Learning How To Train A Puppy

I really don’t think that there was ever anything on this Earth as utterly adorable as a Rottweiler puppy dog. But I’m biased, and in truth, all puppies are simply a God-sent blessing in our lives.

Getting a new puppy is a wonderful experience that your whole family will enjoy. Puppies are cute, love to play, love their owners, and will quickly become part of the family. Deciding to add a new puppy to your family, however, means that you also have to house train it.

Puppies do not instinctively know where is acceptable to relieve themselves the way that kittens quickly learn to use litter boxes. Learning how to potty train a puppy takes planning and patience, and it can be quite frustrating. However, owning a completely house broken dog will be worth the effort and aggravation.

Many people do not know how to begin house or clicker training for puppies or understand how much a puppy is capable of. Dogs learn young that they do not want to relieve themselves close to where they sleep. Between eight and sixteen weeks old, many puppies can be easily trained to do their business outside.

The younger you start training a puppy, however. Younger dogs may have to be taken outside more frequently, but they can still begin to understand the concept.

How Frequently Does a Puppy Need to Go Outside?

How often you must take your puppy out to do its business depends on the pup’s age. Younger dogs between eight and sixteen weeks old can normally hold their bladders for about two hours.

That may not seem like long, but it is the maximum time to expect a younger puppy to wait. By the time they are sixteen weeks old, they can usually wait about four hours before they have an accident.

After four months old, dogs may understand the concept of going outside and know what is expected of them. However, they are curious and distracted at this age, as they are beginning to understand the world around them.

Because of this, dogs up to six months old may occasionally have accidents even if they seem like they are house broken. After six months old, most dogs can wait up to eight hours before they must be taken outside to relieve themselves.

Does Crate Training Help with House Breaking a Puppy?

Effective crate training (be careful!) can be a good way to help with house training puppies. The dog will not want to relieve itself near where it sleeps. For this reason, it is important to provide a crate that is big enough to accommodate your dog but not so large that it has lots of room to walk around.

A cozy crate with enough room to stand and sleep is best. It the crate is too large, some dogs may relieve themselves on the opposite side as their bedding.

Crates are a good way to prevent accidents during short periods of time, like when you need to go to work or run errands. Once you return home, it is important to take your puppy outside immediately so that it learns the correct behavior and doesn’t have an accident before it makes it outside. Remember to take into account your puppy’s age and how long it can reasonably hold its bladder when leaving it in a crate.

How To Train A Puppy

 Learning how to house train a puppy can be difficult at first, but once you get into a routine it becomes much easier. Take your puppy to an predetermined area that is safe and protected from wind and bad weather. Use a simple command such as “hurry up” or “go ahead” to encourage your dog to relieve himself. If he does, don’t make any more noises until he is through. A

Afterward, use a positive, excited voice and praise him so that he knows he did the right thing. Then take your pup back inside your home.

It is important to give adequate praise to let your puppy understand that he is doing the desired behavior. A small treat can be used as well, but be careful not to overfeed your dog.

Once you decide which command you will use to train your pup to relieve himself, make sure to only use that phrase during housebreaking and not change what you say. This way, if you are away from your home, your dog will still understand your command to relieve himself.

Accidents

 Never  EVER hit your dog if it has an accident. This will only confuse the puppy and make it hide mistakes from you in the future. Apart from that, if I find out I might just shoot you! Calmly take the puppy to its designated potty spot outside if it should have an accident.

Clean the accident up with a carpet cleaner or disinfectant spray, depending on what surface it is on, so that the smell of urine is gone. It is a good idea to use cleaners specifically designed for pet messes because a dog has a keen sense of smell. They will repeatedly go in the same spot if they are able to smell the urine.

A puppy can make a wonderful friend and addition to the family. With a little time and patience, you can teach your dog to relieve itself outside without accidents. By respecting a puppy’s limits and being consistent, house breaking can be successful and struggle-free. Learning How To Train A Puppy is one of the most important parts of deciding to own a dog.

How to Train Your Dog Not to Bark – Gently

Getting Started Training Your Dog

Dogs make wonderful pets, companions, and even family for some. They are in many ways similar to babies and children. They need to be taught to behave certain ways and do certain things within the environment in which they live in order to fit into the pet owner and other family members’ lives.

Most people start out with their new dog, playing, petting, cuddling and getting to know their new companion without a thought of discipline. But there are other important tasks that need to be accomplished when becoming a new dog owner, like training this new companion.

This is not as easy as it may seem and a few dog training tips can be very helpful for many of the things that new pet owners want to train their new pets to do.

Your Personality and Your Dog

There are a few things that must go into consideration when training a dog. The personality of the pet owner is important, whether the person is patient or impatient, anxious or calm, quick-tempered or even-tempered must be taken into account. The reason this is important is because pets feed off  the attitude and mood of their owners.

This may cause the dog to be more easily trained or more difficult to train depending on how these personality traits affect the relationship between pet owner and pet. Dogs also have certain personality traits and it is often a result of their breeding. Certain breeds are more temperamental, lazy, energetic, cuddly, easily trained, difficult to train, quiet and some, the tendency to bark more than others.

Dogs that Tend to Bark a Lot

Training is everything of course, but some things are hard coded in a dog’s genes. there are the barkers:

• Welsh Corgis
• Goldadors (mix between Golden Labrador and Retriever
• Sussex Spaniels

There are more of course, but they tend towards the more exotic breeds like The Swedish Vallhund (no – I’d never heard of it either until I researched this article!). As a rule of course, small dogs do tend to yap, whilst the larger breeds tend to bark only when they’re serious about something!

 Training a Dog Not to Bark

Barking is something pet owners should expect their dogs to do. It is the way dogs communicate after all. Dogs bark to alert that something is wrong, or when they are angry and agitated, or even when they are bored and want attention. Smaller dog breeds often tend to be excessive barkers and need a little more time put into their training. Some people think that it is almost impossible training a dog not to bark, but this is not true.

An important thing to keep in mind is that some barking is truly warranted and should not be discouraged. This type of barking is when dogs are alerting owners that there is an intruder or stranger entering a private area. The issue that causes a problem is when the reason for the alert is gone and the dog continues to bark or when there is no threat and the dog is barking for unwarranted reasons.

An unwarranted reason would be someone walking by and not even close to where the dog should be alerted. Sometimes a person is on the opposite side of the street walking their dog and this may cause some dogs to bark loudly. This is the time when many pet owners consider how to stop dog barking?

 Do Not Yell At Your Dog

There is something that has been tried many times when it comes to stopping dogs from barking and that is yelling at the dog. Unfortunately, that in itself does not work. The dog may briefly stop barking after the owner yells, but this is short-lived. Long-term solutions take more than just yelling to shut up inconsistently.

However, if this concept was tweaked a bit to include consistency of a particular word or phrase and then a reward when the dog becomes quiet after yelling the command than this can be a useful solution for many instances of excessive barking.

Gentle Training

 One very popular, gentle  and effective way of controlling excessive barking is to gently close the dog’s mouth while he is barking.

Placing the hands over the dog’s mouth to close the mouth will help the dog realize that this is not a desirable behavior and repeating a word that will be used regularly whenever the dog is barking excessively and at unwarranted times will show the dog that when that word is said it means to close his mouth and stop barking.

 Using A Bark Collar

Another useful tool to assist with training dogs to stop barking excessively is the use of a bark collar. A bark collar can do different things to discourage a dog from barking. Some bark collars make a noise, or release a burst of air, a citronella aroma, and some will provide an electrical stimulation of about two points that will decrease the sensation in that area.

All of these types of bark collars can work if used properly and as instructed. Personally, I would NEVER use a bark collar as I consider it to be training by punishment and I have problems with that. But many reputable trainers do use them, so I could not leave it out.

As mentioned earlier in this article, there are many dog breeds and their response to training varies with temperament –  some will have a better response to certain types of bark collars compared to other breeds.

It is all about knowing the dog and understanding the dog’s personality. Once the decision is made to try a bark collar then the next step would be to find the best dog bark collar. It’s always best to start early with puppies and train them right away that excessive barking is discouraged, but older dogs can still be taught as well and it is never too late. Remember to be patient and calm with the loyal companion and the rewards will be worth the effort.

How to Train Your Dog Not to Bark – The Best Products

I love dogs – always have. That’s my dear boy Mephisto you see in the picture. He’s gone, but I know that nothing dies and I’ll see him again. I taught him how not to bark with kindness and firmness using some great products I’ll be introducing here very soon. Come back and see!