19/09/2026
How to raise a puppy?
How do I get my puppy to stop biting?
How to toilet train a puppy?
How to crate train my puppy?
We have another species in the house and it's a baby, instead of working out how to give them the best childhood, you might be too busy trying to figure out how to force the puppy to fit into your imaginary box of perfection.
Raising a puppy is no easy task. Raising them to be confident and independent looks like this:
1. Hand feeding (existential feeding)
My dogs don't see a food bowl in the first year of their life. What a waste of a training opportunity it is to just put the food into an object, building the dog's relationship with an object rather than with us. It's also an incredible way to kill food motivation.
If you want to always have issues with, "What 'treat' should I use for my dog so they show even the slightest interest?" then bowl-feed the dog.
Personally, I train my dogs all the time — every dog walk, every interaction. If I needed to give my dogs treats for that, my dogs would be the size of a double-decker bus.
2. Meeting people
Only for the first couple of weeks will I let people say hi to the puppy. After that, it will move to giving the puppy food but not touching. I want my dogs to feel good about the presence of people, but not be too motivated by them.
3. Taking the puppy EVERYWHERE
As they are this small, it is so important for them to watch and listen to the world, be able to switch off and fall asleep, as well as watch from a distance.
Groomers, shops, walks, children's playgrounds, shooting ranges (gunfire).
4. Interacting with safe dogs
Not a must, because I would rather have no interaction than one with either other puppies or unstable, over-aroused dogs.
5. Crate training...
Prisoner of Azkaban, and her name is Yuki!
Unless we are training, you are in your prison cell... well, not a prison cell entirely, because it's meant to be a sleeping space.
I leave a little bit of water in there and, depending on the puppy, maybe a chew of some sort and a blanket or towel, but definitely no toys or beds. If the puppy can destroy it and eat it, it is not inside.
Also, the crate is for sleeping, not playi