Understanding Your Puppy's Limitations (Part 2)
An obvious limitation in puppies is that they tire easily, both emotionally and physically. Being young, the prey instinct isn't synchronized with the outside world; the puppy can't pace himself. He'll go at full tilt toward whatever is interesting him until he's exhausted. Conversely, he'll easily panic if something is upsetting him. When tired, a puppy will only learn to be nervous rather than how to do an exercise.
In addition, a puppy can't be expected to inhibit a natural impulse. Puppies just want to have fun through the drive to bite; that is what millions of years of instinctual development are telling them to do.
Another limitation in the puppy is that outside the scope of the simple prey instinct, he can't change direction or moods quickly. He gets into following the prey instinct along its natural path and can't get out of it until it reaches a natural conclusion or until he's exhausted. It would be like discovering an intriguing path in the forest and wanting to walk it to see where it leads. Puppies, like children, need time to explore, and we have to guide them gently through transitions of mood with an alternative attraction such as a piece of food, a happy tone of voice, or a ball. A puppy needs a good reason to change a mood.
Knowing and recognizing these limits is the sensitive aspect of being a dog owner. It should now be easier to see how a puppy could be overloaded and given a bad experience in a very subtle way. For example, you could be asking him to return the ball to you when he's tiring and you've thrown it once too often. This may seem a minor point, but to a puppy, bad experiences have a cumulative weight and their load never goes away. Recognize when your puppy has reached his limit so that an unreasonable demand isn't placed on his behavior.
Many believe that most of what a dog does is a random charting of the world through the experience of positive and negative reinforcements. Nothing could be further from the truth. The negative is most broadly defined when drive loses its focus or none is to be found; then the security of the order is itself shattered. All of a sudden, the dog is in the midst of chaos as surely as if a predator swooped into the den and was ravaging the litter. It is a shocking experience that he is not able to cope with and for which a flurry of subsequent positives can never compensate. Therefore, a correction is something that needs to be carefully administered at the appropriate time. It should guide and enhance focus rather than be used as a means of inhibiting the individual.