Bringing a new puppy home can be an exciting time. However, before you bring a puppy into your home, you need to be ready for what is to come. The first week is by far the most crucial for the future behavior of the puppy and the sanity of those living in the home. It is fairly obvious that you will need a crate or a soft bed for the dog to sleep in, food and water bowls, food for the dog to eat, toys for the dog to play with, a collar and a leash, at the very minimum. Just as important, maybe even more important than the items that you choose to buy for the dog is the agreement between all family members on the routine, rules and responsibilities of all members in helping to care for this new member of the family.
As mentioned previously, the first week is by far the most important week for you and for the puppy. Everyone is excited to have a new puppy and everyone wants to help out. Rules, routines and responsibilities are easily broken. Maybe you had agreed that you would not let the puppy jump on you or anyone else, but you are just so excited that you have this new puppy that you do not really mind that the puppy is jumping on anything. The family may have agreed that the puppy will sleep in his or her own bed, but now that you have brought the puppy home, you want it to sleep in your bed. The next morning, you may find that the puppy needed to go outside in the middle of the night, but decided to go on the bed instead of letting you know.
After a week or so, people become less excited about a new puppy in the home. No one wants to feed the puppy any more and the puppy is not getting outside nearly enough, judging by the stains on the carpet. The puppy is vulnerable, since it has been removed from the presence of his or her mother and other puppies in the litter. It is best to set up a special area or room of the house just for the puppy for at least the first couple of months, until the puppy gets used to living in your home. This is the beginning of training the dog. As you are training the dog to go outside, you will need to paper the entire floor of the area in which you have decided it will stay. There is always a mistake here and there.
Play with the puppy quietly and gently. It is not wise, when you are training a dog, to give the dog all of your attention and to fill its day with all sorts of activities. Most puppies need a lot of sleep. It is best that you give the puppy some time to him or herself. They need their space just like you do. It is very important that you do not deviate from the schedule your family set when deciding who will care for the puppy and when. If you do, it will be far more difficult to train the dog. It is important that if the puppy is not going to be around people all day long that he is left alone from the beginning during the day, so that he can get used to it.
These are very basic principles as to how to go about handling a new puppy in your home and how to go about training the dog.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Dog Training
