We’ve talked a bit about creating an optimal environment for your puppy at home. What about outdoors, where all bets are off? This is an important question because every puppy is unique. In my Nursery we have puppies of all ages, sizes, and breeds and it is important to find ways to help each of them, from the shy or fearful to the bold and gregarious. So how do we get our puppies ready for the Great Outdoors?
Life with most puppies feels like a hurricane. The eye of the storm is home where you can manage the environment (hopefully), train in peace, and teach your puppy to be calm as he follows you round the house and falls asleep at your feet.
It’s enough to make you think, “This is easy. I’ve got this.” The surprise comes when you take your puppy outside to show him the world. If you have an excitable or gregarious puppy, all bets are off as he races headlong into every encounter with other puppies, strange dogs, new people, sights, sounds, and smells. Suddenly you don’t exist, he’s lost his hearing, and the only thing he sees is this marvelous new person, dog or thing in front of him.
“Taking a puppy outdoors is like taking a young child to Disneyland for the first time and asking him to pay attention to you. That’s when puppies glance up and away, as if to say, “But look!”
Most people are initially shocked at their puppy’s behavior the first time they visit a park or mall. Taking a puppy outdoors is like taking a young child to Disneyland for the first time and asking him to pay attention to you. That’s when puppies glance up and away, as if to say, “But look!”
As your puppy becomes more enthralled and excited by the sights, sounds, and smells it seems as if he’s lost his hearing and that you don’t exist. That’s when I hear this familiar refrain; “He doesn’t do that at home!”
It never fails. And my heart goes out to them every time.
So why are puppies so much calmer or braver, or easier to manage at home?
The answer is that life is predictable at home. There are no strangers traipsing through your living room, no strange dogs bounding through the kitchen, strangers with food, traffic noises or skateboards trundling by.
“Life is predictable at home. There are no strangers traipsing through your living room, no strange dogs bounding through the kitchen, strangers with food, traffic noises skateboards trundling by.”
In a nutshell, they cannot. The key is to begin your training indoors, build mental skills and literally fortify your puppy’s mental abilities first. The good news is we can get and keep our puppy’s attention, even create muscle memory for what I call, “Multi-Tasking, which is maintaining an awareness of us while he takes it all in. How to do this?
The key is to begin your training indoors, build mental skills and literally fortify your puppy’s ability to withstand distractions.
If getting and keeping your puppy’s attention outdoors is challenging, you may want to explore my 1-Week Puppy Boot Camp, “Getting Your Puppy Dialed-In”. It’s a game changer for puppies of all ages.
I’ll have lots to say about teaching puppies how to calm down on cue and pay attention in busy places. For now, check out my next post, “Calming Trifecta: Sniffing, Licking, Chewing” for a video with a list of calming tools to bring on outdoors. These will help keep your puppy calm in the midst of all the sights and sounds that compete for his attention.
Up Next: Optimal Learning Series – Part 3 A Calming Trifecta for Puppies – Sniffing, Licking, Chewing
