5 Puppy Mistakes With Ruth Hegarty

Host: Amy Castro

Guest: Ruth Hegarty

Summary

Raising a puppy is exciting, but the small things you ignore early can quietly turn into big daily headaches later. Amy and multi-certified dog trainer Ruth Hegarty break down five common puppy-raising mistakes, what they often become over time, and how to think about them early so you can set your puppy up for a calmer, more confident life.

Links

Show: The Pet Parent Hotline

Guest: Creature Good Dog Training, creaturegooddogtraining.com

Recommended Resources

Creature Good Dog Training blog and resources: creaturegooddogtraining.com

Reactive Dog Owners Group (Facebook): Search for "Reactive Dog Owners Group" on Facebook

Newsletter and online club: Details available via creaturegooddogtraining.com

Affiliate Disclosure

Some links may be affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you choose to make a purchase. This does not change your price and helps support the show.

Veterinary Disclaimer

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for veterinary medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your veterinarian about your pet’s specific needs, especially regarding vaccines, illness risk, and behavior concerns.

Transcript Note

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability and clarity while preserving the original meaning. Timestamps are included for reference.

Chapters

00:00  Teaser

00:27  Show Intro

00:52  Episode Intro and Welcome

03:14  Mistake 1: Assuming Fear Is Just a Phase

09:59  Mistake 2: Letting Mouthy Behavior Slide

14:00  Mistake 3: Missing Early Resource Guarding Signs

20:09  Mistake 4: Reinforcing Chaos Without Realizing It

26:12  Mistake 5: Waiting Too Long To Safely Expose Them to Normal Life

31:45  Final Thoughts

33:25  Connect With Ruth

35:25  Closing

Transcript

Amy Castro (00:00.918)

If you've ever said, " It's fine, they'll grow out of it eventually, this episode is for you, because a few small puppy-raising mistakes can quietly turn into big daily headaches later on. Today we're covering five of the most common ones and what they turn into later, so you can catch them early and save yourself and your dog a whole lot of stress down the road. So stay tuned.

Amy Castro (00:27.768)

You've reached the Pet Parent Hotline, your lifeline to practical solutions for your toughest pet parenting challenges. I'm your host Amy Castro, and I'm here to help you cut through the noise and turn expert advice into step-by-step strategies so you can stop chasing your tail and start enjoying life with pets again.

Amy Castro (00:52.418)

If you found this show because you're staring at your puppy and thinking, is this normal? Or you're asking yourself, am I really doing this right? You're in the right place. And today I'm joined by multi-certified dog trainer and the trainer behind Creature Good Dog Training, Ruth Hegarty. And Ruth's here because not only does she have the expertise to help us get off to a great start with our puppies, but she's also in the process of raising a new puppy herself. So all of this stuff is fresh in her mind and her experience. So Ruth, welcome back to the show.

Ruth Hegarty

Thanks, Amy. I'm happy to be here.

Amy Castro

Yeah, I'm glad to have you here. And I think this is perfect timing because like you said, it's puppy season before we know it. And you also have a puppy that you've been working with. So tell us about Archie a little bit.

Ruth Hegarty

Yeah, so I adopted Archie August 1st when he was 11 weeks old. He just turned nine months and first time I've ever adopted a puppy and not an adult dog. And he has really been a handful. So it's been fun and exciting and slightly overwhelming at times as well. Just everything you hear about raising a puppy.

Amy Castro (02:05.176)

And what's so funny too is in rescue, you can go six months and you forget what it's like to have them. And then you get a bunch in, you're like, holy moly, I didn't remember all this. And so I can only imagine for people who decide to get a puppy and it's been a couple of years, it can really hit you like a ton of bricks how much work it is.

Ruth Hegarty

The energy level for one and just the responsibility, the potty training, the socializing, teaching them their manners, supervising. I left my sweater on the couch last night and I go to put it on this morning and he had chewed the whole zipper.

Amy Castro

Of course he did. He was cleaning his teeth.

Ruth Hegarty

So, you know, and I'm a dog trainer and I know what to do, but you can't, you don't always think, especially when it's your own.

Amy Castro

Exactly, exactly. Well, and if you let your guard down for two seconds, they're into something. And I think that's why this episode is going to be helpful for people because it can be overwhelming and trying to figure out, what do I need to focus on? And so I kind of wanted to maybe hit some of the big five mistakes that you might be making and get those puppies off to a good start. So the first one that I wanted to talk about was fear because having had lots of puppies, even within a litter, there could be such a wide range of bold to fearful. And I think many puppy parents, like it's kind of cute when the puppy's scared of the fan or scared of the cat or scared of the whatever it might be, and that they're just gonna grow out of it. You know, true, false, or what's the reality there?

Ruth Hegarty

They're not going to grow out of it. And of course, there's a lot of nuance and there's a wide spectrum, but puppies, whether they're rescue puppies or purebred puppies, can be born more anxious, just like people, more anxious or more bold. What we want to be super mindful of is raising confident puppies to the best of our ability, because that's where you avoid problems down the road. Most of the reactive dogs I work with were under-socialized when they were young.