Activities to do After Spay or Neuter!

Spay and neuter are common procedures for puppies and your veterinarian will walk you through the initial preparation and post-op care for your pup. But keeping a puppy calm, yet entertained, during recovery can be a challenging task in itself! In this blog we cover what to do and what to avoid to ensure your pup a safe and speedy recovery!

golden doodle puppy training

The Puppy Academy student: Montego!

Your puppy is about to have — or just had — their spay or neuter procedure. As the puppy parent, your role is to provide your pup with post-operative care which is usually around 7 days for males and 14 days for females. During that time, your puppy will need to have limited activity, so what does that mean? Getting creative on what activities to do with your puppy!

So just how do you prepare to care for your puppy during their recovery? Along with your veterinarian’s instructions, we have a list of care tips and activities we share with our students at The Puppy Academy and The Puppy Academy Online School to help your puppy combat boredom, while keeping their training in-check!. Even if you have a high-energy puppy, these activities we’re sharing will help to engage your puppy’s brain and avoid behaviors that come from lack of stimulation like barking, whining, destructive chewing, and jumping.

Post-Surgery Care:

Your veterinarian will have an initial consultation with you and following your puppy’s procedure, provide you with care instructions for home. If you are preparing for your puppy’s spay or neuter, or just want more information on how to care for them, the tips below provide a general guideline to follow along with your veterinarian's direction!

Keep your puppy’s activity level to a minimum

  • No jumping on or off furniture

  • No running around the house

  • Avoid exciting them and keep them as calm as possible

  • Limit stair use for the first few days

  • Use the crate to help your puppy relax and keep them safe, especially when you can’t supervise them

Don’t change your puppy’s diet

Surgery can sometimes temporarily alter your pup’s eating habits. It may take them a couple of days to get their full appetite back, or they may devour their next meal as soon as they get it! Keep your puppy’s food the same during this time, and know that it is common for them to experience digestion issues, constipation, and soft stool from the pain meds they’re on. If you have any concerns about your puppy’s food intake or bowel movement while they’re recovering, please contact your vet right away!

Pro tip: Some pups will have trouble eating with their cone on, or the sound of the cone hitting the bowl can be distracting for them! It is ok to remove the cone for periods of time throughout the day to give them a break for a few minutes, as long as you are actively monitoring them the entire time.

Keep the incision dry and check it regularly

Many veterinarians use internal sutures that dissolve on their own after the surgery date. Additionally, your puppy may have surgical glue to keep the incision closed. Don’t bathe your puppy for the first week or up to ten days from surgery when your vet has cleared them.

Keep your puppy from licking the incision to prevent accidental rupture, surgical glue dissolving too soon, and infection. Your veterinarian will advise you on how long your puppy should wear the medical cone.

The best way to make sure your puppy’s incision is dry, clean, and intact is to regularly check it throughout the day. If you notice any crusting, changes in color, bleeding, etc., reach out to your veterinarian as soon as possible to avoid infection. 

Other things to look out for in the event of complications with your puppy’s surgery include vomiting, continued lack of appetite and water intake, pale gums, diarrhea, difficulty going to the bathroom, or labored breathing.

For more on spaying or neutering, check out our blog: Spaying or Neutering Your Puppy!


Activities To Do With Your Puppy After Their Spay Or Neuter:

spay neuter activities to do with your puppy

The Puppy Academy student: Louie!

One of the toughest jobs puppy parents face while their pup is recovering from surgery is how to keep their energetic pup calm but still entertained!

This is especially difficult when you need to avoid any physical activities and play that could put a strain on their bodies from surgery and their incision area. Walks are temporarily out, but here’s what’s in:

Why mental stimulation is so important

Making sure your puppy gets enough mental stimulation during this recovery time will not only keep them busy and fulfilled but will be just as rewarding (if not more so for them!) as physical stimulation.

Working puppies mentally is a great way to keep them entertained while also providing an outlet to release energy in a calmer way, that will ultimately have them be able to settle down. Plus brain games will help your puppy boost their problem-solving skills and increase their confidence while challenging them in new ways!

Watch our video to go over our suggested activities and spay/neuter do’s and don’ts along with some special bonus tips, or skip ahead to read about them:

ACTIVITY #1: Puzzle Games and Snuffle Mats

These games are great for encouraging your puppy to work on problem-solving and get rewarded for it! Many of these games involve hiding a treat in a little compartment and letting your puppy sniff and use their nose or paws to push them out. Depending on the puzzle game, your puppy will be able to flip lids, turn knobs, open drawers, flap over fabrics and lift up cones to uncover hidden treats.

ACTIVITY #2: Food Dispensing Toys

The classic Kong toy and other variations of food dispensing toys are a great form of mental stimulation that will release an immediate reward for your puppy’s work! Stuff it with their favorite food or treats and let them chew it until the food is dispensed. The best part about these toys is that they allow your puppy to problem-solve and chew. This is a natural way your puppy relieves gum pain, especially if they are teething, and combat boredom! To increase the difficulty, freeze some healthy dog-friendly peanut butter in the Kong for your pup to lick out. Bonus: licking can be very soothing for pups!

ACTIVITY #3: Calm Training Routines

Just because your puppy is recovering, doesn’t mean their puppy training should take a break! Keeping up with the structure and your puppy’s daily schedule is important for keeping your puppy on track and not regress in their training. But, we will want to make sure to modify some of their normal training routines for the time being to not put stress on their bodies or incision.

One of our favorite activities you can practice that has limited movement but is very mentally challenging is: “Calm Place and House Patterning”. This is where you have your puppy on a leash and slowly guide them from their crate (“House”) and Place cot, with lots of pauses and Sits in between. Having your puppy work at a slower rate than what they’re used to forces their brains to work in a different way. After 10-15 minutes of this “boring” work, they’re usually ready for a nap!

For step-by-step guidance on this routine along with others you can do while your puppy is recovering, join us in The Puppy Academy Online School! And once they’re back to their regular scheduled activities, you’ll be able to transition to all our advanced routines to keep your pup learning at the highest level and bring out the best manners possible.

Get started here:


Have more questions about prepping for your puppy’s spay or neuter procedure? Ask our trainers LIVE every Wednesday at 1 pm PT on our Instagram
@thepuppyacademy and TikTok @thepuppyacademy during the Ask A Puppy Trainer Show! All replays are posted afterward, and you can catch up on our last ones on our YouTube channel!

Become a Puppy Academy VIP (Very Important Puppy) to get our latest puppy training tips direct to your inbox, for free, each week!

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Puppy Training 101: Starting Your Puppy with the Basics!

Puppy training is a journey and it starts with taking the right first step! These activities will pave the path for successfully training your puppy in their basic obedience commands and life-long good manners!

Students Becky, George, and their puppy Wally from The Puppy Academy Online School!

The Puppy Academy Online School students: Becky, George, and their puppy Wally!

What are the “Basics” in Puppy Training?

Puppy training is all about building new skills in your puppy. The basics cover simple activities you can start practicing with your puppy to gain their focus, build your relationship, and start to establish clear lines of communication.

Communication is key when it comes to puppy training! Your body language and movements, tone of voice, eye contact -- all of these elements are communicating something to your pup!

In both The Puppy Academy and The Puppy Academy Online School, we love beginning to work on building communication by using a pup’s natural drive for food and play, eagerness to learn, plus their curiosity, to your advantage. Here’s how we introduce training to all our new pups!


Start with “Luring”!

“Luring” with The Puppy Academy student: Van!

Luring practice takes your pup’s natural drive and uses it to instill muscle memory and follower mode into your puppy. During your training session with your puppy, take a piece of their food, and bring it to your puppy’s nose so they become aware of what’s in your hand. When you gain your pup’s attention, you can begin to move your hand away and “lure” them to follow you. 

The main objective of this activity is to gain your puppy’s focus when you are puppy training. When your puppy successfully starts to follow you, you’ve established a clear communication that you want your puppy to focus on you and not all of the other things happening around at home. Plus, it’s working on your pup’s desire to engage in something fun while learning at the same time! From here, this is a great opportunity to start introducing your puppy’s name and the obedience command “Come” into their skill set! More to come on that soon!


Use Clear “Marker” Words

If this is your first time hearing the term “marker” words, they are words puppy trainers use to indicate a certain desired behavior. We use “Good” when we want them to keep doing what they’re doing, “No” or “Nope” when we don’t agree with the behavior or choice the puppy is making, and “Break” as their release word, which means to stop doing or holding a command.

If you've heard of "clicker training" this is a similar concept, only we use a marker word instead of holding a separate device that makes a clicking sound when pressed to “mark” the command.

To use marker words while puppy training, introduce the marker “Good!” in combination with a command when your puppy completes the desired behavior you're asking of them. For example, if you asked your puppy to “Sit” and they did, reinforce the correct behavior with “Good!” The rationale behind this is to help develop an association with your puppy that they are doing the right thing and should continue to do so! For much younger puppies that are totally new to puppy training, you’ll want to reward the marker words until they begin to create the association. And it all depends on your puppy, how quickly they catch on to their commands when you can start to wean off and then eliminate rewarding each marker.

If your puppy does the wrong command, for example, starts to “Come” while supposed to be in “Stay”, simply say "Nope" followed with the desired command you want to help guide them. Don't forget to mark that with a "Good" and a reward! We always want to follow up with something positive.

“Break” is the final marker to use while training to release your puppy after a command is complete. What it does is tell your puppy that they no longer need to hold the command and can essentially relax! In the beginning, you’ll need to add value to “Break” and teach them what it means by giving your puppy a reward each time until eventually, you can begin to wean them away from rewards. Later on, as your puppy matures and as you build on your puppy’s duration, your puppy will learn to hold their commands for longer and longer chunks of time until they hear you say the release “Break”! 

Teach Them Their Name and Introduce the “Come” Command!

One of the very first things to teach your puppy is their name! It’s super important that your puppy learns to respond to their name early on to help gain their attention when you need and respond to commands. With the luring technique, you can start teaching your puppy to follow you when you call their name by taking a piece of their food in your hand, bringing it to their nose then taking a step back and calling out their name as they follow you.

Keep your puppy on a leash during this exercise so they don’t run off if something catches their attention. And if your puppy doesn’t get it right away, instead of pulling them toward you, just reset and repeat the same luring technique! Hint: This is also a great opportunity to introduce the “Come” command once your puppy has learned their name! If you want to learn more about effectively teaching your puppy their name and getting them to respond to it every time, read up on our tips in, “Play the Name Game: How to Teach Your Puppy Their Name!” blog!

The Puppy Academy student: Mia!


Teach Calm Thresholds and Impulse Control!

Puppies have a natural curious drive and can get excited at the endless possibilities available with an open door in front of them! But bolting through doorways isn’t a good or safe habit to allow your puppy to develop. The best way to manage this is establishing calm thresholds, starting with your puppy’s crate (or as we call it, “House”).

Start by creating moments where your puppy needs to wait in order to exit their crate. If your puppy tries to step out of their crate without you asking them to “Come”, use the crate door and just lightly close it again so your puppy can’t continue forward. You might need to repeat this a few times until your puppy realizes maybe they should just check in with you and wait. As your puppy progresses with this exercise, you’re helping them build impulse control and lay the groundwork for them learning to apply it in other situations. 

Impulse control training can also be applied to feeding time, especially for those excitable puppies jumping up for their bowls! In this scenario, you can use your puppy’s crate to help teach your puppy to wait for their food and water bowls. By applying the same technique as calm thresholds, with your puppy in their crate, lightly close the crate door if they start to take a step forward for their bowls. Doing so, you’re creating that moment of pause and teaching your puppy that the desired behavior is calm and patience instead of excitement and jumping. Their reward for doing this, of course, if getting to eat their meal! 


Establish Eye Contact with Your Puppy

Communication with your puppy will no just depend on your verbal cues, but teaching them to check in with you regularly. Creating the habit of gaining eye contact with your pup helps keep them looking to you as their leader for their next command!

At first, you’ll probably need to lure your puppy’s gaze up to your eyes with a piece of their food. Start to do this during a training session by luring your puppy to look up at you (raise the food up to your eyes) and marking it with a “Good”! Then you can start adding in commands to follow the eye contact. This will really help as your puppy progresses with their basic obedience training and take on more challenging commands and routines as they grow!

Introducing training to your puppy can feel like a daunting task, but by beginning with just these few basics: luring, marker words, name recognition, “Come”, thresholds, impulse control and eye contact, you’re creating the best foundation to build the rest of your puppy’s training on!

Get more step-by-step plus 1-on-1 help with this with The Puppy Academy Online School!

Even if you have started already some training, incorporate these activities into your training sessions and you will see how much more engaged, eager, and responsive your pup becomes. And make sure to keep following us along each week for more Puppy Training 101!

Have more questions about training your new puppy? Ask our trainers LIVE every Wednesday at 1 pm PT on our Instagram @thepuppyacademy and TikTok @thepuppyacademy during the Ask A Puppy Trainer Show! All replays are posted afterward, and you can catch up on our last ones on our YouTube channel!

Become a Puppy Academy VIP (Very Important Puppy) to get our latest puppy training tips direct to your inbox, for free, each week!

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