Labrador Puppy Training

The time of picking up your puppy should be the same time you start training. Your puppy needs to know who is boss or he will have a natural inclination of assuming dominance over you eventually. Immediately, you should use a collar and leash from the beginning of picking them up from the place you purchased them from. There will be no better time than the present to get him used to a collar and leash. I'm not saying you have to walk him from the start. Simply get him used to the collar and leash by attaching it to him when you pick him up.

Whether inside or outside, you'll need a special place for your dog. Preferably, you will obtain a dog crate. This will be an important tool in helping to house train your dog or training him to go in a specific location. Another benefit your puppy will receive from the crate in most cases will be a place of refuge. This especially will be important if you have children. Also, many puppies simply don't know when to sleep. They often sleep in the middle of playing. Using the crate will help your puppy know that a specific time is for rest or sleep wen you place him inside.

Using the crate will give you some major help when it comes to house training your Labrador puppy. Don't think of using a crate as being inhumane. Of course, you would not stick a human inside a cage. But then again, a dog is not a human and a well-informed owner knows and understands that. They don't reason like we do. Believe it or not, they will not understand the meaning of a cage like us humans.

Of course, your puppy will want to be close to you as much as possible. Therefore, initially he might give you some problems when you first put him in the cage or crate. He may whine, scratch and do anything he can to have you released him. In almost every case this will happen for a short amount of time.

If you let him have his way of being released while he is whining or crying, you will make a major mistake. Letting him out will be a great reward for him to understand that if he cries inside the cage, you will release him. The next time it will be even more difficult to use the crate. It will be harder than the first time because you have already shown that if he cries, you will let him out. Therefore, he will likely cry longer than the first time.

You'll be surprised that your dog in most cases will come to see his crate as a place for relaxation and refuge away from children and other chaos that might be happening within the home. It's important for dogs to have their own space in which they know it's theirs. However, this will only happen if you help it happen in the beginning by not rewarding his crying in the beginning few times he uses the crate.

Eventually you will definitely see how he starts to think of his cage or crate as a comfortable place of refuge. It's his own space that he can use when he wants. A special time for getting away from the chaos, taking a nap or sleeping through the night.

Whenever your dog will not be in the crate and inside the house, you'll need to watch over him all the time. I'm not talking about 90% of the time or 95% of the time. I'm talking about all the time. Whenever you make a mistake by letting him out of your sight, you're taking a chance that he will relieve himself. Allowing him to relieve himself in your house tells him it's okay to do it in that space. Therefore, it's always best to catch him starting to go to the bathroom inside in the beginning. There's simply no better time than the initial one for establishing his acceptable potty area from the start.

Many times your Labrador puppy will have a need to go to the bathroom at specific junctures during the day. These will be directly after being caged, playing, eating, walking and/or exercising. You should also tak him out before bedtime and immediately after waking up. If you use a crate, like you should, you'll taken out after he wakes up and you let him out of the cage.

Eventually, you'll be able to see when he's thinking about going to the bathroom. This is especially true for defecation. You'll start to see him walk around a little slowly sniffing towards the floor. Unfortunately, many puppies can easily urinate right in the middle of playing if they really have to go. Most of the time, puppies wait too long before they actually go to the bathroom. Therefore, they often will not give you enough notice. In any case, be very aware of your puppy's action in the beginning to teach where the acceptable places are for bodily relief.

Whenever you catch him relieving himself inside, it will be enough to noticeably act startled and carry or pull him outside to the area you wish him to go. This area in which you prefer him to relieve himself should be the place where you take him each time directly when going outside. It will be helpful to encourage him to "go potty" by saying this audibly. Whatever he does do this, tell him "good boy" and simply be happy. Dogs respond very well to this kind of praise. They like it when you're happy with them and don't like it when you're not. However, you'll teach and train your dog much faster if you use praise as opposed to harsh discipline.

Your Labrador dog will give more than you give. It's amazing how much they daily provide to your family. It is definitely understandable why they say that a dog is "man's best friend". Hopefully, your experience of dog ownership will be fun, exciting and enlightening. They definitely have endless amounts of selfless love to give.