Puppies: “Supporting Puppy Development: Nurturing Happy, Confident Dogs from the Start”

Introduction   Bringing home a puppy is an adventure full of joy, surprises, and the occasional chewed slipper. But behind those soulful eyes is a young mind and body growing at lightning speed. In this post, we’ll explore simple yet powerful ways to support your puppy’s development—building calmness, confidence, and a lifelong bond.

A) Teething: Understanding and Managing Biting and Chewing   Puppies explore the world with their mouths—and when those baby teeth begin to loosen and fall out, it becomes a full-blown chew fest to relieve the pain. Offer safe chewing outlets like cold puppy teething rings destruction boxes, frozen tea towels or frozen carrots. Gently redirect biting to appropriate toys, or change the environment by moving to another room and offering an alternative game or toy and remember: biting is not “naughty,” it's just normal. Check out how much sleep and rest puppy is getting, aim for 18 to 20 each day to limit how many injuries you sustain from puppy / landshark!

B) Feeding   A consistent feeding routine builds security and supports healthy digestion. Choose high-quality puppy food tailored to their age and breed size (see 'allaboutdogfood.co.uk). Bonus tips: applying wet food to licky mats or filling Kongs with wet food and freezing before giving to puppy promotes licking and chewing both activities promote calmness. Turning part of mealtime into a training opportunity keeps minds and tummies equally satisfied.

C) Fear Periods   These can pop up unexpectedly—typically appearing twice during puppy hood and again in adolescence, suddenly the bin bag becomes terrifying! Stay calm, offer reassurance to puppy, don’t force interactions, and pair scary things with treats or positive experiences. It’s a phase, not a flaw. Puppy depends on you to spot the change in behaviour and to provide support through the fear period.

D) Enrichment for Calmness   Use scatter feeding, licky mats, Kongs, and /or long-lasting chews to engage the senses and soothe the nervous system. Calm behaviour often starts with meeting a puppy’s natural need to sniff, chew, and problem-solve.

E) Exercise and Play   Remember that puppies have growth plates in their long bones which can be damaged through high impact activities such as jumping off furniture or climbing up / down stairs. Protect your puppy from exploring stairs with strategically places stair gates. Balance is key—puppies don’t need intense walks, but they do need short bursts of free play and sniff-heavy activities. Scentwork builds focus, optimism and confidence, puppies can participate in scentwork sports such as Mantrailing, just keep trails short and fun. Think of scentwork activities as mindfulness...for paws.

F) Free Play and Confidence Courses   Safe, supervised free play with other dogs teaches communication skills. Set up ground-level “confidence courses” at home—like walking over a bubble wrap, tarpaulin or through a tunnel—to encourage curiosity and resilience.

Conclusion   Raising a puppy isn’t just about teaching them—it’s about understanding them by reading their body language cues, learning with them. With patience, repetition and reward and the right support, your pup grows not just into a well-rounded dog, but a calm, connected companion. And every moment you invest now becomes part of the story you’ll always share.