No matter how friendly your puppy is, or how confidently and well he takes on new places and experiences, you will never miss out if you keep your pup's social interactions short and sweet. The idea behind keeping things easy is that you can always come back to anything you feel your dog would like to do more, at any time. However, if ever you hit a speedbump, whether it's a mental block or limit your dog naturally has, you will likely have to work on undoing that somewhat, before continuing.

Don't wait for your dog to right the bells by the door to let you know that they need to go out. As convenient as it may seem, you are far better off taking your dog our before he/she feels the need to find some way to prompt you to take them out. This will teach your dog that all they need to do to get something they need from you is be patient and trust. This can also help prevent potty training accidents. A tool that can help you is a cat bell, so that you hear your dog as they're getting up from their nap and ready.

If your dog pulls as soon as you step outside of your home together, pretend like you forgot your phone and head out.. before pretending like you forgot your keys.. and your wallet.. and so on. Until you start seeing that your dog starts focusing more on how forgetful you are as opposed to walking, in which case you can start rewarding and repeating as needed. A harness will make this the easiest.

Bring a flirt pole with you on walks, not only to help burn extra physical energy and get more out of your walks, but also to help prevent your dog's need to chase and run after squirrels or birds while on walks.

Fill and freeze your dog's Kong with their favourite treats and wedge it between the bars of your dog's crate so that your dog has to go inside to lick it (but don't recommend closing the crate if just starting training) and spend time with.

If you're walking your dog regularly, and they have access to different physical, mental and socialization outlets, you should then try giving your dog opportunities to just be, and do nothing, especially while people-watching. To do this, take your dog close to a dog park, and from a distance just sit, watch and wait for your dog to settle and praise if it's something that's challenging for them. Otherwise, just practice enjoying being there together, watching others!

Is another dog coming over for a playdate? If you're not sure how both dogs will feel when meeting, or if they get overly excited, start with meeting outside and going for a walk first. They'll still be excited on walk, but using a harness you should be able to help them walk away from each other before coming back together as they calm down, before heading indoors.

Keep aside a special toy that only comes out for your dog to play with when he's doing something special (or that he doesn't do very often) like lay down on his bed or inside his crate.

Don't wait for your dog to come to you and nudge you! When they're showing you some independence and just relaxing on their own, provide them with a toy like a food puzzle to encourage their independence.