YES Parties

As I was preparing breakfast for the dogs this morning, Starry G put herself on a cycle of behaviors. She did some leaps and some barks. She sat and went down and then spun around. She jumped up on me and on the counter. Repeat. Repeat. Baby Girl was EXCITED.

I “corrected” none of it. I stopped none of it.

Because what I would have been correcting or stopping is exactly what I want in a puppy: I want her to be willing to try new behaviors with confidence. I want her thinking and trying to puzzle out how to make breakfast happen faster.

Instead, I will quickly reinforce when the exact desired behavior appears in her repertoire. That means when she happens to sit or down, she gets YES! and a cookie. It won’t take long at all before she develops the habit of sitting or downing as she waits for her breakfast.

Our job is not to teach the puppy, “NO.” Our job is to invite our puppy to a “YES Party.”

“No” is a lazy, ineffective word. It conveys nothing about desired behavior, and is all about suppression. Who wants a suppressed, confused dog?! Not me. I want EXPRESSION in my dogs — and lots of it.

This is Jasper demonstrating what it looks like when a puppy lives his life in a YES Party ⭐️

And look at Han Solo Sapphire offering his early draft training behavior so confidently — because he learned that behavior at YES Parties.

Puppies who are excited and confident about offering new behaviors are a joy to train, and they learn very, very quickly.

Sometimes we cannot ignore a puppy’s behavior. If the behavior is potentially dangerous or excessively destructive, removal and/or redirection are the best strategies. That and better trained humans — pick up the shoes, puppy proof her space, and put the remote control away!

The mindset shift required to step away from all the “NO’s” and to start throwing YES Parties can be hard but it is so worth doing ❤️

Starry G's Excellent Day

Look who came for a visit today!

TOMMY TOPAZ!!

Starry G could not have been happier because she got to do her favorite thing — beat up on a brother.

Tommy Topaz tried but Starry G said, “Oh yeah — you and who else?!”

Three brothers were required for it to be a fair fight, I am afraid.

Thanks to Jennifer for making the trek over for a visit — it is so fun to have the siblings together 💙🩷

Puppy Life Tips

Sleep matters — so does coffee ☕️ This explains two things about how I raise my puppy.

First, I gave up “crate training” baby puppies long ago. Okay — that is not exactly true because my dogs all ride comfortably in crates when in the van, including Starry G. I have safety issues.

What I gave up was putting a baby puppy in a crate at night. Until my puppy can sleep all night without needing to potty, she is in a small pen in the living room with a washable potty pad.

Puppies are used to being contained in this way and sleep matters, and so this all just makes sense to me. I use that particular pen because it is sturdy and does not tip over like an x-pen. I have it placed on remnant marmoleum.

Some puppies will not tip an xpen —Sparkle was respectful of the shortest xpen throughout her entire life. Starry G, on the other paw, is absolutely fearless — her response to a knocked over xpen is, “whatever.” This is a puppy who wags her tail at the vacuum!! 😂

Cindy told me about these washable pee pads, and they are wonderful.

I like them because they don’t slip, which means they stay in place. And I have washed and washed and washed them, and they show no sign of giving up the ghost.

Once the puppy is sleeping through the night, she will move to the bedroom in an extra large crate; she will be ready for the crate by then.

Okay — so that covers sleep. Now for coffee.

I am ridiculously possessive of my mornings. I get a lot done before most people are even awake — work, writing, setting intentions for the day, etc. But a puppy wakes up ready to go, and their needs are also important.

Enter the Toppl.

Before going to bed, I fill it with half of Starry G’s homemade breakfast and freeze it. In the morning, I fill it with the other half of breakfast.

I discovered through trial and error that if it was 100% frozen she got bored and did not finish it, and if it was 100% not frozen, she was done in ten or so minutes.

Half frozen and half not frozen is working perfectly. I get a solid 45 minutes of morning coffee time, and she expends some of that crazy puppy morning energy working on her breakfast. #winwin

After breakfast and morning play, she conks out for a couple of hours to recharge ❤️

And speaking of puppies, Han Solo Sapphire is doing so well.

Isn’t that just so amazing and wonderful? 💙