Monday, August 27, 2012

Puppy Obedience Training

When you welcome a new puppy into your home, your first thoughts about about how cute they are and who is going to help take care of it. Children often promise, but it is usually mom and/or dad that takes over most of the puppy duties. No matter how sweet your new pup might be, you have to think about puppy obedience training. Just as with children, you have to teach them right from wrong and you have to do it when they are young. Otherwise, your pup is going to grow into an unruly dog that will take over your life. Discipline is just as important as love, playing, food, and water.

Most puppies have to be housebroken. You can go about this a few ways. Some use puppy pads so that the pup can go in the house and other prefer to teach their dog to go only when they are walked outdoors or are spending time in the backyard. Never use negative punishments like hitting, swatting, or yelling at your new puppy or he or she will be afraid of you. Instead, find a good book about positive housebreaking, or see where you can get help and advice locally. It should not be that hard to do and minus a few accidents, most dogs train without issue.

Puppies are going to go through teething phases, which means they are going to chew on everything in your house if you let them. Puppy obedience training can help you deal with this. If you can divert them to something else, like a chew toy or bone, your new shoes are going to be spared. Even better, the habit of chewing up things when a dog is bored or upset should be a thing of the past as well. There are no guarantees, of course, but certainly teaching them what they can chew on and what is off limits at an early age is a splendid idea.

Puppy obedience training should most definitely be about where the dog can be and where they are not allowed. They should learn not to jump on people and how to greet people that come into your home. Bark is another issue that you should try to find some control over or the sake of your sanity. If you do not worry about these issues, you will soon have a full grown dog that jumps on any child it sees, barks continuously when you are out of the house, and that will sleep just about anywhere it pleases. As you can imagine, this is not the way to go.

Just as any person needs guidance to learn what is expected of them and how to function smoothly with society, your pup needs puppy obedience training so they can learn how to function in your family. Just like children, they are a clean slate and only do what their instincts tell them to do, which is not necessarily what you want them to do in your home. There are always positive ways to train and as long as you give it the right amount of time, your pup will catch on.

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