Good manners are essential for both humans and dogs. Teaching your puppy basic etiquette can save you from future embarrassment and help you both enjoy your time together more fully.

Just like human etiquette, manners for dogs help maintain harmony. These unspoken rules, when adhered to, can prevent conflicts and misunderstandings.

It’s crucial to differentiate between politeness and obedience; a polite dog can assess a situation and behave appropriately.

Both human babies and puppies need to learn good manners from scratch. Dogs must be taught how to interact properly with people and other animals.

In today’s story, OP agreed to look after a friend’s 3-year-old, unneutered male dog named Monster while the friend was away for five weeks.

Monster had no routine; he ate whenever he wanted, played all day, and jumped on people and other dogs indiscriminately.

Given that OP’s dog has food allergies, and after enduring a week of sleepless nights and constant ball-fetching, OP decided it was time to teach Monster some manners. When OP’s friend returned, she was upset, claiming that OP had “broken the dog’s spirit.”

Headline of the Reddit story.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

Description of Monster’s lack of routine and OP’s dog’s food allergies.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

Monster started to get the hang of things after a few tricky days.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

OP’s friend claims OP “broke his spirit” after returning home.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

OP explains: “I trained my friend’s dog with basic commands and a daily routine. She says I have broken his spirit and changed his personality. AITA?”

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

Adults call it parenting, and it’s necessary.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

OP is not obligated to put up with an untrained dog in her home.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

OP did a service by training the dog.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

Telling the friend they won’t dog-sit again.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

OP’s friend’s version of happiness is just constant neuroticism.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

Expecting OP to tolerate those behaviors is unreasonable.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

It sounds like the dog became well-behaved.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

Teaching manners can be used when out and about.

Reddit/throwaway764gh78

Just as children need to learn etiquette from a young age, puppies also need early training. Their developing brains have much to absorb about the world and appropriate behavior.

OP’s effort to instill some basic manners in Monster was seen as beneficial by many Redditors, who agreed that OP was not in the wrong. OP was declared not the AH.

dlte