Too Much Freedom Too Soon
One of the biggest mistakes I see new puppy owners make is allowing their puppy to have total freedom around the house very early on.
We love them. We really do. But left to their own devices, a puppy is probably going to get themselves into a whole lot of bother, not because they're trying to be naughty, but because they're just a baby with teeny tiny bladders/bowels and zero adult skills.
When the whole world needs interacting with, usually with their mouth let's face it, an unsupervised puppy is highly likely going to make mistakes (mistakes as far as we are concerned...to a puppy, these are totally normal behaviours). Overtired puppies will absolutely make terrible decisions!
It’s a while yet until they learn the adult skills we need them to know.
The longer they do the things we don’t want (toilet accidents, bite/chew things, take things we don’t want them to have etc), the more ingrained these behaviours become. The more ingrained they become, the harder it becomes to change them. Practice makes perfect after all.
Set them up to succeed and yourself up to train them by not giving them total freedom around the house too soon. It very rarely ends well when you do! Prepare an area for your puppy to be left in if you cannot supervise them. A puppy pen or crate, introduced in the right way is a really great way to keep your puppy safe when you can’t watch them! Otherwise, keep one eye on your puppy so you can help them make good choices!
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Happy training! xx