss you into playing whenever they want with whatever they want.  Be sure to have some treats with you so you can encourage your dog to 'drop it' and when you are done playing say 'all done' and put the toy away until next time. 

Be sure that you are very consistent in teaching your puppy what is acceptable and what is not.  If your pup is corrected for jumping when company comes over, but rewarded when you get home by being picked up from a jump they will never learn.  Consistency is the key,  ddesired behaviours should be rewarded and undesirable ones ignored or redirected.  Keep these tips in mind and don't hesitate to call in some extra help if your pups a little much to handle at times.

                                                            Play time!