Puppy Train Guide

Focus On Your Goals

If you’re not sure what you want, how are you going to get it? This is the case with everything you do in life, and it’s true of potty training tricks, too.

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of concentrating on things that we don’t want. This is also the case with dog training too. We sure don’t want the dog to urinate on the furniture, or chew our shoes, or disobey our commands, or bark like maniacs when older members of the family come to the house.

But think about it. Suppose you’re about to adopt a puppy. Do you really want to spend the next ten, twelve, or fifteen years chasing your dog telling him off for things you didn’t want him to do? Isn’t it easier and more satisfying to teach your dog correct behavior from the beginning?

So rather than worrying about, “I really do not want the dog to chew the furniture,” try, “I want my dog to chew his toys.” Rather than, “I don’t want my dog to jump up on my guests,” what about, “I would like my dog to sit to greet people.”

By focusing on the positive aspects of your training goals, it’ll be much easier to attain your desired training goals. Wouldn’t you agree that’s a much better way to approach your new dog training course.

Reward Her When She Behaves Well

A crucially important area that people have finally realized in housetraining puppies in the past few years is the trend away from concentrating on correcting bad behavior, or penalties, to emphasizing rewards.

Most trainer now favor the practice of rewarding a well behaved dog especially for basic dog training. One of the critical reasons for this is that when you punish your dog, for whatever reason, the consequences may be irreversible. Punishment can make a dog feel threatened when she could possibly react to punishment by withdrawing and becoming frightened of you. It’s always possible that he will withdraw completely and become very timid. They simply lose their bounce and energy. Some may simply curl up and shy away all the time.

You also get a better sense of accomplishment and enlightenment when using reward training techniques. It’s a great feeling to be the bearer of rewards and praise for a well behaved pet.

But regardless of how good it makes you feel, rewards based training actually works. Simply because using rewards helps build your dogs self esteem and strengthens your relationship. As soon as she discovers that rewards come for a particular action of behavior, your dog is more likely to exhibit that behavior again in the future. As you practice how to apply that simple rule, you can use rewards to reach virtually any training goal.

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Way too often many new pup owners will often fail to realize how very important of having a roomy crate for your puppy. This crate for your dog is a very essential resource when it comes to dog training and has many essential uses. Typically puppies are rather very tiny and have no clue on what to do with large spaces. Keeping the small puppies in a dog crate is a great way to calm him or her down. Also since puppies don’t like to go potty where they sleep, the dog crate will be an awesome tool for potty training your puppy.

When your new little puppy gets over excited for any reason, placing him or her in the crate will help the puppy calm their nerves down. If you really need to leave your new puppy alone for a few hours, the puppy can easily get into trouble and have accidents on the floor. All of this lead to over excitement in the puppy as well as stress which can be remedied through the act of placing the puppy in the crate while you are gone.

Remembering that puppies are easily distracted by other events around him, feeding the puppy can be a difficult task as well as a messy one. By placing the puppy in the crate for feeding time, you will be able to minimize the messes as well as the distractions so that your puppy can focus on eating all of his meal.

1) It is very important that the crate you get for the puppy is the right size. If the crate is too small, the puppy will feel cramped but then again if the crate is too large, then house breaking the puppy using a crate will not work. In a large crate, a puppy will use to potty on one side of the crate and sleep on the other which is the exact opposite of what you want him to do which is not potty anywhere in the house.

2) In the event that you have chosen a puppy that will grow in size rather quickly, you may purchase a larger crate but only if it comes with a divider to make the crate the appropriate size for the puppy. This divider can be moved so that the crate will grow as the puppy grows.

3) Keep in mind that even if you purchase the appropriate sized crate for your puppy, if you choose too thick of a bed, the puppy will still potty in the crate as the bedding will absorb the urine. A simple newspaper bedding is all that a puppy really needs. Once you have properly house broken the puppy then you can get him or her a large dog beds.

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A puppy training collar, in my opinion, is a necessity for anyone getting a dog, just as a regular dog collar is a necessity.  The regular dog collar is a simple cloth collar to the elaborate leather dog collar, it’s all about choice with this one.  There are several types of the puppy training collar available, from the choke chain, pronged collars, bark collars and electronic collars.  We will discuss the possibilities in these categories, but be advised, that if you don’t train your puppy his bad habits will cause you unhappiness.  Eventually some people have their animals put down when the bad habits become more then they want to deal with.  If you bother to take the time to train your dog, all of this can be avoided.

What the Different Puppy Training Collars Are About

While the choke chain sounds like a return on the Inquisition, its not like it sounds, but the name is long standing and isn’t probably going to go away.  You can call it a puppy training collar and avoid the nasty image of the choke chain.  What it actually is, is a simple collar with an ability to tighten as the dog pulls. The best one is the Swedish Training Collar. The collar tightens the more he pulls away.  Most dogs take very little time to get the association, so this puppy training collar is most often quick, painless and the puppy training collar can be quite inexpensive.  This help with teach a dog to walk with you, not walk you.  It can also teach him to sit, heel, etc.

The pronged collar serves the exact same purpose as the choke chain, but there are prongs inside the collar, which pinch the dog if he pulls to hard.  While most people with small animals don’t feel the need to use this, people with larger animals often find it a necessity.  Puppies get excited, they jump, lunge, try to run and do all sorts of things that can injure yourself or others.  This type of puppy training collar is very effective and often only takes a couple of tries before the dog learns what he is supposed to do.

Electronic collars are just the same as the prong collar, and choke chain in purpose, but it uses a small electronic zap to convince your dog he is making the wrong choice.  They also have these collars with virtual fences.

Bark collars are a puppy training collar, but are designed to address the specific problem.  The choices are myriad to a small electronic shock when they bark, to a spray of water or other smell dogs don’t like.

While ongoing training and reminder training never stops, most dog really do learn quickly and the puppy training collar is your most helpful tool.

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It is hard to not pamper your new pooch. If you are bringing a puppy into the
home for the first time, there is much to think about. Most people like smaller dogs if they are going to live inside. Some people don’t mind having a large dog live indoors, but they do a lot damage in the beginning than a little dog can.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that your new pooch is not going to know the rules of the home. So it is a good idea to prepare your home ahead of time. If you have valuables lying around that you don’t want mangled you better put them in a safe place. You might also want to think about your furniture. It is almost certain that your dog will chew on some piece of furniture at the beginning. If you have really expensive furniture, then you will have to be extra careful. You also want to make sure that if you live in an apartment that you have a place they can go potty that is close by.

The next step is to get supplies for your new canine friend. I have found that the best place to look is online. Traditional pet stores don’t have any where near the selection that you can find online. You also have the flexibility of price shopping for the best deal if you find another product in more than one location. For starters, you want to look at some nice luxury dog beds. You can find ones that are casual and some that are quite fancy. Of course, it depends on how much you want to pamper your puppy. Just make sure that the one you buy will be the one that makes you the most happy and is comfortable for your dog. You also want to look at some sporty pet collars and a leash. Again, you can go contemporary or as ritzy as you want. Also, don’t forget to get some dog chew toys for them to chew on. Last, you need to get a couple of bowls, food, and some decenttreats.

Then comes teaching your dog. If they are a new puppy, potty training is what you want to take care of first. Some people like to paper train their dogs. I choose to catch them before they squat and get them outside as quick as possible. Just make sure to reward them with a treat when they go potty outside. In order to do it this way you will have to spend a good few days to a week with them most of the day, but it is worth it. I think it is more efficient. If you cannot afford the time, then paper training might be best for you. When you begin to take them out on a leash, you also want to have them walk at your side. The easy way to do this is to start walking your dog. When they charge out in front of you just stop. Call them back you you and guide them to your side. When that is done, give them a treat. Once you have established to them that you are the leader, they will look to you for instruction.

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When many people think of Dog Training, they may envision showing off their best friend’s playing-dead technique during summer cookouts. If this isn’t something that appeals to them, they may disregard dog training as a frivolous activity custom made for people with too much time on their hands. There are, however, several ways of training your dog and several reasons to do so. Three very important benefits of training your dog are socialization, safety, and bonding.

Socializing your dog is simply the act of making him a pleasure to be around for people and other dogs alike. Who wants to be around a dog - especially a large one - who jumps on everyone with whom he comes in contact? If you have a dog that jumps, you may feel forced to resign him to the backyard when company visits, which may in turn make an annoying barker out of him as he feels left out of social gatherings. But if you treat the problem by training him not to jump, you will enable him to enjoy the company of others when they come for a visit. You will be able to do things with him like go to the park and walk in areas where there are other people and dogs.

A trained dog is a safer dog. One of a pet owner’s biggest fears is that their beloved animal will one day get away from during a walk and be hit by a car. Some very basic training can give you a safety net in just such a situation. For instance, imagine that your dog runs out the front door one morning and you lose track of him. When you find him, he is on the other side of a busy street, and his first impulse may be to bound happily toward you at first sight. But if he is well-trained, you can signal for him to sit and wait for you to come and leash him. Disaster averted.

Aside from those two very practical reasons to train your dog, however, there is a third benefit that busy people sometimes overlook. Time spent training your dog is time the two of you will spend together. If you’ve ever built a model with your kid or fixed a computer or baked a cake with a friend, you know that accomplishing a goal with a loved one can be a valuable bonding experience. Dogs are not immune to this. If you spend just a few minutes each day training your dog, it will give both of you a sense of accomplishment and bring you closer together.

Certainly, a few nifty party tricks aren’t out of the question. Go ahead - see how far you can take the training once you have the basics covered. Let your dog show you and everyone else exactly how smart he is. Remember to use plenty of praise and reward, as well as having lots of patience.

Learn more about Dog Training

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One very annoying habit of many dogs is that of charging the door when someone knocks. Since the dog is likely to run faster than the resident human, the dog thinks it’s out of your range and hence only under voice control. Now having your dog thoroughly under voice control is a situation to be striven for, but it does not come overnight. In the meantime, how to cope?

I first used one of those chain collars that is supposed to be keyed so it would assault the
dog’s ears when it was jangled, for I had an adult, incorrigible door charger, Heidi. One day when Heidi was charging the door, I couldn’t immediately find the sound collar, so I just grabbed a regular chain choker and threw it, hitting the door at the same moment that my voice hit her ears with the NO. The effect was the same: She backed off. Thus I learned
that one does not need any special equipment; the jangle of any choke chain suddenly landing out of thin air is upsetting enough to cause your dog to heed your NO command. Repeated regularly, this combination of the thrown chain and the NO command resulted in the dog not charging doors anymore—in fact, she charged them a lot less, and finally not at all. I’ve used the technique since on other dogs who learned the lesson in just two or three sessions.

Do not worry about what the person at the door is going to think when you go through your correctional antics. People do not think kind thoughts when they are knocked down or jumped on by a dog that answers the door, so they’re likely to appreciate your efforts to keep their entry safe. Besides using the thrown object indoors to aid training, thrown objects are useful outdoors, too. Put some pebbles into an empty plastic bottle and use it as an outdoor training aid.

The puppy who does not heed your voice command is startled by the rattle the bottle makes landing nearby and is quickly convinced that it is not safe to ignore you. A clod of dirt or a handful of pebbles will do in a pinch. Do not use anything that would hurt your pup if it hit. The object here is to get Puppy’s attention, not to touch him. The combination of the thrown object and your command gets the pup’s attention and improves compliance. Be sneaky about throwing things; you don’t want Puppy to see you doing the throwing, for that could make the pup afraid of you.

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