Cuteness overload! Happy Friday! (Photo: three wrinkly puppies napping in a row)
If you haven’t had a puppy for awhile, or you’ve just adopted your very first puppy, you may be feeling very overwhelmed by chewing, barking, and crate training. There’s a lot to learn when it comes to raising a puppy into a balanced and well-behaved canine citizen.
The first thing you’re going to need is not paper towels (though you’ll need a few of those) — it’s patience.
Dogs are hardwired to follow calm and confident leaders, so freaking out, yelling, and waving your finger in their face are not going to help your relationship.
The first ingredient to raising a puppy is patience (Photo: A woman leading her black dog on a park trail)
The second thing you’re going to need is this piece of information: your puppy is always, always, always learning. Anything you allow on day one (like pulling on the leash, biting the leash, and biting your fingers) that you’re not going to want your full-grown dog to do, will require lots of work to change later on in life.
Don’t reach for your camera. Train your puppy that chewing this is off limits (Photo: Weimaraner puppy gnawing on the corner of a couch)
Start off on the right paw by teaching your puppy these five things:
-they will get petted for having four paws on the floor and for being calm (not biting)
-chewing the leash is not allowed
-the leash represents calmness (do not clip your leash onto a puppy who is jumping on you, biting you, or biting the leash)
If you never allow this behaviour, you’ll never have trouble gearing up for walks with your full-grown dog (Photo: puppy lying on its back grabbing and biting its collar)
-you are the most important thing in the environment (so she should listen to you instead of pulling you toward every person, dog, cat, bunny, blowing leaf, and shiny object/reflection)
-being in her crate is safe and wonderful (I just had a client who could not leave her house for two weeks to get groceries because her puppy could escape the crate. If you like eating, crate train your puppy and don’t skip any steps.)
If you’ve never taught a puppy how to:
-love a crate
-walk on a leash (without pulling or biting)
-be calm around food
-greet strangers politely
-like having her nails trimmed
Schedule your free phone call today and we’ll show you how.
Schedule your free call here: https://beyonddogtraining.ca/take-action
You can prevent:
-having a puppy who cries and howls in her crate
-your puppy from escaping her crate and injuring herself in the process
-having a dog who bites the leash and drags you toward everyone and everything on walks
-having a puppy who constantly barks at you for everything
This is what dog ownership feels like when you’ve trained from day one (Photo: woman on a hiking trail jumping for joy)
If your puppy is now an adolescent (anywhere from 6 months to 2 years of age) and you are struggling with:
-leash biting
-nipping strangers
-greeting your houseguests calmly (without jumping up, nipping, growling, or guarding you)
-pulling on the leash
-crate training
-separation anxiety
-obsessions with balls, reflections, or other objects
schedule your free call here: https://beyonddogtraining.ca/take-action
There are so many advantages to in-home training that you won’t get in puppy school.
-greeting guests at your own front door
-walking past the distractions in your own neighbourhood (the neighbour’s barking dogs, the tasty apple tree, cats, bunnies, and squirrels)
-how to stop biting your table legs, couch cushions, and children’s clothing/toys/toes
-how to get along with your other pets
Schedule your assessment (Your Dog Would Choose This One) here: https://beyonddogtraining.ca/take-action
In an hour and a half, you’ll learn the things that matter most to YOU.
This week, we’ve helped clients with young puppies learn:
-how to engage your puppy, so she stops demand barking at you
-how to crate train your puppy (so that you have fun doing it — and so does your puppy)
-how to get your puppy to stop biting your children’s clothes, your children, your toes, your arms….you get the idea
-how to turn potty breaks into little leash training sessions that are fun and encourage zero leash pulling
-how to teach your puppy how to be calm around his food bowl
-how to correctly introduce your puppy to the bathtub for his first bath
-how to teach a mouthy puppy from biting your houseguests
Whether your goal is calmness at the groomer and veterinarian’s office, or politely greeting strangers, we are here to help you (Photo: a calm Pomeranian being groomed)
It’s so important to get on top of your training as soon as you meet your puppy. Don’t wait until a bunch of loud, pointy, pully behaviours develop to begin undoing the damage. It’s way harder (especially if you’ve never owned your own dog before) to train a puppy to stop doing behaviours that you’ve allowed for months and months than it is to train them to do what you like in the first place.
Let’s get you set up for success.
Looking forward to helping you and your puppy develop a wonderful relationship.
Have a wonderful weekend, Dog Leaders!
Alyssa
Photos by: Nicole Romero @billyynai_ (three wrinkly puppies napping in a row,) Gary Ellis
@garyellisphoto (A woman leading her black dog on a park trail,) Upsplash image Weimaraner puppy gnawing on the corner of a couch,) Upsplash image (puppy lying on its back grabbing and biting its collar,) Upsplash image (woman on a hiking trail jumping for joy,) Upsplash image (a calm Pomeranian being groomed,)