Parent belittles her daughter's strict puppy training, sparks debate over boomer-logic dog ownership: 'Mom had our childhood pets overweight [and] reactive'

How do you train your dog? Do you use treats, toys, playtime, or extra cuddles? 

Well, this boomer mom uses none of the above, letting her family dogs roam free and feral in the household as long as they lived. Is that the kind of person you want to take dog training advice from? Probably not. A young woman and her boyfriend just got a 9-week-old puppy and were planning a strict regimen of training, but her mom's boomer logic got in the way and immediately started derailing her diligent training. 

Furious, the dog trainer ran to Reddit's r/opendogtraining subreddit to vent about her mother's inconsistencies, opening up a discussion about dog training, dog ownership, and the flawed mentality of "hands off" dog training that plagued an entire generation.  

Training a dog requires a lot of work, time, and sometimes money. 

Pushing their humans to the limit of their patience, puppies can be particularly frustrating to train. Their little noggins just aren't ready to be in the crate for 4 hours at a time, and just like iPad children, they're ready to demolish the house if they're left unattended for too long. Anyone who's ever had the stinky-breathed pleasure of owning a puppy knows the upsides and pitfalls of dog ownership. 

The generational divide comes into play when we start looking at how different age groups trained their dogs. Older people likely had houses with yards when they got their first dog, setting Fido free in the house and the yard to get the wiggles out. Their dogs jumped, they knocked kids over, they bothered guests at the dinner table, and they probably lived an epic, rule-free life. 

Young people don't have that luxury. We got dogs when we lived in an apartment, rushing the puppy down three flights of stairs when they were getting potty trained, and walking the pup on a leash for an hour every day to exercise them. Our dogs had to be better trained the wolves of yore. Alas, this boomer mom would never understand that, and likely would never bother to try to adopt her daughter's "strict" methods either. At least this young dog trainer is encouraged by Redditors online to persist in her training and stick to the rules, because ultimately, that's what makes your dog a good boy or a good girl in the end.