Dog owner with 7 pets shares training mistake ‘everyone seems to make’

If you’re planning to get a puppy or have just had a dog join your family, one of the most important things you can do is train your pet so they understand commands, know how to communicate, and stay safe. But this is even more crucial for puppies as they are less developed than adult dogs.

Puppies are in a critical period of development where they learn quickly and form both good and bad habits. Early socialisation is also important for puppies of this age, as the Dog’s Trust explains, providing puppies with the right socialisation and basic puppy training helps them develop into well-adjusted and confident adult dogs.

However, sometimes you might find that your puppy stops listening or even starts to bite you when you’re playing together or training. To help, one experienced dog owner named Lily, who owns seven dogs herself, has explained why this happens – and it has to do with a common mistake a lot of dog owners make.

“If there is one mistake, and one mistake only people make with their puppies, it is training them for too long,” Lily said.

She went on to say that she’d recently completed a ten-minute training session with her puppy, Goose, explaining that before starting training, the pup had been ‘chilling’ and running around the house.

“Now, as you can see, what we have right now is a very bitey puppy, a very annoying puppy, a puppy who is being very irritating, who is not listening, who is launching at me, biting at me, will not leave me alone,” Lily said as the pup continued to bite her arm and hand.

She continued to say that, as the puppy was starting to ignore her, she could ignore the puppy, but this would lead to the dog either continuing to attack her or going and annoying one of the other dogs. Lily explained: “What is wrong right now is she’s overtired, and she’s trained for a long time now.

“People make the mistake of overly training with their dogs,” she added.

Because of the puppy’s young age, Lily said that she can’t just let the pup run freely around the house, as she would most likely end up finding something to chew on, such as their owner or a piece of furniture, and ’cause chaos’.

“Very common in puppies. Um, but it’s really unenjoyable, and it actually makes you think your puppy hates you because it really hurts,” Lily said.

While the pup will eventually calm down and settle on her own, Lily said there’s a better way to deal with it: make sure the puppy goes down for a nap.

“Because this is a girly who is tired, who’s used her brain lots. And now we have a dog who’s having a temper tantrum and needs to go in for a sleep,” Lily explained.

According to the Dog’s Trust, puppies biting during or after training or playing often happens because your pup is overstimulated, tired, or confusing training treats with play. To fix this, stop the interaction immediately, redirect them to a proper chew toy, and ensure they get enforced naps