Puppies, like babies, require a huge amount of care and attention, and many new pet owners are unfortunately unprepared for the hefty time commitment. Unlike a baby, however, the care window for a puppy is considerably shorter, so having a firm understanding of what to do and when to do it is far less intense in the long-run. Still, many pet owners don’t have a clue where to start! Fortunately, there are quite a few simple puppy training tips to keep in mind to ensure that your puppy grows up knowing all of the right things to do. In this article, we take a look at what you should be considering when training your puppy to give you a basic place to start your teaching from.
A puppy’s food and toilet needs
Knowing how to properly feed your puppy is crucial, as any missteps here could not only make your dog impossible to train, but it could also ensure they also develop health problems for the rest of their lives – and that’s not going to bode well for your pet insurance. Puppies grow quickly, and their diets usually consist of high quality, high energy puppy food to more easily facilitate this. When feeding your puppy this food, it’s imperative that you don’t simply leave food out all of the time. If your puppy constantly eats – and it will, given the chance – there is much greater potential for skeletal problems to develop. To prevent this, feeding your dog a recommended amount of food based on size regularly three times a day will ensure your dog never overeats. In terms of toilet needs, routine is also your friend here. A puppy’s toilet training routine should start with the owner taking them outside regularly to do their business, offering praise after it occurs. For a puppy, activities such as playing, eating, or drinking will stimulate the need to go to the toilet, so don’t forget to take your dog outside after any of these instances so that it can relieve itself and keep in mind where it should be when it goes to the toilet.
Preventing your belongings from getting chewed up
One of the other important things you’ll need to focus on when training a puppy is for them to not destroy everything in the house. As with toilet training, this can ensure that some easily preventable clean up and damage never has to occur. First, common sense would dictate that you put away anything you don’t want your puppy to chew on. Clothes or shoes should never be offered as play things, even if they’re old and battered, unless you want to open the doors to the rest of your nice clothing and shoes. To prevent boredom in your puppy, regularly rotate its toys and always remember to not put anything that can be easily broken in vulnerable locations, as it will not necessarily be your puppy’s fault if they knock something over when they’re excited. Finally, always ensure your dog is in a puppy-proofed area, such as a closed-off laundry, when you’re not around to supervise.
Letting your dog know you mean business
Whether your puppy is good or bad, it’s easy to demonstrate this to them. Reinforce good behaviour with petting and praise, and always remember to respond to bad behaviour by either ignoring it, interrupting it or redirecting it.
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