Puppy Training
and the "Whose Fault is It" Game
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Puppy training tips. Learn how your dog thinks and how to use this knowledge to make puppy obedience training easy. Work together, and make it fun for both of you!A few
training treats
or
mini bones
and some helpful tips will make dog obedience training a snap for you! Dog training can be easy – if you understand your part in the process. Knowing which questions to ask, will help you understand how your puppy thinks! Below you will find some puppy training tips to make it easier for you.
People and Responsibilities
When I worked on a hospital mental health unit as an occupational therapist, we used to play a game that we called, “Whose Problem is It?”. The game was designed to help people make life decisions about whether a problem or issue was theirs or someone else's.Mostly, we used the game with people who were codependent—people who took on responsibilities that should have belonged to others. Codependent people don’t have “boundaries”. That is, they don't understand what they should do and what they should let others do. For example, a codependent person working in an office might spend half the day making sure that the coffee pot is full and that the coffee is fresh for everyone in the office. Doing so, she may not have enough time to get her own work done and thus will have a poor performance review. The problem is that she doesn't understand where her responsibilities end and someone else's begin. When boundaries get blurred, a person can take on too much responsibility--hurting themselves. Or vice versa, a person may shove their responsibilities onto someone else.
Puppy Training and Responsibilities
Here’s an idea that may help you with puppy training. We could play the same game with puppies. We could call the game, "Whose Fault is It?" and the questions would be a little different. In this case, we need to ask ourselves whether the puppy (from his viewpoint) is really responsible. Sometimes the answer is not so obvious!Puppies get blamed for not learning a behavior—when it’s really our fault. Take housebreaking, for example. Puppies are very predictable. If we pay attention to them, we will observe their habits and learn what they do in certain circumstances. If your puppy learns to sit by the door when he needs to go out, and you usually notice him and take him out when he’s sitting there, he becomes conditioned to understand that he will get to go out when he sits there. If you fail to notice him patiently sitting there, he may not be able to wait. In this case, your pup may have an “accident”. From his perspective, your puppy did what he has learned to do--he sat by the door to tell you that he needs to go out. You failed to let him out. So the question we could ask is "Whose Problem is It?" or we could ask "Whose Fault is It?". Before you consider punishing your new puppy for his accident (which is the worst thing that you could do), think about “Whose Fault It Is”. Was it your puppy’s fault for sitting at the door and being unable to wait until you came? Or was it your fault because you simply didn’t notice that he was giving you the signal that he always uses? If you ask this question frequently enough, you will be able to handle puppy training easily. Take responsibility for your part—and give him responsibility for his! Visit
Puppy Biting
to learn how to make sure that puppy biting doesn't become a major problem for you and your family. And don't forget to make sure that you have some healthy
puppy training treats
to use when you are working with your puppy.
Information on Puppy Obedience Training
and Dog Training
There are some really good puppy training books that will help you with the “whys and hows” of how to train your puppy. And, please make sure you visit other sections of our website to learn more about
puppy care
, information about selecting and training puppies and, of course, our great selection of dog treats recipes.
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