The Importance of Training Your New Puppy
The minute you bring your puppy home the training must start. You will need to do many things to ensure that you have a very well behaved adult dog. Remember that your choice to add this puppy to your family should be a choice for life and some will live longer than others. The usual lifespan of a dog ranges from aprox. 9-14 years. These little bundles of joy will be with you for quite some time so they need to know all the rules of the home and abide by them. A trained dog is a happy dog.
Your puppy will view their new family as their pack. As soon as your puppy comes home they will need to learn that every human in the household ranks higher than they do. In this pack there must be a leader(the top dog), and everyone else has their place below them in a particular order. This is especially important if there are children. Dogs quite often think that they are higher in the pack than smaller children. The members at the bottom have the least amount of chances for making decisions. This is very similar to your own family. The parents are the decision makers and the children are taught to follow. If you give your puppy freedom to make their own decisions they may begin to believe that they are top dog and that they do not have to follow the instruction of others in the family. You need to decide everything your puppy does so they learn that their place lies at the bottom.
Start off by setting up a schedule for your puppy. A regular feeding schedule is very important especially when you are trying to potty train. It is not recommended to free feed your puppy. Set up regular times for exercise and play. A puppy that has not been exercised enough will be hard to handle and can become destructive. If your puppy is still full of energy after you have exercised them they probably didn't get enough.
Although potty training and schedules are important your puppy still has much to learn. Your puppy has to learn their household manners such as not begging for food, giving items up nicely, not barking/ jumping, etc. You will also need to have constant control of your puppy/adult dog in public. They will need to learn to walk nicely on a leash, sit, down, stay, etc. It is much harder to correct a bad behaviour than it is to teach a good one so you need to get off to a good start teaching all of the cues needed to have a well behaved adult dog. The best route is to find a good positive training school to attend with your puppy. This will give you the opportunity to have a professional trainer help you along the way.
*Nobody gets a dog to have a badly behaved one. Everything you do with your puppy now will affect how they will be as adult dogs.
By Stacey Brickman
