These last few weeks have been all about exploring new things and having the confidence to go check out the things that we found randomly spooky or surprising.

Waffles has always had a great bounce-back: if something startles him, he’ll carefully investigate and then commit to interacting with whatever the object was. I always prefer seeing an adolescent pup to show a healthy degree of caution over over-confidence that can sometimes develop into reactive aggression. Here’s an example in pictures!

We introduced Waffles to one of our canoes this weekend. He gets to come play in the Boundary Waters this year, so it’s important for him to check things out before our first multi-day trip out. He was a little concerned when it came out of the garage (his dad was headless with that big thing on his shoulders! AHHH!) and gave a singular bork when it hit the ground. I encouraged him to go check it out, which he did with appropriate amounts of caution.

He approached, sniffed, took a step back, sniffed again. I threw in some treats and some of his favorite motivator toys. Within a few seconds, he was putting his paws up on the rocking canoe. At no time did I make him do anything or manhandle him in any way. I left the exploration up to him. I did, however get into the canoe and sit there with the fun toys and treats.

Within a minute of being introduced and having his “What the hell is THAT!” moment, he was in the canoe with me, chilling out.

Because he led the interaction, he didn’t jump out or freak himself out when I made the canoe rock and go clunk by rocking it left and right. At no time was there panic or concern. THIS is what confidence looks like.

Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that confidence in a teen puppy is fearlessness. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Some dogs are just naturally unfazed by anything and carry on — in a service dog or guide dog, this isn’t always the best characteristic. I want a dog who will look at traffic and go: “Yeah, nah, you said “let’s go” but we risk getting hit by a car you didn’t see… sooooo… no. We ain’t movin’.”

Adolescent dogs are learning about the scary side of their world. This is the age of exploration when their wild ancestors would be experiencing the world and figuring out what could kill them — so it IS the age of flight!

One of the things I like to do with dogs of any age is encourage them to “go see” when they encounter something they’re concerned about. Here’s what I like to keep in mind when my puppy has Big Feelings about anything — whether it’s something spooky or something they’re super interested in that they’re not allowed to have or interact with:

1. Exude calm. Find your best inner Bob Edwards, channel that NPR voice and tell your pup you see or hear what he sees and hears and that it’s no big deal.
2. Talk to your dog but don’t coddle your dog. Think about the way we interact with preschoolers and toddlers? That. “Oh! That’s just a plastic bag flapping in the wind. It’s fine. Let’s go.” Recognize when your pup is overtired, overstimulated, or just not feeling it today – maybe it’s a bad time to tackle a spooky thing. If so? Onto number 3…
3. Use Let’s Go as a command to walk away from something that’s making the dog react, and walk in the other direction. Let puppy make the decision to yield to leash pressure and follow along. The minute they turn and follow, use your precious marker word and reinforce. This helps them learn that Let’s Go and turning away from something isn’t a flight response (Aaaah! Run away! The boss wants me to run away and is pulling me away, AAAAH!), it’s a valid choice that the Big Boss on the other end of the leash thinks is the right one.
4. Teach What’sThat?, Look At That!, and Go See as an encouragement to go check things out. Start small, start at home, and reinforce exploration. You can also use Go See as a release to allow your dog to say hi to strangers only when you say it’s okay to do so.
5. I use Let’s Go See as an encouragement to go WITH my puppy to go check things out. He’s usually happy to follow me. If he’s still concerned, I let him stand back and I go check the thing out on his behalf. He usually quickly thinks “Oh, well, if SHE thinks it’s okay then it probably is” and joins me.
6. Never force a puppy to interact with something they find scary. Give them space and time and let them make the decisions. Reward them for their bravery, but also don’t make a huge fuss either way. ‘Cause it’s no big deal.
7. Encourage exploration games, and reinforce the crap out of your recall.

A fun exploration game we enjoy a lot is Recycling Box Mayhem. This has the added benefit of helping your dog learn that he’s only allowed to “raid the bin” when you give it to him first. I collect plastic bottles, egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, boxes of all sorts, containers, you name it… crumpled paper, too!… metal pans and metal spoons that make a lot of noise, stack it all together in a way that I know will tumble and fall and crash around, toss in a huge handful of treats, and let my dog go to town. It takes care of a few needs: exploring, sniffing, hunting, shredding, digging, more hunting, and destroying.

In other “new things” news, Waffles got to experience ICE CREAM for the first time. He was pretty thrilled.

He’s been working hard! Sometimes he’s a very good boy.

Sometimes he’s a bit of a turd.

In other words, he’s an adolescent. 😀 Work training has been going very well. He has the basics down and is a very enthusiastic worker. Right now his kryptonite is boredom, so we are taking a step back from group classes that involve a lot of waiting around in favor of one on ones with trick training, distraction training, and frequent reinforcement to keep engagement up. He’s a clever little guy who really loves to learn things and work hard!

Have a great week everyone!