February 21, 2023 • 15 mins
When wondering how much freedom a puppy should have, remember this…
The more freedom you give, the more opportunities you give a puppy to make mistakes.
Mistakes?
That’s things that aren’t really your pup’s fault (more on that later), but things we would see as problem behaviors. Things like destructive chewing, potty accidents, biting and nipping at kids, you name it!
So to put it another way, your puppy should only have as much freedom as you’re willing to allow destruction and other problem behaviors to occur.
I’d argue that the single biggest mistake pup parents make is giving too much freedom to their puppies!
So your next question is probably when you can give your puppy freedom. At what age can you start to let your pup explore a bit more?!
The simple answer, is probably later/older than you think! Here’s why. ⏬
When you can let your puppy have more freedom is a 100% case-by-case situation. There are many factors to consider when making this decision. Here are some:
-How much trouble/problem behaviors could the specific situation allow for if I decide to give more freedom than I usually do?
-Does my dog understand proper behavior when it comes to where and when to go potty?
-Is my puppy teething? If so, this can lead to even more destruction!
-Has my dog shown, for a consistent period of time, an understanding of what items should and should not be chewed?
See how complex each answer might be… That’s why there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer for when you can give a puppy more freedom!
Some puppies catch on very quickly and can be afforded more freedoms as young as 6 months or so.
Other puppies frankly haven’t had enough training and may not be ready for a heavy helping of freedom until they’re about 18 months old.
And further, some dogs just can’t handle freedom. While that can be from a combination of a lack of training, breed tendencies, or even a history of problem behaviors, the fact remains that some dogs can’t handle freedom.
Some dogs may never be able to have the full freedom of being off-leash in a non-fenced area. And that can be okay!
What’s more important is that as pup parents we are aware of our dog’s individual strengths and weaknesses and raise them accordingly. And of course, work to provide proper training and teaching so that the “weak” behaviors can become the strong ones. 💪
As a general rule, it takes most puppies about 12-24 months of age, paired with consistent learning and training, to be ready for more freedom. But again, each dog is unique and you shouldn’t rush it!
If you’re unsure, I’d recommend finding a local dog trainer in your area who follows LIMA protocol and abides by positive reinforcement-based methods to give you specific advice.
Important note: I want to be clear, it is not okay to not train your dog and then completely limit their freedom because they haven’t been taught how to behave. We have a responsibility as pup parents to teach our dogs how we want them to behave and to do it in a humane and effective manner!
If you need extra help with training, please sign up for the 100% free class 30 Day Perfect Pup. It covers topics like leash training, recall, potty training, and even limiting your puppy’s freedom. Sign up free here: https://pfrd.site/classsignup-clickhere
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is the perfect pup podcast.Helping you build a better
relationship with your pup presented by pop forward.
Hello, Bob Paris and welcome to today's episode of the perfect
pup podcast. My name is Devin, we're going to
answer a question that every single parent is ask themselves,
especially with a new puppy. And that is how much Freedom
should a puppy? Have, if you don't have a puppy,
(00:22):
stick around because there's going to be topics and
principles here that I think arevaluable to every pup parent.
No matter how old your dog. Is so let's get right into it.
If we're going to talk about howmuch Freedom a puppy can have,
let's define what that term Freedom means in this context.
Essentially, it means the opportunity to roam explore and
have access to your home, yard and other parts of your dog's
(00:46):
environment. You could insert words or
replace words like free roam. Space, access lack of
supervision, whatever words you want to use.
So now how much how much Freedomshould a puppy have Let's put it
this way. The more freedom, you give, the
more opportunities you're allowing for mistakes, and I'm
(01:07):
going to kind of put a caveat onall of this upfront puppies,
dogs us as humans. All of us, we need opportunities
to make mistakes. We need opportunities to learn
for ourselves the consequences of actions, right?
That's part of how we learn is doing things seeing what the
result is, and then doing thingsaccordingly or differently.
(01:30):
Our dogs need the opportunity tolearn and explore, but as a
young puppy, if you give too much Freedom, you give the
opportunity for them to learn a lot of bad habits, we're going
to dive into some examples, but a simple one would be you give
too much Freedom. They start chewing on furniture
in your home and they start to think this isn't okay Behavior.
(01:52):
Does your dog need to learn thatit's not okay, to chew on
furniture, of course, but that should be done in a supervised
environment where you have the opportunity.
T to redirect and to correct thebehavior and to reward the
behavior that you do want. So I'm not saying to be a
complete helicopter parent quoteunquote or not.
(02:12):
Let your dog do anything or not.Let them explore.
That's not the point so don't get it twisted in that way.
The point is the more freedom you give the more opportunity
for mistakes and if you want to hear it another way, Your pup
should have as much Freedom as you're willing to allow
destruction and other quote unquote problem behaviors.
(02:34):
So let's dive into what that looks like.
Let's do a quick one potty training, right?
One of the tough parts for many puppies.
So let's have an example. You put down your dog's food and
you got distracted doing something while they were eating
because you weren't just sittingthere staring at your puppy eat,
and they roamed around after they ate and they had an
accident. Ain't so what could you do as a
(02:56):
alternative there? You could number one set a timer
to remind yourself. Hey, five minutes after I put
this bowl down. Let's take puppy outside and or
you could feed your puppy on a leash.
Have them Tethered to you. You're not going to have to, you
know, you're still going to be near them, but don't give them
full freedom to roam or feed them in a crate or feed them in
a playpen. Another example you have to
(03:18):
leave your Hurley, leave the home and you don't put your dog
in a crate and you come home andthey chewed up shoes and other.
Things that you'd want them to chew.
What could you do it? Alternatively, you could have
the crate in a playpen area or an ex pain as kind of a
Fail-Safe. If you forget them to put to put
them in the crate real-time timeor whatever it might be, you can
(03:39):
always pick them up, put them inthat playpen where it's puppy.
Proved another example, you haveyour friends come over and they
want to meet the new puppy and play with the new puppy and it's
so exciting. And you playing, you know,
they're having fun in the livingroom playing Chase, throwing the
ball. All those fun things.
Things and your puppy has an accident.
So while that's totally common because again, your puppies
(04:01):
excited, probably forgot. You were distracted and
alternative is playing outside or being in an environment where
it's okay. If they have a potty accident,
like a room with tile or easier to clean floors.
So you see how you're not limiting your dog's ability to
be a dog, you're just doing it in a controlled manner.
Another example here destructive, behaviors you take
(04:23):
your eye off your puppy. A work called and the next thing
you know they are again. Chewing on your favorite purse
and what could have you done better in that situation?
I would say if you can't give your puppy full attention and
this is a principle that can be widely applied for most
behaviors. If you can't give your puppy
your full attention, they shouldn't have full Freedom.
(04:45):
So again, we'll talk more about confinements, but you're not
just going to let them go roam. The whole house, if you're
distracted on a work, call another instance, right?
You have your dog out in your fenced-in backyard where you
think, okay? Not much bad can happen.
You have to run inside real quick to grab a drink and you
come back out and your dog is digging through the flowers.
(05:06):
What could have you done differently?
You know, you could have broughtthe puppy inside with you.
You could have put a physical barrier around the flowers, you
see where I'm getting at here again, your dog has the
opportunity to be in the backyard and learn and explore,
but if they don't have the supervision, you need safeguards
to protect them. From again, learning bad
behaviors, like digging, and potentially getting themselves
(05:29):
into trouble or getting sick or hurt because some plans are
problematic or, you know, all types of issues that can arrive.
What about recall, right? A lot of us think.
Oh, well, you know, I've done some recall training with my
pup. Sure, they'll be fine if I let
them run around off leash at this park and you call for them
and they turn around and go the other way.
(05:51):
You gave too much Freedom inherently in that situation.
If your dog wasn't able to come back, when you called them, they
had too much freedom for what their competency level is for
recalls. So, in that situation, use a
long lead. Again, you can buy 100 foot long
leads or probably bigger where your dog can go.
(06:12):
Your they can roam, they can feel like they have the freedom
but you are not completely out of control of the situation.
You have some ability to Keep your dog safe and as well as if
they're not coming back to you can have some controlled be able
to kind of bring them back towards you, get them to come
back and then reward the behavior of coming back to you.
(06:32):
So those are a few examples of how you can kind of limit
freedom for your puppy while still letting them explore and
be a dog and and make decisions and learn and grow on their own.
All right. So, this is all well and good.
We're getting the point home of give less Freedom.
The less freedom You give the less likely it is that there's
(06:53):
going to be problem behaviors and or dangerous situations that
occur. So, the next question, many
people wonder is okay, how long do I have to do this for at what
age can I give my puppy more freedom?
The simple answer is probably later than you think.
Probably, once your dog is olderthan you think, one of the
biggest mistakes that I made as a new pup parent was giving my
(07:15):
dog too much Freedom at too. Young of an age there were
mistakes there. Were bad habits.
That were created. There were things like
reactivity, and not coming back,when called, and chewing on
things that I didn't want them to choose strictly because I
gave too much freedom. I thought to myself.
Okay, there, you know, nine months old.
Now, they are starting to listenbetter.
(07:38):
They're starting to have a better grasp of what it means to
be a well-mannered dog. And I thought, okay, I can give
him some more freedom. Let's let him off leash at this
park and There She Goes, sprinting to the opposite side
of the park to Market. Someone going by on a bike or
worst case scenario running intothe street.
Yes, it happened. I will say I've made those
(07:58):
mistakes and there because I gave too much freedom and it
created bad habits. So there are a lot of factors
that will determine what age youcan give your dog more freedom,
really, you need to look at it on an a kind of individual
Behavior level of again with theexample of recall, are you
willing to let your dog off? Do you feel confident that they
(08:19):
are going to come back to you? If not probably continue using
along leading, continue trainingand reinforcing the good
behaviors? Some other factors would be, you
know, what is the worst case scenario if you're at a place
where there's a chance that theycould run into the street and
get hit by a car? You probably want to practice
giving less Freedom, just for safety's sake.
If there is teething happening, you know, that can factor into
(08:43):
how much they might be destroying or be wanting to chew
on things that they're not. Supposed to chew, another
instance would be with freedom in the home.
How well, are they understandingpotty training?
Are they understanding when and where to go?
Are they still having some accidents?
Because if you're still having accidents every other day, every
third day, once a day, they don't need Freedom.
(09:05):
They're not ready for it that you're just setting them up to
fail by having more potty accidents.
Inside, if you want an age frame, I would say realistically
12 to 24 months, and again, you can You're mentally and slowly
provide more freedom, but if youwanting, you know, in your mind,
you're saying, am I able to my dog?
Bella, Run free and be off leashand do whatever they want.
(09:27):
It's gonna take a long time to get there.
That is just the reality of having a puppy is learning takes
time. We've talked about some of these
but let's kind of look at a listof different ways.
You can allow your dog, the freedom to learn and explore and
grow while still having some control over the situation to
keep them safe and to set them up for success.
(09:47):
SS. We've talked about crates.
Does everyone need to crate train their dog?
Not necessarily. I did a whole episode about that
there are pros and cons to both buttock rate can be a good tool.
You can use playpens, you can use x pens, physical barriers
are huge if you don't want your dog to have access to a room,
keep the door closed. If you don't think you're going
to remember to always close the door behind you, put up a baby
(10:08):
gate. We use baby gates in our
previous home all the time. We had kind of a base level
where you walked in and it was kind of the kitchen laundry room
that Out into the backyard when you stepped up in the living
room we had a baby gate so we could close that.
We could have a barrier to not allow our dogs access and what
that does is it allows you to say OK is my dog only has access
(10:31):
to this specific room. I can be very meticulous about
puppy proofing, that room in particular other things.
You can do is practicing tethering.
You do need to do this all the time but having your dog
connected to you, if you want totry, you know you just took your
doubt your puppy out to the Bathroom.
You want to explore the the house and practice them, having
(10:52):
some Freedom, you can clip them to the leash and clip the leash
to your belt, or to your waist and just kind of explore around
the house with them with them Tethered to you using a long
lead. I love love love long leads,
they're such a powerful tool, they make things like recall and
stay so much easier and really so much safer.
I don't want to sound like overly worrisome about puppies
(11:16):
and dogs, but If we're going to talk about one behavior, that
really can jeopardize your dog, safety.
It is. Letting them off leash.
Dogs are somewhat unpredictable.My dogs are 56 years old, almost
now and I still have situations where I look back and I think I
probably should have kept him ona leash because squirrels and
other dogs and cars and bikes and there's just so many
(11:39):
factors. So just, you know, think about
those things the most important part to remember is you want to
set your dog up for success Typically giving less Freedom
means, you are going to be able to be aware, have some
supervision. And if bad things are happening,
you can correct. You can redirect and you can
reward the things you do want tohappen.
(12:00):
So you avoid bad habits, and youreinforce and reward good
habits, and that is really puppyhood in a tiny, tiny
nutshell. And I want to drive this point
home. With one small example, I
remember when I was 15 years old, I was so, so excited.
I can get my learner's. Permanent I could legally get
behind the wheel of a car and inyour head as a teenager, you're
(12:23):
just like I'm gonna go for drives with my friends and we're
going to go on late-night, snackruns and all the fun things that
you think about, you want to do and you get your learner's
permit and you're excited. And you're like, I'm about to
have the freedom to get behind the wheel and hit the open road
and then there's stipulations. There are things.
You can and can't do with your learner's permit where I lived.
(12:44):
Generally the rules were you could you weren't supposed to
drive at night? Right?
You could not have anyone under the age of 18 in the car at any
time? You had to have an adult in the
car with you as you were driving.
You know, there were these stipulations, there were some
controls, there were some Protections in place so that yes
I could still learn how to driveand certainly make mistakes but
(13:06):
there was someone responsible with me to teach me and say, hey
right there, this is what you should have done instead and by
doing that, I have the opportunity to learn and to grow
and to Figure out how to drive. Well, not being given complete
freedom to just get out on the streets and potentially cause
serious problem. I hope this episode answers.
(13:26):
The question of how much Freedomcan a puppy?
Have again, simplest answer by giving less Freedom, you have
the up more opportunities to setyour dog up for success.
And when you are ready to give freedom to your dog, you feel
like they are mature and understanding behaviors.
Well enough to have some Freedom, do it slowly.
Do it incrementally. You don't have to do it all at.
(13:47):
Once you can again use things like long leads use baby gates,
you know if you decide hey there's this part of my house.
Now that I feel like my dog can handle this other part, they
can't use a baby gate, closed the door and those types of
things. I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Puppyhood is challenging to say the least, but if you follow
some of these ideas, if you workon setting your dog up for
(14:08):
Success, you will be able to give your dog so much more
freedom in the future. The beauty of giving less
freedom in the beginning, is that it allows you to give more
freedom In the long run because what can happen is if you give
too much freedom and all these bad habits are ingrained in your
dog and you're trying to constantly overcome them.
What happens is you can't give as much Freedom even you'll have
(14:30):
an adult dog where you're not comfortable doing certain things
or allowing them to do certain things because they have too
many bad habits that have started.
So give less Freedom. Now, to be able to have more
freedom in the long run and train, train and train your dog
be consistent. And do what it takes to raise a
well-mannered up. Hope you enjoyed this episode.
(14:51):
If you did, please leave a review on Apple podcast.
I read all of them. I love the feedback both
positive and negative. I love the ideas for episodes.
I have definitely used review ideas that people have given and
turn them into episodes. If you're on YouTube, subscribe,
leave a comment. And other than that, we'll catch
you on the next episode.
This is the perfect pup podcast.Helping you build a better
relationship with your pup presented by pop forward.
Hello, Bob Paris and welcome to today's episode of the perfect
pup podcast. My name is Devin, we're going to
answer a question that every single parent is ask themselves,
especially with a new puppy. And that is how much Freedom
should a puppy? Have, if you don't have a puppy,
(00:22):
stick around because there's going to be topics and
principles here that I think arevaluable to every pup parent.
No matter how old your dog. Is so let's get right into it.
If we're going to talk about howmuch Freedom a puppy can have,
let's define what that term Freedom means in this context.
Essentially, it means the opportunity to roam explore and
have access to your home, yard and other parts of your dog's
(00:46):
environment. You could insert words or
replace words like free roam. Space, access lack of
supervision, whatever words you want to use.
So now how much how much Freedomshould a puppy have Let's put it
this way. The more freedom, you give, the
more opportunities you're allowing for mistakes, and I'm
(01:07):
going to kind of put a caveat onall of this upfront puppies,
dogs us as humans. All of us, we need opportunities
to make mistakes. We need opportunities to learn
for ourselves the consequences of actions, right?
That's part of how we learn is doing things seeing what the
result is, and then doing thingsaccordingly or differently.
(01:30):
Our dogs need the opportunity tolearn and explore, but as a
young puppy, if you give too much Freedom, you give the
opportunity for them to learn a lot of bad habits, we're going
to dive into some examples, but a simple one would be you give
too much Freedom. They start chewing on furniture
in your home and they start to think this isn't okay Behavior.
(01:52):
Does your dog need to learn thatit's not okay, to chew on
furniture, of course, but that should be done in a supervised
environment where you have the opportunity.
T to redirect and to correct thebehavior and to reward the
behavior that you do want. So I'm not saying to be a
complete helicopter parent quoteunquote or not.
(02:12):
Let your dog do anything or not.Let them explore.
That's not the point so don't get it twisted in that way.
The point is the more freedom you give the more opportunity
for mistakes and if you want to hear it another way, Your pup
should have as much Freedom as you're willing to allow
destruction and other quote unquote problem behaviors.
(02:34):
So let's dive into what that looks like.
Let's do a quick one potty training, right?
One of the tough parts for many puppies.
So let's have an example. You put down your dog's food and
you got distracted doing something while they were eating
because you weren't just sittingthere staring at your puppy eat,
and they roamed around after they ate and they had an
accident. Ain't so what could you do as a
(02:56):
alternative there? You could number one set a timer
to remind yourself. Hey, five minutes after I put
this bowl down. Let's take puppy outside and or
you could feed your puppy on a leash.
Have them Tethered to you. You're not going to have to, you
know, you're still going to be near them, but don't give them
full freedom to roam or feed them in a crate or feed them in
a playpen. Another example you have to
(03:18):
leave your Hurley, leave the home and you don't put your dog
in a crate and you come home andthey chewed up shoes and other.
Things that you'd want them to chew.
What could you do it? Alternatively, you could have
the crate in a playpen area or an ex pain as kind of a
Fail-Safe. If you forget them to put to put
them in the crate real-time timeor whatever it might be, you can
(03:39):
always pick them up, put them inthat playpen where it's puppy.
Proved another example, you haveyour friends come over and they
want to meet the new puppy and play with the new puppy and it's
so exciting. And you playing, you know,
they're having fun in the livingroom playing Chase, throwing the
ball. All those fun things.
Things and your puppy has an accident.
So while that's totally common because again, your puppies
(04:01):
excited, probably forgot. You were distracted and
alternative is playing outside or being in an environment where
it's okay. If they have a potty accident,
like a room with tile or easier to clean floors.
So you see how you're not limiting your dog's ability to
be a dog, you're just doing it in a controlled manner.
Another example here destructive, behaviors you take
(04:23):
your eye off your puppy. A work called and the next thing
you know they are again. Chewing on your favorite purse
and what could have you done better in that situation?
I would say if you can't give your puppy full attention and
this is a principle that can be widely applied for most
behaviors. If you can't give your puppy
your full attention, they shouldn't have full Freedom.
(04:45):
So again, we'll talk more about confinements, but you're not
just going to let them go roam. The whole house, if you're
distracted on a work, call another instance, right?
You have your dog out in your fenced-in backyard where you
think, okay? Not much bad can happen.
You have to run inside real quick to grab a drink and you
come back out and your dog is digging through the flowers.
(05:06):
What could have you done differently?
You know, you could have broughtthe puppy inside with you.
You could have put a physical barrier around the flowers, you
see where I'm getting at here again, your dog has the
opportunity to be in the backyard and learn and explore,
but if they don't have the supervision, you need safeguards
to protect them. From again, learning bad
behaviors, like digging, and potentially getting themselves
(05:29):
into trouble or getting sick or hurt because some plans are
problematic or, you know, all types of issues that can arrive.
What about recall, right? A lot of us think.
Oh, well, you know, I've done some recall training with my
pup. Sure, they'll be fine if I let
them run around off leash at this park and you call for them
and they turn around and go the other way.
(05:51):
You gave too much Freedom inherently in that situation.
If your dog wasn't able to come back, when you called them, they
had too much freedom for what their competency level is for
recalls. So, in that situation, use a
long lead. Again, you can buy 100 foot long
leads or probably bigger where your dog can go.
(06:12):
Your they can roam, they can feel like they have the freedom
but you are not completely out of control of the situation.
You have some ability to Keep your dog safe and as well as if
they're not coming back to you can have some controlled be able
to kind of bring them back towards you, get them to come
back and then reward the behavior of coming back to you.
(06:32):
So those are a few examples of how you can kind of limit
freedom for your puppy while still letting them explore and
be a dog and and make decisions and learn and grow on their own.
All right. So, this is all well and good.
We're getting the point home of give less Freedom.
The less freedom You give the less likely it is that there's
(06:53):
going to be problem behaviors and or dangerous situations that
occur. So, the next question, many
people wonder is okay, how long do I have to do this for at what
age can I give my puppy more freedom?
The simple answer is probably later than you think.
Probably, once your dog is olderthan you think, one of the
biggest mistakes that I made as a new pup parent was giving my
(07:15):
dog too much Freedom at too. Young of an age there were
mistakes there. Were bad habits.
That were created. There were things like
reactivity, and not coming back,when called, and chewing on
things that I didn't want them to choose strictly because I
gave too much freedom. I thought to myself.
Okay, there, you know, nine months old.
Now, they are starting to listenbetter.
(07:38):
They're starting to have a better grasp of what it means to
be a well-mannered dog. And I thought, okay, I can give
him some more freedom. Let's let him off leash at this
park and There She Goes, sprinting to the opposite side
of the park to Market. Someone going by on a bike or
worst case scenario running intothe street.
Yes, it happened. I will say I've made those
(07:58):
mistakes and there because I gave too much freedom and it
created bad habits. So there are a lot of factors
that will determine what age youcan give your dog more freedom,
really, you need to look at it on an a kind of individual
Behavior level of again with theexample of recall, are you
willing to let your dog off? Do you feel confident that they
(08:19):
are going to come back to you? If not probably continue using
along leading, continue trainingand reinforcing the good
behaviors? Some other factors would be, you
know, what is the worst case scenario if you're at a place
where there's a chance that theycould run into the street and
get hit by a car? You probably want to practice
giving less Freedom, just for safety's sake.
If there is teething happening, you know, that can factor into
(08:43):
how much they might be destroying or be wanting to chew
on things that they're not. Supposed to chew, another
instance would be with freedom in the home.
How well, are they understandingpotty training?
Are they understanding when and where to go?
Are they still having some accidents?
Because if you're still having accidents every other day, every
third day, once a day, they don't need Freedom.
(09:05):
They're not ready for it that you're just setting them up to
fail by having more potty accidents.
Inside, if you want an age frame, I would say realistically
12 to 24 months, and again, you can You're mentally and slowly
provide more freedom, but if youwanting, you know, in your mind,
you're saying, am I able to my dog?
Bella, Run free and be off leashand do whatever they want.
(09:27):
It's gonna take a long time to get there.
That is just the reality of having a puppy is learning takes
time. We've talked about some of these
but let's kind of look at a listof different ways.
You can allow your dog, the freedom to learn and explore and
grow while still having some control over the situation to
keep them safe and to set them up for success.
(09:47):
SS. We've talked about crates.
Does everyone need to crate train their dog?
Not necessarily. I did a whole episode about that
there are pros and cons to both buttock rate can be a good tool.
You can use playpens, you can use x pens, physical barriers
are huge if you don't want your dog to have access to a room,
keep the door closed. If you don't think you're going
to remember to always close the door behind you, put up a baby
(10:08):
gate. We use baby gates in our
previous home all the time. We had kind of a base level
where you walked in and it was kind of the kitchen laundry room
that Out into the backyard when you stepped up in the living
room we had a baby gate so we could close that.
We could have a barrier to not allow our dogs access and what
that does is it allows you to say OK is my dog only has access
(10:31):
to this specific room. I can be very meticulous about
puppy proofing, that room in particular other things.
You can do is practicing tethering.
You do need to do this all the time but having your dog
connected to you, if you want totry, you know you just took your
doubt your puppy out to the Bathroom.
You want to explore the the house and practice them, having
(10:52):
some Freedom, you can clip them to the leash and clip the leash
to your belt, or to your waist and just kind of explore around
the house with them with them Tethered to you using a long
lead. I love love love long leads,
they're such a powerful tool, they make things like recall and
stay so much easier and really so much safer.
I don't want to sound like overly worrisome about puppies
(11:16):
and dogs, but If we're going to talk about one behavior, that
really can jeopardize your dog, safety.
It is. Letting them off leash.
Dogs are somewhat unpredictable.My dogs are 56 years old, almost
now and I still have situations where I look back and I think I
probably should have kept him ona leash because squirrels and
other dogs and cars and bikes and there's just so many
(11:39):
factors. So just, you know, think about
those things the most important part to remember is you want to
set your dog up for success Typically giving less Freedom
means, you are going to be able to be aware, have some
supervision. And if bad things are happening,
you can correct. You can redirect and you can
reward the things you do want tohappen.
(12:00):
So you avoid bad habits, and youreinforce and reward good
habits, and that is really puppyhood in a tiny, tiny
nutshell. And I want to drive this point
home. With one small example, I
remember when I was 15 years old, I was so, so excited.
I can get my learner's. Permanent I could legally get
behind the wheel of a car and inyour head as a teenager, you're
(12:23):
just like I'm gonna go for drives with my friends and we're
going to go on late-night, snackruns and all the fun things that
you think about, you want to do and you get your learner's
permit and you're excited. And you're like, I'm about to
have the freedom to get behind the wheel and hit the open road
and then there's stipulations. There are things.
You can and can't do with your learner's permit where I lived.
(12:44):
Generally the rules were you could you weren't supposed to
drive at night? Right?
You could not have anyone under the age of 18 in the car at any
time? You had to have an adult in the
car with you as you were driving.
You know, there were these stipulations, there were some
controls, there were some Protections in place so that yes
I could still learn how to driveand certainly make mistakes but
(13:06):
there was someone responsible with me to teach me and say, hey
right there, this is what you should have done instead and by
doing that, I have the opportunity to learn and to grow
and to Figure out how to drive. Well, not being given complete
freedom to just get out on the streets and potentially cause
serious problem. I hope this episode answers.
(13:26):
The question of how much Freedomcan a puppy?
Have again, simplest answer by giving less Freedom, you have
the up more opportunities to setyour dog up for success.
And when you are ready to give freedom to your dog, you feel
like they are mature and understanding behaviors.
Well enough to have some Freedom, do it slowly.
Do it incrementally. You don't have to do it all at.
(13:47):
Once you can again use things like long leads use baby gates,
you know if you decide hey there's this part of my house.
Now that I feel like my dog can handle this other part, they
can't use a baby gate, closed the door and those types of
things. I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Puppyhood is challenging to say the least, but if you follow
some of these ideas, if you workon setting your dog up for
(14:08):
Success, you will be able to give your dog so much more
freedom in the future. The beauty of giving less
freedom in the beginning, is that it allows you to give more
freedom In the long run because what can happen is if you give
too much freedom and all these bad habits are ingrained in your
dog and you're trying to constantly overcome them.
What happens is you can't give as much Freedom even you'll have
(14:30):
an adult dog where you're not comfortable doing certain things
or allowing them to do certain things because they have too
many bad habits that have started.
So give less Freedom. Now, to be able to have more
freedom in the long run and train, train and train your dog
be consistent. And do what it takes to raise a
well-mannered up. Hope you enjoyed this episode.
(14:51):
If you did, please leave a review on Apple podcast.
I read all of them. I love the feedback both
positive and negative. I love the ideas for episodes.
I have definitely used review ideas that people have given and
turn them into episodes. If you're on YouTube, subscribe,
leave a comment. And other than that, we'll catch
you on the next episode.
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