Different breeds and individuals app have different play styles and personalities, which is one of the reasons it’s so important for your puppy to meet a wide variety of dogs during their critical socialization window!
Here’s some tips on how you can help your puppy be more gentle on their developing joints! Follow along for more puppy training tips! 😊
Puppy prep tips, part 1!! #portlandsmallbusiness #puppytraining #portlanddogs #pdxdogs #pdx #puppytrainingtips
Hope you and your puppy are well-prepared for Fourth of July!!
Gracie and Ziggy practicing climbing and offering nice behaviors (like sit and down) in Day Camp together! Walking on different surfaces is a great confidence builder for young puppies, and also helps them build better body awareness. Body awareness is injury prevention! 💪❤️
#forcefree #positivedogtraining #clickertraining #fearfree
#portlanddogs #portlandpuppy #puppiesofportland #portlanddogtrainer #puppytraining #puppysocialization #wonderpuppy #puppytrainer #pdx #pdxdog #pdxpuppy
Bernie and Wynonna (@wynonna_derp) are so ridiculously cute 🥺❤️😭
This is mutual stage 4 play! Engaged with each other, but not fully confident and ready for a ton of physical contact yet. If one of them were to suddenly “bowling ball” the other, their playmate would likely be overwhelmed! This is such a great play match because right now, they both want the same level of play!
#portlanddogs #portlandpuppy #puppiesofportland #portlanddogtrainer #puppytraining #puppysocialization #wonderpuppy #puppytrainer #pdx #pdxdog #pdxpuppy
Here’s a great example of a structured interaction between shy/much smaller dogs and an outgoing/larger dog!
Luka the Goldendoodle loves to play with other puppies, but he also benefited from a short, structured exposure to smaller and shyer puppies! He got to train around them and practice paying attention to a person instead of a tiny puppy - awesome!
Toulouse the Chihuahua and Milly the CKCS got the opportunity to experience being around a more confident dog and walk away with a positive and safe association!
This session was kept short to keep all 3 successful, and so that Luka was also able to spend some time with the other outgoing puppies!
#forcefree #positivedogtraining #clickertraining #fearfree
#portlanddogs #portlandpuppy #puppiesofportland #portlanddogtrainer #puppytraining #puppysocialization #wonderpuppy #puppytrainer #pdx #pdxdog #pdxpuppy
LOOK AT THE STAGE 4 CUTENESS!! 😍🥺
This is Ivy (short coated black dog with red harness) and Winnie (fluffy with purple harness)!
Ivy was a first-timer in Social Puppy today and she was feeling shy (stages 2 and 3) unless her buddy Christina sat on the ground - then she was in stages 4 and 5!!
We think it is fantastic when puppies gain a little extra confidence from being around a human friend. See how Ivy is touching or in close proximity to Christina the whole time she’s playing? In the future, she’ll branch out and learn to play even without a human cheerleader, but in the meantime, we’ll sit with her, cheer her on, and protect her when needed. Winnie was loving Ivy’s cool moves too, and watch how respectful she is of Ivy’s space! ❤️🥰
#fearfree #portlanddogs #portlandpuppy #puppiesofportland #portlanddogtrainer #puppytraining #puppysocialization #wonderpuppy #puppytrainer #pdx #pdxdog #pdxpuppy
Cheswick and Ziti were so cute we couldn’t look away! 😍🥺
Lovely stage 6 play! Their play is quiet, stationary, cooperative, and reciprocal!
Both dogs seem to gain some confidence and have extra fun when they’re climbing on the equipment, and they made a great play match up there together!
#portlanddogs #portlandpuppy #puppiesofportland #portlanddogtrainer #puppytraining #puppysocialization #wonderpuppy #puppytrainer #pdx #pdxdog #pdxpuppy
Why are our Social Puppy classes only open to puppies 20 weeks and younger?
Puppies go through different developmental stages before they reach social maturity. At around 20 weeks, they’re moving into adolescence!
Much like humans of different ages, adolescent puppies are often not as interested in being around young babies, and can find them really annoying! This can manifest as stage 2 (ignoring puppies) or an intense stage 5 (tackling puppies).
Today Jasper was the oldest in the room by 6 weeks! She alternated between stages 2 and 5 but we were so happy to see these beautiful stage 2 moments where she is very politely ignoring puppies who were annoying to her, and instead engaging with the trainer and offering nice behavior.
This is exactly how an adolescent dog should behave when they are uninterested in play, so we made sure to reward this!
#forcefree #positivedogtraining #clickertraining #fearfree
#portlanddogs #portlandpuppy #puppiesofportland #portlanddogtrainer #puppytraining #puppysocialization #wonderpuppy #puppytrainer #pdx #pdxdog #pdxpuppy
Beautiful play on Monday from Porsche the CKCS and Lucca the supermutt! Great example of stage 6 play: Both bodies are doing relaxed movements (not stiff), they are mirroring each other’s moves, they’re playing in place (not taking up the whole room), and it is quiet! Best part - they easy broke off to take breaks when it started to get to be too much! 😍💕🐶
#portlanddogs #portlandpuppy #puppiesofportland #portlanddogtrainer #puppytraining #puppysocialization #wonderpuppy #puppytrainer #pdx #pdxdog #pdxpuppy
Lil’ Tykes crew displaying stage 5 (committed), stage 4 (conflicted) and stage 6 (cooperative) play. Can you identify which pups are in each stage?!
#puppysocialization #puppyplaygroup #wonderpuppypdx
Check out our brave Tiny Tykes: trying out play invitations for the first time (#goldenpuppy Cooper) and going for a trip on the wagon (#cavalierpuppy Porsche)! 😍😍😍
#puppysocialization #puppypats #makingfriends #wonderpuppypdx
These two gals are quite intense players but they LOVE each other. They are both working on using softer mouths in play, which can offend the more delicate pups. Having the opportunity to fully engage with a good match means that neither of them struggled with frustration today! That was a game changer. In the absence of frustration, they were both able to relax more and play with balance. Trainer Christina P. gave brief treat breaks to support their success. Nice work Elaine and Kezi!!! 😎👏🥳
#playfulpuppies #puppysocialization #wonderpuppypdx
