Puppy do's & don'ts: Tell me what you know

[snoozy]

I'm new to this puppy thang, so I'm all ears for your experienced advice. For instance, he found an old antler chew from a previous dog...is it safe for him to chew on? He is 3 months old now. (I steamed the antler just in case.)

[Deleted]

Antlers are really hard. There is a possibility of cracking a tooth. I've never used antlers but that is because I haven't found any and they seem expensive to buy. I would watch the pup and see how hard he seems to be chewing. If he is really biting hard, I would probably take it away.

[snoozy]

Ok, thanks!

[Maura]

The puppy should be making headway on the chew object, otherwise it is too hard. Oxtail might work fine. Just make sure whatever you give him it is too small to swallow, and no round bones because the ring can get around the lower jaw.

Make it easy for him to be right. Keep him only in the room you are in or in a safe place where he can’t get into anything, most people use a crate. Pay real close attention to potty. If he never has an accident in the house he will never view the house as a toilet. When he goes outside for potty, have him sit at the door, out of the way of the swing. Use your hand on his chest to hold him in the spot in a sit, open door, say “out” and release him. Follow him and have treat ready to reward the INSTANT he is finished. After potty, pat your leg and get him to follow you. This teaches him to the leg pat. Zig zag around the yard encouraging him to follow you. This will ensure he is empty. As time goes on, use after potty time to work on training, just a couple of minutes. This encourages him to relieve himself right away because fun starts after potty.

Use a word that means ‘go to your crate’ when you put him in it. I use ‘go to bed’, but whatever works in your household.

Put the crate in your bedroom when you go to bed. He will feel more secure with you, but not be able to get into any mischief. Also, you will hear him moving around in the crate and be able to rush him outside if he has to go in the middle of the night.

[countrymom22]

The most important thing to remember is to be consistent in everything you do with the puppy. A schedule will make house breaking much easier. Also, a tired puppy is a happy puppy, exercise is huge. Crate training is mandatory in my house. My dog loves his crate even though we haven't used it in years. If the door is left open, he wants in.

Also socialization, both with other people but also with other dogs. Good luck with your new addition! Feel free to post pictures!

[snoozy]

Jan 4, 2016 18:28:42 GMT Maura said:

Make it easy for him to be right. Keep him only in the room you are in or in a safe place where he can’t get into anything, most people use a crate. Pay real close attention to potty. If he never has an accident in the house he will never view the house as a toilet.

Well, it's a bit late for that. He's had accidents all over the place. Thank God for Nature's Miracle! We are in the process of fencing in the sideyard, where he will have access via a doggie door.

He has learned sit and is working on stay, and he taught himself to fetch very enthusiastically. He fetches best for me, less so for my husband or the neighbour. But then, he has been with me for most of the time, so that is to be expected.

We put him in a crate in our bedroom at night. Most of the time, he actually sleeps through the night. But we try to take him out once a night when we ourselves wake up to pee.

[willowgirl]

Use a word that means ‘go to your crate’ when you put him in it. I use ‘go to bed’, but whatever works in your household.

Numb taught our pup to kennel up using the phrase, "It's time to milk the cow!" (Because we crate him when we go out to milk.)

[Deleted]

Crate training for the potty business! It will make your life so much happier with your puppy. It's hard to house break a pup who has full house access, especially when unsupervised. We crate our new puppies any time we can't be right there with them and when we are there, they are in our line of sight. That meant putting up a couple of baby gates and making sure they couldn't round any corners into another room where we couldn't see them. Our border collie (being the genius that he is) picked up house training in less than a week with this and continued to be crated at night until he was 6 months old. Now he sleeps in the bed

[motdaugrnds]

It is quite easy to house break a puppy. Just feed him and watch how long it takes afterward for him to use the bathroom. That tells you when he will need to go outside. Thus, the next time you feed him, wait that length of time and then let him outside. Do this continuously for about 2 weeks and your dog is trained the "natural" way. At night, make sure he has had time to pee/deficate after his last meal; then put him on his own bed (beit a crate or just a spot at the foot of your bed or wherever that he cannot get off of). A good dog will not soil its own bed. Then, of course, let him out first thing next morning.

Also, if you have other dogs, they will probably help house break your pup. My older dogs did.

[oldmania]

I only have one word of advice: CRATE.