Despite what the entire Internet claims, you can actually raise a well-mannered dog while keeping your 9-5 job. Here is how we went about training and socializing our puppy while working full time away from home.
We have another post, Part 1, that details how we potty-trained him and prepared him for living with our working schedule.
First Steps
As soon as we considered getting a puppy, I started looking for good Puppy Kindergarten classes.
The benefits of these classes are immensely valuable.
It’s not about getting perfect obedience from your puppy (well kinda, but that’s not the main point).
It’s about training you how to teach your puppy.
Puppies do not speak Human, so you have to learn how to communicate with your puppy to get them to understand you. If you overcome this hurdle, training gets so much easier!
Puppy Kindergarten classes are also a wonderful and safe place for your puppy to work on training and socializing around other puppies.
I signed up for our puppy class before we brought Jackson home. Our first class was when he was 3 months old.
Using a Dog Sitter
Another key aspect that helped with socializing and training our puppy, Jackson, was utilizing a dog sitter.
We worked about an hour away from home, so I found a puppy class near where we worked. On class days, we would take him to a doggy daycare while we were at work.
I found a wonderful dog sitter who had a few dogs in her home that took excellent care of him while we were at work.
At the sitter’s, he learned how to play with gentle older dogs. When he’d get too feisty, the older dogs would tell him to knock it off. They trained him to follow other dogs’ social cues.
He learned a lot on how to communicate with other dogs. I think this was critical in his becoming a well-behaved adult that gets along with other dogs.
Puppy Play Dates
We also tried to give him lots of play dates with friends who had dogs so he would learn to play nicely.
As it turned out, our friends’ dogs were actually very high energy and did not have the lessons from older dogs that Jackson had.
He would tell them he was tired by laying down and trying to walk away, but they were too intent on continuing to play. They would bite at his face and pester him, despite clear signs that he needed a break.
We started to recognized these signs and would intervene when necessary. He’d get some food in his crate and a brief time out so he could rest. Then he would be good to go again!
This prevented any more serious threats on his part, like needing to growl or snap at other dogs. It also gave him a safe place to cool off for a little while without being bothered.
Training at Home and at Class
Prior to our first class we had already taught “sit” and “down”. We got great practice in a new setting when those commands were taught in class.
In class, we also learned to walk “with me”, “stay”, “leave it”, “drop it”, and “go to your rug”.
I think “go to your rug” is still our favorite command to this day.
He will sprint to his rug at the command and wait for treats or an “okay”. This is highly valuable when you’re moving large things and he’s getting underfoot!
Our trainer focused on teaching how to correct issues before they were real problems. She was very proactive with getting our dogs used to being handled, including being handled by other people. We learned how to administer pills without having to hide them in food. She also worked a lot on having our dogs focus on us.
Training and socializing our puppy at our Puppy Kindergarten classes was a uniquely beneficial experience. Jackson got used to paying attention and following our commands despite distractions.
Socializing Our Puppy
Despite Jackson being at home alone for a large part of the day, we wanted him to be good with all types of people. We knew to pay extra special attention to socializing him from the start.
According to Dr. Ian Dunbar’s book Before and After Getting Your Puppy, a good goal for socialization is for your puppy to meet 100 people by the age of 12 weeks.
If you haven’t heard of Dr. Dunbar, check out his TED Talk here. He’s one of my favorite dog trainers and I highly recommend his books.
It was not easy reaching this goal with our work schedules. Jackson needed this for his development though, so we tried our best.
I kept track of everyone Jackson met and we got to 100 by about 14-15 weeks.
The best thing we did for his socialization was taking a trip to go visit my sister in college. On our 500 mile road trip, he learned to ride in the car like a champ.
Along the way, we met all sorts of people. Everyone loved Jackson, including: leather-clad bikers, college students, screaming toddlers, tall men, and old ladies. He got very used to meeting new people this way!
We also went out to restaurants where dogs were allowed. Jackson ended up falling asleep under our table despite the strange activities. He also drew attention (who doesn’t love a puppy?) and met even more people.
With these experiences, he got comfortable with more bustle than he was used to at our little house. He still loves going to new places and meeting new people.
More Places for Training and Socializing
Apart from that, we also took him on other trips to my in-laws and parents’ houses. We would have them invite other family and friends over to meet Jackson. He got to know a lot of people this way.
It was good getting him used to being in strange places with strange smells. He learned that the routine stayed the same and he just got more attention. He seemed to enjoy our trips.
One thing we didn’t expect was needing to show him which door he should scratch at when he had to go out.
It’s not easy being a puppy! Why are there so many doors anyways!?
We also took him to businesses that allowed dogs when he was up-to-date on his shots. Places like Petco and Home Depot are great places to meet new people and work on socializing and training your puppy. If they aren’t finished with their immunizations, carry them so they aren’t touching the floor where they could be exposed to germs.
Other places that might be worth checking out are banks, farmers’ markets, and outside of libraries or community centers.
Farm Dog Training
Because we have a small farm, I had to make it crystal clear that the chickens and ducks were not toys. It was critical to work on training and socializing our puppy with our farm animals.
Our yard was not fenced at the time, so we always had him on a leash whenever we went outside. This gave us complete control over the situations.
After initial interest in the ducks, Jackson grew bored of watching them. They never wanted to interact, so he would start ignoring them whenever we went outside.
At one point he did run up to one of the ducks. He licked it once, then ran back to me with tail wagging as if to say, “Look, we’re friends!”.
The chickens in their pen were a little different. When he ran up to them they would startle and flap around, being highly interesting. But after they’d settle down he would sniff around a little then be ready to move on.
Whenever I fed them, I had him sit by their coop. Jackson would get bored, and by the time I was done he was more than ready to move on to anywhere else.
He also met our pig and rabbits. When they wouldn’t play with him, he’d find something more interesting to do.
The most important part of socializing your puppy with other animals is making sure the other animals are comfortable with him. If they don’t give the puppy much interest, the puppy gets bored and will move on.
Discouraging Bad Habits
One annoying habit Jackson had was chewing on the carpet. Another was grabbing shoes and socks to chew on.
To solve the carpet issue, we put everything from lemon juice to tabasco sauce on the area to get him to stop. Unfortunately, he loved them all.
Eventually, we just started putting large items over the areas he liked to chew to prevent him from doing it. If he did manage to start taking some samples, we’d distract him with another more interesting toy.
We tried to keep lots of diverse and fun toys around. We would purposefully rotate them, keeping only 3-4 toys of his collection out. This way, he always had something new and he wouldn’t get bored of his collection.
For the socks and shoes, we would tell him “no” take the item away and immediately give him one of his toys to play with.
This was also a good opportunity to work on the “drop it” command. Whenever we used that command, we made sure the reward was extra special (a treat and a toy). This way, we didn’t burn him out on the command and he was motivated to actually do it.
We also worked on “drop it” with his other toys, giving them back and playing after. This was so he didn’t only associate getting a treat with picking up non-toys.
A Look Back on Training and Socializing our Puppy
Although Jackson spent his days alone for the most part, he did have a rich and varied social life in general. The effort we put in training and socializing him as a puppy helped make him a well-behaved, friendly, family dog.
In addition to all that, after we’d get home from work we would often have friends over to meet and play with him. If we had errands to run, we’d take him with us and bring him into stores that allowed dogs.
Later, once his vaccinations were complete, we went to the beach and hiked on other little trails near our home.
Our own social lives were definitely enriched by seeing more people for his socialization!
However, many evenings we just spent time cuddling and playing games with him ourselves. When all is said and done, that’s the whole point!
Want more? We have an update on how he was doing on his first birthday, with some more reflections and tips on how we raised him while working full time.
