Some cautions about photos.

There is no possible way to know a puppy through photos. None.

These Moonshadow photos involved waking up tired puppies and making crazy noises to try and get them to look towards the camera. They wanted to turn around to see me, find the treat, and/or fall back to sleep.

A photo can be a sleepy snapshot or can make a puppy look amazing. Feet can be wonky because the puppy was sitting strangely or trying to turn or just because they are a puppy. Heads can look great in one angle and not in another. You know — I bet you do not post all selfies you take, after all.

And so enjoy the photos for what they are — just a snapshot in time. In this case — the time is 6+ weeks and these are the Moonshadows…

If someone were to tell you “NO!” right at this minute, would you understand which of the many things you were saying, doing, and/or thinking was the target of the cease and desist message?

Likely not.

Instead, you would probably freeze on multiple levels and not know what to do next.

Welcome to the life of most puppies (and too many children).

If a human said NO! at that moment: Should the puppy stop biting a sibling? Stop biting the tunnel? Stop having fun? Sit instead of down? Get out of the tunnel? Get off the Cato Board? And so on…

“No!” — an error message — is like a shotgun blast. Good luck just hitting the little target with that. Collateral damage is assured.

Error messages are frustrating for all concerned. They are confusing, ineffective, and most of all — they do not help the puppy (or human) understand what to do instead.

Our goal is to shape desired behavior — that does not happen when we simply stop undesired behavior. We need to lose the word “NO” and get to “Yes.” This requires that we pay attention to what is going well and consistently reinforce it.

Undesired behavior needs to be thought of as a television channel — if you do not like what is playing, change the flipping channel — don’t just yell at the television.

We change the channel with a puppy using redirection and distraction, and teaching/reinforcing an incompatible behavior.

Let me give an example: Puppy jumping up.

Puppies are so happy to see us and want to be closer to our faces — so they jump up. Normal. Expected. And maybe best not to reinforce because it won’t be safe when the puppy is big.

What happens when one says “NO!” to puppy jumping up?

First, my puppies are smart and talented but I do not teach them English and so you might as well yell “PANCAKE” for all the effect it will have.

Second, even if your word is loud enough to scare the puppy (#mean) off your new pants (and WHY were you wearing nice pants around a puppy?!), which of the things the puppy was doing at that moment did you want to stop? Being happy to see you?! #fail

The solution is easy peasy. Do not give the puppy a chance to jump up — instead, always be ready to help the puppy greet you with a sit. I will do a video later this week — it is not hard at all. And when you are not paying attention and the puppy does jump up, just ignore her until she is four-feet-on-the-floor — and then reinforce that behavior.