How To Care For Your New Puppy

Just remember that if you want your new puppy to obey, respect, and love you then you need to never ever hurt your puppy.

Your new puppy needs to feel safe and secure and if you hit him to punish him he will be to scared to obey you, which could lead to other behavior problems like house breaking.

Make sure your children are not hitting the new puppy too because he is more likely to bite you or them in self defense if you hit him.

Reinforce your new puppy's good behavior. Praise and treats are always a good way to do just that.

Good behavior such as peeing outside, sitting when told to, no barking in the house, etc. Food is a good motivator also. Puppies learn more easily when food is involved because it is more satisfying then toys at that point.

Use part of their daily intake so as to not over feed your new puppy, therefore keeping your new dog healthy while training him. If you need to punish your new puppy do not yell, use a lack of attention. Puppies thrive on attention so when you don't pay attention to them that is more then punishment enough.

House train your new puppy as soon as possible. Be consistent! Patience is an absolute must! Your puppy needs time to learn so remember accidents happen.

Make sure your puppy socializes. This is important because you can have a well-behaved puppy if you get him into some proactive socializing early on.

Your puppy's most impressionable period, just like children, is when they are young, birth to sixteen weeks. So make sure you are doing all you can to help acclimate your dog to society.

Make sure you handle your new puppy every day. Such as brushing, baths, toenails being clipped, ear cleaning are just a few.

Also examining and brushing your puppy's teeth should be on your list of dos for a healthy dog. Your ultimate goal is to have your puppy comfortable and have him look forward to being handled by you or your children.

A stressed out dog is no fun for you or the dog, so make sure your puppy gets used to the attention. Make sure you use treats to praise your pup for good behavior during this time, and be gentle, the respond to kindness and tender care more so then harsh words.

Start training your dog not to bite early on in life. Have your whole household be part of this training. It is natural for a dog to want to bite; they have done it since the beginning of time. But it only takes some simple steps to keep your puppy playful but not dangerous. Try playing with your pooch, getting him to bite you, when he does it to hard say ouch! really loud and let it startle him. Stop playing with him for a few minutes and then start over until he learns to play nicely with out hurting you or your children. After practicing this for a few weeks your pup should be thinking that humans couldn't stand the touch of teeth at all.

Teaching your new puppy what is okay and what is not okay to chew on is very important. You would like to keep your good shoes good right? Well make sure you teach your pup the ways of your household. Ensuring a happy puppy and happy owner. When you catch him chewing on something he isn't supposed to, face it you will, say loudly NO! Startle him into not chewing on that item. Hand him a chew toy to chew on instead. Praise him for chewing on his toy and he will be more then happy to chew it into oblivion.

Just remember to give your new puppy lots of love. They need it to grow up happy, healthy, and obedient.

The first step in making your dog fit for polite company would be to potty train him. Some see this training as a hassle and some as a challenge.

For me, it is part of bringing up a pet.

There are a few things you need to know before you actually start potty training. I enumerate these below:

You need to understand your dog's body language. Watch for signs that will indicate to you when your pet wants to eliminate.

If you own puppies, remember that they need to go potty at fairly frequent intervals - as soon as they wake up, after short naps, after play-time, after meals, before and after being crated and finally, before retiring for the night.

Take your dog for walks at the time that he usually does his potty. Take him out to the yard and then to the same place there every time he needs to answer nature's call.

Praise your dog after he eliminates at the right place. Some dog owners even give their dogs treats. But remember to do this every time he does it right. He will relate the rewards to his having "done it right" and zero in on the spot where you want him to defecate regularly.

With time, you can try signal training. This is so that you know when your doggie wants to go. You can hang a bell at his level near the door and teach him to push it with his nose or pat it with his paw on his way out.

Until a dog has been fully potty trained keep him under strict vigilance. Do not let him roam around the house freely.

Use a crate. A crate-trained dog is usually very happy to get his own den. The advantage of crating is that dogs do not soil the place where they sleep. So, he will naturally not eliminate inside the crate.

Use positive reinforcements while potty training your dog. Do not scold or hit him as you will gain nothing by doing that. He will only associate punishment with your return from outside. If you catch him in the act, a stern 'NO' or 'FREEZE' will do. It will startle the dog enough for him to stop pooping.

Be prepared to return to a soiled home if you are keeping your dog home alone for more than 4 hours as separation anxiety is quite common among home - alone dogs.

Accidents will happen. It is unusual for a trained adult dog to work against its housetraining. But medical problems or health disorders may lead to sudden accidents.

For More Potty Training Guidelines take a look at Dog Potty Training

The first thing you should do when puppy proofing your house is to go room to room on your hands and knees. Look at the things in your home from your puppy's perspective.

Think about what is at that level that may be interesting to him. You may be surprised to find many things that are potentially dangerous that you never even thought of before.

One thing you should be aware of in your household is the location of electrical cords. Make sure to limit your puppy's access to these areas.

Puppies can chew through cords and get electrocuted causing serious injury or even death. Wrap cords up and store them away or lay down rubber or plastic runners that can be purchased at most home supply stores.

Another potentially dangerous thing for puppies is your stairs. Small puppies have a hard time navigating up and down stairs and could fall down them and injure themselves.

Stairs also lead to areas in your house that may be off limits. The best way to ensure that your puppy stays away from the stairs is to purchase baby gates, available at most department and pet supply stores.

Just as curious toddlers are, puppies are very curious about what is inside cabinets. Many people store cleaning supplies and personal care products in cabinets that can be accessible to puppies. These kinds of products contain harmful ingredients that can injure or kill your puppy.

Make sure to either store these products in cabinets that are out of reach to puppies, or purchase plastic cabinet locks that are available at most department and pet supply stores.

Be aware of small objects that are located around the home, on coffee tables and other surfaces that are accessible to your puppy.

Just as with small children, puppies can choke on items like coins, needles, jewelry and small toys. Make sure to keep these kinds of items out of your puppy's reach.

Puppies seem to be attracted to shoes and socks. They love to chew on them. Not only will this ruin your favorite shoes, if a puppy were to chew on and swallow a shoelace or a sock, it could get wrapped around their intestines causing serious injury or death.

Make sure to store your shoes and socks out of reach of your puppy, and NEVER encourage them to chew on these items, no matter how cute it may be.

Always limit your puppy's access to the bathroom. Bathroom garbage is very tempting to chew on. If your dog were to swallow some dental floss or feminine products, this could be very harmful to them.

Puppies also are curious about toilets. Small pups could fall in an open toilet and drown. Make sure to keep your bathroom door shut at all times, or install a baby gate at the entrance to your bathroom. The same can be said for the kitchen and kitchen garbage.

Open windows are another potential hazard to your puppy. Being very curious about the world around them, they could easily fall out of a window causing serious harm or death.

On the ground floor, they could exit out of the window and get lost or run into the street. Be mindful of open windows when you are not directly supervising your puppy.