Do you have a puppy that’s starting to act a little out of control? Then you’ve probably hit the ‘terrible twos’ stage of raising a dog! This tends to happen around 6 months of age, and can last until your dog is genuinely 2 years old, so it’s something you’ll need to strap in for! But we can make it a little easier to survive with the tips below.
Don’t React to Over Excitement
It’s very easy to make this kind of mistake, but so many dog owners make it much harder for their puppy to learn how to behave when doing so.
After all, it’s super cute to see your puppy happy and excited to see you. They’re probably going to bound up to you, jump up, paw at you, and maybe even whine and bark, and you’re going to give them plenty of affection to let them know you missed them just as much.
But reacting like this to their excitement can reinforce this kind of behavior. It tricks them into believing that they need to be high energy whenever they want your attention. This can lead to misbehavior in the long term. They may bark more often, or be disruptively excited around guests and other animals.
Wait for them to be calm before you interact with them. For example, if they try to jump up, turn your back to them, and only turn round and offer attention and/or treats once they sit and wait.
Don’t Play with Your Hands
Puppies love to chew! They’re testing out their baby teeth, building their bite strength, having fun chewing on their toys and treats, and their adult teeth will be coming in very soon too.
But if they start to chew on your hands, or you like to use hands during playtime, your puppy may learn to be very nippy. This can easily result in cuts and bruises, as puppies don’t tend to know their own strength, and could mean more destructive behaviors around the house.
If your dog wants to bite, always grab a toy for them. This will help them to associate toys with acceptable chewing targets, and they’ll have far less enthusiasm for taking a chunk out of anything else.
Remember, Scratching and Chewing Damage Can Be Fixed
Puppies can cause a lot of damage around your home. This can be incredibly stressful to see, and you can lose sleep over the exponential increase in bite and scratch marks all over your furniture. Let’s not forget, home decor is very expensive!
But even when your puppy has somehow managed to grab a cushion off the sofa and torn it to shreds, the damage can be fixed. A hardy bit of sofa repair will be needed here, especially if your pooch has a thing for gnawing on the bottom/legs of big furniture items, but a repair can be done nonetheless!
To all puppy parents dealing with the terrible twos: you’ve got this!
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