The First Question I Always Ask
When a client calls me about a puppy problem, the first thing I want to know is not the breed. It is what is paying for the behavior.
Every behavior your puppy repeats is getting paid somehow. There are only two places the payment can come from. Either the behavior pays for itself, or something outside the dog pays for it. That is how I use the words nature and nurture, and that one distinction decides how hard the behavior will be to change and what the plan should look like.
- Nature: the behavior rewards itself. Doing it is the payoff.
- Nurture: something outside the dog pays for it.
- Both: the behavior pays for itself and the world pays it again. These are the hardest.
Nature: Behavior That Pays for Itself
Barking, chasing, grabbing, biting, shaking, digging, guarding. For a dog, these feel good to do. Nobody has to hand over a treat. The reward is built into the act, so every time the dog performs it, the behavior gets stronger.
Most of these come from the same place: the predatory sequence every dog inherits from its wild ancestors. Orient, eye, stalk, chase, grab-bite, kill-bite, dissect. Selective breeding did not create new behaviors. It turned some parts of that sequence up and others down. A herding dog has a strong eye, stalk, and chase with the kill-bite muted. A retriever has a strong grab and carry with a soft mouth. A terrier has a strong grab and shake. Each piece, once it is switched on and rehearsed, rewards itself.
This is why we do not play tug, flirt pole, or hanging games with puppies. Those games rehearse the grab-bite and kill-bite over and over. Genetics that are never rehearsed stay quiet.
- Self-rewarding behaviors get stronger with every repetition
- The predatory sequence: orient, eye, stalk, chase, grab-bite, kill-bite, dissect
- Breeding turned parts of the sequence up or down; it did not invent new ones
- Prevention matters most here: a behavior that is never rehearsed never gets paid
Nurture: Behavior the Outside World Pays For
Nurture is anything outside the dog that pays for a behavior. Some of it is obvious: treats, attention, eye contact, talking to the dog, a toy handed over to make the barking stop. Some of it is what the dog wants from the world: the door opens, the leash goes on, the couch is free, the food on the counter is reachable.
And some of it nobody intends at all. The mail carrier comes to the door. The dog barks. The mail carrier finishes the job and leaves, as they were always going to. From the dog's side, barking made the mail carrier go away, and it works every single day. Nobody gave a treat, and the barking still got paid.
- Payoffs you give: treats, attention, eye contact, a toy to make it stop
- Payoffs the world gives: doors opening, people leaving, food on the counter
- Accidental payoffs count: the mail carrier was always going to leave
- If a behavior keeps happening and you cannot see the payoff, keep looking
When Both Stack
The mail carrier example is really both. Barking already rewards itself, and the mail carrier leaving pays it again from outside. When both stack on one behavior, you get the problems owners struggle with the most: window barking, fence fighting, lunging at dogs on leash, and resource guarding.
These are the hardest to change because you often cannot stop the outside payoff. The mail carrier is coming regardless, and the other dog on the sidewalk will keep walking. So the plan shifts: block the view, stop the rehearsals, and give the dog a different job when the trigger shows up, like going to its place.
Both Can Change. One Is Harder.
Nurture behaviors are the easier and more straightforward ones. You control, or can find, the payoff. Stop paying for the behavior you do not want, pay for the one you do, and they change fairly quickly.
Nature behaviors can change too, but it is harder and slower. You cannot take the reward away, because it happens inside the dog. Instead you prevent rehearsals, interrupt early before the behavior peaks, build a competing behavior the dog can do instead, and manage the environment while you do it. That is why prevention in the first months matters so much: it is far easier to never switch a self-rewarding behavior on than to quiet it after hundreds of repetitions.
- Nurture: find the payoff, remove it, pay for the alternative
- Nature: prevent rehearsals, interrupt early, build a competing behavior, manage the environment
- Both stacked: manage the environment first, then rebuild
- Neither is permanent. One just takes much longer
Breed Is a Small Part of the Story
Most people assume breed predicts behavior. The research says it predicts very little about an individual dog. A 2022 study published in Science surveyed the owners of more than 18,000 dogs and genotyped about 2,000 of them. Breed explained only about 9% of the variation in individual behavior. Modern breeds, most less than 160 years old, were shaped mainly for looks. The behavioral tendencies we associate with them come from much older genetics that predate breeds.
That does not mean genetics do not matter. Most behavioral traits in the study were substantially heritable. It means the genetics that matter are your individual puppy's, inherited from its specific parents, not the average for its breed. One finding stands out: how easily a dog is provoked was almost unrelated to breed.
Genetics mostly set thresholds: how much stimulation it takes to trigger a motor pattern. A scent hound that ignores your recall when its nose locks on is not being stubborn. Its olfactory system is outcompeting your voice. The study relied on owner surveys and was mostly U.S. dogs, so treat the exact number as a guide, but the direction is clear: assess the dog, not the label.
- The 9% rule: breed explains about 9% of an individual dog's behavior
- The rest is individual genetics, the mother's environment, and early socialization
- Genetics set thresholds for motor patterns; they do not install personalities
- Source: Morrill et al., "Ancestry-inclusive dog genomics challenges popular breed stereotypes," Science, 2022
Labels Hide the Mechanism
Loyal, stubborn, aggressive, dominant, spiteful. These are human words for what we see. They describe; they do not explain. There is no single gene for loyalty or stubbornness. Behavior comes from many genes, sensory thresholds, and what has been paid.
Labels are worse than useless when you are trying to change a behavior, because they point at the dog instead of at the mechanism. "He is stubborn" gives you nothing to do. "His nose overrides my voice when he is on a scent, and every time he gets away with it, he gets paid" gives you a plan.
Assess the Dog, Not the Label
Your breed tells you which tendencies to watch for. Your puppy tells you what is actually there. The specific parents and lines matter far more than the breed name, which is why breeder choice is one of the biggest decisions you make. A puppy from stable parents gives you a solid foundation. A puppy from unstable parents can still do well, but the work is harder.
Every time you see a behavior you want to change, run the same four questions.
- What exactly is the behavior, and what triggers it?
- What is paying for it: the act itself, the outside world, or both?
- If it is nurture, what is the payoff, and how do I remove it and pay for something better?
- If it is nature or both, how do I stop the rehearsals and give the dog a competing job?