Five Tips for House-Breaking your New Puppy
April 30th, 2011Five Tips for House-Breaking your New Puppy
Bringing a new puppy home to your family is a joy-filled experience; but house-breaking a puppy is not. However, it need not be a horrible experience if you follow a few basic guidelines. Just think of the five tips below as your online degree in training your young four-legged friend.
1. Keep an eye out for the body language clues your puppy will give you that he needs to “use the facilities.” Try to get him to go to the back door before he starts to urinate inside your home so he can become accustomed to letting you know he’s got to go out. Often, a puppy will fidget, or whine if he’s got to go to the bathroom, so be attuned to these signals.
2. For the first few months, get into the habit of taking your puppy outside frequently. You might find this somewhat difficult overnight, but puppies really do need to eliminate often early on. This need will decrease eventually, as he learns to sleep through the night.
3. When you take your puppy outside, bring him to the same location in the yard to go to the bathroom each time. The reason for this is so that waste is not spread throughout your whole yard, making it hard to entertain guests if you have a barbecue over the summer. It will also make your lawn care tasks easier, knowing that you should avoid that one spot as you work.
4. Give your dog a treat each time he eliminates in the backyard instead of going in the house. Dog training experts suggest that you only use positive techniques, such as giving treats, for training, and avoid punitive measures such as hitting or yelling. These methods only frighten your puppy, and do not effectively control the unwanted behavior in question either way.
5. Many dog-owners balk at the use of a crate for training, thinking it is cruel and confining, but actually, the opposite is true. Puppies like the comfort of an enclosed space, and will get used to the idea that this is the sleeping area. As he grows, you may choose to let him sleep in the kids’ room, but for now, give your puppy the boundaries he needs and crate-train him.
Getting the whole family involved to some degree in the training of your puppy will speed the process. You’ll be doing the puppy him a favor by having everyone make it clear what the rules are and how he is expected to behave, and it makes it possible for him to learn good habits. .
Tags: dog training, dogs, pets