12/25/2024
Merry Christmas! Today, I’m stepping away from my usual coverage of China’s deserts to share two related stories in my life recently.
First, The Puppy Challenge
During my last meeting with my Korean student, she seemed overwhelmed by her new 8-week-old puppy. The little one wakes up every two hours at night, barking and demanding attention. If she ignores him, he just keeps barking. Her husband uses earbuds, her daughter isn’t bothered—but for her, the relentless barking is a major headache!
She told me she’d only slept two hours the previous night and was utterly exhausted. We even had to cut our meeting short because she was so drained.
Afterward, I reached out to a friend who had faced similar challenges with their own puppy. I picked up a few helpful tips and shared them with my student the next morning. In many ways, raising a puppy is like raising a baby. Here’s what I learned:
1. Tire Him Out A tired puppy is more likely to sleep longer. Engage him in plenty of physical activities, especially in the evening.
2. Create a Calm Environment Set up a quiet, relaxing space for him to sleep.
3. Introduce a Playpen or Crate Train him to feel comfortable in a playpen or crate during the day. This way, he’ll see it as a safe and familiar space to sleep at night.
4. Ignore Attention-Seeking Barking Like babies, puppies often bark to get attention. If you respond to it, you reinforce the behavior. Ignore the barking to teach him that it won’t get results. However, if he seems genuinely distressed, comfort him gently—but don’t take him out of the pen or hold him unless he needs a nighttime potty break.
5. Time Your Discipline There’s a crucial time window for effective discipline: it’s best to establish good habits before your puppy turns 8 months old and enters adolescence. After that, it may become harder to correct unwanted behaviors.
Finally, remember: your puppy isn’t human. Crate training goes against his natural instincts as a free-roaming animal. Be patient, stay consistent, and prepare for the process to take time.
Second, The Language Learning Window
This brings me to my second story. A young relative of mine plans to send his two sons to a summer camp in America next year to learn English. Naturally, I was wondering: how much English can they learn in a single summer?
I remember advising him back in 2015 to expose his new-born baby to American cartoons and simple English stories, much like how my own children learned Chinese here in America. Recently, I suggested that the boys can learn English by watching American soap operas. His response? “They don’t understand a word and won’t watch.”
I see a missed window here. If the kids had been exposed to American cartoons from their infant days, they might have absorbed the language effortlessly.
Much like training a puppy, learning a language also has a time window. When we start young, the process is natural and almost effortless.
Both stories highlight the importance of timing in development—whether for a puppy or a human baby. Start early, and the process becomes easier and smoother; wait too long, and it gets exponentially harder.
Finally, in both puppy training and language learning, the owner and parents play a crucial role because puppies and babies are too young to know what’s good for them—they rely entirely on guidance and consistency from their owner and parents.