Puppy Love – Petting Your Puppy
When you have a new puppy you should start out as you mean to go on. Young dogs are just like most other young animals, they want to give and receive love. However, if you let every stranger who comes along indulge in petting your puppy then you could find yourself in trouble later on. Dogs who are used to being petted by everyone they meet could develop challenging behavior when in a group because if they don’t recognize a pack leader, they will fight for that position.
Strangers and Your Puppy
Dogs, even very young pups have a pack mentality and you have to teach them that you are the leader of the pack. This means that they should look to you for how they should behave rather than to someone else. While you want your puppy to get along with other people, you need to teach them to remain a bit aloof when it comes to strangers. You don’t want your dog to be aggressive (unless it is a situation where you would tell them to be) but you don’t want them fawning over everyone either. Providing your dog is not scared of strangers you should ask the stranger not to touch your dog. If the puppy is frightened by other people then allow them to pat the dog. Once the puppy gets used to other people you should start being firm with regard to petting.
Your Puppy and the Family
Other members of the family should greet your puppy with a pat on the head but they should not make too much fuss of them. You want your dog to see other family members as part of the pack and you as the leader. On the other hand, if another family member has their own dog then you should not indulge in petting their animal, other than a pat on the head.
You might think that this advice is strange but because dogs are pack animals they only recognize one true master. The no petting rule or reduced petting by other family members will help a puppy to see you as the pack leader. Dogs understand rank within a pack and when there is none they become confused. Any training that your new puppy needs should come from you. Other family members may walk the dog and may even feed it sometimes, but they should not be involved in the training process. If you don’t want the puppy to become confused then you will need to get your puppy, and other people, used to the fact that most of the petting comes from you. This means that the puppy will come to see you as the centre of its universe and will want to please you more than other people.
