My new dog theory

I wasn't planning to give you a puppy break yet but they scared me! I couldn't find my Children's Spirituality book and my 60+ pound adolescent 14 month old puppies are on a chewing binge (crated at the moment). I thought we'd gotten past that. We were spoiled.

Someone warned me about this when they were still easily deterred by bitter apple spray. All the things you thought they'd learned when they were little, well...if you work really really hard, you might be able to find those well-learned skills again, or so I'm told. Ask me in a couple of years.

Carol Lea Benjamin compares adolescent puppies to adolescent children. She wrote a whole book about them. :) She said they need constructive adult (dog) work to keep them worn out and out of trouble, lots of practice respecting authority, lots of playtime to wear them out MORE (and playing with you keeps them motivated so they listen).

My latest puppy theory is that bored puppies look at our work and use their teeth in an attempt to work with us . . . They see someone sweeping up dog hair, find it in the small trash can (instead of the metal covered trash can) and strew it over the floor. They see someone eating a sub, find the wrapper in the small trash can and, "Hey, he liked it. Let's try it." They see someone taking off and putting on her shoes to go for a walk, "She's almost a peer. These things smell like the outside. She plays with us outside. We can chew on things outside ..." you get the idea.

I still have a keyboard. :)

Yes, we need to pick up the more tempting items and watch puppies or crate them but if this is the time they learn from the pack, I like my theory... We love our puppies. Considering all the trouble they could get into exponentially to the power of two, I still say they're very good puppies.