Monday, February 16th, 2009 at
7:17 pm

We humans are pretty good at detecting when a certain behavior results in negative consequences, and understand we can avoid those consequences by changing the behavior. Puppies are somewhat capable of the same, but they live and think in the present moment. They do not associate a negative consequence with an action unless the consequence occurs while they are performing the action. When you are housebreaking a puppy, punishing the puppy for accidents in the house is a good example. If you punish your puppy after an accident has occurred, the pup will most likely not associate the act with the punishment you inflicted. If you show him a puddle on the floor and scold him, he is probably just going to be confused and think that’s a bad puddle. So how do you communicate what you expect from your puppy during the critical housebreaking stage? For the most part, it is best to communicate through positive reinforcement rather than imposing too much punishment.
The problem is, we often punish out of emotion rather than the need for discipline in times of puppy housebreaking angst. We are frustrated that the accident happened, because we are putting so much energy into teaching the puppy otherwise, on top of the fact that now we have to clean up the mess. It also doesn’t help that the puppy seems perfectly obliviously happy. The most immediate instinct is often to scold the puppy, who is, after all, the source of the frustration. But, what alleviates our anger is not necessarily the same as what teaches the puppy to do better next time.
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Puppy Housebreaking Resources: Are you Punishing too Much?
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