Olivia Knowles

For a long time we have had the expectation to attend puppy school with our fresh, new, 8 week old puppy, and follow the standard sit, down, come and stay. It works for a little while and then all of a sudden, even by the time our puppies are turning 4-5 months of age sometimes, we can see all of our hard work begin to fall apart. It's not that your puppy doesn't understand what is being taught, they are questioning why it should be of value to them over other things in their environment....

I obviously love having a dog. I am no longer able to imagine my life without at least one dog in it, and rely on having a dog to help keep me honest in my daily routines, with exercise, having consistent mealtimes and so on. But for as much as I have loved them, I do remember feeling quite cheated by no one warning me about a few things that became apparent very quickly into my new life with a dog. It's only after the fact that people say "oh yeah, my dog did that!", and at the time, I felt...

Your puppy is a baby. And while there are parallels that come in handy, they are not a human baby. The main thing that has helped me survive puppyhood and helped other owners I've worked with is keeping front of mind that your puppy is a baby. Like human babies, they are learning constantly while their bodies undergo drastic growth, change and development. Progress Isn't Linear - And Neither Is Puppyhood Progression in all aspects of our lives is not linear, and it would be naive to expect...