When people bring a puppy home, the first thing they usually think about is obedience—what should I teach first?
However, Pat Wright and Molly Townsend, founders of Flying Paws Dog Training and winners of the 2025 Australian Small Business Champion Award, believe the better question is this: “How do I raise a dog who can actually cope with the world?”
While we have traditionally focused on cues like sit, stay, drop and heel, Pat and Molly argue that those are only one small piece of the picture. What really matters in the early stages is what sits underneath: play, engagement, emotional regulation, and everyday life skills.
At Flying Paws, this is referred to as real-world readiness. It’s about raising a dog who doesn't just respond when asked, but a dog who feels safe, confident, and able to move through the world without falling apart. When you get that right, you don’t just end up with an obedient dog—you end up with a resilient one.
The Foundations: Play and Engagement
Play is often treated as something separate from training—a break, a reward, or a way to burn energy. But for puppies, play is where most of the learning actually happens. Through play, they test boundaries, make mistakes, and figure out how their behaviour affects the world around them.
More importantly, it builds the relationship. When a puppy learns that being with you is fun, safe, and worth paying attention to, you become important to them. Not because you have food, but because you matter.
That connection is what carries through into real life. It is what helps with recall, focus, and staying connected when things get busy. Before worrying about longer stays or perfect recalls, it is worth asking:
Does my puppy actually enjoy interacting with me?
Can they settle near me without needing constant input?
Do they recover quickly if something startles or excites them?
Do they choose to come back to me on their own?
Building Life Skills for the Real World
Most challenges that show up later in a dog's life aren't because they "forgot" how to sit; they come from gaps in everyday emotional skills. Real-world readiness is built through:
Settling: The ability to relax in different environments and "switch off" after excitement. This is a skill that must be taught and practised.
Handling and Cooperative Care: Getting your puppy comfortable being touched or examined. Giving the puppy a "say" in the process makes vet and groomer visits much easier later on. [Read our full guide on training your pup for grooming here].
Recall Foundations: Recall isn't built at the beach; it starts in low-pressure environments where coming back is always the best option.
Emotional Regulation: Can your puppy notice something exciting without reacting immediately? Dogs who learn to process frustration early cope much better as life becomes more complex.
The Power of Choice and Consent
One of the biggest shifts in modern training is understanding that giving dogs a level of choice actually improves outcomes. This doesn’t mean letting them do whatever they want; it means allowing them to be part of the process.
It can be as simple as:
Letting them approach a new person instead of being passed around.
Giving them the option to move away during handling.
Noticing when they are unsure and adjusting instead of pushing through.
Dogs who feel heard tend to become more confident. They learn the world is predictable and that they can take in information without being overwhelmed.
Thoughtful Exposure Over "Socialisation"
The early months matter, but "more" exposure is not always better. Rushing a puppy into every situation can actually cause anxiety. What helps is thoughtful exposure:
Letting them watch from a distance before they join in.
Giving them space when they need it.
Building things up gradually instead of all at once.
A puppy sitting at a distance, calmly taking in a busy environment, is learning far more than one who is overwhelmed in the middle of it. Real-world readiness develops through experiences the puppy can actually process.
Practical Habits to Start at Home
Building resilience doesn't need to be complicated. It comes down to small, consistent habits:
✔️ Reward Engagement: Notice and reward when your puppy checks in with you voluntarily.✔️ Use the Environment: Scatter food in the grass. Sniffing helps puppies slow down and feel more settled.
✔️ Prioritise Rest: After something exciting, help your puppy switch off. This is the piece that most often gets missed.
The Bigger Picture: Cooperation Over Compliance
A lot of new puppy owners feel like they are "behind," especially with social media showing very young puppies performing polished behaviours. But development is not a race.
The real test is not how a puppy looks at sixteen weeks—it is how they handle life at sixteen months. Adolescence tends to highlight whatever was built early on. Dogs with real-world readiness cope better, recover faster, and stay more connected to their humans.
Raising a puppy is not about creating a dog who listens perfectly; it is about raising a dog who can live in the world comfortably. When we focus on play, engagement, and life skills, we aren’t lowering the standard—we are raising it. Because the goal isn’t just compliance; it is cooperation.
Photo Credits:
- Kerry Martin –
Puppy Tales Pet Photography Deb Sulzberger –
Furbabies and Friends Photography
About the Authors
Pat Wright and Molly Townsend are the founders of Flying Paws Dog Training in Tasmania and winners of the 2025 Australian Small Business Champion Award (Pet Training Services).
With a combined 30 years of experience, they are Tasmania's first certified Family Dog Mediators®, specialising in positive, force-free, and fear-free training. Pat founded Flying Paws in 2014, while Molly joined the team in 2018; together, they focus on "real-world readiness" to help dogs and families build resilient, emotionally stable relationships.
They are also the voices behind the podcast The Paws Perspective, sharing modern insights into canine behaviour.
Website:
www.flyingpaws.com.au Listen: The Paws Perspective on
Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube
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