You’ve just brought your new puppy home, and everyone is so excited! The whole day is spent playing with the new baby and, before you know it, it’s nighttime, time to go to bed.

The puppy is put in its carrier with a blanket and everyone tells it goodnight––except the little baby isn’t ready to go to sleep. This animal has just left its mother and litter mates and has never been totally alone. It begins to scream at the top of its lungs!

It is at this point that you begin to establish the relationship between you and your dog. If you intend to cater to this dog’s every whim for the rest of its life, go ahead, pick it up and put it in your bed and snuggle up. You may very well have taken the first step to your new friend’s death, for you have just begun to teach your pet that when it finds itself alone, all it has to do is scream and bark and you will come running. Does this mean you won’t be going to work anymore or you won’t be going out in the evenings or taking vacations? I think you’ll agree that this won't really do at all. If you do not teach this new family member to be patient and quiet while you’re out of its sight, chances are it will end up sitting in a cage, totally and finally alone, waiting to die among strangers.

The first week of any pup’s life with its new family is usually miserable for everyone involved. There will be screaming and crying and sleepless nights, but if the pet is fed and watered and warm and not in pain, the best thing to do is let it get it out of its system.

If a behavior doesn’t get any response (pleasant, that is), the behavior will be discarded. Use tough love at first and you won’t ever come home to a note on your door that says, "Your dog is disturbing the neighborhood, and if it doesn’t stop we will have to notify the police."