How do I prevent my puppy from doing damage or getting into mischief?
Prevention is the key to a happy life with puppies. Set your puppy up for success by preventing her from getting into trouble in the first place.
Supervise. To be successful, your puppy must be directly supervised by a responsible person. When supervision is impossible, confine your puppy in a safe place such as a crate, pen, or a puppy-proofed room. Be sure they have an appropriate elimination area, water, chew-resistant bedding, and safe toys when confined. While watching your puppy, you can use a gate or leash to keep them from leaving the area. Keeping your puppy close lets you guide their choices. Puppies repeat the choices they find pleasant, exciting, or rewarding.
Puppy-proof. Puppies naturally engage with objects when they explore their world. Set up a successful environment where it’s hard for your puppy to make a mistake: put away valuable or dangerous items that your puppy might chew and stow away the trash. Provide many safe, acceptable toys, including some that are chewable.
Be calm. If your puppy decides to chew or grab something inappropriate or unsafe, do not scold or shout, as this can frighten or excite your puppy. Instead, be cheerful and distract the puppy with something fun they are allowed to do. Then, allow them to engage with the fun, appropriate item on their own. Chase and tug are both very fun games for puppies, so it is best not to chase or tug when they have something they shouldn’t, as it rewards the stealing. Chasing the puppy and prying items free will often increase stealing and chewing rather than decreasing it because the game of chase and grab is reinforcing.
House train. House training is a habit created through repetition. Conditioning begins as soon as your puppy joins your household and begins to use specific locations and surfaces for eliminations. In other words, your puppy will quickly get into the habit of using these locations and surfaces. From the start, help your puppy form the elimination habit you want.
- While your puppy is exploring, bring her to the location that you would like her to use and provide a suitable substrate such as grass or a potty pad.
- Provide plenty of bathroom breaks. Very young puppies sometimes need to eliminate every 15–30 minutes when actively running around. They will also need to eliminate after exercise, napping, sleeping, or eating and drinking.
- Ideally, watch your puppy for any signs they may need to eliminate, such as stopping play, sniffing around, or circling. Immediately respond by cheerfully and calmly taking your puppy to their elimination area.
- When your puppy eliminates in the appropriate location, calmly praise them and consider offering a small food treat.
- Young puppies sometimes get distracted during elimination. Be sure your puppy has had a chance to fully empty their bladder.
If your puppy makes a mistake, do not scold. Remember, your puppy is learning a new habit and you are learning about your puppy’s elimination needs and signals.
Do I need any equipment to get started with my puppy?
Management can be easier with the right tools. Here are some useful basics:
- A regular buckle collar that will hold an ID tag (remove collars when puppies are not supervised or when they play with other dogs as there is a risk of choking)
- A harness for when your puppy wears a leash
- A 6’ leash and a longer lightweight line 10’–30’ in length
- Plenty of tiny, delicious treats
- A pen, crate, puppy-proofed room, or other small, safe confinement area
How do I train my puppy to be well-behaved?
Puppies are learning every waking moment. Training and learning occur every time your puppy interacts with you, with an object, or with the environment. Puppies naturally engage in a wide range of behaviors as they explore. Any intrinsically rewarding behaviors that feel good or help a puppy accomplish a goal will be repeated.
Your puppy may make many excellent choices every day, but they won’t always know they are on the right track unless you tell them. Similarly, your puppy won’t naturally know which behaviors your family dislikes.
First, you must decide what you want your puppy to do. Things you might want your puppy to do could include:
- Wear a leash and harness
- Go to their bed or mat
- Rest quietly between play sessions
- Chew on their own chews and toys
- Come when called
- Ignore/be neutral toward other dogs and strangers on walks
- Ride in the car
- Keep four paws on the floor when greeting people
- Be brushed, bathed, and combed
- Take medications and allow veterinary care
- Eliminate on cue and on leash
- Rest quietly when alone
- Participate in family-specific activities and situations (e.g., lie quietly during soccer games, walk calmly around a wheelchair)
Second, you’ll need to learn what rewards your puppy prefers (e.g., treats, toys, attention, play). To teach your puppy to repeat desirable behaviors, reward her when you notice her making good choices. For example, if your puppy is lying quietly on a dog bed, you can inform her that resting quietly on a dog bed is a desirable behavior by quietly and calmly dropping a treat onto the bed between her front paws.
Decide in advance what manners you’d like your puppy to have as an adult dog. Will you allow your adult dog to be on the sofa or bed? Is jumping up to say “Hello” okay? Are there any rooms or regions that are off-limits? Provide supervision and management to prevent your puppy from accessing the off-limits areas from the outset. Use gates to block access instead of repeatedly calling your puppy away from a room. Lure your puppy to an appropriate dog bed before she ever climbs onto the sofa. If you miss your chance and your puppy jumps onto the sofa, use a treat to lure her onto the floor and then guide her to her bed.
Always be on the lookout for desirable behaviors from your puppy. Sometimes, good behavior is just “doing nothing.” When rewarding calm behavior, use a quiet tone of voice to avoid exciting your puppy. Save animated praise for other situations, such as when you are training fun tricks and cues.
Although it is important to reward your puppy with praise and treats for making good choices, it is equally important to continue using good management, including supervision, to prevent the puppy from making choices you don’t want.
What should I do if my puppy misbehaves?
Some of a puppy’s self-rewarding behavioral choices may not be acceptable to you. It may be tempting to repeatedly try to stop your puppy when you are not pleased with a behavior. However, stopping behaviors does not leave the puppy with any understanding of what behavior would be preferred or allowed. Sometimes, when puppies are consistently interrupted, they can become frustrated and their unwanted behaviors may intensify.
Instead of saying “stop” and waiting for your puppy to come up with a better choice, you can teach your puppy precisely what behavior would be acceptable and appropriate. “No” is not a behavior. Give your puppy an acceptable option — the behavior you want them to do — and guide them so they always choose this correct answer.
Teach desirable replacement behaviors by using a food or toy reward to encourage the behavior you have selected rather than the one they selected. Since your puppy enjoys the undesirable behavior (self-rewarded), your reward must be even more valuable. Also, you must be consistent and ask for the appropriate behavior before your puppy has a chance to engage in the unwanted behavior.
For example, many puppies greet people by jumping up. This behavior comes naturally, and it works — jumping usually results in a puppy being petted. Generally, when a puppy is doing a certain behavior, they are seeking a certain goal. For that reason, changing or replacing behaviors is often most successful if the replacement behavior achieves the same function. If jumping up results in attention, consider how to give attention for sitting or keeping four paws on the floor.
Suppose you need to interrupt your puppy from doing something dangerous, such as chewing an electrical cord (a supervision lapse). In that case, you may be able to distract your puppy by squeaking a toy or throwing some treats nearby. In a true emergency, you may need to make a sudden noise to startle your puppy, then reward her immediately for letting go of the dangerous item.
Don’t I need to punish my puppy for misbehavior?
Punishment is not an appropriate training strategy and can harm the relationship between you and your pet. Punishment of any type, including shouting or grabbing a puppy by its scruff or muzzle, can cause long-term fear, including fear of people and noises. Punishment may also increase the risk that a puppy will develop aggressive behavior as an adult dog.
What if my puppy is stubborn or uncooperative?
Puppy personalities and learning styles are as individual as those of children. The first step in training is to learn what your puppy likes, enjoys, and wants, then make sure the behaviors you like lead to these things. Show your puppy that appropriate, desired behaviors work.
If your puppy is not learning as expected, for instance, if they continue to repeat undesirable behaviors, you may be tempted to believe that your puppy is stubborn and just does not listen. However, there is usually a better explanation. There may be a communication barrier — remember, you and your puppy did not begin with a shared language.
Successful communication can take time and, in many cases, a skilled trainer can help with translation and with timing of rewards. If your puppy is easily frustrated, distracted, or just overly energetic, a professional behavioral consultant may be able to help.
In some cases, an underlying medical or behavioral condition can prevent a puppy from learning. Talk to your veterinarian. Some simple tests may be needed to be sure that your puppy is able to properly process information.
How can I provide for my puppy’s needs?
For proper behavioral and emotional development, puppies need good nutrition, daily social interactions, daily age-appropriate exercise, plenty of sleep, and reward-based cue training that will ensure clear communication with you and your family.
| © Copyright 2026 LifeLearn Inc. Used and/or modified with permission under license. This content written by LifeLearn Animal Health (LifeLearn Inc.) is licensed to this practice for the personal use of our clients. Any copying, printing or further distribution is prohibited without the express written consent of LifeLearn. This content does not contain all available information for any referenced medications and has not been reviewed by the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, or Health Canada Veterinary Drugs Directorate. This content may help answer commonly asked questions, but is not a substitute for medical advice, or a proper consultation and/or clinical examination of your pet by a veterinarian. Please contact your veterinarian if you have any questions or concerns about your pet’s health. Last updated on Nov 21, 2025. |