Puppy Basics - Puppy Training

It should be a given that anybody who wants to adopt a puppy has prepared the basics to make that little guy feel comfortable and welcome. The basics include food and water bowls, collar (harness, I recommend harnesses for small dogs), leashes, toys, bed. You certainly want to have some food ready also but I highly recommend sticking - at least a few weeks - with the food the puppy is used to. A sudden change might trigger diarrhea. Ask the shelter, breeder, pet shop what food the puppy is currently on and get the same brand.

Because puppies are not house-trained yet and might eliminate all over the place it is not a good idea to have the new arrival sleep in your bed. Start crate training immediately and be aware of, that you might have to get up at night once or twice, to let the little guy relieve himself.

Some puppies feel very vulnerable and considering that it has been taken away from mom and the littermates that should not be surprising. Puppies need lots of attention, lots of love, and lots of sleep.
When you play with your puppy do it quietly and don’t let your kids scare it with outburst of emotions either. And always keep in mind, puppies tire easily. If you have the feel it has enough, just leave it alone, it will most likely take a nap.

Don’t spoil your puppy rotten, and don’t let it get away with whining and crying. Make sure that your puppy learns from the earliest stages on that good behavior will be rewarded, bad behavior not. If you change the rules later on, your puppy will be confused and reluctant to oblige. Puppies do not mean to misbehave on purpose, they don’t KNOW the difference between good and bad behavior yet.

Teach the puppy to play with it’s toys on it’s own. Especially important is to introduce your little one to chewing toys. Puppies love to chew, re-direct their liking to toys immediately. I bet, if you have the second pair of 150-Dollar-Shoes ruined, you will think twice about it.

Since puppies are curious and like to chew, make your house puppy-safe. Never let a pup roam around electrical cords, they will try to bite through them and might get electrocuted. Watch stairs, puppies don’t KNOW how to climb stairs, even less to get down the stairs. And start crate training immediately.

Puppies are susceptible to many canine diseases and cannot get all their necessary vaccinations the first few weeks. Try to keep the puppy in the house or yard only; don’t let it have contact with strange dogs. After it has gotten the major vaccinations you can start introducing it to doggie-playmates by bringing it to a dog park, etc.

Your puppy needs to be socialized as soon as it is safe for it to get in contact with others. Take it with you in the car (teaching it proper behavior here too, use a carrier at first, puppy will not sit still), let puppy meet a variety of people so it gets used to in case you will have visitors later on and does not feel the need to attack them to “defend” it’s owners.

Teething and Biting

Puppies are teething; therefore they need to chew. As mentioned above, never allow puppy to chew on anything but it’s own toys. For the first few weeks pay special attention that neither you nor your kids will leave precious stuff unattended on the floor or in puppy’s reach. It will be damaged, you can be almost certain of it. If puppy keeps chewing on furniture put some bitter tasting paste (available at pet supply stores) at these objects, Puppy will never touch it again!

Biting is common in young puppies, especially during play and during teething. Don’t allow it, even if it might not really hurt you at the beginning. Give a strict command of “NO” if your pup bites you, it will get the message sooner or later. If it does not stop biting immediately, give it a chew toy right away.
Normally the dogs mom teaches her puppies not to bite, you need to take over this training.

The more a dog is socialized, the less it is tempted to bite. Playing with other dogs will teach the puppy lots of what mom normally teaches it. By rolling around and playing with other dogs they learn quickly not to bite each other everywhere and anywhere. They learn to control themselves because if they are too aggressive they will see how other dogs respond to their out of control behavior. They also see how other dogs interact with each other. A puppy that is properly introduced at a young age with matching playmates is much less prone to bite later on when they are grown dogs. It will not be fearful of other dogs and see no need to bite or a need for aggression.