Start Training A Puppy At An Early Age For Positive Results

By Greg Stannionis

There is nothing more exciting than bringing a new puppy home. There is just something about puppies that makes them adorable to everyone. Nobody can resist their charm. That is, nobody can resist their charm until they have a little accident on your living room carpet. Then you have to think about training a puppy!

Toilet training your puppy can be exasperating or it can be a fun part of raising your new dog. If you know just a little bit about puppies and dogs and how to train them, you can toilet train your puppy without traumatizing either yourself or your new family member.

All dogs have certain instincts that they are born with. One of these instincts is to not soil their sleeping den. In their natural environment they will know to immediately head outdoors if they feel an urge to urinate or defecate. But they may not have that option in the confines of your house. Your puppy will show signs of anxiety before it "does its duty" in your home.

To make matters worse, the poor thing doesn't have the ability yet to "hold it in, " so it may run around the room whimpering and then just have to let go wherever it happens to be at the time. It is important not to punish the puppy for its mistake. It hasn't done anything wrong. On the other hand, it is equally important to teach it that the place where it relieved itself before is not the place to relieve itself the next time!

Do not loudly scold your puppy, hit it or rub its face in its mess. Immediately clean up the area and take the waste matter outside and put it where it belongs. Take the puppy with you and let it see and smell where its waste belongs. Then go back and clean up thoroughly. Take special care to use a cleaning solution that completely eliminates the odor, remembering that your dog has a keener sense of smell than you do.

Now you will have to keep an eye on your puppy and catch it before it goes, rather than after. You will easily notice the signs of distress and the times it needs to go. Take it outside as soon as it is clear that it is time. After the puppy has "done its duty, " offer it a reward and an encouraging pat. Let it know that you, the leader of the pack, approve of its good behavior.

By nature, dogs are pack animals. While their charms may be hard to resist, the puppy must learn who is boss early in life or it may grow up thinking it is the boss and be very hard to train later in life. Dogs, like humans, learn best by reward. Harsh punishment results in neurotic behavior in dogs just as it does in humans.

Training a puppy from an early age is best for everyone. You will have a happy, well-adjusted pet and your life together will be satisfying for both of you. - 32366

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