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Dog Training
A trained dog is one of the most important components of pet care. HOUSE TRAINING Begin house training your puppy right away. If you follow our crate recommendations and establish a warm cozy environment for your puppy, house training will be much easier because a dog's instinct is not to soil in her den or bed. Start by putting your pup on a regular feeding schedule and by making frequent trips outside. If you are feeding a good quality puppy food, you will find that the training period will be shorter because your puppy's feeding and elimination schedule will be more routine. There are certain signs that you should watch for to alert you that it is time to take your puppy outside. Your puppy may walk around in circles, sit or whine at the door. When to take your puppy out: · first thing in the morning · right after naps · after play sessions · upon returning home to a puppy who has been left alone · right after meals · last thing in the evening before bed
Always stay outside with your puppy to watch and encourage it. When your puppy has finished eliminating, quietly praise her and bring her back inside. She will soon connect elimination outdoors with praise, and will be eager to please you. If you always want your puppy to eliminate in the same spot, always take her to that spot on a leash and wait for "the magic moment" to happen. Praise your puppy for a job well done. Coprophagia (stool eating) can be a normal behaviour in puppies. To avoid this undesirable behaviour, be sure to clean up after your puppy`s bowel movements. If you also have a cat, be sure the cat's litter box is inaccessible to your puppy. Keeping the cat`s food and water in an elevated place may also be necessary. Accidents will happen. Should you discover a mess, do NOT raise your voice, spank your pup or rub her nose in it. While she will certainly cower in fear, she is too young to connect your reprimand with her mess. If the puppy is caught in the act, immediately take her outside to finish. When she continues outside, praise her for her efforts. You must catch your puppy in the act for her to understand what she is doing wrong. CLEAN UP To clean up the mess, deodorizers and repellents may work effectively. Do not use ammonia- based cleaners. Chemically, ammonia and urine are very similar. We have a good line of cleaning products here at fourpawsonly.ca - see Odor & Stain Removal.
House training your puppy will take time and patience. If all goes well, your puppy could be house trained in about a week. However many dogs take longer. Persist with your training in a consistent manner and don't give up. HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS FOR PUPPY TRAINING Training is fun and very rewarding for both you and your puppy. Puppies have an amazing capacity to learn complex demands quickly. 1. Start training as soon as you obtain your puppy. Puppies learn very rapidly but their attention span may be short, so spend 10 - 15 minutes twice daily. 2. Training should be conducted when the puppy is not excited and when the home environment is quiet. Once the puppy has learned a response in one environment, move the training location to progressively more complex and more stimulating environment. That is, the puppy will have to be trained in each environment that you wish him to respond in.
3. Learning occurs more rapidly if one person trains the puppy first and then the other family members get involved. Train the puppy using one-word commands like "come", "sit down" and "heel". Try not to use the puppy's name in association with the command, as too much verbiage is confusing and slows the learning process. 4. Reward appropriate behaviour as soon as possible after giving the command (best within ½ second). Give valued rewards such as food, touch and praise every time the puppy responds to a command. You will quickly learn which reward is more valued by your puppy. Once the response is learned, give the rewards intermittently. This will result in rapid learning and make the response more permanent. 5. If the puppy fails at any level of training, stop, don't reward and start the training again at a simpler level. How consistently a puppy responds to a command is a function of the degree of training. If a puppy responds only when he feels like it or when the environment is quiet, start again and train more intensely. 6. Be patient, never punish. The opposite to reward is no reward, not punishment. A punishment causing pain or excitement does not work and generally causes problems. Punishment may also interfere with the owner/animal bond. If the puppy is doing something that is inappropriate, distract it or use a reward for responding to a command which is incompatible with the unwanted behaviour. A TRAINED PUPPY IS A HAPPIER PUPPY AND A GREAT COMPANION!
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