Bringing home a puppy is very exciting; you may have been dreaming about this for a while. You want to have the perfect dog as a companion in your home. I’ve compiled a list of mistakes to avoid to help you train your puppy into a confident and happy dog.
1. Giving Too Much Attention & Not Enough Rest
Puppies are bundles of energy, and you will want to spend as much time with your new little friend as possible. However, puppies will need time to decompress from the journey to their new home and being away from their mum and siblings. It’s a big change for them.
Puppies only require 5 minutes of exercise for every month-old that they are. Therefore, a 3-month-old puppy will only need 15 minutes of exercise at a time.
Create A Safe, Quiet Spot
To help ease your puppy into its new life, set up a crate in a relatively quiet area of your home. It should be close enough that the puppy can see you all, but far away enough that it’s not in a high-traffic area, and the puppy can rest. Have a washable, comfortable pillow or blanket in the crate for a snuggly nap. Washable is best because accidents happen!
The crate should be big enough for the puppy to stand up, turn around, and lie stretched out. If it’s too big the puppy may toilet in the back of the crate and sleep at the front. This will make toilet training harder.
Puppies require a lot of sleep, just like human babies. Puppies need to sleep up to 20 hours a day until they are around 3 months old. An over-tired puppy will be stressed and take longer to settle into its new environment, and it will be harder to train if it’s tired and stressed.
The crate should only be for the puppy; no one else should go into it. This will ensure the puppy sees its crate as a safe space. If the puppy is in the crate, do not disturb it, and don’t let other pets or children disturb it. This will be incredibly useful when you’re crate training and reducing the possibility of separation anxiety.
2. Allowing The Puppy Too Much Independence Too Soon
Puppies are naturally curious and will want to explore their new environment. However, puppies are still babies, and they love to chew. Allowing unsupervised exploration can be dangerous for the puppy – think of chewed live cables or falling down stairs.
It can also be costly to you – chewed cables, shoes, furniture, and accidents happening on carpets or in cupboards. Puppies are biologically incapable of controlling their bladders, and dog pee can stain as well as stink!
Puppy Proof Your Home
Use a playpen to confine your puppy to a safe area when you cannot supervise them. Having the crate in the playpen and some toys creates an area where you know your puppy is safe.
If you don’t want or have the space for a playpen, use baby gates to cordon off areas you don’t want your puppy to go. Ensure cables are unreachable, and shoes and anything else you don’t want chewed are put away. Set your puppy up for success by putting temptation out of reach!
3. Thinking Your Puppy Is Too Young To Start Training
Your puppy is too young to start complex training, like agility. However, you can teach it to respond to its name and to sit and come. You can also begin teaching potty training.
Play Easy Training Games
Playing games with your puppy will teach it that you are fun and focusing and responding to you is rewarding. The games must only last 5 minutes at a time, several times throughout the day. However, by playing these games, you create a trusting bond with your puppy and teach it to engage with you. This will pay massive dividends going forward.
4. Being Inconsistent With Your Puppy
Like human babies, puppies thrive on routine and consistency. Your puppy will be more relaxed if it knows what’s coming next and what you expect. If you don’t want your dog on your bed, don’t allow the puppy on your bed – not even once. You need to decide the boundaries and stick to them.
Reward your puppy for the behaviours you want it to repeat.
For example, when my husky was a puppy, she was a whirlwind. I started using a portion of her daily kibble allowance as rewards throughout the day. She would get very excited and curious when I prepared kitchen food. I would not give her attention when jumping around me, but she started to sit beside me calmly. I would pet her, praise her and give her a piece of kibble.
As she sat beside me, I continued what I was doing, but every so often, I would pet her, praise her, and give her a piece of kibble. She learned that jumping around didn’t get her what she wanted, but calm behaviour got her the attention and rewards she wanted.
It was the same if I was working at the computer. Ignore the mad jumping around, but when she sat beside me, pet, praise, reward. I put a dog bed beside my desk, and when she would lie on it, pet, praise and reward her. Luna will contentedly lie on her bed beside me while I work.
Decide On A Routine That You Can Do Consistently And Stick To It
Puppies need to go out to the toilet often; their bodies cannot control themselves yet. A good routine will reduce the number of accidents indoors, help with potty training, and teach you to recognise when your puppy needs to go out:
- Get up and take the puppy out to toilet. Praise and reward the puppy when it goes outside.
- Breakfast time.
- Approximately 20 minutes later, take the puppy back outside to toilet. Praise and reward the puppy when it toilets outside.
- Allow some nap time for your puppy.
- Set aside some outside/playtime for your puppy.
- Do some training time with your puppy – training is always easier once your puppy has burned off excess energy.
- Take your puppy out for the toilet. Praise and reward the puppy for toileting outside.
- Allow nap time for your puppy.
- Lunchtime.
- Approximately 20 minutes later, take the puppy back outside to toilet, praise and reward the puppy when it toilets outside.
- Allow nap time for your puppy.
- Set aside some outside/playtime for your puppy.
- Do some training time with your puppy – training is always easier once your puppy has burned off excess energy.
- Take your puppy out for the toilet. Praise and reward the puppy for toileting outside.
- Dinner time.
- Approximately 20 minutes later, take the puppy back outside to toilet, praise and reward the puppy when it toilets outside.
- Allow nap time for your puppy.
- Set aside some outside/playtime for your puppy.
- Do some training time with your puppy.
- Take your puppy out for the toilet. Praise and reward the puppy for toileting outside.
- Before bed, take your puppy out for a toilet break. Be warned; your puppy will probably need to go out again during the night or VERY early in the morning.
You get the idea. Sleep, eat, toilet, play and repeat.
5. Confusing Your Puppy With Words
Dogs don’t speak our language, and puppies don’t automatically know what behaviours we expect from them. Keep things simple for your puppy to ensure you set it up for success. Try not to get angry or frustrated with your puppy, and don’t do any training with your puppy if you’re in a bad mood or had a rough day.
Use One-Word Cues To Teach Your Puppy
There’s a reason that most cues (commands) are one word – it’s easier and less confusing for your puppy to learn. I like to use words I use in everyday life with my dog – simply because they are easier to remember, especially in a high-pressure moment. For example, I say ‘stop’ if I need my dog to do an emergency stop.
Everyone in your household should use the same word cue for the desired behaviour. Your puppy will become confused if you say ‘sit’ and your partner says ‘puppy puppy sit sit, come on puppy’.
It’s also easy to inadvertently teach your puppy to ignore you. Repeating the cue word teaches your puppy that it doesn’t have to respond the first time you say it. If you say the cue, wait and give your puppy a chance to figure out what you’re asking them to do. If your puppy is distracted, waiting until it looks at you before you give the cue is better.
It’s all about setting your puppy up for success. Celebrate with your puppy when it gets it right, and it will try harder to get it right next time!
I hope you enjoy life with your puppy! You might find these articles useful:
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