Puppy Housetraining Do’s
-Provide constant access to the toilet area. If you are home, take your puppy there every 45 minutes or less.

If you are not home or cannot tend to the puppy, then you must make sure he cannot make a mistake. It’s actually not really a mistake because he doesn’t know any better. With young puppies, when the urge comes, they go – it usually doesn’t matter where they are or what they are doing. If we didn’t put diapers on human babies, they too would soil our carpets and floors. Confine your puppy to a dog-proofed area and line the entire floor with papers. If the weather is nice, the area safe, etc, you can confine the pup to a small pen outside. Don’t leave your pup out in the sun, wind, heat or cold. Be sure to provide shelter and water in the confinement area. It’s ideal if the pen is set up on dirt, grass, gravel or concrete. The idea is that no matter where the puppy eliminates while confined, it is on something that resembles his toilet area. Your goal is to never allow your puppy to eliminate on carpet, tile, hardwood, or anything that resembles the flooring in your home. Once a habit is established, it is difficult to break, therefore, do not let your pup form bad habits in the first place.

-Praise and reward your puppy each and every time possible for eliminating in his toilet area.

-Feed your puppy at regular times. What goes in on schedule will come out on schedule.

-Use a crate to help your puppy develop self control. Confine him for gradually increasing periods of time when you are home to monitor him.

-Be patient. It can take until the dog is 6 months old for him to be housetrained.

Puppy Housetraining Don’ts
-Do not reprimand your puppy for mistakes. Reprimand has no place in housetraining.

-Do not leave food and water out all day and night for your puppy to eat and drink at whim. Use some common sense here. Obviously if the weather is hot, it is appropriate to give the pup access to water, but if this is the case, then you need to be more alert to the possibility of the pup needing to urinate more frequently.

-Do not allow your pup to eliminate anywhere other than his toilet area.

-Do not give your puppy free unattended run of your house.

The first few days are extremely important. Enthusiasm and emotions are up. Everyone wants to feed the puppy, play with the puppy and hold the puppy. Pre-established rules are easily broken. Everyone agreed that puppy will sleep in her crate but as soon as she’s home, someone melts and insists that puppy will sleep in bed. Everyone previously agreed not to let puppy jump up on them, but in the excitement, no one even notices that puppy is jumping up. No one sleeps the first night. Puppy wins and gets to sleep in bed. The next morning we find puppy has eliminated all over the bed. So the following night puppy is banned to her crate and screams all night. No one sleeps tonight either.

Grouchiness sets in; enthusiasm is down. No one wants to get up at the pre-agreed upon early morning feeding time. How are we going to housetrain puppy? How are we going to sleep with her constant whining?

Your new puppy has just been taken away from her mom and littermates. She is vulnerable and impressionable. What she needs now is security and routine. Set up a small room to be her very own special haven for the next couple of months. Paper the entire floor and put her food/water bowls and bed in one corner. Scatter her toys everywhere.

Play with her quietly and gently. Don’t flood her with attention and activity. If she looks like she wants to sleep, leave her alone. Puppies need lots of sleep.

Decide who is responsible for feeding and cleaning up after her. Don’t deviate from the schedule. Routine is especially important for your puppy. Don’t spend all your time with her. If she is going to be alone during the day or night, she needs to start getting used to it now. If she wakes up from a nap and whines, resist the urge to run in and comfort her.

Since puppies are so impressionable, it is important to begin explaining the rules right away. Don’t give her special license to get away with anything just because she is a puppy. If you allow her to have her way about certain things now, she will only be confused later when you decide to change the rules. Puppies learn very quickly with proper instruction.

Never hit your puppy or give harsh reprimands. They don’t mean to misbehave – they are just doing whatever comes naturally. Instead, show your puppy what kind of behavior you want. Teach her to play with her toys. Make them fun and exciting. Let her know how happy you are and how good she is when she chews them.

Then, when you see her chewing your furniture, firmly tell her, “Off!” and immediately show her one of her own toys. Encourage her to play with and chew on it. Praise her profusely when she does so. If you don’t catch her in the act, anything you do will confuse her. The only way you can instruct your puppy is to be there. If you can’t be there, don’t allow her to have access to places where she can get into trouble.

Schedule an appointment with your veterinarian immediately. Discuss your puppy’s vaccination schedule and when she will be allowed outside. Puppies are susceptible to many canine diseases until they are fully vaccinated; so don’t take your puppy outside until your veterinarian says it is OK.

Your puppy’s emotional and mental health is just as important as her physical health. When your schedule your puppy’s first veterinary visit, also schedule her into a puppy socialization class. She may not be able to attend yet, but reserve your place now so you don’t miss out. Puppy socialization classes give your puppy an opportunity to meet a variety of people and dogs in a controlled situation.

If your puppy is to be a well-adjusted adult dog, she needs to learn how to act properly around other dogs and people. Dogs that are not socialized frequently grow up to be aggressive and excessively fearful.

Firm and Friendly –  When you give commands such as heel and come, you want to use a happy, friendly voice.  On the other hand, you will want a lower, firmer voice for sit, down, and stay.

Start Young…but not too early -  The ideal time to start training begins at six to eight weeks, maybe even earlier depending on the puppy.  But remember, it’s never too late to teach a dog a new trick.

Don’t Rub His Nose in It -  Though it may be tempting to rub your dog’s nose in his accident or swat him with a rolled up newspaper.  Punishing your dog is not really a desired form of dog training.  The only thing this will do in the end is teach your dog a serious problem–to become afraid of you. Do you think your dog should come over as you call if he thinks you are simply going to whack him or stick his nose into the carpet?

Be Patient – Patience is key when you work with your dog or puppy.  If you feel like you’re at the end of your leash before you’ve even started, don’t attempt to train your dog. Your dog is incredibly smart and will pick up on your emotions.  Remember, this is fun!

Keep it Short -  Fifteen minutes or so is about the right time for learning simple commands, so focus on a single command a session and end it on a positive note. If your dog or pup has successfully done the command several times in a row remember to lavish him with praise. After the dog training session, spend some time playing. He will associate time with you as positive and anticipate his training.

No Distractions -  Try to pick a quiet spot free of distractions when training your dog to do tricks or commands.  A secluded back yard or an inside room works best. If there are other pets in the family, put them up so they won’t interfere with training.
And Remember, This is Fun!  – Dog training, of course, ought to be a pleasant time for you and Fido. The time can be used to bond closely with your dog and learn each other’s personalities.  When you do this, you will not only have a well-trained dog or puppy, but a longtime, loyal companion and friend.

When your pet is still a little puppy, all those enthusiastic displays of affection and joy can be gratifying and let’s admit, more than a little flattering. Flash forward to a few months later, and your dog is now big enough and heavy enough to actually harm or injure you by jumping on you the moment you step in the door.  A seventy pound dog jumping on you can easily knock you off balance.

If your dog is making your guests the focus of all this affection, you can’t always be sure they appreciate all the loving.  They might be afraid or feel uncomfortable.  They might not like their clothes and hair being messed up by a big slobbering dog dribbling saliva inches from their face. If it’s a person who doesn’t have any experience with pet dogs, they could even panic leading to all kinds of undesirable consequences.

Teaching your dog to display acceptable behavior in the company of others is an important part of responsible dog ownership. You might think your dog is cute and smells great, but your friends or guests might not agree.  When you invite guests into your home, you must be mindful that your dog doesn’t make them uncomfortable, and a jumping dog actually makes more people uncomfortable than you think.

For a dog to be taught not to jump on others, you have to first train him not to jump on you.  It isn’t possible to teach him that a particular behavior is acceptable when it’s displayed towards you, but completely undesirable when it’s displayed towards others. Begin training your dog not to jump on you form the time he’s a puppy.  Bad habits left ignored only continue into adulthood, and you’ll have a harder time getting your dog to stop his jumping behavior if you wait till he’s seventy pounds of muscle and slobbering all over you.

Tips for Training your Dog not to Jump

Take a look at your current behavior with your dog, and how you react when he jumps on you when you walk in the door.  Do you resign yourself to his affection and say “Ok” Ok, boy, down boy, down?”  If this sounds familiar, you  might know it, but you’re actually encouraging his jumping behavior, and establishing it in his mind as desirable behavior. There has been no punishment, and no reason for him to stop his behavior. You haven’t’ been angry with him. In fact, you’ve done nothing to show your dog you don’t approve of his jumping.  Don’t expect your dog to figure out what’s in your mind. He needs to be taught that you don’t encourage certain behaviors, and ignoring it and hoping he’ll grow out of it doesn’t help.

The next time you walk in the door, and your dog jumps on you, turn around before he has a chance to rest his paws on your shoulder.  Ignore him till he stops the jumping actions,and avoid all eye contact. Then, once he’s on the ground and calmer, turn around and pet him and praise him for being such a good dog. Remember, he shouldn’t be jumping at the time of praise; he should be sitting and calm.  Timing is crucial here.

Use the “sit command to distract him when he is about to begin his his normal jumping routine.  This forces him to stop focusing on jumping, and begin obeying the “sit” command.  He won’t be able to jump when he’s sitting. Now, pet him and praise him to reinforce the sitting behavior.  Come down to his level, and interact with him, and return his greetings this way.

The “Off” command works fine too, if used instead of the “sit” command.

If you find using the “sit” and “off” commands isn’t doing anything to calm your excited dog, throw him off balance…literally.  When your dog is leaning on you with his paws on you, take a small step forward, so he is forced to retreat backwards. Don’t take a step backward yourself; he’ll think you’re playing a game which only establishes the jumping behavior as desirable.  When you move a step ahead, he will find it harder to walk backwards on his two legs.  For smaller dogs, you might want to take a small step, so you don’t risk completely throwing them off and on to the ground.  You can also try leaning on the dog a little to throw him off balance.

Some dog training experts advocate kneeing a dog in the chest to discourage his jumping behavior.  This might work in some situations, but the disadvantages are too many.  Kneeing your beloved pet might not be easy to do, and you risk injuring your dog if you knee him too hard.

Remember, the longer your dog goes without learning to restrain himself with you and others, the harder you will find to get him to lose this undesirable behavior.  If your dog is making a nuisance of himself in the presence of company, begin training him immediately.

If you are out and return to your house and find that your young puppy or your dog has destroyed something, just ignore him until you’ve had an opportunity to both clean up and cool down. Beating and hitting your puppy is not only unkind but doesn’t work.  If your puppy is found chewing on something he shouldn’t be, firmly say “no” and then gently take the object from him.  Then you can immediately give him a more acceptable toy or the sock trick mentioned below.  Then, as always, follow that up with some praise.

A quick little tip that can help train your puppy and give hime something to gnaw on while easing some of the pain.   Just make sure to watch your pup if you use this tip.

Get a sock and put a bunch of semi-crushed ice cubes in it.  After you’ve tied the top of the sock you can throw it back into the freezer. If your puppy begins to chew on something he shouldn’t, get the old sock out and let him chew that instead.

Please don’t let the puppy chew on this by himself with this sock as the puppy could tear off bits of the sock and choke on them.

Getting rid of fleas isn’t the equivalent of delousing for humans. Fleas have no wings, but have incredibly powerful legs that allow them to jump as far as 16 inches at a time!

If you find your dog furiously scratching himself, and fidgety, or has trouble sleeping, you might want to check him for fleas. If you notice sores or bare patches of skin on him, you can be sure it’s a flea infestation.  Fleas don’t adapt well to light, so you might find it hard to look for them in your dog’s thick fur. Check his belly and inner thighs – you’ll have a better chance of catching them in these areas. Also, check for flea dirt. Basically, these are flea droppings, and resemble crushed pepper. If you see a blackish powdery substance on his skin, pick it and crush it between your fingers.  Fleas drink blood and your flea dirt should stain your fingers red.

Once you have confirmed your dog’s flea attack, consult your vet about  a topical application for his flea infestation.  Also, consult him about the use of a flea collar. Flea collars make for an inhospitable environment for fleas, and can be quite effective for the prevention of fleas in the future. These are meant to be used judiciously because they contain toxic chemicals. Flea shampoos are also beneficial in eliminating fleas.  A flea comb will allow you to comb through and look for fleas manually, but these aren’t that effective.  Plus, you risk cross contaminating other areas in the house or yard because fleas tend to jump such long distances and are hard to pin down.

Ticks

Ticks belong to the arachnid family, and are blood sucking mites that leech themselves to your dog’s skin, and gorge on his blood. In doing so, they can grow in size, a whopping hundred times.  Unlike fleas, ticks are much harder to catch especially if your dog has a thick coat of fur.  The only way to look for a tick infestation is to comb through with a comb, and look for black mites. The head, ears, feet and neck are the most popular haunts of the tick. Ticks can carry Lymes disease, and can cause severe anemia in a  dog, if the infestation continues over a period of time. Tick paralysis can also result from the mite feasting on your dog’s blood over a long period of time.

Ticks are fond of dampness, grassy areas and wet areas.  If your dog has been out playing in the grass or woods, give him a tick check when he returns.  Use tweezers to catch hold of  a tick, and drop it in rubbing alcohol to kill it. Don’t flush it down the toilet or throw it out – ticks are survivors!

Tick control products come in both herbal and chemical varieties. Consult your vet about the right kind of tick product to use on your dog.

A dog will often bark to attract attention when they are lonely or bored, or sometimes they are simply overly sensitive to every movement or sound. It is possible that your dog has learned to bark as a means to get your attention. If he or she has been barking and you’re yelling “Stop Barking!”, he learns it’s an easy way to garner attention.

It is necessary to keep three objectives in mind when attempting to correct inappropriate or excessive barking. First, avoid the situations that tend to provoke the barking; secondly, reduce the number of barks when they do begin barking; and finally, increase the duration of the quiet times between barking sessions. It is usually very difficult to eliminate barking altogether. Remember, it is okay for a dog to briefly bark a happy greeting when you return home or “sound the alarm” when he sees something out of the usual.

There are also some basic training techniques that can be done to reduce excessive barking. First of all, do yourself and your dog a favor by learning some basic dog training. You will be able to establish yourself as the leader, so that when you give the command “No Bark!” he will instantly obey. And please, do not physically punish your dog for barking. It is very hard for dogs to understand, after the fact, what they being rebuked for.

It is also a good idea to praise your dog when he is not barking. This might seem silly, but it usually works. As your dog is lying around quietly, say, “Good Dog!” After the third or fourth alarm bark, say, “NO BARK!” When he stops his barking, ask him to “Sit,” followed with praise and a “Good Dog!” You have then given a verbal reprimand for excessive barking and followed it up with a command and praise which indicates what you would like him to do after he barks an alarm. Try to use a quiet, soft voice which will force him to listen to you.

If your dog barks immediately after you leave your home, you might want to change the way you leave. Try to act unemotional, simply saying “Bye-bye, Rover” and then walking out. Practice this when you are not really leaving your house for good. Do so by leaving your house for a short while and then quietly returning. If he is not barking, go into the house and give him lots of praise. If he is barking, verbally reprimand him and leave again. Be consistent and persistent with your training and your dog will stop barking in no time.

A dog who has been trained to obey his master has no problem when his master calls him to “stop.”  On the other hand, if obedience training is ignored, it’s likely that your dog will have a skewed up vision of his life.  He may be confused about his relationship with you. Confusion isn’t a good thing for a dog. In fact, dogs like having clearly marked boundaries, and everything spelled out clearly in black and white. A lack of obedience training opens you both to the possibility of a tension filled power struggle.  This attempt to dominate you is a dangerous and undesirable trait in a dog, and must be eliminated as soon as possible, through obedience training.

Obedience training helps you to be aware of your dog at all times.  This means that when you’re out and about, you’re certain of what your dog will do in a given situation. It also means that your dog is always aware of the sort of behavior that’s expected of him.  If your dog hasn’t been trained to respond to your commands and obey them, you expose him and others to danger when you go out with him.  In fact, you expose your own family to danger because you can never be one hundred percent sure of how he will react to a situation or a person.

A dog that has been trained to obey through obedience training techniques is more confident and self assured.  You will be more confident having him in the house, and out in the company of others.

Obedience training has has been found to be very stimulating to a dog mentally, and leads to a happier and well adjusted dog all round.

Here are some ways to increase the effectiveness of your dog obedience training.

* Use positive reinforcement for desirable behaviors.
* When the behavior is undesirable, make use of proper corrective methods.
* Make sure you don’t ignore any kind of behavior, whether desirable or undesirable.
* It causes confusion if you don’t follow a sign of progress with a reward or words of praise, or if you ignore undesirable behaviors like chewing.
* Never correct him if he hasn’t done anyhting wrong at that exact moment. This is crucial.
* Timing is of the utmost importance in dog training. Don’t wait to correct him; ensure he makes the connection between his bad behavior and your correction immediately.
* Make use of repetition to establish proper learning.
* Keep training short and simple. A few minutes a day is quite sufficient.
* Start with simple commands, and once these have been firmly established, progress to more advanced lessons.
* Make obedience training a daily part of your life. Commands like “sit” and “heel” can be used in everyday situations.
* Be consistent with the commands you use, and make sure each member of your family is also aware of this. You don’t want to end up with a dog that’s totally confused because every one in the  house has their own methods of training.
* Ideally, you should be the one training your dog, because you’re the one living with him. When you’re the one training him, he learns to recognize you as the leader of his pack, someone to be obeyed at all times.

Having a pet dog is not only about feeding him a healthy diet, exercising him and taking care of his other basic needs.  A dog needs to be mentally challenged, and trained to know his place in the world. Obedience training is the only way you can accomplish this.

Have a regular feeding schedule for your dog, and stick to it religiously.  Feed him only high quality and premium dog foods. Economy dog foods are not just inferior in their protein sources, but they may also lack important vitamins and minerals that should be part of a healthy dog’s habit.  Economy brands can also be more expensive in the longer run since they are often designed to be less filling, so the dog needs more food.  While buying a brand of dog food, take your dog’s age, weight size, breed and activity level into consideration.  Make sure your dog has a constant supply of fresh water in his bowl.

Exercise

No matter what the size of your dog, he needs plenty of exercise, and not just in your yard. Many dog owners make the mistake of assuming that all a large dog needs is a large yard to bound about in.  No. A  large dog needs a long walk and some fresh air. He would be perfectly happy in a smaller house or yard. Some breeds of dogs need more exercise than others. When your buy a dog, take their activity levels into consideration.  If you can’t spare a lot of time to exercise your dog, go in for a breed that’s comfortable with lesser amounts of activity.

Vet Visits

Your dog needs to have a periodic evaluation of his health by a veterinary doctor.  Take your dog to a vet for  complete physical every six months.  Observe your dog’s eating and eliminating habits, and look for changes in his skin and any discharge from his eyes and ears. If you notice anything strange, tell your vet about it.

Training

Training a dog is not just for show competition purposes. You may not need your dog to display acrobatics, but you certainly need him to understand and obey some basic commands. Train your dogs to obey you through obedience training techniques.  With a wealth of information available online, there’s really no need for you to let your pet remain untrained.  An untrained dog is not just a danger to others, but also risks injuring himself. Training your dog helps you control his behavior which is a vital part of responsible dog ownership.

Grooming

Some breeds require more intensive grooming than others, but ordinarily your dog should be groomed everyday. Use a soft bristled brush to brush his fur daily.  Keep his nails short, but not too short, and well trimmed at all times. Clean his ears with cottons swabs,and wipe off excess mucus from his eyes and nose.  Don’t forget his canines – a soft bristled toothbrush and a doggy flavored toothpaste will keep his molars looking sparkling clean.

Spaying and Neutering

Neutering or spaying your dog is an absolute must.  There are too many dogs without homes or shelters for your dog to contribute to the canine overpopulation.  Dogs should be neutered before they are 6 months old. Neutering a dog has many benefits – they become less territorial and less aggressive.  Neutering also prevents the development of various cancers in your dog like cancer of the prostrate.

Females need to be spayed before 6 months too. You don’t want your dog to go through a pregnancy and a stressful and hormone ridden delivery every three months.  Moreover, the scent of  a female in heat can attract unneutered males from miles around. Dogs attracted to a female have been known to try to enter yards, and indulge in bloody fights over the female.

Companionship

Your dog is a social animal and needs company and companionship. Don’t confine him to the yard or hide him away in a crate for a long period of time.  Make the time to play with him and shower lots of affection on your loving pet.

Responsible dog ownership is about taking good care of your pet, feeding him, and exercising him, and helping him to assimilate himself into society through obedience training. The above tips will help you lay the foundation for a mutually affectionate dog -owner relationship.

If you can’t catch your dog in time and find the accident later, do not drag your dog back to the spot and rub his nose in it.  He has no memory of doing it and dragging him back will only scare him.

You’ll want to eliminate the odor immediately  If your puppy can smell the spot he will be drawn to it again.  Secondly, try to figure out what you did wrong.  Was he just fed? Get up from a nap?  Playtime?  Understanding what your puppy was doing before he went will help you plan for the next time.

If you keep you puppy in a crate at night, first thing in the morning, before you take care of any of your own needs, go to the carrier, and take your puppy outside. Stand with him as he eliminates, and praise him.  After he eats, pick up the bowl, and take him back outside and see if he has to go again.  Don’t forget to keep the praise up.  After he is done, plan on around 15 minutes of good exercise outside.

If you stay at home, try to pay attention to your dogs activities.  If you are at work, try to get someone like a friend to do this midday feeding and elimination schedule. Mid afternoon, another bathroom and exercise break. Dinner should be around 5-6 PM, so that the pup has several hours in which to empty himself out before bedtime. Take him out just before you go to bed. Lastly, put him in the crate for the night.  You can also try paper training.

You will know things are going well when your puppy begins to ask to go outside.   Pay attention to your dog.  If you ignore him, or don’t understand what he is trying to tell you, he will continue to have accidents even though he knows where he should be going. This signal usually starts to be given after 1-2 weeks of consistent housetraining techniques. Once he is regularly asking to go outside, you don’t have to accompany him each time.

You can consider your pup to be housetrained if he goes 4-8 weeks without any accidents in the house. Then, you have the option of leaving food down all the time, and letting him free-feed, and also of not using the carrier, and letting him sleep wherever your would like him to.

If you’re having a hard time with your housetraining or simply want some more advice, consider one of the best and very easy to use books on the subject, Housetraining for Dummies.  This book, by Susan McCullough has helped thousands of puppy owners house break their dog.