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| 10 BASIC TRAINING RULES FOR NEW PUPPY PARENTS!! |
TRAINING TIPS – (2 Pages) You don't need to print this as when you leave your deposit I email you a copy of
this for your records.
Below you will find 10 Basic Training Rules for Puppy Parents. They were put together to help you with knowing
how to train a new puppy right from the day you get them home. Keep in mind, that all dogs are different – and
what might work for one or many may not work for another. So, if something isn’t working for you, change it up
until you find something that works for you! There is always a solution. Just remember not to change things
too quickly – you want to still stay in control of your puppy and not have your puppy be the control of you. Just
because they whine or howl for a few nights doesn’t mean it’s not working, it is just the puppy getting used to
new surroundings and a new routine. This initial separation anxiety could last a night or a couple weeks and
you really need to be patient.
You will not want to give your new puppy the run of the house. They do best when contained or sectioned off,
gives them less room for potty error! This is the reason for the Ex-Pen Puppy set up listed in my Prep List.
Puppies this young (between 8 and 9 weeks when you get them) do not have the capability yet to hold it for
long, sometimes they are going every 20 minutes or sooner, especially at play time….so don’t expect too much
at first. It’s not until they are between 5 - 6 months old that they have the ability to hold it for longer periods,
and it may not be between 7 to 10 months of age before they are fully potty trained. Sometimes it could take up
to 12 months. So, depending on the potty training you will be doing, just take your puppy out every time you
see it circling, and every 20-30 minutes when out around the house playing. Remember initially you will keep
them contained for the first 2 weeks when you bring them home and have them do all potty in the ex pen on
potty pads. You need 2 clear fecal results from your vet, 2 weeks apart to be sure they are clear of all the
possibilities because of the way things grow in their system. Avoid ALL poop accidents in your house for this 2
week period. It’s way to difficult to remove these types of germs from carpet. This is very important to follow
this instruction – It is to avoid spreading worms around your house and your backyard. Another note, this is the
best reason not to use a kitchen or bathroom as your “puppy area” – otherwise you will have to be bleaching
out the floors every day to make sure nothing is spreading around your house from the puppy pooping in these
areas!! Eventually your puppy will be trained. Every time they have an accident, just remember, it’s not his/her
fault, they just can’t hold it…..
If you are crate training, begin the training with the crate inside the ex-pen with the crate door open, let it get
used to the crate being its den. (Ex pens can be phased out between 5-8 months of age, by that time you
should have your puppy crate trained). Eventually, start closing the door for a few minutes at a time until you
will be able to close the door for a few hours at a time depending on how long your puppy can hold it. Best
times in the beginning is to close the crate door when they have just put themselves down for a nap. Try to
minimize accidents inside the crate, or they will get used to thinking it’s ok to go in the crate. This is the purpose
of leaving the door open for a while so your puppy always has the choice to potty in the pen area, instead of
being forced to go in the crate. If you have a small puppy and the 24 inch crate, it comes with a divider panel to
keep the space for it smaller so it can’t potty in one end of the crate and sleep comfortably in another end.
Most Puggles will whine, cry & even howl when left alone. It is very common especially the first week. We don’t
know this about the puppy until all the litter has been released to their new homes. Please be prepared for this,
especially if you are in an apartment or condo living situation. Some do, some don’t, (Boston’s don’t seem to
have much of a problem at all with separation anxiety – only on occasion) but best to expect this and be patient
with your new puppy. You may have to leave the room for minutes at a time and return to the room when the
puppy is quiet. Start with 10 second intervals, then work up to minutes, hours, etc. This way the puppy will
learn that attention is given only while quiet. They learn very quickly - if they whine and someone comes to the
rescue (like we all would like to do) they will quickly see that all they have to do for the attention is
whine/cry/howl.
10 BASIC TRAINING RULES FOR PUPPY PARENTS:
#1 - Never give attention to puppy when crying. The idea is to get them to go through their separation anxiety
as soon as you bring your puppy home. All puppies go through this, some have it worse than others, but you
must try to only give attention while the puppy is quiet. Commonly they will howl and cry or bark when you put
them in their pen and you need to just let them. No matter how crazy it makes you. What you do is over and
over - only give attention while quiet, ignore while crying or making sounds. Once the puppy settles, take the
puppy out for play times.
#2 – If your ex-pen has a door - Never leave ex-pen door open. The idea for this ex-pen is to be the time-out
pen. You should have a crate inside the ex-pen, with the crate door left open for the first month or two, so it
isn't forced to have potty accidents in its crate. Your puppy will step out of the crate into the ex-pen area to go
potty, when you are not around for them to notify. Once you see that your puppy doesn't have accidents in the
middle of the night, for 2 weeks straight, ok to start closing the crate door on the puppy overnight for more crate
training. Once you see that your puppy’s accidents have stopped when you leave the house, you can crate for
those time periods also. And, once you know your puppy is old enough, and can actually hold it for long
periods of time, then this is when you can get rid of your ex-pen set up all together and only have the puppy’s
crate for containment.
#3 - Never give attention to your puppy in the ex-pen, pen is not for play, it's for containment only. Playtime
should be once puppy has settled, then take puppy out in house for play time. You want to get your puppy
used to being in the pen with no attention. If you constantly play with your puppy over the top of the ex-pen, or
leave the door open to it so they can wander around the house, it is not teaching your puppy to be ok by itself
in the pen.
#4 - Only have your puppy out around the house if your eye is 100% on the puppy. The second you take your
eye off the puppy they go potty somewhere. Trust me. To minimize accidents around the house, Timers can be
set when playing with the puppy, sometimes they have to go again every 15 minutes when playing. So, set your
timer for 15 min intervals, take out for potty, then come back in and set timer again! If you see 15 minutes they
don’t have to go, just monitor how often they are going when playing and set timer for that time or a few minutes
under that time to take them outside. Also, when you take your puppy out for potty you should keep your
puppy on a leash. This way you are leading the puppy to the potty area and keeping them in the direction you
want them to be. Once they go, back inside. If they are off leash and you want them to go potty they will likely
play with everything in the yard, eat the leaves, grass, the twigs, rocks, etc., so it's also a good way to keep
their nose off the ground. While if potty training mode, you won’t let the puppy play out in the yard, you will only
be going out to go potty. If you take your puppy out to play to often you will not know if it has to go or just wants
to go out to play.
#5 - Never ever leave collar on puppy while left alone in house inside the ex-pen. (Once they have grown out of
their puppy stage shouldn't be a problem). Because they are very excited quite often while they are puppies
you don't want them to get their collar stuck on the cage or crate while left alone, or it could be the end of your
puppy.
#6 - Toys - leave only strong toys in the pen with the puppy. Check toys daily to make sure no seams have
been broken, once a seam is broken, throw away the toy and purchase ones that are a little stronger than the
ones your puppy just chewed up. Chewies are ok left with the puppy only if they are large chewies, or if you
know the puppy can't finish it while you are gone. (don't want them to choke on the small piece left). Nylabone’s
are good sometimes for puppies to chew on.
#7 - Overnight - Some people get up every few hours to take their puppy outside (backyard) for potty. These
people are trying to minimize the accidents in the pen overnight. Some people want their sleep! So the basics
for puppy pen overnight is: Take your puppy out for its last potty of the evening the latest you possibly can -
right before you put yourself to bed. If the puppy has accidents overnight, it's just an accident, it won't be the
end of the training-world. Good idea is to monitor what time your puppy is waking up in the mornings. If you
can figure out what time they normally get up, then set your alarm for 10-15 mins before that time each morning
and wake up the puppy to take it outside for potty. This could minimize the accidents they have right when they
wake up in the morning. Normally, once you hear your puppy crying in the mornings, it's likely it's already too
late, they have probably already had that morning accident.
#8 - Other potty breaks - basically your puppy will have to pee each time it wakes up from a nap, and after each
meal. Take your puppy out always for these instances. You could have 10-15 potty breaks each day when you
have a young puppy.
#9 - Spray bottles / Leash dragging / Basic training commands - Spray bottles can be used quite often when
you have a puppy. Make sure it is on stream, not spray. You want it to be a bit of a shock to the puppy. You
can spray your puppy if necessary if it is barking at a certain thing, or performing unwanted behavior. Leash
dragging is quite often a must - when puppies get out of control you can catch them easily and if they jump off,
as you say "off" you step on the leash so they cannot jump on you. Good training methods. As soon as you
take your puppy home, you are ready to teach it the basic training commands. You can teach them to “Sit” the
first couple of days!! They are NOT too young for this. They do have short attention spans so limit your
training sessions to 10-15 minutes or so. After they learn “Sit”, other commands are going to be down (for lie
down), wait, stay, roll over, high-five, and any other fun tricks you want to teach them. Remember when training
a great idea is to feed them one of their regular meals a day as their training treats – this way they are learning
for a meal and not getting too many extra treats.
#10 - Finally. Reward your puppy quite often for good behavior. Carrots are a healthy little snack just make
sure they aren't too big to get stuck in their throat. They won't make your doggie fat either. Most dogs do like
carrots. Reward each time your puppy goes potty outside. Reward each time it does something right, even if
you didn't ask it to. If your puppy just sat in front of you - "good sit". Keep positive with your puppy. Once your
puppy is aloud to go out for walks (after 16 weeks of age, the final set of shots), you want to keep your dog on
a 4-6 foot leash. Don't let the dog walk ahead of you, it should be at your side the whole way. Apparently dogs
relieve stress by sniffing, so do let the dog sniff the grasses if it see’s another dog. At each corner before you
cross the street have your dog sit before you cross. Just remember the structured walks will do your doggie
much good.
Good Luck!
Chelle@DesignerDoggies.com - 415.999.4114
this for your records.
Below you will find 10 Basic Training Rules for Puppy Parents. They were put together to help you with knowing
how to train a new puppy right from the day you get them home. Keep in mind, that all dogs are different – and
what might work for one or many may not work for another. So, if something isn’t working for you, change it up
until you find something that works for you! There is always a solution. Just remember not to change things
too quickly – you want to still stay in control of your puppy and not have your puppy be the control of you. Just
because they whine or howl for a few nights doesn’t mean it’s not working, it is just the puppy getting used to
new surroundings and a new routine. This initial separation anxiety could last a night or a couple weeks and
you really need to be patient.
You will not want to give your new puppy the run of the house. They do best when contained or sectioned off,
gives them less room for potty error! This is the reason for the Ex-Pen Puppy set up listed in my Prep List.
Puppies this young (between 8 and 9 weeks when you get them) do not have the capability yet to hold it for
long, sometimes they are going every 20 minutes or sooner, especially at play time….so don’t expect too much
at first. It’s not until they are between 5 - 6 months old that they have the ability to hold it for longer periods,
and it may not be between 7 to 10 months of age before they are fully potty trained. Sometimes it could take up
to 12 months. So, depending on the potty training you will be doing, just take your puppy out every time you
see it circling, and every 20-30 minutes when out around the house playing. Remember initially you will keep
them contained for the first 2 weeks when you bring them home and have them do all potty in the ex pen on
potty pads. You need 2 clear fecal results from your vet, 2 weeks apart to be sure they are clear of all the
possibilities because of the way things grow in their system. Avoid ALL poop accidents in your house for this 2
week period. It’s way to difficult to remove these types of germs from carpet. This is very important to follow
this instruction – It is to avoid spreading worms around your house and your backyard. Another note, this is the
best reason not to use a kitchen or bathroom as your “puppy area” – otherwise you will have to be bleaching
out the floors every day to make sure nothing is spreading around your house from the puppy pooping in these
areas!! Eventually your puppy will be trained. Every time they have an accident, just remember, it’s not his/her
fault, they just can’t hold it…..
If you are crate training, begin the training with the crate inside the ex-pen with the crate door open, let it get
used to the crate being its den. (Ex pens can be phased out between 5-8 months of age, by that time you
should have your puppy crate trained). Eventually, start closing the door for a few minutes at a time until you
will be able to close the door for a few hours at a time depending on how long your puppy can hold it. Best
times in the beginning is to close the crate door when they have just put themselves down for a nap. Try to
minimize accidents inside the crate, or they will get used to thinking it’s ok to go in the crate. This is the purpose
of leaving the door open for a while so your puppy always has the choice to potty in the pen area, instead of
being forced to go in the crate. If you have a small puppy and the 24 inch crate, it comes with a divider panel to
keep the space for it smaller so it can’t potty in one end of the crate and sleep comfortably in another end.
Most Puggles will whine, cry & even howl when left alone. It is very common especially the first week. We don’t
know this about the puppy until all the litter has been released to their new homes. Please be prepared for this,
especially if you are in an apartment or condo living situation. Some do, some don’t, (Boston’s don’t seem to
have much of a problem at all with separation anxiety – only on occasion) but best to expect this and be patient
with your new puppy. You may have to leave the room for minutes at a time and return to the room when the
puppy is quiet. Start with 10 second intervals, then work up to minutes, hours, etc. This way the puppy will
learn that attention is given only while quiet. They learn very quickly - if they whine and someone comes to the
rescue (like we all would like to do) they will quickly see that all they have to do for the attention is
whine/cry/howl.
10 BASIC TRAINING RULES FOR PUPPY PARENTS:
#1 - Never give attention to puppy when crying. The idea is to get them to go through their separation anxiety
as soon as you bring your puppy home. All puppies go through this, some have it worse than others, but you
must try to only give attention while the puppy is quiet. Commonly they will howl and cry or bark when you put
them in their pen and you need to just let them. No matter how crazy it makes you. What you do is over and
over - only give attention while quiet, ignore while crying or making sounds. Once the puppy settles, take the
puppy out for play times.
#2 – If your ex-pen has a door - Never leave ex-pen door open. The idea for this ex-pen is to be the time-out
pen. You should have a crate inside the ex-pen, with the crate door left open for the first month or two, so it
isn't forced to have potty accidents in its crate. Your puppy will step out of the crate into the ex-pen area to go
potty, when you are not around for them to notify. Once you see that your puppy doesn't have accidents in the
middle of the night, for 2 weeks straight, ok to start closing the crate door on the puppy overnight for more crate
training. Once you see that your puppy’s accidents have stopped when you leave the house, you can crate for
those time periods also. And, once you know your puppy is old enough, and can actually hold it for long
periods of time, then this is when you can get rid of your ex-pen set up all together and only have the puppy’s
crate for containment.
#3 - Never give attention to your puppy in the ex-pen, pen is not for play, it's for containment only. Playtime
should be once puppy has settled, then take puppy out in house for play time. You want to get your puppy
used to being in the pen with no attention. If you constantly play with your puppy over the top of the ex-pen, or
leave the door open to it so they can wander around the house, it is not teaching your puppy to be ok by itself
in the pen.
#4 - Only have your puppy out around the house if your eye is 100% on the puppy. The second you take your
eye off the puppy they go potty somewhere. Trust me. To minimize accidents around the house, Timers can be
set when playing with the puppy, sometimes they have to go again every 15 minutes when playing. So, set your
timer for 15 min intervals, take out for potty, then come back in and set timer again! If you see 15 minutes they
don’t have to go, just monitor how often they are going when playing and set timer for that time or a few minutes
under that time to take them outside. Also, when you take your puppy out for potty you should keep your
puppy on a leash. This way you are leading the puppy to the potty area and keeping them in the direction you
want them to be. Once they go, back inside. If they are off leash and you want them to go potty they will likely
play with everything in the yard, eat the leaves, grass, the twigs, rocks, etc., so it's also a good way to keep
their nose off the ground. While if potty training mode, you won’t let the puppy play out in the yard, you will only
be going out to go potty. If you take your puppy out to play to often you will not know if it has to go or just wants
to go out to play.
#5 - Never ever leave collar on puppy while left alone in house inside the ex-pen. (Once they have grown out of
their puppy stage shouldn't be a problem). Because they are very excited quite often while they are puppies
you don't want them to get their collar stuck on the cage or crate while left alone, or it could be the end of your
puppy.
#6 - Toys - leave only strong toys in the pen with the puppy. Check toys daily to make sure no seams have
been broken, once a seam is broken, throw away the toy and purchase ones that are a little stronger than the
ones your puppy just chewed up. Chewies are ok left with the puppy only if they are large chewies, or if you
know the puppy can't finish it while you are gone. (don't want them to choke on the small piece left). Nylabone’s
are good sometimes for puppies to chew on.
#7 - Overnight - Some people get up every few hours to take their puppy outside (backyard) for potty. These
people are trying to minimize the accidents in the pen overnight. Some people want their sleep! So the basics
for puppy pen overnight is: Take your puppy out for its last potty of the evening the latest you possibly can -
right before you put yourself to bed. If the puppy has accidents overnight, it's just an accident, it won't be the
end of the training-world. Good idea is to monitor what time your puppy is waking up in the mornings. If you
can figure out what time they normally get up, then set your alarm for 10-15 mins before that time each morning
and wake up the puppy to take it outside for potty. This could minimize the accidents they have right when they
wake up in the morning. Normally, once you hear your puppy crying in the mornings, it's likely it's already too
late, they have probably already had that morning accident.
#8 - Other potty breaks - basically your puppy will have to pee each time it wakes up from a nap, and after each
meal. Take your puppy out always for these instances. You could have 10-15 potty breaks each day when you
have a young puppy.
#9 - Spray bottles / Leash dragging / Basic training commands - Spray bottles can be used quite often when
you have a puppy. Make sure it is on stream, not spray. You want it to be a bit of a shock to the puppy. You
can spray your puppy if necessary if it is barking at a certain thing, or performing unwanted behavior. Leash
dragging is quite often a must - when puppies get out of control you can catch them easily and if they jump off,
as you say "off" you step on the leash so they cannot jump on you. Good training methods. As soon as you
take your puppy home, you are ready to teach it the basic training commands. You can teach them to “Sit” the
first couple of days!! They are NOT too young for this. They do have short attention spans so limit your
training sessions to 10-15 minutes or so. After they learn “Sit”, other commands are going to be down (for lie
down), wait, stay, roll over, high-five, and any other fun tricks you want to teach them. Remember when training
a great idea is to feed them one of their regular meals a day as their training treats – this way they are learning
for a meal and not getting too many extra treats.
#10 - Finally. Reward your puppy quite often for good behavior. Carrots are a healthy little snack just make
sure they aren't too big to get stuck in their throat. They won't make your doggie fat either. Most dogs do like
carrots. Reward each time your puppy goes potty outside. Reward each time it does something right, even if
you didn't ask it to. If your puppy just sat in front of you - "good sit". Keep positive with your puppy. Once your
puppy is aloud to go out for walks (after 16 weeks of age, the final set of shots), you want to keep your dog on
a 4-6 foot leash. Don't let the dog walk ahead of you, it should be at your side the whole way. Apparently dogs
relieve stress by sniffing, so do let the dog sniff the grasses if it see’s another dog. At each corner before you
cross the street have your dog sit before you cross. Just remember the structured walks will do your doggie
much good.
Good Luck!
Chelle@DesignerDoggies.com - 415.999.4114
| Many people don't know where to start with how to best settle their new puppy into their family, So I've put this list together for you to set you up for Success with your new puppy. The feedback I have had is very positive, very happy people. Let me know how this works for you!! |
| 415.999.4114 chelle@designerdoggies.com |
