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About This Wiki|15 min read|Last reviewed 2026-11-02

Build Your Own Just Behaving AI Project

A practical, self-contained guide for setting up a Just Behaving AI assistant in ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Everything you need to download is on this page. Once set up, the assistant can guide you through everyday raising, the transition home, behavior questions, medical context, and the science layer behind the philosophy.

Why this matters. Just Behaving is built around the soft landing - the puppy moving from breeder to family home should keep speaking the same canine language of calm, mentorship, and structure they learned in their first eight weeks. When that language changes at the threshold, you get what most pet dogs become: social puppies in adult bodies, physically grown but socially still juvenile. This kit gives your AI assistant the same philosophical foundation we operate from, so the guidance you get in the first night, the first month, and the first year keeps the language consistent.

Platform instructions checked October 9, 2026 against the official documentation linked below. Features and limits can vary by account, region, and rollout. Use the linked official instructions if your account shows different controls.

What This Page Explains

This page gives families updated assistant instructions, the seven core philosophical documents, the full Family Guides collection, and a wiki navigation guide as downloadable files. Together, they let you spin up a personal Just Behaving AI assistant in ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, with instructions to:

  • Answer everyday raising questions grounded in the Five Pillars
  • Walk you through the first-night, first-week, and first-month transition
  • Help you think through behavior issues (mouthing, leash, recall, separation) using the philosophy
  • Provide context on medical and developmental questions, and direct you to the right wiki page or the right professional
  • Point you to the science underneath any topic by recommending the appropriate page on the live Just Behaving wiki

The November 2 navigation-guide refresh includes Resource Guarding Prevention in New Puppies and the current 645-entry Wiki map. Both downloadable AI-kit archives carry that guide; the seven core documents and collected Family Guides are unchanged.

What You Will Need

  • An account with one of the supported setup features below. Check the platform's age, region, account, and usage requirements. A paid plan is not a universal prerequisite, and a Free account is not a guarantee that every feature or the entire reference collection will fit.
  • A desktop browser for initial setup and a place to save the downloads. Allow time to add the sources and check that the assistant can read them.
  • The updated instructions plus reference documents 01-09, or the three-file alternative described below.

The Starter Kit

Right-click a link and choose "Save Link As" to download; on mobile, tap and hold. Markdown (.md) files are plain text and can be opened in a text editor. If your AI app rejects one, use the identical TXT copy from the compatibility pack.

Use these updated instructions for a new setup. They explain source access, the Five Pillars, evidence distinctions, and when to seek professional help. Put instructions in the Page block or project/Gem instructions field described below; reference files go in the separate source or knowledge area. This full download is not intended for ChatGPT's global Custom Instructions field, which has different limits and applies beyond this topic.

The seven core philosophical documents. The November 2, 2026 correction edition retains the earlier evidence corrections in Foundations, The Five Pillars, and An Exploration, and clarifies The Art of Raising: JB does not recommend tug, but avoiding tug is not established as preventing resource guarding. Foundations is now version 2.1; the other six core documents retain version 2.0. Download the corrected files again if you saved an earlier kit. Keep these as your reference copies. They are listed in recommended reading order. Add each as a Page or reference file according to your chosen setup; the source check below confirms what the assistant can actually read.

The wiki navigation guide. A map of the public Just Behaving wiki so the assistant can recommend the right page for specific questions.

The Family Guides collection. All 41 Family Guides articles from justbehaving.com/family-guides bundled into one file. The first-line resource for practical raising, transition, and behavior questions.

Optional compatibility downloads. The same download links remain available above; the combined file and both ZIPs include the November 2 corrected editions. The Family Guides collection also includes the clarified conditional tug guidance and the corrected resource-guarding explanation in Playing With Your Dog. Other collected guides are unchanged.

  • 10 - Seven Core Documents Combined - the current texts of 01-07, reproduced without alteration in one file. Together with 08 and 09, this makes a three-file reference kit.
  • TXT Compatibility Pack - unchanged text copies of references 01-09, the combined core file, and the updated instructions. Unzip it and upload the needed text files; do not upload the ZIP as ordinary project knowledge.
  • Gemini Skill Bundle - ready for the conditional Skills setup below. It contains the updated instructions and current references 01-09.

How To Use This

Choose the setup available in your account:

ChatGPT: Space and Pages, When Available

Use this route if your account has Space enabled. OpenAI does not establish universal plan availability in the cited Space guide. If it is absent, use the Project route below. A dot is not required.

  1. Open Space. From All, choose New, then Space, and name it "Just Behaving." Keep it personal unless you want to share it.
  2. Create a home Page called "Just Behaving - Start Here." Add a separate Page for each of the seven core documents, using its number and title. Paste the complete document or attach its original file. Check the beginning and end against the download; do not substitute an AI summary.
  3. Add Pages for "08 - Wiki Navigation Guide" and "09 - Family Guides." The Family Guides collection is long: attach the original file to its Page instead of pasting the whole collection.

These steps use the Page and file organization described in OpenAI's Space getting-started guide.

  1. On the home Page, open the block menu with /, choose Agent Instructions, and paste the updated family assistant instructions. Add links to the nine reference Pages.
  2. Open ChatGPT alongside the home Page. Explicitly select or link that Page and the reference Pages or attached files needed for your question. Ask it to read the instructions and those sources before answering.
  3. Run the source check below. If a Page or attachment is unavailable to the chat, attach the file directly or use a Project.

Agent Instructions is a Page block, not a documented Space-wide settings field. Do not assume that placing documents in one Space loads every Page into every chat, or that instructions on a parent Page automatically apply to its children. Keep the original Pages as references; request a separate note when you want a summary. See OpenAI's Page documentation.

ChatGPT: Projects Fallback

  1. In ChatGPT's sidebar, choose New project and name it "Just Behaving."
  2. Open the project's ... menu, then Project settings. Paste the updated family assistant instructions into its instructions field.
  3. Add reference files to the project's sources, rather than attaching them only to an unrelated chat. For the three-file setup, upload 10-core-documents-combined.md, 08-wiki-navigation-guide.md, and 09-family-guides-collected.md. The combined file contains the seven original core texts in order. Do not also upload duplicate copies of 01-07.
  4. Start a chat inside the project and run the source check.

As checked October 9, Free projects permit five files, Go and Plus 25, and Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu 40. Accounts with room can use the nine separate references instead. OpenAI's Projects guide documents settings and limits. Separate upload quotas also apply; Free users currently have three uploads per day, which may be reduced during busy periods. The three-file setup fits the file-count limit, but does not guarantee upload availability or complete recall. See OpenAI's upload limits.

Already have a custom GPT? OpenAI currently does not allow new GPT creation or publishing on personal Free, Go, Plus, and Pro accounts. Existing GPTs may remain usable and editable subject to plan and permissions; eligible managed workspaces differ. This is why this guide no longer starts with "Create a GPT." Check OpenAI's current GPT guidance for your account's migration notices.

Claude: A Chat Project

  1. Sign in at claude.ai/projects and choose + New Project. Name it "Just Behaving" and add a short description. These labels are not instructions Claude can read.
  2. In the project's knowledge or Files area, use + to upload references 01-09. Put them in the project, not just in a single chat.
  3. Choose Set project instructions, paste the updated family assistant instructions, then Save instructions.
  4. Start a new chat inside that project and run the source check. If using a work account, check its sharing settings before adding family details.

Free Claude accounts can have five projects. Paid plans can use retrieval to expand project capacity. This guide uses the existing chat Projects workflow; a coding project is unnecessary. See Claude's project setup guide.

Claude's project-file limit is 30 MB per file. There is no fixed file-count cap, but extracted text and context limits still matter. The full Family Guides collection is roughly 129,000 words: small file size does not mean the entire kit fits a Free account's context. If Claude rejects a Markdown file, try its unchanged .txt copy from the compatibility pack. If the corpus is too large, keep the relevant core sources and add the specific Family Guide needed for your question, or consider a plan with larger project capacity. Clearly tell the assistant what you left out. See Claude's file-upload documentation.

Gemini: Skills, When Available

Transition checked October 9, 2026: Google is rolling out Skills and plans to retire Gems for personal accounts in November 2026, business/enterprise/nonprofit accounts in March 2027, and education accounts in June 2027. These are announced months, not exact dates. Use the feature your account currently offers, and check Google's migration notice if the interface differs.

Skills currently require an adult personal Google account and Keep Activity enabled; work and school accounts are not yet supported. Availability is gradual. Read the privacy note below before enabling Keep Activity.

  1. Download the Just Behaving Gemini Skill ZIP.
  2. On the Gemini website, open Settings, then Skills, then Upload. Select the ZIP.
  3. Review the name, description, and instructions, then choose Create. The ZIP has a root SKILL.md, the updated instructions, and references 01-09. You do not need to build these files yourself.
  4. In a chat, type / (or @ where that shortcut has been updated), select the Just Behaving skill, and run the source check.

Imports are available on the web and Mac app; the bundle is below Google's 100 MB limit. To update reference files later, replace the entire skill bundle. See Google's Skills setup documentation.

Skills read reference files as needed. Selecting one does not prove that every source was consulted. Ask for the specific supporting document and section, as described in Google's explanation of how Skills load information.

Gemini: Classic Gems, While Available

  1. On gemini.google.com, open the sidebar and choose Gems, then New Gem. In some accounts Gems is under Settings and help. Choose a classic custom Gem, not a Google Labs mini app.
  2. Name it "Just Behaving" and paste the updated family assistant instructions into Instructions.
  3. Under Knowledge, choose Add files, then Upload files, and add references 01-09. Confirm they appear. Leave Disable knowledge citations unchecked so sources remain visible.
  4. Try the source check in Preview, then choose Save. Preview alone does not save the Gem. Return to the saved Gem for future questions.

Creation and editing use the web; a saved Gem can also be used on mobile. Account and usage restrictions apply. See Google's Gem guide and knowledge-file and saving instructions. Do not treat a per-prompt upload allowance as a guaranteed total Gem knowledge allowance. If uploads fail, try the TXT copies or a smaller relevant selection, and disclose missing sources.

Check Your Setup Before Relying on It

Start with this prompt:

Using the Just Behaving sources I selected or uploaded, explain the Five Pillars in plain language. Name the document and section supporting each explanation. Then tell me which source you would consult first for a puppy's first night at home, and what kinds of questions should go to a veterinarian or qualified behavior professional. If a source is unavailable, say which one instead of filling the gap.

Compare the answer with the actual documents. Open at least one cited section. The assistant should identify the relevant Family Guide for practical questions, distinguish philosophy from evidence, and admit missing material. An answer that merely says "all files loaded" is not a source check. If the cited section does not support the answer, correct the setup before continuing. Passing this check is a useful starting point, not a guarantee that later answers will be accurate.

Keep Your References Current

Downloaded files, pasted Pages, and ZIP bundles are snapshots. They do not update automatically when Just Behaving edits its website. When you want a newer version, download it again, replace the corresponding reference, and rerun the source check. For a Gemini Skill, replace the complete bundle.

A connection to your own Google Drive document, where supported, can follow that linked document's updates; it does not follow the original JB website. Do not assume that a connector or sync feature survives a platform migration. Memory and earlier chats are also different from the reference collection. In a new chat, identify the sources you want used and restate any details about your dog that matter now.

Account and Privacy Choices

Use a personal setup unless you intentionally want to share it. Public JB references are enough for setup; children's names, home addresses, and identifying records are unnecessary for routine raising questions. Review the service's account, age, region, and data settings before uploading personal information.

Gemini Skills require Keep Activity. With it enabled, Google can use chats and uploads to improve its services, including model training, and some data may be reviewed by people. Decide whether that fits your preferences before choosing this route. See Google's Gemini privacy explanation.

How The Assistant Helps With Science And Daily Life

The assistant is configured to reach for the right resource depending on the question:

  • Everyday raising questions ("our puppy is mouthing too hard," "she pulls on leash"): the Family Guides are the first place it looks.
  • Transition questions ("the first 48 hours," "she's regressing in week three"): the Transition Series in the Family Guides.
  • Philosophical questions ("why don't you use treats?" "what does indirect correction actually mean?"): the seven core documents.
  • Specific scientific or medical context ("what does the evidence say about hip screening?" "what is the socialization window?"): the wiki navigation guide tells the assistant which wiki page to recommend, and it will give you the URL on justbehaving.com/wiki to read.
  • Anything medical, urgent, or beyond the philosophy's scope: the assistant will direct you to your veterinarian or a qualified behavior professional. It will not pretend to be one.

Tips For Asking Good Questions

  • Describe the situation, not the symptom. Instead of "how do I stop jumping," try "my eight-month-old jumps on visitors when they come through the door, and we have been telling him to sit. What would the Five Pillars do here?"
  • Ask which pillar applies. "Which pillar speaks to crate training?" or "Is this a Calmness issue or a Structured Leadership issue?"
  • Ask for the document or wiki page. "Which document covers this?" or "Is there a wiki page on this?" The assistant will name the source so you can read further.
  • Push back when something feels off. If the answer drifts toward generic training advice, say so. Ask the assistant to re-ground in the loaded documents.

What This Assistant Is Not

This assistant is not a substitute for your veterinarian, your breeder, or a qualified behavior professional for serious cases. It is a thinking companion grounded in the Just Behaving philosophy. For medical questions, call your vet. For aggression, severe anxiety, or any situation that feels beyond a confident next step, reach out to a professional.

See Also

Sources and Governing References

  • The seven philosophical core documents, with their retained lock history: Foundations 2.1 and six version 2.0 documents. The November 2, 2026 public correction edition is approved by Dan Roach. It does not add a new resource-guarding manuscript or change SCR claim verification.
  • The 41 Family Guides articles from content/family-guides/ (provided as a bundled, frontmatter-stripped file in this kit).
  • The Just Behaving wiki at justbehaving.com/wiki and its public AI manifests at /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt.
  • The original Family Edition system prompt remains available as document 00. The updated instructions are document 11; they preserve the source philosophy, its guardrails and evidence distinctions, while revising guidance for source access and family support. Document 00 remains unchanged for historical reference. The corrected reference editions are identified above; the current instructions remain document 11.
  • Official platform references are linked beside the relevant setup steps. These were checked October 9, 2026; consult them again if your account shows different controls or migration notices.