Puppy Basics

Now that your new puppy is home it is important that you know that training your new family member takes a lot of dedication and hard work. Supervision, consistency, and patience are vital to housebreaking and training your puppy. Once you have decided on your puppy’s name you must begin using it when talking, playing, or feeding. This will help your puppy to learn their name quicker and easier.

To begin housebreaking, designate a particular area for your puppy to use as the “potty area.” Be very persistent with showing them that this is where he/she is to relieve themselves. An eight week old puppy needs to go relieve himself approximately every 30 minutes to an hour, especially after every nap, mealtime, and playtime. Crate training is critical for housebreaking because it is a natural instinct for a puppy not to “mess” where they sleep. Supervision while outside or in the crate helps greatly with preventing accidents in the house or crate.

Puppy is housebroken, now what? It’s a good idea to socialize your puppy at a young age. It gets him used to different people, places, and things. Take your puppy with you whenever you need to run an errand, pick up food from the pet store, or even a car ride. Most puppies love car rides.

Do Not go to public parks, rest stops, or around unvaccinated dogs with your puppy. The risk is too great, as there are too many germs for your puppy’s young immune system to fight off.

It’s important for you to be consistent and enforcing the rules. Your puppy will become confused and take longer to be trained if you are not persistent and consistent. If your puppy is not caught in the act of doing something wrong, then don’t punish him for it. Punish him only when you catch him breaking the rules. Positive reinforcements such as: treats and praise are both great ways to let your puppy know he has done a good job. This is how they begin their learning process and to eventually be able to not only be housebroken, but learn tricks, etc.

Pet World is located in Jacksonville, FL and offers teaching ideas to new puppy owners. To contact us visit our website at Pet World