The Challenges of Puppy Love

How the journey of raising a dog might just change your life.

Picture it: You’ve just made the hesitant choice to bring home a perfect, pint-sized puppy. It wasn’t in the plans, but you’ve stumbled across a post on social media seeking some sucker to take an adorable pup off their hands. Their neighbor’s escape artist of a dog has found its way into their fence yet again, and now they’re looking for a good home for an unexpected litter. She has bright blue eyes, a big round belly, probably more spunk than she weighs, and you can’t help but give her the home she deserves. You envision life with a faithful dog by your side that you’ve raised to be the ideal companion. In fact, almost instantly after deciding you’ll take her home, you’ve already loaded up on all of the “necessities”: a cute, fluffy bed, a pink collar with pearls, stuffed animals that are twice her size, and plenty more. You are over-prepared (or so you think).

That sucker was me, approximately two and a half years ago, with not a single clue of what I was getting myself into. Fast forward to today, I’m now working full time at a veterinary clinic, pursuing a career as a dog trainer, while walking dogs and pet sitting in my free time. If you see me in public, I’m probably covered in pet hair, and there’s a good chance I’m wearing animal themed clothing, right down to the socks. To say the least, that new puppy sparked my obsession with animal behavior and care, and I’m pretty sure that she changed my life forever.

So, what led a bartender working nights slinging beers, margaritas, and plates of Tex Mex to drop that gig for half the pay and early morning shifts? To put it simply, I was not quite as prepared to raise that pup as I thought. I was so unprepared that my unpreparedness launched me down a path of scrambling to learn anything and everything I could to help me be a better pet owner. Once I headed down that path, it took on a new life of its own. In fact, learning about animals evolved into my career.

My perfect, pint-sized pup turned out to be, quite frankly, a pint-sized terror. Maybe she wasn’t that horrible, but it’s safe to say that she was definitely no walk in the park. Destructive chewing, screaming when kenneled, leash tugging, hyperactivity, biting fingers and toes: if it was a typical puppy behavioral issue, she had it. Regardless of her quirks, she was my adorable terror, and I loved her.

The more her stubbornness persisted, the more I worried. Considering her breed, American Pit-bull Terrier, I knew she had a bad rap coming out of the gate, so I wanted to make sure that people didn’t have any reason to ever think that she was a bad dog. This proved harder to accomplish than I had pictured in my head, because she had an enormous amount of personality and an even greater amount of attitude. Despite her rebellion, for every issue that faced us, we kept working. That experimentation and extensive research led me today to a pretty good idea of what works for her, and we’ve seen major improvement over time.

Now, if you would have acknowledged any of those issues two years ago, I would have said something like, “She’s just full of energy” or “She’s just sassy!” It’s funny, we always sugar coat it, and we only share the cute, cuddly pictures on social media. Why? Well, because nobody wants to admit that they have a “bad” dog. And she wasn’t bad, and I wasn’t a bad owner. But at the time, boy did it feel like it, and I wasn’t anywhere close to being okay with admitting it. How discouraging it can be to have a pet that’s misbehaving more than they behave. It’s hard not to fall into the trap of feeling like they should just “get it”: get what we want them to do without teaching them. But, they don’t. They’re not born speaking the lingo, and it takes a whole lot of work and effort to get them to the point that they do. So, what led me to where I’m at was just that — putting in some work. The more work I put in with her, the more I learned, and the more I learned, the more my curiosity grew. I became insatiable.

Figuring out how to speak my dog’s language and teaching her how to speak mine has been one of the most rewarding things that I’ve ever done. It seems pretty extreme to say, but when you work on training with your dog, you learn things about yourself that will surprise you. Behavior is a fascinating topic, and similarities between animal and human behavior can be extremely eye opening. When you start trying to teach your pet things, you’ll be amazed how much you still have to learn, yourself. Better yet, the closer you get to your dog, the more that you’ll grow as a person. In fact, studies have shown that the bond between people and their pets can lower stress and bring happiness to their owners. (About Pets & People 2019)

So, I guess I’m here to say, don’t give up on your dog. Like with everything, you’re going to have good and bad days, and seeking after perfection is a fool’s errand. If I could go back and give myself a pep talk on the ride to pick up that rambunctious pup two and a half years ago, here’s the advice I would have given myself: Focus on building a relationship of trust with your dog, work towards actually understanding her, and teach her your expectations of her behavior through love. You might even teach yourself a lesson in patience and unconditional love on the way.

And always remember, you’re both just a work in progress.