9 Tips for Training Your New Family Puppy Cruelty-Free

Getting a puppy or dog is a special time for any family. The new addition to the family makes everyone happy. So while it’s tempting to play all day, you should begin training your new family puppy cruelty-free as soon as possible. This means training by reward rather than punishment.

Ditch the Traditional

It is a long-held belief that animals should be trained using force. This is outdated and cruel. BF Skinner’s operant dog training theories were widely accepted. Yet, they have subsequently been disproven as dogs do not behave according to positive or negative reinforcement. 

Instead they behave on an instinctual level according to breed or sub-breed (see this page for the differences between American and English Labradors) and like humans, canines operate on a complex psychological level. Therefore, they are all different. For example, a naturally aggressive dog cannot be tamed with leash correction and a cookie. Instead, it is more helpful to try to understand the motivations of the dog to change behavior.

Establishing Trust

One of the biggest obstacles when accepting a dog into your home is establishing trust. This works both ways. You need to trust that a dog won’t soil your carpet, rip the furniture or attack a guest. Simply chaining up your dog or placing it in a cage is very unlikely to change behavior.

Instead, behavioral issues may increase as the dog craves attention. You can establish trust using a dog massage. Massaging your dog will likely put them into a relaxed state. They are open to behavioral changes and otherwise tricky tasks such as grooming a sensitive area in this state. Common signs of trust include a wagging tail, a semi-open mouth with a smile, and bowing down to you.

The Treasure Hunt Walking Game

Teaching your dog leash etiquette can be tricky. Yet simply dragging it around by the neck may cause injury and essentially doesn’t work. Yet you can play a game with your dog to encourage it to listen to you. There are various walking training games, but one of the most effective is the treasure hunt walking game:

• Hide treats along your walking route.
• Then, leash the dog and go outside.
• Excitedly, point out a treat when near one.
• Let your dog retrieve the treat.

This technique takes patience, but you want the dog to eventually depend on you to tell them where the treats are. When this happens, the dog will wait patiently next to you. You can take advantage of this to only call the dog’s attention to a hidden treasure when the leash is slack. This makes the dog think that good things will happen if they keep the leash loose rather than pulling.

Banish Anxiety

Anxiety in dogs can happen for several reasons. Some of the most common include separation, loud noises, unfamiliar scents, and new places. Additionally, the stress in a dog can lead to disruptive behavior. Even normally well-behaved canines are destructive when anxious.

It may be tempting to punish your dog when it acts out. For example, you could withhold food or strike the dog. Neither of these is recommended and won’t work anyway. Smartphone apps and cameras allow you to monitor and distract the dog should they misbehave.

No More Howling

One of the most disruptive behaviors your dog can engage in is howling. This could be while you are at home, but most likely when you are away at work. And the neighbors definitely will not appreciate this. Fortunately, there are some things you can do:

• Ignore the howling.
• Acknowledge the dog but don’t give a treat when the dog is loud.
• Reward them when they stop and use words like “Good” or “Stop.”

You may not even know the reasons why your dog barks or howls. Because of this, training them to stop can take a while, but you will get there eventually. Whatever you do, do not shout at or otherwise punish the dog as they will associate howling with negative attention.

Did You Call Me?

Dogs are pretty adept at earning their name, and they will even learn a new name very quickly when adopted. Yet they may not come to you when you call their name, meaning you might have to look for them for whatever reason or be upstaged out in public.

This can be infuriating, but never scold your dog for not responding as they will associate their name with negative interaction. A good technique is to use a call word instead. This could be a word like “come” or a whistling sound. Then, every time your dog responds to a call, make a big deal out of it with lots of praise and treats.

Sit, Lie, and Spin

It’s always a great spectacle to see a puppy perform tricks on command. You might want this for your puppy, yet this can take a long time. However, once learned, your dog will never forget them if you teach these commands properly using cruelty-free methods.

• Sit: move a treat over your dog’s head until they naturally sit as they follow it. Then instantly reward the dog and say “sit” when they perform the action.
• Lie: Move a treat from your dog’s nose to the floor until they naturally lie. As with sit command, reward the dog immediately while associating the word “lie.”
• Spin: hold a treat in your palm and lure the dog in a spinning motion. Repeat a word, such as spin and reward, after a minute or two.

These are basic commands that all dogs should easily learn. However, they will take patience on your part as not all will earn them quickly. A good trick is to perform these interactions at feeding time, so the dog associates them with great reward.

Calm Down

Tricks and walking aside, in addition to anxiety, some dogs are hyperactive. This typically happens when someone is at the door, or a stranger or playful relative enters your home. The longer this behavior goes on, the more difficult it can be to remove.

However, it’s not impossible, yet it takes time and patience. But the main reason for excess energy is too little exercise. First, you should walk your dog according to its breed’s requirements. Following that, try the following:

• Ignore the dog when they are excited.
• Reward them when they calm down.
• Schedule playtime with other dogs.
• Try to stay as calm as you want the dog to be.

There are, of course, other factors that play into a dog’s excitement levels, such as anxiety and stress. Try to identify and remove stressors. You can also massage your dog to calm them and reward calm behavior.

The Need for Greed

Dogs are hunters and predators. Because of this, they always think about their next meal. Over millennia, they have evolved as a co-dependant species with humans: we rely on them for work and comfort, and they depend on us for food. Yet, although domesticated breeds instinctively know where their next meal is coming from, they remain naturally greedy. It isn’t uncommon for a puppy to gorge itself on illness if not supervised. 

As such, you shouldn’t feed your puppy too much. However, left for too long, a dog will snatch any food it can. But this behavior can be removed with some training. First, remove the dog from the room when you eat, then:

• Only feed a dog from its food bowl.
• Let the dog eat when you eat.
• Feed the dog the exact amount of food it needs.
• Don’t feed too many snacks throughout the day.

While it’s cute to see the puppy beg and tilt its head for food while you eat, this is destructive behavior that the dog will repeat, especially if you feed it from your table.