Make Your Puppy Learn Routines


by Renske Buursma - Date: 2007-05-15 - Word Count: 402 Share This!

Puppies are cute, that's for sure! But accidental mishaps around the house are not. So to avoid mishaps and enjoy your puppy more, here are some helpful tips.

When to Begin

The best time to start training your puppy is when it ranges from 8 to 12 weeks old. You can actually begin earlier, but don't expect overnight success. Training takes time and patience - and TLC (tender loving care).

Paper, Box or Crate Training Help

To begin with, puppies don't want to dirty their own bed areas. So whichever area you use to train your puppy for potty grounds, make sure this is not the same area you use for your pet's sleeping. Otherwise, you could cause confusion and accidental bathroom messes could result in the sleeping areas. Likewise, do not leave your pet confined in the potty training area too long, either, even if it's for punishment purposes. Young dogs need to learn the difference between free space, bed and potty areas.

When you are ready to begin your pet's potty training, some dog trainers recommend training puppies to head to an area covered in newspapers at first or if outdoor weather is too miserable (like heavy rain or wintry conditions). Similar to a cat's litter box, an open-ended box for a dog can be lined with newspapers, or line the floor of the laundry room or half bathroom or other area with newspapers.

If you are going to use a crate, make sure the puppy can't get hurt in between or slip between slats, and only leave the pet in there for one to two hours max. Note you can train with the crate so that the puppy's sleeping area remains clean.

Other tips include:

• Rule of thumb: your puppy will need to head to the bathroom roughly every 3 hours. So watch the clock or set your microwave or oven timer and nudge the little guy every so often.

• Watch for pre-potty heads up activity. If your puppy starts sniffing around, it might be time to go outside or to the training area.

• Reward your pet when he or she does good and goes in the right place. Light pats on the head, treats, and saying, "Good dog!" work wonders.

Most importantly, have fun and love your little puppy. If you need help with more training, seek out more articles, helpful books and other resources starting with those at your local library and online.


Related Tags: dogs, pet care, dog care, pet tips, pet advice, cats and dogs, frontline

Renske Buursma, pet store owner with lots of helpful articles and a free newsletter about pet care at http://yourhealthypetsonline.com Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: