Episode #200 Is This Behavior Normal?

This milestone episode sheds light on typical puppy behaviors, especially in family settings with children, addressing common concerns like barking, biting, and jumping. We delve into the nuanced world of puppy adolescence, drawing parallels between canine and human teenage phases and emphasizing the importance of understanding and patience. With personal anecdotes and an empathetic approach, we aim to reassure families that adjustments are part of the journey and highlight valuable resources that can support them every step of the way. Tune in to gain insights, practical advice, and encouragement from trainers who are just as invested in your puppy’s success as you are.

Chapters

• 0:00 Puppy Training Podcast Celebrates Team
• 4:39 Understanding Normal Puppy Behavior

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Today we are answering the question is this behavior normal? It's our 200th episode this week. We're super excited about that and to celebrate, I've brought my team of trainers on the show today with me to discuss this question and give you answers. Welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast. I'm Amy Jensen, founder of Baxter and Bella, the online puppy school. Here we are all about helping you create the best possible experience raising a puppy, from training tips to practical tricks, all aimed at fostering a happy, well-behaved dog who truly feels like part of the family. So if you are ready to enjoy the journey and strengthen the bond with your dog, let's get started. Welcome to the puppy training podcast. Today. We are so excited you're here.

Speaker 1: 0:49

We are celebrating our 200th podcast episode this week and today I decided it would be fun to bring my training team here with me to talk about the question is this normal? As trainers, we coach thousands of people on puppy behavior and this is a question we hear quite often. I'm curious what behavior your puppy does that causes you to wonder is this normal? But first we have a giveaway for you. We are sending one of our listeners a new puppy care package, so all we need you to do is head over to our Instagram at Baxter and Bella, find the post about this 200th episode, then comment what podcast topic would you like to hear next. We will choose one winner at random and send you the package.

Speaker 1: 1:30

Okay, let's meet the team. Thanks for joining me today. Trainers, I'm so glad you're here. Just so everyone is aware, we have an amazing group here at Baxter Bella. They are well-versed in all things dog and do such a good job of taking care of our clients. With me, let's start with introductions. So, laura, how about you introduce yourself first and let us know one thing you love about helping people train their dogs, and then, bailey, we'll have you go next.

Speaker 2: 1:53

Hi everyone. I'm trainer Laura and I live in Northern California with my husband and two little kids and I think one of my favorite things about dog training, and specifically Baxter and Bella, is just getting to meet with like the same people over and over and hear their successes but also hear their struggles and help them through it and build that relationship. It's just something that I think is really special and unique to our program that I love.

Speaker 3: 2:19

Hi, my name is Bailey. I live in Maine with my husband, my two dogs and my four cats and, of course, my daughter and I have another baby on the way as well. So busy family over here. My favorite part about being an online dog trainer is watching the owners really become the trainers. I know that it can be really challenging at first when you are starting off as a new puppy parent, but it's really fun to watch you be able to learn how to problem solve any dog training question that comes up.

Speaker 1: 2:55

Okay, next let's have Barbara and then Heidi. Introduce yourselves.

Speaker 4: 3:00

Hi everyone. My name is Barbara and I also live in Northern California, but farther south than Laura, near the Bay Area, and I think I'm going to echo a lot of what other people are saying. But the reason I love working online with people is helping them problem solve, and it's just so rewarding to have people come back and say, hey, that thing you told me to do, it worked perfectly. And when people get back to you and tell you that, it's just so rewarding to know that we're helping people.

Speaker 5: 3:33

Hi, I'm Heidi and I am from Maine as well. I am the mother of three adult children. I also have one granddaughter and one more on the way. My dogs are elderly. We are giving them the best years of their lives. I know that someday we'll have another puppy, but right now we're trying to enjoy our good years with our two labs that are 13 and a half and 11 and a half, with our two labs that are 13 and a half and 11 and a half, and I love helping people and seeing their thankfulness and having them say, wow, why didn't I think of that? And I just love to tell them because you haven't experienced it before and we have, and we're happy to point out things that you may not have noticed, and it's just a great feeling for people to be so thankful and happy about their own success and I love that.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Yeah, it really is incredible helping you all. It's amazing that we can work with clients around the world, from California to Maine, where all of my trainers live in the US, so that we have clients in Australia, the UK, canada, all over and it's so fun meeting you guys and we really do enjoy doing what we do. All right, so we've met the team. Let's talk normal. What is normal puppy behavior? Let's go in the same order. They each kind of have a different topic that they're going to address and maybe this can relate to some of what you guys are experiencing at your house.

Speaker 2: 4:50

I think my is this normal has come up recently and recently in my life too, so that's why I wanted to talk about it. Is it normal for my kids to not like this new puppy that we brought home? I just went through this with my one-year-old and four-year-old. We brought a puppy home in April and while they were super excited and I kind of knew what to expect, it was really kind of sad when my daughter would, like you know, say I don't like her, like she hates me, she bites me, um, and even though I knew it was normal, it's still like it just made me feel like, oh my gosh, I know where these families are coming from.

Speaker 2: 5:28

Um, I, I felt like I had a pretty good grasp as a trainer before, but now it's like, oh, wow, yeah, raising puppy, a puppy with kids is really hard, like it's very, very hard.

Speaker 2: 5:39

So I feel like I can relate and I feel like I have a better understanding now. So I really I like those calls because I feel like I can reassure a family that yes, it is normal and I can validate to them that it is hard and it is frustrating and it is sad sometimes and sometimes scary, when you feel like is this puppy going to be this way their whole life? But I also love coaching them through with, like our junior trainer class and just one-on-one calls and helping kids learn how to be trainers and how to handle their puppies and work with them. And helping parents set up lots of structure, lots of management tools. No having puppy free in the house just running around with your kids. That might've been what you pictured in your mind, but it's not that time yet. You'll get there, but I'm trying to help them figure out all those management tools to help curb that biting and make their relationship better.

Speaker 1: 6:32

Yeah, and absolutely it does get better. It just takes time, consistency right and knowing what to do. And that's where we come in. We love to coach you guys and help you through this process, especially when you're wondering is this normal that my kids don't really love this puppy? Yeah, it is kind of normal because there's rules involved and kids don't always love rules. But we sort that all out and we help the kids have fun in an appropriate way with the puppy and things get better. So thanks for that, laura.

Speaker 3: 6:57

All dogs are going to bark at some point in their lives. I think that's a big thing that we, as new dog owners it could be a big change when you first come home is having this barking new puppy, or have this puppy that starts barking during adolescence. Regardless of when it happens, we do have our resources to help work on this and figure out the why behind what is going on here. What is my dog barking at? Why are they barking? There's always a different reason with why the dog is barking and we have a different reaction based on that. So feel free to check out our resources about that.

Speaker 3: 7:33

But overall, my mindset on barking is you want to think about how to help with their recovery time with it. If my dog barks at a sudden noise, for example, is she able to recover quickly? Am I able to support her, to get her to a place of neutrality? Something that is helpful for me is to remind myself that my dog doesn't want to feel this way. They don't want to be in this state where they are so overwhelmed, they're scared or they're just unsure of themselves and they're just constantly barking. So having that little bit of empathy for your barking dog can be helpful and know that they are also wanting to get to a point where they can, where they don't need to do this barking. So just remind yourselves that dogs aren't perfect, so sometimes they're going to offer less than perfect behaviors. So be easy on them and be easy on yourselves as they learn about the world.

Speaker 1: 8:27

We coach clients a lot on this right. It's the barking, the biting, the digging, the jumping. I am always reminding people those are normal dog behaviors. Dogs do those things. They don't know what it means to live in a human household. They don't know that we have different rules. But we teach them, we show them what we want them to do, we reward them for it and pretty soon they start to figure out oh, this is how I behave around humans. Thanks, bailey.

Speaker 4: 8:51

So one of the things that I get a lot of questions about or what I hear frequently, is my dog is now six months old and their behavior has changed dramatically overnight and suddenly they're doing all these behaviors that people have never seen before, such as barking and being reactive, and no longer listening to them. And there's just sudden changes of behavior that they see, and a lot of people don't know that. Dogs go through adolescence, just like humans do, and there's a period of time, generally six to 12 months, but it can be earlier and it can go longer when dogs are just emotional. I heard a veterinary behaviorist talking about this, and I like to reassure people about this is that it's a very emotional time for dogs, and so that's why we tend to see emotional behaviors, reactivity, barking, and literally what is happening is your dog's brain is developing. They're operating more at six months from their amygdala or their emotional side of their brain, and as they get older they start doing more processing from the prefrontal cortex, just like human teenagers do. So as they get older they're able to manage those behaviors more.

Speaker 4: 10:10

That does not mean that we don't want to train them during this period. Quite the opposite, we want to spend some time training. During this time I usually send people a link to our wonderful adolescence class that Amy did, because I think that really gives you a comprehensive view of adolescence and how to approach training in a little different way. So I think all of those things we tend to see sleep disruptions, we tend to see regressions in training those are all part of this package. Not every dog experiences them, or they might experience one thing and not another, but it's all linked to adolescence and I think when people say is this normal, I have to say yes, your dog is an adolescent and go to this video and I'll talk you through it. And I think that really reassures people a lot. Their dog is not going to be like this forever.

Speaker 1: 11:04

I agree with you. It really is an overnight thing almost, where you wake up one day and you say, oh, we are in a different phase of life, like something's different. So, yeah, thanks for sharing.

Speaker 5: 11:15

I want to talk about bringing home a new puppy, because you have raised your first dog, or maybe multiple dogs, but you've never had two at the same time and you expect that you're getting your dog a new puppy and it's going to be wonderful and the brand new puppy comes running into the house bouncing into the other dog and you think your older dog may handle it because they've been around other dogs and they're great and they've maybe even played with other puppies and it was great. But this dog is here to stay and it's a 24 seven commitment when you bring a puppy into your home. So help your older dog and also the young puppy by establishing a good relationship between the two, by preventing preventing the nipping, tackling and lunging that a young puppy has learned from their litter mates, and help that older dog get acclimated to the new puppy. They may even look at you with a look that says please keep this monster away from me, keep the monster away from them. It's better to have them separated and give them short periods of time together to get used to each other.

Speaker 5: 12:24

Use gates, the crate, the pen, the leash to give that separation.

Speaker 5: 12:31

This being on a leash or beyond a fence can give the older dog the opportunity to come over and check out the puppy without the ability of the puppy to jump at them and bite them in the face, and this will help the older dog see the puppy as more of a positive new thing in their life and maybe they will be interested in gentle play. Eventually, once we teach the puppy that you can get near the dog as long as you are acting calm and we love to see a good relationship between them. But it does take time, so don't expect it to happen overnight. Give them time, give them space, and eventually you may see them curl up together for a nice comforting nap and that older dog may suddenly realize that they get more rewards, because you're rewarding the puppy a lot and you're bound to reward them a lot for their good behavior as well. So we want to make it rewarding for both of them to learn how to be together, spend time together, and that may take a lot of separation at first, but that's okay.

Speaker 1: 13:25

Yeah, we had to go through this when we brought Bella home. So I have Bruno who's 12. He's a little bit older, doesn't get around super great anymore and young puppies are just a lot of energy for him. So we had to set up some gates and we use the exercise pen and the crate. I had her on a leash often just so that she couldn't bother Bruno. So it is totally possible that they become great friends. It just takes some time and some management. So thanks for that, heidi. All right, that's it for today.

Speaker 1: 13:49

Thank you guys for tuning into the puppy training podcast. As you can see, our team here at Baxter and Bella is awesome. My trainers are the best. We love working with you. We love coaching you through any puppy issues that you encounter or dog issues. We help dogs of all ages. We can help with anything that you are looking for coaching on. So please reach out to us. Check out our website, go to our YouTube channel, check out our social media Instagram, facebook for free tips. We really, really just want to help you be successful. Thanks for tuning in to the Puppy Training Podcast. I hope today's tips help you feel more confident and excited about raising your dog. Remember, with a little patience and consistency, you can create a loving bond and a well-behaved pup who's a joy to have in your family. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with fellow puppy parents. For more resources, visit Baxter and Bella online. Until next time, happy training.