10 Things I’d Do Differently With a New Puppy or Dog (Knowing What I Know Now)
There comes a point down the line when you get a new puppy or a new dog that you start to flirt with the potential idea of getting another. This may be a harmless flirt that may not come into fruition but for some of us the urge is nearly irresistible!
I’ve had the pleasure of having Jasper on my journey for over 5 years now and the idea of getting a new puppy or a new dog has invaded my thoughts and tried tempting my intrusive thoughts to win multiple times!
For now the time still isn’t right, we still have a lot of work to do and I’d rather focus on Jasper, I may not even end up with another until after Jasper.
However, the thought comes into my head so often that I do often think, if I was to get another dog or if I was rescuing or getting my first puppy or dog….what would I do differently knowing what I know now?
10 Things I’d Do Differently
Getting a new puppy or a new dog is an incredible experience, and if you’re lucky enough for it to be your first dog, it can be a magical journey! Unfortunately, we all make mistakes, or we do things and wish that we could have done them differently.
Listed below are 10 things I’d do differently with a new dog or puppy or if I was to get another dog again.
#1 – Focus On Calmness
This is probably the biggest one for me and I see this with a lot of dogs that I pet sit and walk as well. When you get your new puppy or dog, as tempting as it is to run around, jump and be all exciting straight from the jump, it can be detrimental in the long run.
A mistake I made with Jasper was focusing on play and doing things all the time, especially when I thought that he was bored. This led to issues like pacing around and not being able to settle down and constantly focused to do things.
Focus on calmness, place training, crate training, the art of doing nothing. A dog that understands when it’s time to shut off while cause less frustrations!
#2 – Ditch The Food Bowl
When I first got Jasper, every meal was fed in a bowl. I’d just put it down and let him eat and as soon as I’d turn around the whole thing would be finished.
One thing I’ve learned is the importance of food when it comes to training and even behaviour. There is nothing wrong with feeding your dog out of a bowl but feeding times can be such a crucial training period.
There are so many things you can do from getting your dog to sit calmly while you put the food down and then release them to the food, obedience training and teaching new tricks, taking food in walks and helping build engagement and desensitisation.
Jasper eats from a bowl every now and then if I’ve got him something special but normally we do obedience on our walks and I reward for engagement and right choices.
The possibilities are endless! This is also a great way to build engagement and a bond with your dog, they start to realise you bring all the good stuff!! So get yourself a treat pouch, throw the food in and get out there with your dog.
#3 – Consistency Is Key
The frustrating thing about this is that it’s been something that been repeated to me in life, not just about dogs but how if you want anything to workout, you need to be consistent. The more consistent you are, the greater the reward.
Dogs learn through consistency, in fact a lack of consistency can cause a dog to be more reactive, anxious and even trust their owners less.
If you ask your dog to sit and they don’t and you ask 5 more times, they start to learn they don’t have to until 5 times. If they don’t after the first time and you make them sit, then they’re going to get confused about which one it is.
Being inconsistent can cause a lot of dogs to start avoiding certain obedience commands because they just don’t know what you want.
if inconsistency is paired with punishment as well this can lead to learned helplessness where the dog just doesn’t know why something is happening but they’ve given up trying to figure out why.
The biggest mistake I see and one that I’m guilty of is repeating commands. You should never have to repeat a command more than once, if you do then maybe it still needs work, you need to change your environment, get better motivation etc.
Saying things once and then following up with reinforcement or punishment could have saved so much frustration for Jasper, helped him realise what he should be doing in certain situations.
#4 – Boundaries First, Freedom Later
I think every pet parent makes this mistake if they’re a first time owner. The mistake of giving the newest addition to the family complete freedom.
For some dogs, complete freedom isn’t something that is going to cause issues. These dogs understand how to live in the moment of freedom (they know when to be calm and when its time to play etc).
For other dogs, complete freedom is a bad idea. Boundaries are so important at the start of a journey with a new puppy or dog. Boundaries help create habits which then lead to the behaviours you want.
Jasper used to get excited when I cooked dinner and I’d even fling him bits while I cooked. Fast forward, whenever I started cooking he’d get excited and pace around the kitchen and he wouldn’t accept no because this is something we’ve done before why is it unacceptable now (see consistency). It took me working the place command while cooking to help him understand this is the right behaviour now, there is no reward from the kitchen now.
Now he has the freedom to be off his place when I cook and do you know what he does? Lies on his place anyway!
#5 – Advocate For Your Dog
i think this is another big one that gets overlooked with new dog owners. Your dog trusts you and looks at your for being their guardian. You need to make sure that you advocate for them at all times to show that you are capable of their trust in these situations.
If you have a reactive, anxious, excitable dog then this is even more important. You will have people and dogs trying to invade your dogs space, it is up to you to advocate your dog in these scenarios.
This doesn’t mean your dog can’t say hi to people or other dogs if they’re friendly, this means that if you’re in a scenario where you feel this is acceptable, get your dog to sit and wait for your guidance for them to go and say hi.
Dogs that feel they have to continuously make their own choices when it comes to other dogs and people because they don’t have that trust in their owner are more likely to behave in a manner that we don’t want, they may react, they may want to run, even pull you to the triggers instead.
#6 – Ignore The Judgement
This one was especially hard for me with Jasper. When all your friends have dogs that are “well behaved” or “socially acceptable” and you have that problem child, everything you do is judged. Not only by those people but even those who don’t have dogs can judge you for things you do.
You will always be judged for the things that you do by someone. The key is not to change the things that you are doing just to fit in with the norm.
When it comes to dogs, some of us have dogs that are harder than others and some have dogs that need more guidance and patience than others. Some will need training techniques, tools and methods you may not even have heard of….and that’s okay too.
Dogs are individuals and there aren’t two the same, just as long as you know they things you are doing are in benefit for your dog then that’s all that matters.
#7 – Make Time in Your Day For Your Dog
As pet parents there’s a high chance we’re all in some sort of employment, education, career path, family orientated cycle.
With such other big commitments , it can be hard to remember to spend time with your dog, proper heart felt time. I know it’s hard but you may find that adding a 5-20 minute hangout with your dog can start doing you wonders for things like stress and anxiety.
If you work from home or get to go home on a break, making time for your dog then can be what you need to keep you motivated to get through the rest of the day.
I used to get 2 hour breaks and I’d walk 30 mins to go home, eat for 15 and spend 45 minutes with my dog before going back to work. That for me was therapeutic!
#8 – Learn and Understand How to Listen to Your Dog
This is one not many people do and it’s also one a lot of people get wrong.
Maybe it is because I’m a huge nerd with things like this that I went on a mission to learn dog body language but it’s helped me understand Jasper and other dogs so much more.
Dogs can communicate in multiple ways from big outbursts to the smallest thing such as a change in ear position. Learning these will be highly beneficial to understand your dog in certain situations.
For months I thought Jasper loved pets on the head but constant lip licking seems to state that it makes him uncomfortable, he loves a good scratch under the chin though!
If you own a reactive or anxious dog, once again this is going to be super helpful for you. You’ll be able to understand when your.dog might react, when they feel uncomfortable, when they need advocating for etc.
#9 – Not Everything Deserves a Treat
This one is such an easy mistake to make. It isn’t super detrimental to all dogs but there are dogs that we need to be wary of when it comes to food rewards.
Jasper loves food and his treats. I used a lot of treats when I first started training him, probably too many on too long of a consistent basis. There was a point on our walks where he’d stare at me for the majority of the walk because he thought that’s what triggered the food (when it was for calm behaviour, which I wasn’t getting because he thought food was in the mix).
Using rewards to train new behaviours is always going to be the way forward but then increasing the criteria and then changing the rate of reinforcement and proofing the behaviours needs to be done as well.
Food is also not the only reinforcer that we have, we also have praise, affection, you can release your dog to sniff/play etc. The reward at the end of the day is something positive to your dog that they want.
#10 – It’s Okay to Ignore Your Dog
This one I’ve left last because it’s always a hard pill for people to swallow which is why they don’t do it.
Once again, for some dogs this isn’t really an issue but there are those of us who end up with dogs that are pushy attention seekers. At first it’s cute, little puppy nuzzling you to get a little cuddle, but give that a few years time, that behaviour can become very annoying if its not addressed and can cause frustration for both you and the dog.
There are other times such as crate training or when you have guests over or are talking to people out in the street.
If you end up with a dog that you have to ignore at times until they find calmness then do what you need to do.
Crate training is probably the biggest one, I know it was for me. Jasper would scream for a good 45minutes when we first started crate training and I learned all I can do is ignore him. Soon that ended up going from 45mimutes to 5 minutes and I’m fine with that but I would have never got that if I hadn’t ignored him.
Final Thoughts
I can still think of a few more things but I feel regardless how perfect you set things out to be with any dog, they never will be, you’ll always wish that there would have been something that you could do differently.
In my opinion the main thing I would have done for Jasper would have revolved around creating the right structure and putting the right boundaries in place so we could prevent the issues that I have been struggling with in the last from giving him freedom straight away.
What would you do differently if you had the chance of a new dog? Or if you could start everything again? Let me know below!
