How to Be Patient with a Puppy
Having a puppy is not easy, and I have found myself becoming incredibly impatient and frustrated.
I love puppies, but I do not like dealing with their antics, stubbornness, or seeming inability to learn. Many times I have been frustrated, even upset. Here are five tips that helped me calm down and continue training:
1. Take a deep breath
Your frustration can carry down the leash and make your puppy or dog frustrated as well. Taking a deep breath to relax can calm both of you down.
2. Re-evaluate through reflection
Reflect on training progress and difficulties by asking yourself a few important questions: What is going well in training? What is going wrong? Why I am a frustrated?
Next, pinpoint each difficulty. As an example, a puppy I took care of kept having accidents in the house and chewed up my arms and ankles. Although I felt that nothing was going right, these were the only major problems. If I had taken the time to reflect on this fact, I would not have been so frustrated.
3. Admit mistakes
I have made mistakes when training dogs, but that is okay because I learned important lessons. Most importantly, I learned to admit my mistakes. When I started realizing what mistakes I was making, I could then find solutions quickly and solve problems faster than before.
4. Stop training before frustration
A mistake I have done countless times was continuing a training session with a dog even though both of us were frustrated. End positively on an easy command or trick.
In the future, warm-up your dog during a training session by doing a couple easy commands (a few sit-stays or short-duration places). When training a new command, start building a foundation before building up the new task. For example, when training heel or loose leash walking, begin by luring and rewarding your dog for being in the heel position, even only for a few moments. Do not forget to release your dog with a cue (such as “release,” “okay,” or “free”).
5. Get help
If the above tips did not help or the situation is serious, get help, ideally from an experienced and humane dog trainer. Ask trust-worthy dog owners about your frustrations. Remember, others have dealt with the same problems as you. In addition, you can search for resources and information from the American Kennel Club.
Thanks for the Tips. I really liked the "end the training session with something easy" idea!