Bringing a puppy home is the same as bringing a small baby home. These small and lively creatures are curious about everything and ready to explore the world around them. However, with their cute playfulness comes a big responsibility as a puppy owner.

You have to care for them, nurture their spirits, train them right, and set the foundation of trust and communication to turn them into a disciplined and well-mannered adult dog. 

As a new puppy owner, you try to give your puppy the best of everything, whether that’s toys, food, or even behavior and lessons. However, nurturing and puppy training can feel like a big task. It is normal for you to feel overwhelmed and confused about what you should be working on. 

After understanding your worry about puppy training, we are here for you, providing a simple guide on how to train your puppy right. So, stay with us to make your big task of puppy training and dog discipline into a simple task. 

Why Puppy Training is a Necessity Rather Than a Burden?

Nurturing and encouraging puppies with good behaviour and disciplining them in a display of bad behaviour are all part of puppy training. However, many people consider training a puppy to be a burden and a time-consuming act. This behavior will not only let your puppy learn what is allowed but also deepen the bond you both have with each other.

Since we understand the pain of the pet owners, we are here with ways to understand everything about puppy training. 

Understanding the Personality and Temperament of Your Puppy

Every puppy has its own set of traits and characteristics that make it different yet special. These traits and characteristics can change over time as they grow and mature. Before starting to train your puppy, it is essential to take the time to observe and understand its nature and personality. 

Once you know their energy levels, breeds, and temperament, it will be easy for you to curate a dog training guide and adapt your training techniques. Some puppies can be reserved, shy, and laid back, while some can be over-enthusiastic and high on energy.

Likewise, if your puppy is interested in food, you can easily train them with treats. However, if your puppy is not interested in food, you can try attention games. 

Furthermore, certain breeds of puppies have inherent characteristics that can shape their behavior. Labrador retrievers and golden retrievers are known for their calm temperament, playfulness, and friendliness.

Similarly, corgis, sheepdogs, and huskies have high energy and can spend hours running around outdoors. 

Create a Specific Schedule

Dogs are the type of animals that thrive on routine and predictability. They don’t tend to like uncertainty, so it is essential to create and maintain a specific schedule for puppy training. You have to be consistent in timing and approach, too. 

Keeping your training sessions short and spread throughout the day is a great idea! These shorter sessions are usually less frustrating and a lot more fun, making it easier for both you and your puppy to enjoy the experience without getting overly tired. 

For instance, you can try teaching basic commands and house training to your pooches in the morning. In the afternoon or midday, keeping a short training session related to controlling their energy and crate training will be fun.

In the evening, you can take your fur babies for a walk where you can train them to socialize with other dogs and practice walking with ease. In this way, your furry friend won’t be frustrated and can easily create a lovely bond with their owners. 

Using Basic Commands

You may have seen dogs fetching the toys on command of owners or dogs doing various impressive stunts. Guess what? Your furry baby can also do these things, but the very first step is training them with basic commands.

Teaching basic commands like “sit,” “stay,” and “come” is not just developing a foundation for advanced training but also creating a bond of trust, communication, and mutual understanding between pet and pet parents. 

Read more: Is Your Dog Ignoring You?

How do we teach them basic cues?

In the initial phase of training, you have to teach your dog how to think as this is something you are not going to make them do, but you have to get them to do it voluntarily. 

  • Sit: you can hold the treat near the puppy’s nose. It is natural for them to use their paws to catch the treats. However, you have to lure them into a sitting position. You have to take it slow and say, “Sit.” Once they start to lower their butt and come into sit position, you can release the treat. Many puppies will catch on to this cue quickly.
  • Stay: After making sure that your pooches understand the concept of sit, you can move forward to stay. Ensure your puppy is in the sit position, then, you can hold the treat in your hand for a few seconds. As they are holding the position of sitting, you can introduce the word “stay” to them. After a few seconds in the stay position, you can feed them treats and reward them with some pats. Just take a few seconds of time gap and gradually increase it. Don’t ask for too much early. 
  • Come: Firstly, you have to gain your puppies’ attention fully. You can use treats or toys to get their attention. After this, you can introduce come as a cue word along with their name in a happy tone. As they come towards you, you can release the treat. 

Housetraining Your Puppy

Housetraining or potty training is one of the essential steps to turn your puppy into a well-behaved dog. Initially, you have to feed them at scheduled times and take them out shortly after their meals and naps to relieve themselves. 

Make sure you have a specific spot where they can pee or potty, as the familiar scent will encourage them to use the area consistently. Moreover, each time they pee or potty in the specified spot, you can reward them or praise them.

Furthermore, puppies show some behavior like whining, barking, and sniffing when they need to relieve themselves. So, you can observe those behaviors and take them out immediately when they show such behaviors. 

Socialization

Another step for training your puppies is exposing them to new people, places, and surroundings to show them the outer world. Socialization usually lessens the chances of different phobias, aggression, and fear-based behaviors. However, it is necessary to get your puppy vaccinated while taking them outside of your house. 

You can take your puppies for walks in parks and streets. Likewise, you can take your puppies to various puppy training classes where they can interact with other dogs and people. Various pet cafes will help your furry friend to socialize in a quiet environment. 

Leash Training 

Teaching your puppy to walk on a leash can be quite tricky as they don’t understand why we would attach them to a leash. However, as pet parents, we have to ensure the safety of our furry babies and keep good control of them when we are taking them into unfamiliar environments like parks, roads, etc. 

According to a research article on PubMed Central, leashing impacts dog interactions during walks.

Leashing is far more than just walking your dog. It is the absolute best way to control where your dog can and can’t go during that first year of training. When puppies are introduced to a leash, they tend to bite the leash.

So you need to give them a good treat and get the attention of the puppy towards the treat rather than yanking the leash. Likewise, they tend to pull the leash while walking.

Likewise, you need to have control over your puppies or dogs while walking them with a leash. The first step of leash training is gaining your puppies’ attention towards you.

When you walk the puppies, when they pay attention to you and follow you while you are changing directions, you can reward them liberally with treats. 

However, when you are leash training outside of your house, you have to be tolerant, as many distractions can take away the attention of your puppies from you. 

Crate Training

Crate training a puppy is more like providing a safe and secure space for themselves. You have to choose a crate that has enough room for your puppy to reside comfortably when they stand or move around.

While introducing crates to your puppies, you have to associate crates with their pleasant and favorite things. Now, you can open the door of the crate and drop treats to encourage them to enter the crate.

You have to use a soft and happy tone while guiding them. If they are not interested in treats, you can lure them inside the crate with their favorite toys or games. 

Afterwards, you can try feeding your puppies in the crate regularly. While they are eating their food, try closing the crate door for a few minutes. You can increase the time with each successive feeding. 

ky 3 Starting Puppy Training Right: A Simple Guide For New Owners

Tips for Puppy Training

Use Positive Reinforcement

There are various ways to train your puppies. One of the popular ways is positive reinforcement, where owners use rewards and treats to encourage the behavior that they want. You can use treats to lure them. For puppies that are not very interested in food, you can use toys also. Praising your puppies by saying words like good job, well done, etc. can not only help in training puppies but also create a communication bond between you and your furry friend. 

Using punishment while training your puppy is not advisable since it can impact the mindset of your puppies in a negative way. It can create anxiety, fear, and traumas, which can last for a long time. 

Be Consistent

While training your puppies, you need to be consistent in terms of schedules, cue words, commands, and many more. A consistent approach and schedule help them to adapt to the behaviour quickly and thrive in those behaviours. 

Have Patience 

As previously mentioned, puppies are like babies. So, it is obvious for them to make mistakes and have accidents. As a pet parent, you have to understand that and provide them with a secure environment for growing.

FAQs

  1. At what age can I start puppy training?

You can start to train your puppy when you bring them home, typically around 8 weeks.

2. What is the first thing that I need to do while puppy training?

The first thing that you need to train your puppies is some basic commands like sit, stay, and come.

3. How can you train your puppies?

You can use treats, toys, and praise like pats, belly rubs, etc, to train your puppies. 

4. How long does it take to train a puppy?

Training your puppy on some basic to advanced commands can take about 4 to 6 months. 

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