Here are a few of our recommendations.
Now that you have taken home a little fury friend there are a few things you want to consider while you venture down the path to raising your newest companion.
Bringing a puppy into your family can be a very exciting moment for everyone but you do not want to neglect these very important imprinting stages. The first 0-4 months are crucial in setting behaviors that can impact your dog’s entire life. Here we will list a few tips to help you know what to and not to do with your puppy as well as how to handle those common puppy behaviors that most struggle with.
Feeding
Let’s start with hand feeding, you want to begin hand feeding your puppy it’s meals. This will allow your puppy to associate their food, which is the most valuable resource with you and not their bowl. This will build more engagement and focus towards you. You can begin introducing fun engaging commands like touch or just simply getting eye contact and rewarding.
Crate Training
The next important step will be crate training, the crate will become your puppy’s safe enclosed area that he/she will go when they need to rest or decompress. Most puppies need about 15-20 hours of sleep a day. Allowing your puppy to become accustomed to their crate early on will be helpful for them down the line, such as vet visits, traveling etc. Crate training will also help tremendously with potty training. Make sure to crate your puppy whenever you leave the home or at night when you’re going to bed.
The first few weeks that you bring your puppy home you will want keep them tethered to you with a leash whenever they are not in
the crate or playing. Keeping your puppy close to you will help prevent bad behaviors from developing. Do not leave your puppy on a leash unattended, this can be dangerous for them.
Zeus at 8 weeks old.
House Breaking
House breaking your dog is going to be 100% dependent on your consistency. Take your puppy out for frequent walks, every 2-3 hours. You want to generally take to the same area to relieve themselves each time. Do not use peepee pads to train your puppy if you want them to be house broken. This will reinforce them using the bathroom in the home.Follow a schedule to keep their feeding, crate time, and walks very consistent. This will make the house breaking process much smoother. Accidents will happen, just don’t correct your dog for these mistakes.
Age: 12- 20 weeks
puppies go through teething and instinctively want to chew on everything, if you’re struggling with your dog using you as a chew toy here are some helpful tips:
1. Provided safe chew toys that are easily accessible 2. Redirect by playing with your puppy using their toys, making sure not to tug too hard 3. Teach them an “out” or “leave it” command using a lot of rewards 4. Use your hands as a tool to deliver their reward (food) through training and less for affection/play 5. Only provide physical affection when the puppy is calm and tired
Lastly, lets talk about socialization and interaction. For the first 4 months of your puppy’s life, you want to introduce them to as much stimulus as possible, this means familiarize your dog with as many sounds, smells, textures, people and dogs that you can. This will help you to develop a very neutral dog that has already experienced many new things at his/her very developmental stage. Most important thing to remember when taking home your new puppy is to be patient, they will take time to learn how to navigate in your home and this big world.
Comments