12/08/2023
Listen,
We need to have a serious conversation about what to expect when you send your puppy to a formal training program.
Many pet owners have this expectation that their 3 month old puppy will go to training for a couple weeks and "come back trained". Meaning it will forever and always execute whatever you ask, the first time you ask it, no mistakes, in any environment, always be calm and pleasant, and do it just because you said so.
You WILL be disappointed if this is what you expect out of your training program. When I tell client leads this, they often ask me, "Well what's the point then? What the hell am I even paying you for? I want a guarantee!"
MOST of yall have kids so I'm going to try to make it relatable. Especially since y'all really like calling your dogs your kids but not at all managing your expectations the same way.
Ya know how when your kids are in kindergarten, they learn their colors, shapes, numbers, and alphabet? They're also learning how to sit in their seat, keep their hands to themselves, say please and thank you, share with friends, show empathy to other kids' feelings, how to ask to go to the bathroom, you name it.
Ya know how even though kids complete kindergarten they still make mistakes or do goofy s**t like kick in their seat, make weird noises that disturbs the class, forget to use basic manners, p*e their pants, break all the crayons, forget the names of things, use the wrong words, get shy and act like they didn't learn their abc's when you ask them to recite them for Auntie Marsha when she comes to visit?
At what point in time are your kids reliable in the things they were taught in kindergarten? Probably not until they creep into fourth or fifth grade. And not after sitting at home doing nothing for those years, but after they complete first, second, and third grade.
Does that mean you shouldn't send your kids to kindergarten? Skip straight to fifth grade? How well do you think they would perform if you didn't incrementally prepare them for higher maturity skills? Kids build on their academic skills, social skills, and motor skills damn near EVERY DAY of their lives. For YEARS. Fourteen years to be more precise.
And ya know how you hit that smooth sailing age when your kids are pretty much perfect? They have it figured out, you're having fun with them, and you're patting yourself on the back for doing right by them. Then BOOM here comes highschool and they do goofy s**t again. They might trash the house having a party after you gave them some freedom to do so. They might mysteriously break the side mirror off your car even though you definitely taught them safe driving methods. They might skip classes and fail that class even though you taught them to show up, keep their butts in their seat, and pay attention. Not all teenagers go through this, but plenty do; and in a way, older puppies do too. You know what literally nobody says when teenagers do teenager s**t? "That one time I sent them to kindergarten, it didn't work"
When dogs hit adolescence, they may ignore commands, tear up the blinds goofing off with their friends, playfully chomp your hands even though you taught them not to, forget their manners, pick fights with other dogs, whatever. So why do people say, "Yeah we tried dog training once when he was a puppy and it clearly didn't work"?
While dogs do mature and age faster than humans, can we please understand that a few weeks of a board and train cannot and will not produce a prim and proper college scholar that requires no further development, consistency, or future formal training?
Your puppy will still make mistakes, have accidents, forget what things mean, test your patience, and require for you to do homework with them. You have to build upon the things they learn when they're young, little by little increasing the challenge of what you're asking of them throughout puppyhood. Throughout adolescence. Throughout young adulthood. Into full maturity. Just like people.
Cut puppies some slack, yo. Be a real parent and guide them, knowing they aren't mature enough yet to understand the final stage of what you want them to know. They'll get there with work and with time, just like kids. Kindergarteners can't write college papers, I'm just sayin'.
And your puppy not performing doesn't mean he's stubborn or dominant. He's a whole baby, has no clue, AND you are an entirely different species, speaking a different language, and operating by a different set of natural societal rules.
Your trainer will teach both of you how to navigate life together, but you actually have to... ya know.. stick with training. Just like kids have to stay in school, if they're expected to know what we expect adults to know.
