Puppy Training: Do You Have The Heart To Discipline Your Puppy?

Training a new puppy can be a heartbreaking experience for just about anyone that has a conscience. This helpless and adorable little doggie is just staring up at your eyes, making you melt into a pile of love mush. And you think yourself, How in the world am I going to discipline this little guy, I just don’t have the heart!

Yes, I realize that your puppy is so cute and you just want to hug and kiss his little face all day long, but you must get a hold of yourself and learn to do the dirty deed when necessary.

What Is The Dirty Deed?

Discipline, plain and simple.

You have to muster up the strength to spritz your puppy’s nose with a water bottle when needed. You have to learn how to instill a little fear into your dog with loud and quick commands whenever he is doing something wrong. It’s all about tough love and I know firsthand just how hard it can be.

Don’t Get Me Wrong…

Puppy Training How To Get Your Puppy To Stop Stealing Clothes

Puppies are like little children in that they need constant discipline and a watchful eye to be sure that they can learn the rules of your house. Some puppies have major behavior problems, while others display the typical scenarios, such as stealing clothes and other small items around the house as if it were a game.

Puppies are notorious for stealing anything that they can get their mouths on and then run away with it. At first this little habit is cute and very comical. However, after a while it needs to be seriously addressed because as the puppy matures into an adult dog, he will think that he is allowed to eat anything in the house, including your expensive shoes and nice furniture.

City Dog Housetraining (Part 3): Choosing The Appropriate Outside Potty Area

The key to training your dog to go from using the bathroom on a pile of papers in your apartment, to holding it in and using an outdoor spot, takes a little common sense and some outdoor etiquette.

Going from the papers to the outside means you need to carry your puppy to the right area. As discussed previously, small puppies are easy to carry outside but you may need a carrier of sorts for bigger dogs or if you are not strong enough.

Once you have finally carried your loaded puppy outside without an international incident and all you see before you are blocks and blocks of concrete, where should you go?

Of course it should go without saying that all areas frequented by people, including flower beds, children’s play area, city trees and other landscaping are all off limits. Letting a male dog lift his leg on somebody’s garbage can or other things that might not be touched by humans is not very nice.

Dog Leash Introducing The Flexi-Lead, My All Time Favorite Dog Leash

As your puppy gets a little older, the most important training aid that you will need will be a variety of dog training leashes. Of course using certain collars and leashes may seem a bit structured and strict to use when training your puppy, but they are meant to be a temporary tool designed to help your dog understand the rules when it comes to certain activities and behaviors.

Not only are leashes and certain training leads a positive way to condition your dog, but they also can help him with safety issues. Take driving in your car for example. Every dog loves to hang outside the window to feel the cool air and to sniff all the aromas of the outside world, but accidents do happen and by having a short leash to hold onto him while you are going down the road, you will ensure that no terrible accidents will happen such as your dog falling out of the window. And using a dog leash is equally important whenever you are outside walking your dog in public places.

What Type Of Leash Is Best?

The best thing to do is to start training your new puppy as soon as you get him home. You need to teach your puppy your rules, and how you expect him to behave starting from a very early age.

Every member of your family needs to handle your new puppy often while he’s still learning to wear his collar and leash, eat from his own food bowl, sleep in hid own bed, and come when you call him.

But only one person in your family should be the ‘mother substitute’, who is responsible for training your puppy. However, other family members can still participate in helping to train your puppy.

Here’s A Few Things You Should Be Aware Of:

* You need to eat before your puppy does. In your puppy’s eyes, whoever eats first in the ‘pack’ are the dominant members who are in control.

* You should always use rewards rather than discipline to teach the puppy which activities are right or wrong.

Remember this: Strive to reward the positive, not punish the negative.

Dog Training Methods: How Dog Training Has Evolved Over The Last Few Decades

When you look down at your brand new, small and tender puppy peacefully sleeping in its little bed, it’s hard to think that in just two to three months it may grow to be 40, 50, or even up to 100 pounds depending on the type of breed. And although its behaviors may cute at the moment, like jumping up and putting his front paws on your body, these actions will be far less enjoyable when your dog is all grown up and literally knocking you over.

Your best bet is to start training your puppy from day one so that he can learn proper manners as he grows into adulthood. Puppies that are not trained in this manner end up learning all of the wrong stuff and their owners wonder why they cannot seem to get their dogs to behave as they age.

Many years ago, when dog training methods used more punishment oriented (using harsh methods to train puppies), dog trainers typically required all puppy trainees to be at least six months old. The reason was partly due to the fact that such physical correction protocols used could not be done with dogs that were too small or too young.

Leash Training: Never Use This Type Of Equipment When Leash Training Your Puppy

What could be more adorable than a tiny 10-week-old German Retriever walking down the street with its owner, pulling at the leash as it excitedly greets anyone who walks by? These little puppies put so much effort into seeing what’s going on and are almost always greeted with a pat on the head and a smile from passing strangers.

This is all cute and adoring, that is until the dog reaches a bodyweight of 50 to 60 pounds and is literally dragging its owner down the street on the leash. The once happily smiling owner is now gritting her teeth and doing all she can to keep the dog from pulling her down the sidewalk.

As strangers pass by it takes all of the owner’s muscle and might just to hold the dog back from getting its dirty paws all over these people. Eventually, these types of dogs who have no leash control end up spending all of their time in the backyard without ever being walked.

Leash Training Should Begin Immediately

Report: Paper Training Your Puppy

Of all of the problems that dog owners face with raising a pet, the trouble involved in housebreaking stands out as the most common. In fact, of the tens of thousands of dogs that get trained by professional dog trainers in schools, 80 percent of the owners of these dogs complain of housebreaking difficulties upon enrollment.

The majority of these people always, without a doubt, cannot seem to get their new dogs to use the bathroom in the right place. Yet, this problem can be overcome in a very short period of time just by understanding of how a puppy’s mind works.

Always The Wrong Approach

Most people seem to feel that all that is required to housebreak a puppy is to simply to rub his nose in his mess, spank his bottom, and then throw him out the door all the while yelling at the little guy. This antiquated method usually accomplishes just one thing: It teaches the puppy that he must do his thing in locations where he can’t be seen.

The first ten week period of a newborn puppy’s life is the best time to teach a puppy that biting is not acceptable. And training your puppy to avoid an incidence of dog biting is crucial.

This is especially because biting comes naturally to them and it is the easiest form of dog aggression that he can resort to in situations that induce fear, anxiety and aggression. And such training is best done before strong adult teeth take the place of small nibbling ones. Curbing aggressive dog behavior among adult dogs is far more difficult than training puppies.

While training puppies, always remember that physical punishment does not work. Punishment is tantamount to making the dog more resolute in his behavior and in such cases aggression is likely to become a permanent concern.

The approach that you take should clearly indicate to the puppy that you love him but hate the biting habit instead. At the same time you must assume leadership as the dog considers you as part of the pack. Unless he perceives you to be the leader he is likely to let go of aggressive dog behavior easily.

Puppy Training: Why Big Dog Breed Puppies Need Training As Early As Possible

When is the best time to start training your puppy? Dog experts and trainers alike all agree that puppy training and socialization should start as early as possible. If you or any other new puppy owner is under the notion that training should not begin until the dog is about five to six months old, you should discard that theory completely from your mind.

Through decades of research it has been concluded that training should begin the moment your dog steps foot in the house. Most puppies are purchased or adopted when they are six to seven weeks old, however, they can start early training and become socialized as young as two to three weeks. Their minds are like sponges, just waiting to absorb stimuli and information.

Especially For Big Dogs…

Early training should be initiated for a variety of reasons, but most importantly, puppies that will grow to be bigger sized dogs need this early training to prevent them from becoming a burden to the family, and not only for bad behavior, but also due to the problems it can cause from the dog’s size.