Training Your Puppy: Keep Your House Clean and Your Furry Friend Happy

Initially, a new puppy means excitement and fun for everyone. They are rolly polly balls of pure, fluffy cute! A puppy is a new best friend who will be by your side for its entire life. If you allow it, your dog will become a part of your life and you will share many fond memories together. However, even before the initial excitement subsides, new puppy training must begin.

These lessons will help set the stage for your puppy’s life. Done properly, you can promote a healthy and positive daily existence. Always discuss training with your family, even younger members, prior to introducing the new dog. Eventually, even the youngest member of the family may be required to help reinforce puppy obedience training. The best time to bring a new furry friend into your family’s home is during periods of calm, when time can be arranged for puppy care. Ideally, holidays and other celebrations are discouraged. These events can be hectic times that may add stress to your pup as he or she adjusts.

The family should play a role in training a puppy. For example, one of the simplest activities we do each day is ascending and descending stairs. If you have a stair case in your home, your dog will inevitably have to learn to navigate it. This process may prove very intimidating from a dog’s perspective. Take it one step at a time.

Have your family situated just above the pup on the stair.  Encourage and urge your little dog to climb up. He or she will most likely be timid at first; some dogs adjust to this faster than others. Size is also a factor. Never place a small, young dog high up on a staircase. The pup could fall and possibly injure itself. Climbing stairs is not a natural activity for a dog in the wild, so it takes time and practice to learn.

Believe it or not, putting on a collar can be traumatic for a pup.  A big part of knowing howto train a puppy involves patience and understanding. Start by carefully and calmly buckling the pup’s collar on. Never put the collar on too tight. Never replace your pup’s buckle collar for a choke collar. While these can be valuable training aids, they are not intended to be the actual collar. Your pup may nip and scratch at the collar, but give it time. Eventually, he or she will accept it. If the collar causes excitement levels to go too high, try leaving it on for short periods, slowly lengthening them until your pup no longer minds.

House training your puppy is one of the first things you will cover. This will help keep your home clean and odor free. It takes time and patience, but do not worry, eventually it will happen. It takes time for a young dog to develop strong bladder control, so do not take every accident as intentional. It is much more likely your pup became overly excited or was urinating submissively.

Training your puppy should be a fun and enlightening learning experience. You can get the entire family involved. Children can learn much about a growing life by observing puppy development and having a hand in basic lessons. Educate your little ones on the importance of patience and consider drawing parallels between the dog’s progress and their own when they were not much bigger than a pup!