What’s Going Down in Puppy Town
I heard someone say once that puppies are so cute because it prevents humans from wringing their little necks. Having Piper, an eleven week old puppy, I can identify with this sentiment. She’s a cuddly ball of fur that just doesn’t yet have it together.
The core problem, of course, is pee and poop. If not for the constant worry about these two things happening unannounced inside the house, puppy rearing would be inestimably more pleasant. The reality is that having a puppy means weeks and months of watching a furry housemate defecate on the floor with all the confidence of a queen on her throne. What? Me?
My wife Sachi and I are not new to puppies, but never before have we brought so much training advice to bear. Thanks to books like Training the Best Dog Ever by Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz and Larry Kay, Sachi and I are systematizing the entire enterprise. We now keep a log of every time Piper pees or poops, which we’ve heard is also common with tiny humans. This provides a way to understand her patterns and when we she’s due for a trip outside. It’s also a reminder of just how much attention the little bugger requires.
And everything, including trips outside, are now oriented around the dispensing of treats. For now, her entire diet is fed to her, from us, on the basis of doing what we want. And of course, what we want more than anything is for her go outside to pee and poop. To get there, we say “go out” a million times a day while taking her out. Then we stand there, usually in the cold Seattle rain, waiting for her to do something so that we can say “good girl” and give her a treat as soon as she finishes. It’s this tight connection between verbal cues, her actions and the almighty treat that is supposed to eventually sink into her little puppy brain the idea that outside is the best, most fruitful place to do her business.
Side note to my fellow Seattleites: don’t get a puppy in January.
So far, over a couple of weeks, this strategy has been mostly fruitless — but that’s expected. House training can take months. However, there have been a couple of situations where she appeared to ask to go out and then performed admirably. We rejoiced, but realized it was very likely a combination of our imagination and Piper arranging herself just so in front of the door. If we tried hard enough, we could probably convince ourselves that she’s learning the alphabet.
The big idea with our “outside” strategy and most of modern puppy training is positive reinforcement. The thinking is that dogs are naturally tuned to respond better to situations where they are rewarded versus reprimanded. Hence, all the treats. She has to sit to get anything she wants. Sitting warrants a treat and round and round it goes.
Positive reinforcement works, but what’s so remarkable to me to is that it offers such a contrast to training that’s based on punishment. Unless dogs are caught in the act, they have no idea why they are being punished. Punishment seems arbitrary and pointless when it is meted out after the fact. It serves human emotions more than dog behavior.
Of course, there are very real physical constraints on the puppy body that make everything harder in the beginning. Puppy bladders and digestive tracts are small and need attention over short intervals. For the past two weeks, we’ve gotten up at least twice a night to a whining puppy who needs to go out. Referring to our logs, I can see that last night one of us got up at 1am and 4:30am. The same will be true tonight and for the weeks ahead. She has to go out and there is simply no way around it. And of course, she sometimes whines because it’s time to play. If that time is 5am and she went out recently, we ignore it and she eventually gives up.
As is highly recommended, we are crate training her. This means that we have a crate with a padded floor where she sleeps and stays when we leave home. At first, she hated it and whined and barked and pushed on the door. Why do you torture me so? But over a couple of days, the crate became her home, a source of comfort and a place that she will not defile if she can help it. A place of refuge for dogs, a crate is also a source of peace of mind for us.
Every day, she gets a little calmer, a little more in control, a little more trained. One day, the puppy teeth will disappear, her bladder will last all night and she’ll ask to go outside when the time comes. Then, we’ll have years with a dog that’s custom trained to our specifications. We’re still a long way from there, but I think we’re doing the right things. Her little neck is safe for now.
You can find a constant flow of dog photos on our dog-focused Instagram account duelling.bernedoodles.
