Your first week puppy training

Puppy Basics - Training the First Week

Before your puppy comes home it is important to be prepared. Puppy training basics during the first week the puppy is home is critical. It is obvious that you need certain physical items such as a dog bed or crate, food and water bowls, puppy chow, collar, leash, toys, etc. Equally as important, all family members must decide and agree on routine, responsibility and rules.

The first few days are extremely important. Enthusiasm and emotions are up. Everyone wants to feed the puppy, play with the puppy and hold the puppy. Pre-established rules are easily broken. Everyone agreed that puppy will sleep in her crate but as soon as she's home, someone melts and insists that puppy will sleep in bed. Everyone previously agreed not to let puppy jump up on them, but in the excitement, no one even notices that puppy is jumping up. No one sleeps the first night. Puppy wins and gets to sleep in bed. The next morning we find puppy has eliminated all over the bed. So the following night puppy is banned to her crate and screams all night. No one sleeps tonight either.

Grouchiness sets in; enthusiasm is down. No one wants to get up at the pre-agreed upon early morning feeding time. How are we going to housetrain puppy? How are we going to sleep with her constant whining?

Your new puppy has just been taken away from her mom and littermates. She is vulnerable and impressionable. What she needs how is security and routine. Set up a small room to be her very own special haven for the next couple of months. Paper the entire floor and put her food/water bowls and bed in one corner. Scatter her toys everywhere.

Play with her quietly and gently. Don't flood her with attention and activity. If she looks like she wants to sleep, leave her alone. Puppies need lots of sleep.

Decide who is responsible for feeding and cleaning up after her. Don't deviate from the schedule. Routine is especially important for your puppy. Don't spend all your time with her. If she is going to be alone during the day or night, she needs to start getting used to it now. If she wakes up from a nap and whines, resist the urge to run in and comfort her.

Since puppies are so impressionable, it is important to begin explaining the rules right away. Don't give her special license to get away with anything just because she is a puppy. If you allow her to have her way about certain things now, she will only be confused later when you decide to change the rules. Puppies learn very quickly with proper instruction. Never hit your puppy or give harsh reprimands. They don't mean to misbehave - they are just doing whatever comes naturally. Instead, show your puppy what kind of behavior you want. Teach her to play with her toys. Make them fun and exciting. Let her know how happy you are and how good she is when she chews them. Then, when you see her chewing your furniture, firmly tell her, "Off!" and immediately show her one of her own toys. Encourage her to play with and chew on it. Praise her profusely when she does so. If you don't catch her in the act, anything you do will confuse her. The only way you can instruct your puppy is to be there. If you can't be there, don't allow her to have access to places where she can get into trouble.

Schedule an appointment with your veterinarian immediately. Discuss your puppy's vaccination schedule and when she will be allowed outside. Puppies are susceptible to many canine diseases until they are fully vaccinated; so don't take your puppy outside until your veterinarian says it is OK.

Your puppy's emotional and mental health is just as important as her physical health. When your schedule your puppy's first veterinary visit, also schedule her into a puppy socialization class. She may not be able to attend yet, but reserve your place now so you don't miss out. Puppy socialization classes give your puppy an opportunity to meet a variety of people and dogs in a controlled situation. If your puppy is to be a well-adjusted adult dog, she needs to learn how to act properly around other dogs and people. Dogs that are not socialized frequently grow up to be aggressive and excessively fearful.

Puppy Socialization Do's and Don'ts
Socialization and puppy training are of utmost importance as puppy hood is the most important and critical time in your dog's development. What you do and do not do right now will affect your dog's behavior forever.
Puppy Socialization
A properly socialized dog is well adjusted and makes a good companion. It is neither frightened by nor aggressive towards anyone or anything it would normally meet in day to day living. An un-socialized dog is untrustworthy and an unwanted liability. They often become fear-biters. Often they like to fight with other dogs. They are difficult to train and are generally unpleasant to be around. Unsocialized dogs cannot adapt to new situations and a simple routine visit to the vet is a nightmare not only for the dog itself, but for everyone involved. Don't let this happen to you and your dog. Start socializing your new puppy NOW! The Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine agrees that the socialization period lasts up to about 12 weeks (3 months) of age. However, at 12 weeks, the puppy must continue socialization to refine its social skills. Socialization most easily occurs before the puppy is 3 months old. Any later than that and it becomes an excruciatingly difficult and time-consuming process that very few owners have the time, energy, money or patience to cope with.
Socialization Do's
Make sure that each of the following events are pleasant and non-threatening. If your puppy's first experience with something is painful and frightening, you will be defeating your purpose. In fact, you will be creating a phobia that will often last a lifetime. It's better to go too slow and assure your puppy is not frightened or injured than to rush and force your pup to meet new things and people.
-Invite friends over to meet your pup. Include men, women, youngsters, oldsters, different ethnic backgrounds, etc.

-Invite friendly, healthy, vaccinated dogs, puppies and even cats to your home to meet and play with your new puppy. Take your puppy to the homes of these pets, preferably with dog-friendly cats.

-Carry your pup to shopping centers, parks, school playgrounds, etc; places where there are crowds of people and plenty of activity.

-Take your puppy for short, frequent rides in the car. Stop the car and let your puppy watch the world go by through the window.

-Introduce your puppy to umbrellas, bags, boxes, the vacuum cleaner, etc. Encourage your puppy to explore and investigate his environment.

-Get your puppy accustomed to seeing different and unfamiliar objects by creating your own. Set a chair upside down. Lay the trash can (empty) on its side, set up the ironing board right-side up one day and upside down the next day.

-Introduce your puppy to new and various sounds. Loud, obnoxious sounds should be introduced from a distance and gradually brought closer.

-Accustom your puppy to being brushed, bathed, inspected, having its nails clipped, teeth and ears cleaned and all the routines of grooming and physical examination.

-Introduce your puppy to stairs, his own collar and leash. Introduce anything and everything you want your puppy to be comfortable with and around.

Socialization Don'ts
-Do not put your puppy on the ground where unknown animals have access. This is where your puppy can pick up diseases. Wait until your puppy's shots are completed. Do not let your pup socialize with dogs that appear sick or dogs that you don't know, that may not be vaccinated.
-Do not reward fearful behavior. In a well meaning attempt to sooth, encourage or calm the puppy when it appears frightened, we often unintentionally reward the behavior. It's normal for the puppy to show some signs of apprehension when confronting anything new and different.

-Do not allow the experience to be harmful, painful or excessively frightening. This can cause lifetime phobias in your dog.

-Do not force or rush your puppy. Let your puppy take things at his own pace. Your job is to provide the opportunity.

-Do not do too much at one time. Young puppies need a lot of sleep and tire quickly. It is much more productive to have frequent and very brief exposures than occasional prolonged exposures.

-DO NOT WAIT!! Every day that goes by is an opportunity of a lifetime that is lost forever. You can never get these days back. If socialization does not happen now, it never will.

Winning Your Puppy's Trust, Respect and Confidence

Many people try to win their new puppy's love by letting the puppy always have its way. The pup is showered with affection and attention because he is so cute and cuddly. Buckets of affection is a wonderful thing for most puppies, but it must be tempered with respect. If you give in to your puppy's every whim, your pup will never learn self control and self discipline. Your puppy will never learn to respect you. If your puppy does not respect you, it will have no reason to do anything for you. Your relationship will be like two 5 year olds bossing each other around. Just as a child needs a caring parent; an athletic team needs a coach; your puppy needs a leader and a clear social hierarchy. If you do not take up the role of leader, your dog will; and you will end up with an unruly, disobedient, out of control, often aggressive monster of a dog. Most of these dogs end up living a life of isolation in the back yard because no one can deal with it; or they end up dead - euthanized at the local animal shelter. They end up at the shelter because either the owner can't live with the dog anymore, or a member of the public has filed a complaint against the dog and government officials have taken the dog away from the owner. DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU AND YOUR DOG!

Other people have an equally erroneous misconception of this issue. Instead of showering the dog with love and affection, they think that to earn the dog's respect they must bully, dominate and terrorize the dog into being submissive. A dog treated this way will eventually bite their owner. This is not respect. Respect is not something that is forced. It is won. A dog will not respect someone it does not trust.The old fashioned method of dominance via the alpha roll over does not win respect.

Housetraining Tips for Your New Puppy

Establishing good habits early on in housetraining your puppy is critical. If you allow your puppy to eliminate every where and any where he wants in your home, you will end up with an adult dog who will always have a tendency to want to eliminate in your home. You will have to live with it forever, or go through some time-consuming, tedious retraining later on. A dog is either housetrained or not. There is no such thing as weekly 'accidents.' A truly housetrained dog will NEVER eliminate in your house unless forced to do so or because of illness or excessively long confinement. Don't expect your puppy to be reliably housetrained until it is at least 6 months old.

Puppy Housetraining Do's
-Provide constant access to the toilet area. If you are home, take your puppy there every 45 minutes or less.
If you are not home or cannot tend to the puppy, then you must make sure he cannot make a mistake. It's actually not really a mistake because he doesn't know any better. With young puppies, when the urge comes, they go - it usually doesn't matter where they are or what they are doing. If we didn't put diapers on human babies, they too would soil our carpets and floors. Confine your puppy to a dog-proofed area and line the entire floor with papers. If the weather is nice, the area safe, etc, you can confine the pup to a small pen outside. Don't leave your pup out in the sun, wind, heat or cold. Be sure to provide shelter and water in the confinement area. It's ideal if the pen is set up on dirt, grass, gravel or concrete. The idea is that no matter where the puppy eliminates while confined, it is on something that resembles his toilet area. Your goal is to never allow your puppy to eliminate on carpet, tile, hardwood, or anything that resembles the flooring in your home. Once a habit is established, it is difficult to break, therefore, do not let your pup form bad habits in the first place.

-Praise and reward your puppy each and every time possible for eliminating in his toilet area.

-Feed your puppy at regular times. What goes in on schedule will come out on schedule.

-Use a crate to help your puppy develop self control. Confine him for gradually increasing periods of time when you are home to monitor him.

-Be patient. It can take until the dog is 6 months old ( if not more depending on the dog and the way it is being trained ) for him to be housetrained.

Puppy Housetraining Don'ts
-Do not reprimand your puppy for mistakes. Reprimand has no place in housetraining.
-Do not leave food and water out all day and night for your puppy to eat and drink at whim. Use some common sense here. Obviously if the weather is hot, it is appropriate to give the pup access to water, but if this is the case, then you need to be more alert to the possibility of the pup needing to urinate more frequently.

-Do not allow your pup to eliminate anywhere other than his toilet area.

-Do not give your puppy free unattended run of your house.