Pet Information > Others > Pet Articles > Training your new puppy the right way

Training your new puppy the right way

29 13:33:43

Puppy training is very important, whether you are training your
first puppy or your 20th. Properly training and socializing a
puppy is vital to making it a valued member of your family and
your community.

In some ways training a puppy is easier than training an adult
or adolescent dog. One reason is that the puppy is essentially a
“blank slate”, untroubled by past training techniques and other
issues. In other ways, however, the puppy can be more difficult
to train than an older dog.

One challenge to training a new puppy is that puppies are more
easily distractible than adolescent and adult dogs. Everything
is new to a puppy, and every new experience provides a new
chance for distraction. For this reason, it is best to keep
training sessions short when working with a puppy, and to end
each training sessions on a positive note.

It is also important to allow the puppy plenty of time to play,
and to interact with other puppies and dogs. Socialization
training is vital to making your new puppy a good canine
citizen, as dog aggression is a growing problem in many areas. A
properly socialized dog learns how to play properly with other
dogs, and overly aggressive play is punished by the other dogs
in the play group.

This type of play learning is something that happens among
siblings in litters of puppies. As the puppies play with each
other, they learn what is appropriate and what is not.
Inappropriate behavior, such as hard biting or scratching, is
punished by the other puppies, by the mother dog, or both.

Unfortunately, many puppies are removed from their mothers and
sold or adopted before this socialization has fully occurred.
Therefore, puppy play sessions are a very important part of any
puppy training session. Most good puppy preschool training
programs provide time in each session for this type of dog
interaction.

Introducing your puppy to new experiences and new locations is
also an important part of puppy training. Teaching your dog to
be obedient and responsive, even in the face of many
distractions, is very important when training dogs and puppies.

One great way to socialize your puppy both to new people and new
dogs is to take it on a trip to your local pet store. Many major
pet store chains, and some independent ones as well, allow pet
parents to bring their furry children, and these stores can be
great places for puppies to get used to new sights, sounds and
smells. Of course you will want to make sure the store allows
pets before heading over.

It is important for puppy owners to structure their pet’s
environment so that the puppy is rewarded for good behaviors and
not rewarded for others. One good example of this is jumping on
people. Many people inadvertently reward this behavior because
it can be cute. While it is true that jumping can be cute for a
10 pound puppy, it will not be so cute when that puppy has grown
into a 100 pound dog.

Instead of rewarding the puppy for jumping, try rewarding it for
sitting instead. This type of positive reinforcement will result
in a well behaved adult dog that is a valued member of both the
family and the community at large.

This type of reinforcement can also be used in potty training
the new puppy. For instance, teaching a puppy to use a unique
surface such as gravel or asphalt is a good technique. The
theory is that the puppy will associate this surface with going
potty, and therefore be reluctant to use other surfaces (like
your kitchen carpet for instance) as a potty.