Understanding Your Dog – How To Interpret What Your Dog Is Really Telling You is once again not what it sounds like. It’s a general training, behavior and bringing puppy home book that covers everything in general and nothing in serious detail.
That being said, it’s still a pretty good read. It has some fun parts, for example the “Are Dogs Psychic?” test. They talk about dog’s possible 6th sense, and then ask you to give it a try. You think about a dog while he’s sleeping and ask them to come. See if they wake up and come to you.
I tried it, but my dogs did not. Perhaps I am not a doggy savant, or perhaps he woke up, thought to himself, “No way am I getting out of bed when I’m snuggling dad!” and went back to sleep, sure I’d heard him.
Although I liked most of the book and found it helpful and accurate, I found the section, “Deciding On A New Puppy,” very hard hearted. In the section on bringing it home, they recommend ignoring your puppies cries of sadness at night on their first few nights home.
The reason for this is that while cuddling an English Mastiff puppy in your bed is quite easy, the full grown dog might not be so desirable a bedmate. It’ll be harder for your dog to experience separation if you don’t do it as a puppy, etc.
These reasons are all real. I’ve seen far too many desperate Great Dane owners who “Can’t even go to the bathroom by themselves” because they didn’t teach their pet how to be alone. There’s no argument that teaching your puppy to be alone is a good thing.
The problem is they’re not teaching the puppy how to be alone at all, they’re teaching learned helplessness. By letting them cry until they stop, they’re teaching them there is absolutely nothing they can do about this discomfort, and it can never be turned off.
This does not mean they feel any less bad about the situation, it just means that they know they can’t do anything about their discomfort. Later in life this can break down, and suddenly you have a dog who was completely chill about being left alone (or so you thought) suddenly, “out of the blue” destroying everything.
This also happens if aggression and other problems are handled through the “learned helplessness” method.
So what do you do instead? This review isn’t the place for a full “puppy’s first night home” article but a quick replacement suggestion might be: Play with your puppy for 10-15 minutes before bed, lots of good rambunctious play. A tired puppy is a good puppy. Put your puppy in a crate, as they tend to prefer small, cozy places to sleep.
A hot water bottle to snuggle up to (not too hot of course) can mimic the body of a littermate, as well as an unwashed t-shirt that smells like you. Keep the crate in the same room as you, so if the puppy needs to go potty, you can hear them whimper and take them outside.
Sure, your pup might cry the first few minutes, and it’s fine to ignore those and see if he’s just venting, but you shouldn’t leave your pet to spend their first night with you in abject misery. It’s just a baby. At least give it a few coping tools before turning in for the night.
Although I did find this part concerning, I know it was well meant. Large dogs that end up with separation anxiety can end up losing their lives over it. Most of the advice in the book is pretty good. I think this confirms the theory I wrote in my original reading challenge article—if something doesn’t sound right to you, double check it.
Similar Posts:
- Review of The Complete Dog Book
- Review of the Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Living With Your Dog
- How to Survive Crate Rest With Your Chihuahua
- Review of Little Boogie Shoes
- Review of Let Me Tell You About Jasper
