04/19/2026
Let’s talk about puppies!
Beau is a 13 week old pitbull/random shepherd mix, purchased from a gas station at just 4 weeks old. At just 5 weeks old, he had already learned to bite guests coming into the home and was an absolute menace to his family, destroying furniture, soiling the carpet, biting the children in the home, etc. A situation most modern trainers would view as a lost cause or “untrainable”. Now that we’ve got the context, let’s get into the lesson here!
It should be no issue for a dog as young as even 10 weeks old to understand how to walk nicely on a leash and lay down and stay indefinitely, even with what most people would consider “advanced” distractions. Here, I wouldn’t call these “advanced” distractions, it’s just me goofing off trying to get Beau to break his command in a controlled environment. See, what most trainers teach as a trick (a momentary stay) a professional will teach as an eternal command, right off the rip! Why is this so important (and strangely, controversial?)
Teaching your dog to stay indefinitely prevents many bad habits from forming such as soiling your home, destroying furniture, charging the door, chasing away the mailman etc. but MOST importantly it teaches them to have a neutral response to whatever happens in their immediate environment. This foundational behavior creates a balanced dog that your friends and family will actually want to hang out with because it isn’t acting absolutely bonkers. The peace of mind that your puppy is going to stay out of trouble is priceless and allows you to have more freedom with them way earlier in their life. For puppies, they need simple jobs like staying and focusing on walking with you, not pulling you along or free roaming your house. If you don’t give them a job, they’ll start an extremely successful business that you will more than likely hate.
If you are interested in having your puppy be able to act like Beau here, shoot me a message and we will get to work!
Also give Beau a round of applause, it was a hot one outside today ☀️ and he really gave me his best effort!
