Probably the most important thing you can do for your puppy is to learn about the psychology of your new companion. An understanding of dog psychology can help you to live happily and harmoniously with your dog. We’re not expecting you to become a dog psychology expert, neither is it necessary. But a little understanding will go a long way, and if you need help and advice before a small problem becomes a large one, your first port of call should be your vet.

Reading your puppy’s body language
Dogs have always communicated with each other by using body language. This involves facial expressions, body postures, noises and scents. Dogs will use their mouth, eyes, ears and tail to express emotions. And one of the reasons why they make such good pets is the way they’re able to communicate with us humans. Your puppy will see you as an extension of his own canine family, and will be extremely quick to interpret your moods and intentions. So by learning how to interpret his body language, you can, in turn, interpret your puppy’s intentions.

Big dog: If your puppy is feeling brave or aggressive, he’ll try to make himself larger by standing tall, with his ears and tail sticking upright. He’ll also push out his chest and raise the hair on his neck and back (his hackles). He might also growl and wave his tail slowly.

Small dog: On the other hand, a submissive dog will try to make himself appear small and act like a puppy; that’s because an adult dog will ‘tell off’ a puppy but not attack him. So submission will take the form of a sideways crouch near to the ground, his tail held low but wagging away. He may also try to lick the face of the dominant dog or human. He may even roll on his back.

Your puppy’s tail: now there’s a tale. Most of us recognise that tail wagging is a sign of friendliness and pleasure. However, exaggerated tail wagging, as we’ve mentioned, can be seen in submissive dogs, as well as those with very short tails. But the tail can indicate other moods, too. If it’s waved slowly and stiffly, that’s an expression of anger; clamped low over his hindquarters means your pet is afraid. An anxious or nervous dog may droop his tail but wag it stiffly.

The normal way a dog holds his tail varies from breed to breed but generally speaking, a tail held higher than 45 degrees to the back expresses alertness and interest.

Reading your puppy’s face: Your puppy’s face will tell you so much about his mood; whether he’s frightened or anxious, excited or playful, and many more emotions.

Pricked up ears, for example, indicate alertness or listening; flattened ears on the other hand, could indicate pleasure or fear. So to read his mood correctly, you must look for other body language. If your dog’s eyes are half closed, that’s a sign of pleasure or submission; when they’re wide open, that’s a sign of aggression.

Let’s look into your puppy’s eyes: In the wild, dogs stare at each other until one backs down or makes a challenge. So you should never attempt to outstare your puppy, especially if he’s nervous, but regular eye contact will reinforce your relationship and reassure him.

Is that a smile? Submissive dogs and some breeds such as Labradors often open their mouths in a kind of lop-sided “grin” and indeed, it is a sign of friendliness. But when lips are drawn back tightly to bare the teeth, that’s aggression, make no mistake.

Play, please: If your puppy wants to play, he’ll raise a paw or bow down and bark to attract attention. Or he might offer up a toy, or bound up to another dog to get him to join in a chase.

Your body language: If you want to improve communication with your puppy, you can improve upon your own body language. For example, crouching down with arms opened out is a welcome sign. But towering over him and staring is a sign of threat. Your puppy will watch you to read your body signals more than he will listen to you, and he’ll quickly learn what you’re feeling even without you speaking.

How your puppy learns
Everyone wants a puppy who’s well behaved, happy and sociable, but you’ll only get from him what you give. That’s why it’s very important to start training early. Indeed, training will have probably started before you’ve collected him; your puppy may have been taught some basic obedience as well as toilet training. But now it’s over to you.

Your puppy will learn very quickly, so it’s important that he learns how to behave straight away. It might be stating the obvious, but your puppy cannot learn without being taught, so from day one, you’ll need to teach him how to behave.

Good boy: Dogs learn by association, so if your puppy does something good, reward him. Then the action is much more likely to be repeated. But the reward must be linked to the action, so he must be rewarded quickly, within a second or two. The reward itself can be food or praise, or both; it can even be a game.

Keep your teaching session short, say two minutes, but have five or six sessions a day. And train your puppy in different environments; in and out of the house and on walks, but make sure there aren’t any distractions around, to give your puppy his best chance of understanding your requests.

Not so good boy: Your puppy needs to be taught what he can and can’t do. Chewing, for example is part of his exploratory behaviour (click here for article on chewing) and he’s not born knowing what he can or cannot chew. You need to ignore such unwanted behaviour, but that doesn’t mean you should shout at him or smack him or glare angrily at him. You just pretend he’s not there.

However, some types of behaviour may be too dangerous to ignore, such as chewing an electric cable. Again, shouting or smacking isn’t the answer; you must interrupt with the word “No”, get his attention and reward him when he stops and pays attention to you.

Understanding barking
Barking is a totally natural aspect of a dog’s behaviour and you must expect your puppy to grow into a dog that will bark. It is unrealistic, even unfair, to think you can train your dog to stop barking, but you, your family and neighbours will be happier if you can bring it under control.

“Stop barking”: It’s hardly surprising many people have barking problems with their dogs; dogs have no idea whether barking is something good or bad. That’s because, sometimes when a dog barks, he is ignored; at other times he is shouted at to stop; then again he may be encouraged to bark if, for example, there’s a suspicious stranger nearby. So to help your dog know the rules, here’s a helpful rule to start with; barking is acceptable until he is told to stop. “Stop Barking” should be considered as a command for obedience rather than a telling off. You should let your dog bark two or three times, praise him for sounding the alarm, then say “Stop Barking” and hold out a treat in front of him. Your dog will stop straight away because he can’t sniff the treat while barking; after a few seconds, give him the reward. Gradually increase the time when the barking stops to the giving of the reward, and you can stop your dog barking for as long as two minutes in just one training session.

However, if you become worried or concerned about excessive barking that you have no control over, you should seek advice from your vet about next steps, such as specialist training or therapy.

Whining: You should understand that going to comfort your puppy when he whines will actually make things worse. He’ll think he’s being praised for whining, and get into the habit. In fact, you can help him learn to stop by not going back to him when he whines. By ignoring your puppy, and only giving him attention and praise when he stops whining, he’ll learn that whining and whimpering is not the way to solve things.