| I am trying to offer an alternate course for people with puppies who are seeking to train the puppy out of unwanted behaviors. I said if the puppy is going into puppy frenzy mode, get up, as in stand up, turn your back on the puppy and ignore the little devil until calm is restored. Trying to use force on a puppy that has gone into frenzy mode is counterproductive, and may even trigger a violent defensive response if the puppy perceives it is being attacked. The puppy can't possibly be trying to rule the roost by disobeying a direct order, because the puppy does not understand what on earth the sounds the human makes mean. I certainly never advised any person to growl at a dog, or to pretend to be some sort of litter mate, that is no more training than the people wrestling with the dog as an equal, albeit larger and more powerful dog. When you have a scenario where the puppy is biting and fighting, the human is crying and screaming, for heavens sake, what is being learned? Than humans are unpredictable? How about ascribing human emotions to the puppy action, as in "he was really sorry later" or "he knew he was wrong after I spanked him because . . . fill in the blank." No, the puppy is not sorry, the puppy has no idea why the human is mad, the puppy is a dog who was engaged in normal dog behavior and ran afoul of human rules. We are talking about creatures who a few weeks ago did not have their eyes open. There is just no need to have a physical confrontation with a puppy.
I don't know what happened with the dog you refer to above, but if this person had the dog from the time it was small, training as a puppy would have stood the person in good stead as the dog grew. For their own safety, dogs must learn to obey such things as sit and stay and leave it. For a happy life with humans, dogs need to learn much more. With a proper foundation laid as a puppy, teen age goofiness can be held to a minimum.
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