Positive Associations
By Debbie Bauer
When teaching blind and deaf puppies, it is always a fine line between empowering them and building their confidence, while also protecting them from getting hurt. Just like any other puppy, one less than ideal experience can imprint on them and affect how they will feel about and respond to that experience in the future. This required that I take extra steps to protect them. I had to think ahead in every circumstance and set them up for absolute safety in their exploration. Even giving them freedom to run in a safe area required some planning – were there trees they could run into? Bushes with low branches that could poke their eyes? Holes or drop-offs they might fall into?…Protection is key, without going overboard. They still need to explore and be puppies. If I had babied my foster pups and not let them have the same experiences as other puppies, their world would remain much smaller and perhaps scarier. Setting them up for success raised their confidence in themselves and their trust in me and their environment. Read more.
