Cindy Bruckart

Dog owners may be surprised to find how often trainers will bring up the subject of early puppy education. There are reasons, you know. This isn’t my first post on the subject, and it certainly won’t be my last.

The reason it’s brought up so frequently is because it’s a near desperate situation that seems to be very difficult to clearly get into the heads of puppy owners and potential puppy owners. Perhaps as a trainer I have been speaking too softly about it. Maybe it’s time to play hard ball.

Here’s the deal. If your “puppy” is over the age of about four and a half months, you cannot realistically call me for puppy classes or puppy training advice unless you are looking for advice on a future puppy you intend to take into your home. The dog you have is done being a puppy. You missed it. You messed up. You blew it. You are now asking me to let a teenager into kindergarten, and I can’t do that.

Pooping is an annoying, smelly and common problem among dogs. It’s important that owners put a stop to this kind of behavior right away. I say, nip it in the bud (or butt)! No dog should be allowed to poop anywhere at anytime, and no owner should ignore this unsavory behavior.

Sound crazy? Good. It is. But I’ll tell you what...when owners ask me how to stop their dog from chewing, it sounds just as crazy to me. STOP a dog from chewing? Why in the world would someone want to do that to a dog?

Now, some of you will say, “Oh, Cindy, I think they mean that they want to stop the dog from chewing inappropriate items. They just don’t want the dog to chew up their shoes or their table leg.”

Lots of things “work” in dog training. Throwing a can of coins at a dog who is barking at the door might get the dog to stop barking. However, it might be a good idea to stand in the dog’s fur and ask what you’ve just learned.

You’ve learned that your owner might throw scary things at you. You’ve learned that barking at the door makes scary or unpleasant things happen. You might decide that your owner is scary and unpredictable, or that the door is a dangerous place.

Many dog owners falsely believe that their four, six or eight month old dog is still a puppy. Well, I suppose she is in the same way that my 23 year old daughter is still my little girl. However, my feelings about my daughter do not change the fact that she is most certainly an adult. Likewise, the cuteness or playfulness of any dog doesn’t change the fact that a dog becomes an adolescent around four months of age.