We have found that it is just about impossible to tell the temperament and weight of our puppies. Some of the biggest puppies have ended up being the smallest as an adult or the most bouncy puppy growing up to be the calmest dog. This means that it is one hundred percent OK if you pick your new pet by its coloration.

Your dog can end up with a different temperament then when it was a puppy because of the situations YOU put them through! We do everything we can to condition your puppy to everything through ENS and other kinds of experiences. But when we send your puppy home to you, they are still in a developmental stage. Which means that your puppies temperament is still changeable. This means that it is your responsibility to carry through with the training that we have started. You should expose your puppy to the things that you will want to do with your dog. These experiences should NOT frighten your puppy, they should be positive experiences. For example, if have a mooter boat and you want your dog to come with you, you should bring your puppy on the boat and give it treats, lots of praise, or anything that your puppy loves. If your puppy is scared of something, for example, the vacuum cleaner, then you should maybe try having the vacuum in another room or even across the house and then gradually bring the vacuum closer to your puppy over several sessions. You should reenforce these sessions with treats and praise so that your puppy associates the vacuum cleaner with treats or praise.

So why does my adult dog end up with a different temperament then when it was a puppy?

One of the reasons that we do things like ENS as well as exposing them to many different situations is that they help the dog to “be used to” everything. The brain of a puppy from birth, especially from 3 weeks to 12 weeks, is like a sponge taking information and learning from it. After 12 weeks, new things are often automatically labelled “scary,” therefore you have to teach them things are safe. So during this time I as the breeder and you as the owner are responsible for exposing the puppy to as many things in a positive way. Not only does this teach the puppy that that particular thing is safe but it shapes them so that the view things as opportunities for enrichment and learning instead of something to naturally be scared of. Because of all these things, your puppy will naturally be more calm when it is put into a new environment and will be less prone to excessive excitement or fear.

How do you teach your dog to be calm in every situation?

How do I know the right way to train my dog?

This is a tricky question, as a new puppy owner the training of your dog is enough to make you decide not to bye a puppy. There are many different ways to train a dog, we have found that puppy classes can be extremely helpful to just start your puppy out. At a puppy class your puppy can meet new dogs (a great opportunity to condition them to seeing other dogs without becoming over exited), you can learn the foundations of dog training, and you can get expert advice from the teachers. This is a great option but we do feel that any class that you take your dog to should not have any kind of abuse, because not only is this bad for your relationship but also, as mentioned before, your puppy is in a time were anything that happens to him will make a lasting effect on his temperament, trainability, and ability to love humans. Puppy classes are a great option but you might just not have that time, or maybe you need something to help you along the path of training your dog for the rest of its life. BAXTER & Bella is a great solution to this you will get lifetime support and training advice, through online puppy classes, one on one training, not to mention podcasts and videos. For more information abought BAXTER & Bella you can click HERE and don’t forget to use our unique discount code, PRAIRIEGRACEFARM25 to get 25% of there lifetime membership.