Episode #286 Teaching Your Puppy to Be Flexible

Dogs thrive on routine—but what happens when that routine changes? In this episode of The Puppy Training Podcast, we talk about why flexibility is such an important skill to teach your puppy and how you can help your dog become confident in new and changing situations.

We’ll cover simple ways to practice flexibility, including taking different walking routes, sleeping or settling in different places, working with different handlers, and experiencing new environments. The goal isn’t to make your puppy’s life unpredictable—it’s to teach them that different doesn’t have to mean scary.

When puppies learn that their skills travel with them, they become more confident, adaptable, and better prepared for all the changes life brings. Instead of relying on predictability, we can help our dogs develop the confidence to think, adjust, and settle wherever they are.

Listen in and learn how to raise a puppy who can say, “Things are different—and I’m okay!”

Transcript

Why Puppies Struggle With Change

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today we're talking about a skill that doesn't always get the attention it deserves. Teaching your puppy to be flexible. Because while routines are incredibly helpful for puppies, we also want our dogs to learn that life doesn't always happen exactly the same way, and that's okay. Welcome to the puppy training podcast, the show designed to help you raise a confident, well-behaved puppy using positive practical training methods. Each week we'll explore real-life training strategies, break down common puppy challenges, and give you clear, step-by-step guidance you can start using right away. Whether you're dealing with potty training, biting, jumping, or just want to build a stronger bond with your pup as their handler, you're in the right place. Hi you guys, thanks for listening today. Welcome to the show. Have you ever noticed that your dog seems to have a very specific idea about how things are supposed to happen? Maybe your puppy sleeps perfectly through the night at home, but the first time you stay somewhere else, suddenly they can't sleep. Maybe your dog walks beautifully on your normal route, but take a different turn and they act like you've completely changed the rules. They just want to sniff everything. Maybe your puppy happily rides in the car but gets nervous when someone else drives. Or perhaps your dog is completely comfortable with you but becomes unsure when another family member takes the leash. These situations can be surprising because we often think, my puppy knows how to do this. Come on. But sometimes what your puppy really knows is, I know how to do this here with this person in this place at this time. And that is very different from being flexible. So today I want to talk about how we can teach our puppies that they don't have to depend on everything being predictable. Instead, we want them to be confident and be able to adapt and have the ability to settle into new situations.

Routine Vs Routine Dependence

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Now I want to start by saying that routines are great for puppies. We teach you that here at Baxter and Bella, that a predictable schedule is going to help your puppy understand what comes next, which means lower stress levels. And when you first bring your puppy home, that's really important to lower their stress levels. So we create regular mealtimes, we create regular potty breaks, naps, walks, training sessions, and bedtime. It all just makes life much easier for a very young dog. But there is a difference between having a routine and being dependent on a routine. Now I don't want our puppies to think I can only sleep in my crate in my bedroom. I can only walk this route. I can only listen to Amy. I can only ride in this one vehicle. I can only relax at home. Instead, we want our puppy to be thinking, I recognize the skills I've learned and I can use them wherever I am. That's flexibility. And flexibility is something we can actually teach our dogs.

Build Flexibility On Walks

SPEAKER_00 2:47

So one of the easiest places to start is with your walks. If you have a favorite walking route, that's great. Your dog probably knows the sights, sounds, smells, and the routine. But every once in a while, take a different route. Turn left instead of right. Walk around the block in the opposite direction. Did you guys ever do that with the grocery store? You should try it sometime. It kind of messes with your brain a little bit. Drive somewhere new and take a walk there. Explore a quiet neighborhood, a park, or another safe environment. Now, this isn't about overwhelming your dog with constant novelty. And you don't have to do this a lot, just every once in a while. We don't need to make every walk a new adventure. Instead, we're just teaching a simple lesson. Different doesn't mean dangerous. Your puppy may pause, look around. They're going to want to sniff more, so give them time to do that before you actually start moving. Um, or they might seem a little uncertain, and that's okay. Give them time to observe, you know, let them do that sniff. Uh, keep your leash relaxed when possible, reward any time they're willing to check in with you, pay them for that. You can even practice familiar skills in the new environment, simple ones that they're really good at, like high five or shake or a sit. Um, reward them for looking at you. You can practice a few steps of loose leash walking, play a little recall game. You get the idea. Your puppy begins to learn, oh, these are the same behaviors that I know, and they work here too. So this is just helping them generalize to new environments.

Sleep Anywhere With Crate Practice

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Okay, another great opportunity is sleeping. If your puppy always sleeps in the same crate in the same room, they may become very comfortable there, and that's awesome. We want that in the beginning, so we teach you how to do that. But we also need to be aware of the future. So, what happens when you travel? What happens if you go to visit grandma or if you stay in a hotel? What happens when you rearrange the furniture or move the crate? So we can gently prepare our puppies for these kinds kinds of changes. You might want to move the crate to another appropriate location in your home for a nap. You could bring the crate into another room. You might practice settling on a mat in different areas of your house. That go-to-bed behavior that we teach you and your dog teach you how to train your dog to do. You can move that around in different rooms of the house. Um, and we teach you that when we talk about behaviors like sit, down, stay. You can't just practice that in one room. We need to generalize that for our puppies. And so it's the same thing with sleeping. Just you can ease them into, oh, my crate has moved. I'm going to relax over here now, and that's okay. That can help for when a trip is upcoming and they're coming with you and things are about to change. So our goal isn't to make our puppies uncomfortable or disrupt the everyday routine because we want everyday routine to keep going well. We just want to be conscientious and recognize oh, I might need to, you know, prep my puppy for this upcoming trip or change in their sleeping habits. How can I do that? We can simply just move their crate around our house and get them used to different surroundings. So we're teaching our puppies that you can relax even when your surroundings change.

Teach Listening To Different Handlers

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Another important piece of flexibility is learning to work with different people. If one person does 100% of the training at your house, the puppy may learn to look to that one person for everything. Instead, have other family members help and participate. So have someone else feed them a meal. Let another person practice sit staying down. Have a different handler take the puppy for a short walk. Let someone else practice the recall game. So just getting your family involved so that the puppy is listening to all family members is important. It's really important that you have a family meeting and you talk about language, cues, timing of rewards so that everyone stays on the same page. That will be less confusing for your puppy. But it's a great way to build confidences that your dog can learn to listen to other people.

New Places Without Overwhelm

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Let's talk about new environments. This is one of the best ways to build flexibility. So think about all the places your dog may encounter throughout their life: your friend's house, a training facility, the veterinarian, a grooming salon. Maybe you're a camper and you're going to go to campgrounds. Maybe you'd rather stay at a hotel or different parks in your area, maybe a pet-friendly store, maybe you have a favorite outdoor cafe that you want your dog to come with you to. It could be a whole variety of places. You know, your puppy doesn't need to experience every possible environment as quickly as possible. Okay. We don't we're not trying to stress your puppy out. Instead, I want you to think small doses and positive experiences. So take your puppy somewhere new and simply sit and observe. You don't always need to walk around. That will lower the stress levels. You don't always need to interact with people. Just let your puppy observe people. Sometimes the training is simply we're somewhere new and you can relax. And that's really valuable. Now I want to make an important distinction. Teaching flexibility does not mean throwing your puppy into every new situation and expecting them just to deal with it. Okay. We don't want flooding. Flooding will stress your puppy out. So if your puppy is terrified in a busy environment, taking them into the middle of a huge crowd and saying they'll get used to it is not the goal. Instead, find an appropriate level of challenge that your puppy can handle positively. So maybe you observe the busy environment from a distance. Maybe you visit during a quieter time. Maybe you stay for five minutes instead of 30. Maybe you simply just sit in the car and watch the world go by or sit on the corner and get some distance away and just let your puppy hear and see things, but not have to walk through it. There's a lot of different ways we can help your puppy become comfortable in new environments. We do not want to flood them. If they become flooded, learning can't happen. They're overwhelmed. So try to keep them under threshold. And we want things to be positive for our puppies so that they feel good when they're in these places with us.

Generalization And Tiny Daily Changes

SPEAKER_00 8:35

So here's something I really want you to remember: the goal isn't for your puppy to memorize a location. The goal is for your puppy to learn a skill. If you've taught your puppy to sit, practice in different rooms. If you've taught your puppy to settle, practice in different places. If you've taught your puppy to walk nicely, practice in different locations and on different surfaces, even. If you've taught your puppy to come when called, practice in different safe environments. We want the behavior to become portable. And this is where generalization comes in. Dogs don't automatically understand that a behavior learned in one location applies everywhere. You have to help them make that connection just by doing things like this. Now, sometimes people hear this and think, okay, I need to completely change my puppy's life. No, don't do that. I don't want you to do that. You can build flexibility through tiny changes. Just move the dog bed. Maybe tomorrow change the direction of your walk. The next day, maybe practice your training session in a different room. So you can do this little by little. You don't need to overwhelm your dog or you. We do want your dog's daily routine to mostly stay intact, but we do want to build in some flexibility so that they're not stressed when things change. We can't control every variable our dogs will encounter throughout their lives, but we can prepare them to handle change. And that preparation begins when they're young. So rather than always asking, how can I make everything comfortable and predict predictable for my puppy? Sometimes ask, how can I safely teach my puppy that they can be comfortable in different circumstances? That's a better question.

Weekly Challenge And Closing Notes

SPEAKER_00 10:05

So here's your challenge for the week. I want you to choose three small things to change. Maybe it's a different walking route, maybe it's practice settling in a different room, maybe it's letting someone else work with your puppy in a training session. Just choose three. Keep those changes small enough that your puppy can be successful. Set them up for success. I want you to watch their body language and reward calm behavior. Give them time to process and think and don't rush them through this. We're not trying to prove that our puppy can handle everything. We're just teaching them one experience at a time. I can handle new things. And that confidence will serve them the rest of their life. All right, that's it for today. Thanks for listening. I hope you have a great week and happy training. Thanks for tuning in today. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a training tip. And if you're enjoying the show, leaving a quick review really helps other handlers find us. For more training resources, tips, and support, visit me Amy Jensen at baxterandbella.com. Until next time, happy training.