This
section is particularly important, particularly for first-time
pet owners. Even if you’ve had pets your whole life, this
document will remind you of the realities we all face when we
invite a new pet to live in our home.What to Expect from a New
Puppy or Dog
Dogs make wonderful companions for
people. Highly social animals, they love to be a part of the
family. Your dog can be your jogging buddy, your psychotherapist
and your foot warmer while you work on a crossword puzzle. Dogs
are giving creatures, but they also have needs – many of
the same ones as people (for comfort, companionship, and entertainment,
for example) – but their ways of expressing and fulfilling
those needs are sometimes very different from ours.
If you leave your new, untrained dog or puppy alone in your
house, s/he will urinate and defecate on the carpet, chew furniture,
devour bric-a-brac, shred pillows and, eventually fall asleep,
exhausted. This is completely predictable behavior for an untrained
dog. The puppy is not “mad” at you for leaving him/her
alone (vindictiveness being a purely human trait). It’s
your duty, and well within your ability, to prevent this scenario
from ever happening. Here’s how:
Starting on day one, your dog needs to learn four vital things
from you: Socialization, Bite
inhibition, Housetraining
and How to behave when s/he’s alone.Socialization
Even dogs from breeds that have a reputation
for loving people will need to be thoroughly socialized as puppies,
to make sure that they have lots of great experiences being
around all kinds of different people. Even breeds that are known
to be less social (often described as “aloof”) will,
with proper socialization, also grow up to love being around
people. It makes sense that if you grow up meeting lots of people
and going to lots of different places, and always having fun
when it happens, you’ll grow into an adult who loves to
meet people and visit places. But if a puppy is shielded from
new experiences and people, s/he’ll grow up to be timid
and possibly frightened of new things. An under-socialized dog
is more likely to react defensively around new people and in
new situations, and this is potentially dangerous. Did you know
that most bites occur because a dog is fearful and unsure, not
because he is “dominant” or “protective”?
So it’s up to you to provide all kinds of new friends and
experiences for your puppy. Luckily for you, this is lots of
fun—infants of all species bring out the good will in everyone,
and you’ll find that people will line up to help you socialize
your puppy!Bite
Inhibition
All dogs have amazing precision and control
over their very strong jaws. They learn “bite inhibition”
through practice as puppies (this is much of what puppy play
is about). When you socialize your puppy, s/he will feel comfortable
and happy around all kinds of people and situations, and will
be much less likely to ever feel the need to bite.
At some time an unpredictable incident could happen that so
upsets your dog that s/he’s pushed beyond his/her control
and snaps at someone. This is
nothing more than the equivalent of having an argument with
a family member; humans verbally “snap”
all the time. With good bite inhibition training in puppyhood,
your dog will have been conditioned never to put his jaws on
people or to bite down, so if he’s pushed beyond his limits,
he’ll just snap the air or, at worst, touch skin without
breaking it. Now that’s a safe dog!
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