New Puppy Tips!!!!!

Training: Puppy training can be fairly easy if you follow a few steps.

• Try to keep your puppy in the kitchen (easy clean up!) until trained.
• Leave food down only as long as puppy eats - then remove the food.
• Take your puppy outside as soon as it wakes up and after eating.
• Go outside with your puppy and when he finishes, praise him or her. Some people simply let their puppy out alone and assume that the puppy will do 'their business'. Then when the puppy re-enters the home, he/she wets the floor. Best to go with your puppy to make sure.
• When training your puppy to go outside, coax the puppy to follow you to the door - all the while asking your puppy if he/she wants to go outside. Soon your puppy will respond to your questions.
  
  

  Neat Idea: Just heard of someone who tied a bell to a string on the door knob. They would ring it as they asked the dog it if wanted to go outside. Soon the puppy would knock the bell when it wanted to go out. This was especially good when people were in other rooms - they could hear the bell and go let the puppy out. Now, this is not a 'forever' solution. When the dog is trained, you can remove the bell.

Night time: Get a stuffed animal so they can cuddle up to it. This helps with loneliness and may prevent whining.

Chewing: Puppies chew for various reasons such as boredom and teething. Have an assortment of toys - some for chewing and others for playing. If your puppy wants to chew on your furniture, scold and give him/her a chew toy so he/she will learn what is allowed - unless you feel the need to replace your furniture every so often!

Crating: This can sometimes be a good idea. Your puppy may feel more secure knowing that the crate (or cage) is their space. So, find one that is much larger than your puppy with a door. Puppies grow fast! Puppies soon learn not to dirty in their sleeping area. During the day, take the door off so puppy is free to go in and out at will.

If you go out to work, arrange for someone to let your puppy out on a regular basis. Like children, puppies must learn bladder and bowel control. IMPORTANT RULE OF THUMB: 1 hour for one month of age. In other words, if your puppy is 2 months old, you must not leave it caged for more than 2 hours - your puppy will need to go out at that time - 3 months=3 hours, 4 months=4 hours, etc.

But please, be careful, puppies are precious.

Changing Food: Do this over a period of 3-4 days - mixing the new in with the old - gradually increasing the amount of the new food. This will help your puppy's system adjust.

Last but not least! ... Pick up your puppy early in the day so he/she has a chance to know you and his/her new home. Nothing is worse than being brought into a strange world at bed time.