You have welcomed your new puppy home. Your new fuzzy family member is a little confused, a lot excited, and not one bit obedient. Of course, that’s to be expected. Your puppy will be spending a lot of time doing whatever comes natural, including going potty, chewing, digging, jumping, running, biting, and barking.
How do you help your puppy become a well-adjusted member of the family? With training, of course. There are many tools available today to help you train your puppy. The following are some of the most common training tools for puppies.
Treats
A well-known favorite in puppy training is puppy treats. Have treats handy at all times in order to get your puppy to respond quickly to commands. Puppies love treats and most respond very well when they know they’ll receive one as a reward for doing as you ask. Be sure to give treats that are appropriate for a puppy. Large bones or treats are too much. Treats are good positive reinforcement for puppy potty training. Give puppy a treat when the right potty spot is used. As with all training, keep consistent for this to pay off. You can tell a person is training a puppy or dog by the pockets full of treats. In other words, be prepared to be consistent.
Clicker
A newer form of training that has caught on is the clicker method of training. The clicker is typically a mechanical device (although some people just use vocalization) which emits a pleasant, you guessed it, ‘click’ sound to reinforce a puppy’s good behavior. People will use this training tool for many reasons. For instance, if you don’t want your puppy to have a lot of treats, you can train your puppy very effectively without them using the clicker method. The thing to remember is the ‘click’ sound must be associated with good things, like a pat on the head, a hug, a belly scratch, or whatever your puppy wants for a job well done. There are lots of books on clicker training, but many people find it impersonal and really want to establish a more personal connection.
Crate
If you are potty training your new puppy a crate is a very useful tool. Dogs are den animals, and if you introduce them to a crate early enough they will consider it their den. Dogs don’t like to mess in their dens, so your puppy will hold their potty time as long as they possibly can in order to keep their ‘home’ clean. They will learn to wait for you to let them out to go potty. This helps with potty training as you can reward puppy for going outside when you let him out of the crate. Of course, puppy will need play and cuddle time, too, so be sure to reward puppy after a successful potty trip with time out of the crate playing with you.
Newspaper
When potty training puppy, there are bound to be accidents at first. Newspaper or puppy training pads can be used to transition puppy from inside the house to outside. This will keep the inevitable mess to one location. This may also be necessary if you live in an apartment or other location where it’s not possible to run outside each time a puppy needs to go potty. In the middle of a dark winter night, you may also consider paper-training necessary for a young puppy who hasn’t quite gotten big enough to hold his potty urge for very long.
Chew Toys
This is a big deal. Your new puppy needs chew toys so you can train him not to chew and bite your furniture, your shoes, or YOU! There are many choices when it comes to chew toys. load website . You can buy hard plastic bones for puppy to chew on, soft squeaky toys, balls, ropes, and more. It’s best to try out a variety of toys and see what your puppy likes.
Make sure to give the toys to your puppy quickly when you see him or her trying to bite something inappropriate. Distraction and expediency is key. Keep the chew toys handy and interrupt any bad behavior quickly. Then, praise puppy when chewing on the toy you presented. Be prepared to have chew bones devoured quickly. An excellent alternative to bones are antlers. Elk antlers are much more durable than bones and dogs love them. It’s best to get them at local dog shows, because they can be expensive at pet shops. Stock up so you are always ready when puppy is.
Collar and Leash
Using a collar and leash is something most dog owners will need to do. To walk your dog, you’ll want to start training your puppy by first having him or her get used to having a collar and leash on. Just having puppy wear them around the house will help, even before puppy is able to walk properly with a lead. Then, when you are ready to start training puppy to walk alongside you, the collar and leash won’t be foreign. Be prepared for some resistance at first while your puppy tries to understand how it all works and what you expect. And, don’t plan to go very far in the beginning. A walk down the driveway may be all your little puppy, or you, can handle at first.
There are a variety of different types of collars. Choke collars are generally not recommended for most dogs. Martingale collars tend to be our collar of choice for most dogs. You will go through several sizes over your dogs journey to adulthood.
Training a new puppy can be a rewarding experience, especially if you have the right tools for the job. These basic training tools can help you and your puppy get started on the right foot – or paw!