New puppy at home, a challenge for our training skills…
When our new puppy comes home it is important we apply some training basics during the first week. We need to buy some essential items, such as a dog bed, a crate, dog food, collar, leash, toys, water bowls etc. The new member of the family must learn to comply with the family’s rules and routine.
The first week is very critical. We are very enthusiastic and in an excellent mood. Everyone is around the puppy wanting to play with him, cuddle him, and feed him. In this first week is very easy to break the rules we’ve already set. We all agreed that the puppy will sleep in his bed but as soon as we get him at home and we see this little beauty we bend the rules and take him sleep in our bed. We all agreed that we won’t let the puppy jump up on us but in our excitement we don’t notice that the puppy is actually jumping up. It maybe cute now but when the puppy grows up and jump up on anyone, we’ll find it annoying and we’ll start punishing the dog. Bringing a puppy at home is like bringing a baby at home. We usually spend the first night awake and in our effort to get some sleep, we let him come to bed with us. Yes, we’ve got a winner! We wake up the next day and find out that the puppy has peed on the bed. The next night we restrain him to his crate and the puppy screams all night as he feels abandoned. A second sleepless night is following. Puppies don’t generally like to soil in their sleeping/resting surroundings if they can avoid it, so it’s very important to train him to use his crate and praise him when he does the right thing.
Our initial enthusiasm goes down and we start having second thoughts and wonder if we did the right thing by getting a puppy. Everyone is reluctant to get up in the morning and feed the puppy. We’re thinking that we must take measures and make an effort to train the puppy. Train him to soil in his crate, stop his constant crying from separation anxiety, etc.
We must understand that our puppy has special needs. He’s just been separated from his mum and he feels alone and vulnerable. We must make him feel secure and set up a routine for him. He needs his own space at least for the next two months, a private place for him, a puppy’s paradise. We fill the whole room with paper and put his food and water in one corner. It’s important to provide him with several toys all over the place.
The puppy is full of activity so we must play with him quietly and don’t flood him with attention. Puppies need a lot of sleep, so if we observe that he wants to sleep, we just leave him alone.
The puppy must learn to live in a certain routine. We must decide who will be responsible for feeding him and who will be responsible for cleaning up after him. We stick into the plan no matter what. We don’t spend all our free time with him. If we need to leave him alone he will be anxious and start crying or barking. He needs to get used to being alone because we have a life to live and eventually we’ll have to leave him alone at home. If he starts whining we mustn’t run immediately to comfort him because this will become a nasty habit after a while.