Training your puppy is very important. It creates a bond between you and the puppy, establishes you as "pack leader" (which is a term I don't really like, but must people understand), and allows your puppy to enjoy a mental challenge. Aside from socialization and house manners, which should be a constant training, actual training for exercises only requires ten minutes a day.
Socialiazation: Socialization is the process of getting your puppy comfortable in a variety of situations and environments by exposing her to various situations. Bring your puppy everywhere you can, the pet store, lumber store, out on walks, to playgrounds, etc. Encourage other people to pet your puppy. If your puppy is shy or needs some extra encouragement bring some treats that you can use to reward her, and you can also give these to people who are petting your puppy to help her learn meeting new people is a positive experience. During socialization, get your puppy used to walking on a multitude of different surfaces: linoleum, carpet, concrete, grass, gravel, etc. The socialization experience should be a positive one. The goal is to install confidence in your puppy so she enjoys, rather than fears, new environments and experiences. A properly socialized puppy will not be afraid of other animals, people it does not know, and new situations. She will have confidence and enjoy being in new situations because she has learned new situations are rewarding and fun.
Housebreaking: To housebreak a puppy you should first purchase a crate. It should be big enough for your puppy to stand up, turn around, and lay down in and not much more. This is so puppy cannot go potty in one corner and then go to another corner and relax. Dogs naturally wish to stay clean so being in a crate of this size is motivation for puppy to hold its bladder and bowels while she is in the crate. Whenever you are not holding your puppy, or cannot supervise puppy 100%, puppy needs to be in the crate.
After you take puppy out of the crate take the puppy outside immediately to go potty. Do not even let puppy down on the floor for a second. Outside, be quiet and still. If puppy just sits there then you may need to coax puppy to walk around in the yard area in which you want puppy to go potty. Walking around encourages the puppy to go as it stimulates their system and also gets them smelling scents of where they have gone previously.
While your dog is going to the bathroom say "go potty". When puppy is done say "good go potty" in a high happy tone. Using a keyword when your puppy goes to the bathroom will help you so when you are on a trip or whatnot and need the puppy to hurry up and go you can tell the puppy to go potty and she will know what you mean.
After your puppy goes potty outside it is time for some free time inside. Depending upon the age of your puppy you may be able to give the puppy 15 minutes free time or 30 minutes. Just like human babies, puppies do not have fully developed bladder and bowel muscles until they mature. As their muscles mature, their ability to wait to go potty will improve. When the designated free time is up then you need to hold your puppy or crate your puppy until the next time you take her outside. I recommend taking out a puppy that is being active every hour. For a puppy that is in its crate while you do other things, and most likely sleeping during the day, I would let puppy out every two hours starting out. You can use a kitchen timer to help remind yourself when to take puppy out, and also to monitor the length of the free time. You can lengthen the times between outside trips, and the amount of free time, as the puppy matures and learns. Eventually, usually by 6 months, you will be able to let your puppy have the free time completely out of its crate to run around and will just need to continue to take puppy out at scheduled intervals. Do not expect your dog to ask to go outside to go potty!!
Another important item, keep your puppy on a schedule of when she is eating her meals every day, and remove your puppies water three hours before bedtime.
Play Biting: For rough puppy play biting, you need to do things. First, you need to express to the puppy that what she is doing is not okay. Second, you need to teach the puppy what she can do instead.
To express to the puppy that what she is doing is wrong a few methods can be used. Some methods work better than other with different dogs. You can give a yelp or horrible whine, you can say "no" firmly in a deep voice, you can tap them on the chin (not a spanking but a brisk tapping up that in effect closes the puppies mouth when you tap). Determine which method works best and choose only one of them to use. If you change your method every time the puppy will not understand and may look at it as a game (let's see what Mom will do this time when I bite her). When you tell puppy she is wrong you need to do this without anger, you are simply communicating to the puppy that what she is doing is not okay, there is no reason to be angry with puppy.
After you have told your puppy what is not acceptable, you then need to teach her what is acceptable. Give her a toy, rawhide, chewie, butcher bone (whatever she likes). While she is enjoying that toy praise her and tell her what a good girl she is.
Sometimes a puppy gets into a Zone, is just full of herself, and will not stop biting no matter what you do. If this happens it is time for puppy to have a time out in her crate to settle down for a little bit.
Finally, it is very important your puppy gets enough mental and physical exercise. Mental exercise includes training, and socialization. Physical exercise is a scheduled walk or game of fetch. If your puppy does not have the appropriate outlet for her energy then her energy will come out in inappropriate ways. |
