Puppy training is never an easy job. You may even have to attend puppy training classes if it’s the first time you adopt a puppy. There are many things you need to know like potty training, obedience training, house training a puppy in general, etc.
But no hassles! Having a cute puppy in your house is definitely a delight too. You just need a few puppy training tips to make your cute little creature obedient, loving and affectionate while building a strong bond with them.
Here are 10 essential puppy training tips to start off your puppy’s new life off right!
10 life-saving (literally) puppy training tips for training your puppy right
Firstly, be your puppy loving’s parent AND a pack leader
Puppies always need a lot of love, affection and interaction. When bringing a puppy home to raise it up, don’t forget that your role now is not just a dog owner. Act like you’re its parent! The puppy is too young and it needs a lot of caring from both your heart and your hands. Don’t take a puppy home to leave it there in a crate with food and water then watch it grow! If you leave your puppy alone for a long time, it’ll develop separation anxiety which leaves your puppy in great distress.
If you need to occasionally leave your puppy home alone, start crate training for your puppy. However, don’t do this if your puppy is under 4 months old. You should teach your puppy to amuse itself by preparing it some chewing toys, for example. Also, teach your puppy about down time when you’re at home but doing other things to make it familiar with being alone.
Besides being your puppy’s parent, you should be its pack leader. Why? Puppies – or dogs in general – are naturally born to follow a pack leader. So your relationship with your dog/puppy should not equal during the puppy training time, but it’s the relationship of the pack’s leader and member with absolute RESPECT from your puppy. To make your dog behave, there must be rules and priorities clearly set.
Teach your puppy a daily routine
Teach your puppy a daily routine is a vital task in how to house training a puppy. Teaching your puppy a routine is not merely about obedience training or house training a puppy but it helps prevent conflicts in your dog’s behaviors in future. A routine is necessary to make your puppy understand that it needs to adjust to YOUR life, not vice versa. Make sure your puppy is familiar with:
Where his food and drink dishes locate
Where his bed is
Where his toys are kept
What times in the day he will eat
What times he will need to eliminate
What activity schedule he will have during the day – going out for a walk in the morning, for example
Repeat your routine exactly at the same time and order every day
It’s called a routine so you must understand that the timing and order of activities must be the same day by day. Therefore, you little friend can understand what’s coming up next and it won’t get confused. Plus, knowing what’s next reassures your pup and it will cooperate better in your training lessons.
Dog walking is a must
Being the pack leader, you must take your puppy out every day for a walk (and of course, at the same time each day). Your cute friend needs to get familiar with the new environment where it will live the rest of its life. Plus, many dog breeds need daily exercise – for example, the world’s biggest dog breeds – since they’re very energetic from their DNA.
The tips here are that you need to be the one who controls the walk. You can start by you’re the first one to open the door and run out, or the first one to go in when getting home. You should lead the speed of the walk and where you two will visit by keeping your pup beside or behind you during the walk.
Reward your puppy but don’t over-use it
Treats are great motivators for your puppy but don’t just throw it a treat whenever your puppy follows your command. Treats should be given when you teach your puppy funny tricks or things like that. Don’t give your pup some biscuit when obedience training.
Obedience training must be done with respect from your puppy and you showing your leader role, not depending on the treats. However, praises and petting are surely great “rewards” for them.
Train your puppy on commands
Commands are basic obedience training for dogs and puppies. It’s very helpful for both outside and house training your puppy. Basic commands every dog should know are: sit, stay, come, no, good… From 2-3 months old, you puppy is ready for command training.
Remember to stay consistent with puppy house training and use the same commands every time. Don’t say “come” one time, “com on here” next time or “come to me” the other time. It’s confusing. Also, you should start with simple, one to two-word commands first. After that when you pup is good at it, you can use harder and longer commands.
Note: Don’t yell, hit or jerk your pup around if it hasn’t learnt the words. It will make your training scary and full of stress for your pup – hence, it’s even harder to continue your puppy training.
Help your puppy to stop biting
Biting things is naturally programmed in your puppy. Just like a baby when teething, a teething puppy loves biting too. The best way for your pup to learn to stop biting is to make it socialize more. Take your puppy out to play with other puppies – while playing with each other they’ll learn to be gentle and control themselves.
If you can’t take them out to play, then spend time playing with your puppy. When playing, if he starts biting you, stop the play right away then command your puppy to leave it. Don’t try playing or wresting with your puppy after his bite or else he’ll think you’re joking around with him.
Train your puppy in different environments
When your puppy performs great at home, you can try taking it out – to your friend’s houses, for example – and let your puppy learns about different environments where it needs to follow your orders, not just at home.
It’s okay if you two mess up
During your puppy training, there might be times you feel helpless and your pup seems not to get any better in understanding what you expect from it. You might feel discouraged. It’s okay to stop mid-day but don’t give up on training your puppy the next day. The key here is being patient and consistent.
Note: Don’t expect a puppy to open a toilet and eliminate themselves there in several tries though – or things like that. It’s impossible.
Keep your puppy training short and fun
Being consistent is good but never keep a training lesson too long for your puppy. It might be less effective in the next training. Always stop when you see that either of you is frustrated or bored. That’s why each training lesson should be in 10-20 minutes for puppy whose has short attention span. You can stop and repeat in the next day.
Every puppy is like a child!
After all, you’ll see that your puppy is just like a baby. And taking care of them or training them is just like taking care of a baby – they can be full of energy and excessively happy and minutes later they’re frustrating. Start your puppy training as soon as possible (or I must say, immediately) to ensure a balanced new life for it.
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