Your Puppy’s First Days at Home
Congratulations on the new addition to your family! Having a puppy join your family is a truly exciting time in your life. But once that puppy is introduced to your family and your home, prepare yourself for a few months of hard work. The hard work will pay off as you train your puppy to follow the rules of your home; once trained you can enjoy years and years of companionship from your dog.
Start training right away
You want to start establishing your family’s house rules right away when you bring your puppy home. Teach him the ropes before he has a chance to establish some bad habits. Yes your puppy is a baby, and you can’t expect him to grasp training techniques right away. But your puppy will pick up on what is and what is not allowed if you guide his behavior right from the start.
Don’t permit nipping
Puppies naturally mouth and nip, it’s in their nature. Puppies play with each other this way. But it is extremely important to give your puppy the message that biting people is never OK. If your puppy nips your finger say, “No bite” and gently squeeze his muzzle. Dogs don’t like to have their muzzle squeezed. Eventually he will hear the command”no bite” and associate it with having his muzzle squeezed-and he’ll let go.
Give him doggie chew toys
Your puppy will be a teething machine soon and will need to bite on something. Make sure you give him things that he’s allowed to chew on, and don’t confuse him. If you give him an old shoe he’s going to grow up thinking all shoes are fair game. Make sure he has rawhide strips and doggy chew toys to work on those itchy gums, but don’t give him any of your old belongings to chew.
Get some bitter apple spray
Your puppy may decide to teeth on your furniture. You can discourage your puppy from chewing on anything he’s not supposed to by spraying the furniture with bitter apple spray, which can be purchased at the pet store.
Its also a good idea to have a spray water bottle as a puppy training tool. If your puppy is doing something that’s not OK (such as licking the dishes from your opened dish washer), then spray him a bit with the water. Don’t make a sound and act like nothing happened. But each time he does the behavior then give him a little squirt. Eventually he will associate the activity with the negative consequence of being squirted and he will stop the behavior.
Get a Crate
You also want to set your puppy up with a safe place to sleep at night. Establish a good sleep routine with your puppy and soon he will be sleeping peacefully through the night in his own bed.
Mirjam shows people how to deal with dog behavioral problems by offering advice on dog training solutions and other topics.
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