Episode #265 Understanding Your Dog’s Personality: Tailoring Training to the Individual

What if the “stubborn” dog at your feet is actually curious, independent, or just overwhelmed? We break down the Big Five puppy personality traits—sociability, confidence, biddability, resilience, and independence—and show how each one changes the way training should look, feel, and progress. Instead of forcing a one-size plan, we share how to read the dog in front of you and tailor sessions that build trust, reduce stress, and get results.

Transcript

Personality Over One-Size Training

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Training isn't one size fits all. It's relationship-based. Today we are talking about something that can completely change the way you see your dog. Not their breed, not their age, not even how stubborn they are. We're talking about personality. Welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast. I'm Amy Jensen, founder of Baxter and Bella, the online puppy school. Here we are all about helping you create the best possible experience raising a puppy. From training tips to practical tricks, all aimed at fostering a happy, well-behaved dog who truly feels like part of the family. So if you are ready to enjoy the journey and strengthen the bond with your dog, let's get started. Hey friends, welcome back to the puppy training podcast. I'm Amy Jensen. It's nice to meet you. So let's talk about personality today because here's the truth two puppies from the same litter can respond completely differently to the exact same training plan. And that's not because one is good and the other is bad. It's because training isn't a one size fits all. It's relationship-based. So today I'm going to walk you through what I call the big five puppy personality traits. They are sociability, confidence, bid ability, resilience, and independence. And most importantly, we want to talk about how to adjust your training based on your dog, the dog that's in front of you, not someone else's dog. Let's dive in. So we've talked about breed tendencies before, and yes, those do matter. Like a border collie and a bulldog are going to have very different drives, very different activity levels, lots of differences there. But personality within the litter or the breed matters too when it comes to training success. So you can have a shy lab or a bold cavalier. You can have an independent golden retriever or a highly sensitive German shepherd. So breed is going to give us some tendencies. Personality is going to tell us how that individual dog experiences the world. And if we ignore that, we risk pushing the dog too hard or moving too quickly for them, maybe labeling unfairly or damaging some trust. So let's start with sociability. What is this and how does it help? Or why does it matter? But how much does your dog naturally seek social interaction with people or other dogs? Now, some puppies are going to greet everyone like they are their long lost best friend, right? You can picture that. They're so excited to see people. They want to jump all over them when they say hi. It's hard to get them to not do that, right? We work on that and we can teach you how to do that. Um, maybe they want, maybe your dog wants to say hi to every dog on a walk, right? Or maybe they just kind of wiggle when they see strangers. Others might prefer just their people. Maybe it takes them some time to warm up to someone they don't know. Maybe that your dog just likes to kind of observe before they engage. That's okay. Neither is wrong. If your dog is highly social, then our training focus becomes impulse control, right? We're going to teach that puppy how to control their impulses around people and dogs. We could teach them neutrality, how to be neutral and calm around those uh triggers. We can reinforce calm greetings. And those are the things we're going to focus on. These dogs don't need more socialization necessarily. They need help learning when to engage. I should say more socialization with like people and dogs. They might need it in other areas, but they need help learning when and how to engage. So, an example with this would be I might practice rewarding check-ins with me. Maybe they see another person and they look at me. I'm going to give them a reward. And I'm going to do this from a distance that my dog can actually handle this. If they're too close to that person that's super exciting, they won't be able to take the tree or focus or think about what they're supposed to be doing. So make sure you're far enough away. But we also might practice a simple sit to be greeted or a sit to say please, and then build up to strangers who are so exciting. We might also practice walking past distractions without pulling towards them. So ignoring them, leaving it, if you will. Now, if your dog is more reserved, that our training focus is going to be very different. Our training focus is going to be, okay, let's build confidence in this dog. When they see a person, they can still feel confident. They don't need to feel fearful or anxious. We're going to do things very slowly. We're going to expose these dogs to their triggers over time and with successes. We're going to set them up for success so that they do feel that confidence building. And we're going to let them choose interaction. I'm not going to just allow people to come into their space because I'm their advocate and I know my puppy's a little bit more reserved. And so I know people rushing up to them is not going to help. So we're not going to force greetings. I'm not going to label them as antisocial. I'm just going to respect uh their personality and we're going to work on training that builds trust. Okay, let's talk about confidence. Now, confidence is about how safely your dog moves through new environments. So a confident puppy is happy to explore. They recover quickly from any loud sounds or surprises, and they're willing to try new things. Now, a less confident puppy might hesitate or maybe they startle more easily. Maybe they avoid a retreat from unfamiliar surfaces or sounds. Now, we can work on, let's say we have a confident dog. The training might be more about boundaries and self-control, maybe getting your dog to listen when they're super excited. And confident dogs sometimes bulldoze. Okay. They may need help learning to pause and actually think, not just react. Now, if we're training a sensitive or a cautious dog, we might focus more on the little wins. Any little success that we can see, we're going to reward. Again, that gradual exposure, not rushing into things is going to be important. And creating some predictable routines can help these dogs have more confidence. They know what to expect. So we're not going to flood them. We don't want to toss them into overwhelming situations to just get over it, right? That type of dog is going to need a little more extra care. And confidence is going to grow when we help them feel safe. Okay, what's biddability? Kind of a funny word. This is a big one. Biddability is your dog's natural desire to work with you and respond to guidance. So some dogs, they might watch your face. Maybe they'll offer you behaviors without even being asked. Some dogs love structured learning. They love training. They just love to work. A lot of that has to do with what they're getting rewarded with as well, things they love, right? Now, others you might notice get distracted super easily. You'll see this in a classroom. If you go to an elementary school classroom, you will see these different types of students, right? You'll see the one that is very focused, can watch the teacher, can sit still and do exactly what they're asked. You're going to see others that they just don't want to sit still. They just need to move. They get distracted easily. It's harder for them to focus. Um, and so we're seeing this also in the puppy world. Now, a puppy might not be as concerned about my my approval or things I have to offer them. Maybe they would rather just explore than focus or work with me. And again, neither is wrong. No, if we're talking about training, highly biddable dogs are going to need clarity. They're going to need um practice, but we don't want to over-practice. Sometimes we get into the uh focus of I'm going to over-drill this concept, right? And dogs like this don't do well with that. Uh, so we want to build independence so they don't become anxious without direction. Now, these dogs often excel in obedience because uh that's what they like to do. They like to pay attention and do what you ask them, and it's fun for them and they like it. But be careful not to create pressure or expect a perfect dog because they are not robots. That's the beauty of these dogs. Just like humans, they are living, breathing creatures with their own personalities and we love them for it. We love all of their individuality. Okay, if you have a lower bid ability dog, an easily distracted dog, we might have to work um with high value reinforcements. So we might have to use better rewards. We might need to keep our sessions more short or unpredictable. Maybe we mix into things, um, things that they don't expect that can make training more fun. Now, instead of saying, ah, they don't listen, let's try asking, have I made this rewarding enough? Is this interesting enough for them? Um, am I doing it short enough to capture their attention or am I dragging things out too long that they can't focus? So connection first, compliance second. Okay, next is resilience. Resilience is your dog's ability to bounce back after stress. So, example, if I drop something on the floor like a pan, uh one puppy startles and moves on, another might hide for 10 minutes. Now, resiliency is going to affect recovery from mistakes, uh, reaction to our tone of voice if I'm sound mad or angry, uh, response to new environments and any kind of stress there. Now, a highly resilient dog, we can challenge them a bit more. We can increase what we're asking them to do gradually, and we can introduce novelty. So, but we still want to be fair. So, less resilient dogs are going to need uh gentle touching, lots of success, clear, kind communication. We don't want to stress them out more than they already are. So, we definitely want to help them stay alert and aware and wanting to work with us. So these dogs do shut down faster. They don't need more pressure from us, they just need actually to feel more safe. Okay, uh lastly, let's talk about independence. This one often gets mislabeled as stubbornness. My dog is stubborn. So independence means how motivated is my dog to make their own decisions. Now, independent dogs tend to wander, they problem solve, and they may not constantly seek my direction. I actually kind of like this in a dog. I like that they're able to entertain themselves independently. I don't want to have to be in charge of them all day long. I love that my dogs will just recognize Amy's busy, I need to go over here and manage myself. Now, less independent dogs stay really close to us, or maybe they frequently check in. Maybe they're seeking your attention or your reassurance more often. So if we're talking about training these two different types of personalities, we must build in the independent dogs some reinforcement history. We want to make sure we have a good relationship and they thrive on engagement games. Now, uh recall especially requires high value rewards. And then we're going to work on this over time, but to increase distance. So we'll do that gradually. And we're going to be careful not to poison cues, so we're not going to say them more than needed or not follow through with what we've asked our dogs to do. Now, if we have a more um dependent dog, so they are always with us, they want to be with us. Uh, sometimes they get called or labeled as a Velcro dog. We want to work on them being able to be confident when they are alone. So maybe we'll do some independence work, some stay work where I disappear, um, some alone training. We we want to do all of these things to prevent separation anxiety. We want to make sure our dog is able to, in fact, be by themselves when we leave our homes because I don't really know another human that can always be with their dog every second of the day. Um, unless you have a service dog, I guess. But if you don't and you have a family dog that they're going to have to stay home while you go places, we really need to help them be confident when they can't see you. So we help them feel capable without us. Now, most importantly, we want to be careful labeling dogs. So words like stubborn, dramatic, dominant, bad. Uh, let's just try asking what trait is influencing my dog's behavior? Is this independence? Is this low resilience? Is this caution? Uh, so curiosity creates better training plans, in my opinion. So let me give you a real life example. Let's say two puppies are pulling on a leash. Puppy A, we'll call them highly social and confident. They pull because they want to greet everyone. So, what will my training focus be? My training focus is going to be impulse control. We're going to work on reinforcing calm walking past distractions. Okay, let's say we have puppy B. They're low confidence and low resilience. So they pull because they're anxious and trying to escape pressure. They don't want to get to where we're going or they see something that's scary, right? And they're trying to get away. So training focus would be slower exposure, maybe rewarding calm proximity. So uh, if they're willing to look at or even take a step closer, great, let's reward it, but we're not going to force it. We're going to keep the sessions shorter. So, same behavior, they're pulling on leash, but there's different personalities involved and different training approaches. That's what we call relationship-based training. We're looking, how do I best help my dog? So here's your homework for this week. Instead of asking, how do I fix this? I want you to ask, what is my dog feeling? And then I want you to watch how quickly does your dog recover from stress? Do they seek interaction or are they trying to avoid it? Do they naturally check in or do they explore boldly or cautiously which one is it? Now your answers are going to help shape how you train. So here at Baxter and Bella, we teach foundational skills, but the real goal is understanding. We want you to be able to read your dog and speak their language. We want you to understand them. So this uh causes them to trust you more, they're going to learn faster, and they're going to try harder when you're doing training sessions together. So it's not about forcing behavior, you guys. It's about guiding this dog that's in front of you. And we're going to tailor our approach to their personality. Thanks for being here today and listening. If this episode helped you see your puppy in a new light, please share it with someone who also is a dog parent. And if you need more help, step-by-step support, come join our program at Baxter Umbella. We would love to see you in a live QA session or a class or talk to you via email or a video call if needed. So until next time, a happy training. Thanks for tuning in to the Puppy Training Podcast. I hope today's tips help you feel more confident and excited about raising your dog. Remember, with a little patience and consistency, you can create a loving bond and a well-behaved pup who's a joy to have in your family. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow puppy parents. For more resources, visit Baxter and Bella online. Until next time, happy training.