Not every puppy training session goes according to plan, and sometimes the most important progress comes from knowing when to slow things down.
In our latest Training Session at Primal Canine, we're back working with Mikey, our young Rottweiler puppy who's been making steady progress in our Board & Train program.
If you've been following Mikey's journey, you know that confidence has been one of his biggest challenges.
When he first arrived, unfamiliar environments, unexpected sounds, and new experiences could quickly overwhelm him. Even getting him comfortable enough to move around a training room and engage with us required plenty of patience.
While we've made some significant improvements since then, Mikey is still a puppy who needs time to become comfortable with his surroundings.
And this session was a perfect example of that.
He started off standoffish, distracted, and not particularly interested in working.
But rather than forcing the issue, we gave him time to settle in, allowed him to become more comfortable, and eventually got some productive training in.
By the end, we finished on a high note!
Understanding Mikey's Fear and Confidence Challenges
Mikey came into our Board & Train program at just over four months old.
His family had been cautious about exposing him to different environments during his early development because of concerns surrounding parvo and other illnesses that young puppies can be vulnerable to.
As a result, Mikey had limited experience navigating unfamiliar environments.
Once he started encountering new surroundings, it became clear that he was struggling with confidence.
New sounds, unfamiliar areas, and unexpected changes in his environment could cause him to become overwhelmed.
When that happened, his response was often to seek somewhere to hide or attempt to escape.
This made even basic engagement difficult.
Before we could consistently work on obedience, we needed to help Mikey become comfortable enough to participate in training.
That's why much of his early program focused on safe exposure, confidence building, and developing engagement.
And although we've made progress, confidence isn't something that suddenly becomes reliable after a few successful sessions.
It's something we have to continue developing as Mikey encounters new experiences.
When a Puppy Isn't Ready to Train, Adjust the Session
At the beginning of this session, Mikey was pretty standoffish.
He was distracted by his surroundings and wasn't showing much interest in engaging with me.
With some puppies, we might be able to quickly redirect that attention and get right into training.
With Mikey, we knew that pushing him too quickly wasn't going to be particularly productive.
So we took our time.
We gave him an opportunity to become familiar with his surroundings and settle in before asking for more engagement.
Rather than focusing on getting a certain number of repetitions completed, we paid attention to how Mikey was responding throughout the session.
As he became more comfortable, we were able to begin working.
This is an important part of individualized dog training: understanding when to change the plan based on the dog in front of you.
The training objective may stay the same, but the way we approach that objective often needs to change.
Some sessions will allow us to make significant progress.
Others may require us to slow down and reinforce behaviors we've already introduced.
And sometimes the most productive decision is simply giving the dog more time.
Building Engagement Before Expecting Obedience
One of the things we've consistently worked on with Mikey is engagement.
When a dog is overly concerned about its environment, getting it to focus on training can be challenging.
For Mikey, unfamiliar sounds and surroundings often compete with his ability to engage with us.
That's why we've spent time building his understanding of our marker system, developing motivation through food, and reinforcing interactions with his handler.
Through exercises involving luring, indirect rewards, clicker training, and shaping, we're creating opportunities for Mikey to learn how his behavior produces reinforcement.
As his confidence improves, we're able to introduce more obedience development.
But even now, we have to consider how comfortable Mikey is during each session.
Before expecting a puppy to perform behaviors consistently, we need to make sure it's comfortable enough to understand and participate in what we're asking.
That doesn't mean every distraction needs to disappear before training can happen.
It means introducing challenges at a level the individual puppy can handle while continuing to build confidence and understanding.
Shaping Mikey's Foundational Obedience Behaviors
Now that Mikey has started becoming more comfortable in familiar training environments, we've begun incorporating more foundational obedience work.
We're currently shaping behaviors that will eventually develop into more complete exercises.
For example, in a previous session, we introduced Mikey to the place cot.
Rather than immediately adding a verbal command, we started by reinforcing his interaction with the cot.
When he stepped onto it, we clicked and rewarded him.
As he progressed, we increased our criteria to all four feet on the cot, then sitting, then luring him into a down, and eventually marking when he offered the down on his own.
All of that happened without introducing the verbal place command.
By taking that approach, we gave Mikey an opportunity to develop an understanding of the behavior before adding more expectations.
We're now continuing to build on those foundations while working around his confidence challenges.
The goal isn't simply to get him performing obedience exercises inside our training room.
We want to develop behaviors that Mikey and his family can eventually use in their everyday lives.
And that brings us to one of the biggest challenges we're still working through.
Moving From the Training Room to Everyday Environments
One of the next major steps in Mikey's development will be transitioning his training into a wider variety of environments.
Right now, he's making progress in spaces where he's becoming more comfortable.
That's great, but those environments don't necessarily represent everything he'll encounter with his family.
Eventually, Mikey will need to navigate places with more activity, unfamiliar sounds, different people, and other environmental distractions.
We want him to be able to engage with his handler and respond to familiar behaviors in those settings.
But we also recognize that he's not quite ready for some of those challenges.
Before increasing the difficulty, we need to continue helping Mikey become more confident and comfortable in less demanding situations.
As he progresses, we'll gradually introduce new environments and distractions while continuing to reinforce the behaviors he's learning.
This process is sometimes referred to as generalization.
A dog may understand a behavior in one environment but still need additional practice performing that same behavior in different locations and situations.
With Mikey, we need to develop both his obedience understanding and his ability to remain comfortable enough to use those skills in new settings.
Neither part can be ignored.
Why Puppy Training Progress Isn't Always Linear
One thing Mikey has demonstrated throughout his program is that progress doesn't always happen at the pace we'd prefer.
Some sessions he engages quickly and gives us opportunities to introduce new behaviors.
Other sessions, like this one, he needs more time to warm up.
That doesn't mean the previous progress has disappeared.
It means we're still working with a puppy who has some significant confidence challenges.
As his training progresses, we'll likely continue experiencing sessions where things come together quickly and others where we need to slow down.
That's part of working with the individual dog.
We can have a plan for what we'd like to accomplish, but that plan still needs to be flexible enough to account for how the dog is responding.
For Mikey, we'd much rather make steady progress at a pace he can handle than rush through exercises just to say we've accomplished them.
Slow progress is still progress, especially when we're building a foundation that needs to support everything we do later.
Ending the Training Session on a High Note
Although Mikey started this session distracted and standoffish, we were eventually able to get him engaged and working.
As he settled in, we continued reinforcing the foundational behaviors we've been developing.
And by the end, we were able to finish the session on a positive note.
That's something we're really happy about.
Considering where Mikey started when he first arrived, the fact that we're now able to work through some of these challenges and develop obedience behaviors is encouraging.
We still have plenty to accomplish.
He needs to continue building confidence, becoming more comfortable in different environments, and developing a stronger understanding of his obedience.
But we're moving in the right direction.
And for now, we're going to keep chipping away at it at the best pace for little Mikey.
What Dog Owners Can Learn From Mikey's Progress
Mikey's journey provides an example of why puppy training shouldn't be approached as a one-size-fits-all process.
Some puppies are naturally confident and eager to explore.
Others may be more environmentally sensitive, cautious, or hesitant when encountering unfamiliar experiences.
When working with a fearful puppy, there are several important things to consider:
Understand the individual puppy. Temperament, previous experiences, confidence, and motivation all influence how a dog responds to training.
Build engagement. Help the puppy develop an understanding of how to interact with its handler and earn reinforcement.
Use manageable exposure. Introduce new experiences in a way that challenges the puppy without overwhelming it.
Develop foundational behaviors. Use clear communication, reinforcement, and shaping to build understanding before increasing difficulty.
Progress gradually. Expand training into different environments as the puppy becomes more comfortable and capable.
Recognize small improvements. Not every successful session needs to involve teaching something completely new.
Most importantly, pay attention to the dog in front of you.
Training plans are useful, but understanding how to adjust those plans can be just as important as the exercises themselves.
Follow Mikey's Training Journey
We'll continue documenting Mikey's progress through our Training Sessions series on YouTube.
From his early confidence challenges to his first obedience exercises and eventual transition into more challenging environments, we're sharing the process as it happens.
That includes the good sessions, the difficult sessions, and the smaller improvements that might not look particularly impressive without understanding where he started.
We're really happy with the progress Mikey is making, even if it's taking a little more time than we'd like.
There's still plenty of work ahead, but we're excited to see how he continues developing!
Puppy Training and Board & Train at Primal Canine
At Primal Canine, we develop training programs around each dog's individual temperament, behavior, abilities, and goals.
Whether we're working with a fearful puppy like Mikey, an adolescent dog developing obedience, or an adult dog with behavioral challenges, our focus is on building clear communication and developing useful behaviors.
Our training services include:
Puppy Training and Development
Board & Train Programs
Private Dog Training Lessons
Day Training
Group Obedience Classes
Behavior Modification
Advanced Obedience and Off-Leash Training
Working Dog and Protection Dog Training
We're based in Gilroy, California, and serve clients throughout Morgan Hill, San Jose, the Bay Area, and Northern California.
If you're struggling with a fearful puppy, confidence issues, or obedience challenges, contact us to learn more about our training programs.
Visit www.primalcanine.com to get started.
Primal Canine — Established 2013
Training for all behaviors, ages, and goals.