There’s a scary, dark shadow lurking in the corner outside your house. The wind blows ominously, stirring up some leaves. Your puppy is cowering behind your legs, terrified of the looming object before her.
It’s just a trash can! Your puppy is terrified of them thanks to the garbage truck that wakes up the neighborhood. “I really need to fix this,” you say. “I need to boost my puppy’s confidence so she will have the courage to face Oscar the Grouch!” You’re well on your way to strengthening your bond, and you’re looking forward to seeing your puppy grow into a confident, well-adjusted dog.
You’ve got your mind set on raising a confident puppy, but you might not know how. Here are some ideas and games for building confidence in puppies to see which ones resonate with you.
Build Your Puppy’s Confidence With These 7 Interactive Games
Building your puppy’s confidence does much more than just offering a few encouraging words when encountering a new object. Here are some fun and creative games to help build confidence in your puppy designed to boost their self-esteem.
1. Start with the basics
Training your puppy is an excellent way to build your dog’s confidence. Teaching and learning puppy training basic commands like Sit and Down are foundations for the more in-depth training every puppy should receive. You’ll want your puppy to associate training with fun rewards, so start your training journey by doling out lots of enthusiastic praise. Training should happen every day for a few minutes to review old skills and introduce new ones. Give plenty of opportunities throughout the day to practice the puppy commands they learn.
“Sit” is one of the easiest commands to begin with, usually followed by “Down,” “Come,” “Wait” or “Stay,” “Drop it,” “Leave it,” and “Off” to name a few. The earlier your puppy learns commands, the easier time they will have acclimating to daily life and being a canine companion you can trust in all situations. It’s also important for puppies to begin learning during the crucial development period before they hit 5 months old so good habits are engrained in their interactions with the world. Once your puppy has mastered some basic commands with recall and reliability, it’s time to boost their confidence even more with active movement.
2. Learning and training for puppies via active movement
Unlike static movement where a dog stays in one place, try to elevate the training sessions by incorporating active movement. One example of an active puppy training activity is learning how to walk on a leash, a foundational skill your puppy should learn to explore the world outside their home safely. Active movement in puppy training helps your puppy navigate unfamiliar territory with people, surfaces, sounds, and more. Obstacle and agility courses and activities like hiking introduce the need for coordination, navigation skills, and traversing new terrain. Gaining the courage to jump over a hurdle or weave through poles boosts your puppy’s ability to try new things they encounter confidently.
Introducing active movement while learning helps your puppy learn to solve problems. Will she stop and sniff the new, unfamiliar object, ignore it, or try to play with it? The more opportunities your puppy has to interact with the world around them, the more appropriate their responses will be. For example, walking by a stroller may spook a puppy who has never been exposed to one, but learning to walk past a crying baby without investigating or jumping all over the baby to lick its face is a direct result of incorporating active movement in puppy training.
3. Tug-of-war
Heave, ho! Puppies love playing tug-of-war, as you’ve found out with your nice wool socks or fuzzy bath towel! Many people have the impression that playing tug-of-war with your puppy is teaching them to be aggressive, but it’s actually the opposite. Playing a game of tug-of-war with your puppy has several physical and psychological benefits. It is a form of daily exercise that all dogs need, it engages their brains, expends that puppy energy, and boosts their confidence when you let them win from time to time.
4. Scent finding games
While all dogs have keen senses of smell, some dog breeds have more developed olfactory receptors than other breeds or have more of an innate need to sniff and follow their noses. Hide-and-seek with high-value treats and special toys is a game all puppies will love. You can play several iterations of this game starting with the traditional way where you hide and your puppy tries to find you. Other versions include hiding treats in a muffin tin under some tennis balls. This free, easy game is a fun way for puppies to use their noses and solve the problem of how to get those tasty treats!
5. Off the beaten path
A fantastic active way for both humans and puppies is to take a hike, whether it’s an easy loop trail through a local park or an intense summit (taking breaks, of course). High-energy dog breeds tend to make the best active dog breeds for hiking. Meeting new people and dogs, practicing trail manners, walking nicely on a leash, navigating rough or unfamiliar terrain, and taking in new sights, sounds, and smells of nature will give your puppy a confidence boost the next time they see the leash in your hand.
6. Get in the competition
If you want to elevate your confidence-boosting activities for puppies, consider enrolling in a dog sports class. Puppy can choose a variety of dog sports including familiar ones like rally for dogs or unusual dog sports like bikejoring. Check out earth trials for dogs where dogs chase an unharmed quarry or fieldwork using a scented path. Make a big deal when your puppy finds what she’s looking for! Doing a job well done is satisfying to a puppy’s psyche.
7. Meet and greet
Gather a group of friends or go to a place with lots of pedestrians. Our dogs will get used to what family members look like, but you want them to encounter people different from you. The goal is to find a diverse group of people for your puppy to be around. They could be a mix of babies to seniors, ethnic backgrounds, variety in hairstyles and wardrobe, and those with mobility devices. Teach your puppy to sit calmly while they walk by, or give some willing participants treats to reward your puppy with good behavior. For example, your puppy may have never encountered a wheelchair or someone wearing a big, floppy hat, so these are good opportunities to react to situations in a calm, neutral manner.
Be Confident With a Pawrade Puppy
It may be daunting to begin a search for a puppy to adopt, especially if you don’t have the confidence to know what to look for in a reputable dog breeder or where to find a puppy kennel near you with the exact puppy you’d like.
Pawrade’s team will give you the confidence that you are about to have a smooth, scam-free puppy adoption experience. We manage all transactions and communications through a secure system only accepting trustworthy payment methods. Our breeder partners in our extensive network have passed our rigorous vetting process, ensuring we have only the best dog breeders offering happy, healthy puppies. Contact us today after browsing our puppies for sale when you find the puppy you are confident will be your best buddy for life!
