FunDay

Porter Buck and Obi Hunter are still doing their classes together. Thank you, Linda, for the photos. These two made me laugh.

Those two photos just sum up Life with Puppies so well — all teeth and and then, Little Angels.

I am seeing the same with Maple and Capella.

And then…

And then back at it…

Watching the two puppies reminds me of how physical dogs are, and how very much play needs to be part of their lives — and yes, dog play involves mouths.

Whether we are intentional about it or not, we are always training our dogs. Since I have specific goals for mine, their training needs to have intention and direction. And because I think their lives, including training, should be fun — as they define fun — mouths are involved. Tugging, fetching, eating, puzzle solving, chewing — all ways to involve a dog’s natural inclination to have fun with their mouths.

And that is why we just received a new supply of training tools…

…because fun needs to be part of every training session. Maple knew what to do with the new tugging thingee…

Please run off and have a super fun Sunday.

You deserve it — especially you dads out there!

Puppy Flavors

Miss Moonshadow Maple Portia is staying at Camp Kaibab for a few days.

You have maybe heard of Coffee with Clark and Margie? How about Grass with Capella and Maple?

The differences between the puppies are interesting and I suspect reflective of the two litters. Early on I described the differences like this: The Moonshadows say, “OMG! YOU’RE HERE!!!!!!!!!!” and the Bright Stars say, “I have arrived.”

Maple is over-the-top thrilled for everyone and everything. Capella is quite friendly with all humans and dogs but in a more self-contained way — she is not such an externalizer as Maple.

Maple is Action.

That is not to say that Capella is not active — of course she is. But she processes internally — you can almost see the wheels turning.

Maple — like Daisy — emotes all her happy, joyful feels (and she has A LOT of them) with her body. Adorable.

Neither “flavor” is good or bad — the puppies are just different. But it does remind me that one-size-fits-all training is a bad plan. We have to first assess the puppy we have, and then train accordingly.

Maple gets cookies for not leaping on me and for staying calm, two things that Capella mastered easily because they are natural for her. Capella gets cookies for engagement and responsive actions (like recalls), two things that Maple does exceptionally well because they are natural for her.

Vive la difference!

Stranger Danger

A period of Stranger Anxiety in human babies is normal. Yes, it can hurt feelings and embarrass parents when the baby is shrieking like a teakettle because Grandma wants to say hello but there it is — biology is powerful.

Puppies can go through something very similar. Friendly and happy can turn to suspicion almost overnight, as if a switch was turned while everyone was sleeping.

Humans, eager to share their so-cute puppy, may well miss or ignore the signs of Stranger Danger and fail to protect the puppy from the forwardness of well-intentioned strangers. Worse, humans may think the puppy should be forced to interact with scary people so she can “get over” it.

So the first thing to keep in mind is that young mammals can indeed have normal development that includes Stranger Danger. The second thing to remember is that a Berner, according to the Breed Standard, “…may remain aloof to the attentions of strangers.”

A Berner puppy that prefers not to engage with strangers — and shows this by not engaging with said stranger — is being aloof with strangers. S/he may also be reflecting the normal developmental process of Stranger Danger, which is actually a process of awareness/discernment — a good thing.

Three generations: Claire, Capella, Sparkle

All that is to offer reassurance that a puppy who doesn’t love everyone is okay; it is not a problem to be fixed. AND we want a puppy who is confident and not shy — so how do we proceed? Here are some thoughts…

Forcing a puppy to interact is a TERRIBLE IDEA. If you want to create a shy puppy — do that. Force doesn’t mean holding the puppy down and allowing Auntie Susie to pet the puppy — force can be much more benign. Just remember — no means no, even in a puppy.

Confidence comes from mastery. Let the puppy master strangers one puppy step at a time. If the puppy doesn’t want to interact but is fine in the stranger’s presence — Yay! Reward that with YES (or click) and a cookie.

Puppy looks at the stranger — YES (or click) and cookie.

Puppy sniffs person — YES (or click) and cookie.

I like to teach a reliable hand touch — puppy bonks your hand and gets a Yes/Click and cookie; this can be transferred to a stranger when the puppy is comfortable. Person holds out hand and puppy bonks — and gets a cookie from you or if comfortable, from the stranger.

The goal is a puppy that is comfortable and relaxed around new people — that happens when a puppy is not terrorized by the new people, and remember: the puppy is the one who gets to decide what and who feels terrorizing.

Barking at a stranger says, “too much, too soon” in puppy language. S/he needs to be removed to a distance that feels safe. The build up to Stranger Mastery starts at the place that feels comfortable for the puppy.

Training the puppy is the easy part — it is managing other humans that can be tough.

If a puppy is concerned about a person, that person needs to completely ignore the puppy — no looking at the puppy, no talking to the puppy, no feeding the puppy, no petting the puppy — just ignore the puppy. All of those things — looking, talking, feeding, petting — are steps; doing them all at once constitutes flooding for a concerned puppy, and flooding is a Terrible Idea.

Bottom Line: Stranger Danger happens. It is a normal thing. Berners do not always love everyone — that is okay. Don’t let anyone force attention on your puppy. Start from a place of safety and work on having a relaxed puppy around strangers by reinforcing desired behavior.

If a puppy barks or tries to get away — you blew it. Not a huge deal — just info so you can do better next time. We are, after all, only human.