08/12/2026
The more dogs I work with, the more parallels I see between raising a puppy and rehabilitating an anxious, fearful or reactive dog.
So much of behaviour work involves teaching skills that never developed properly or have been lost along the way: neutrality, settling, regulation, resilience and appropriate outlets.
With a puppy, I get to build those things from the beginning.
Neutrality over excitement.
I don’t need every new experience to involve food, play, adrenaline or interaction. Sometimes we go somewhere and nothing happens. We watch, wander and experience the world without participating in everything around us. I want my puppy to learn that noticing something doesn’t require doing something about it.
Muzzle train before you need it.
I’d rather teach a happy, healthy puppy that wearing a muzzle is completely ordinary than introduce one for the first time during an injury, stressful vet visit or behavioural problem.
Teach the art of doing nothing.
My living room, kitchen and office are generally quiet places. I deliberately avoid high-arousal play there because context matters. I want those environments themselves to eventually predict rest.
Settling can be taught.
I use place, crates and tethers to create opportunities to practise being still. Structure helps prevent endless pacing, patrolling and searching for the next activity long enough for the dog to actually experience settling.
Fulfill the dog in front of you.
My dogs have prey drive, so I give it somewhere appropriate to go: tug, flirt pole, nose work, retrieving, hunting and exploring.
Use the food you already have.
I hand feed a lot with puppies. Their daily food gives me hundreds of opportunities to build engagement, reinforce behaviour and establish myself as a predictable provider of resources.
None of this guarantees a dog without behavioural challenges. Genetics, health, environment and experience all matter.
But after years of raising puppies this way, I’ve seen how much we can do to mitigate significant behavioural issues. And when behavioral problems do develop? I return to these fundamentals.
