When adopting a new puppy into the family, it can be an incredibly fun and exciting time. Fluffy, soft, excitable, and loving, puppies are some of the best pets to play with, and the rewarding nature of helping them grow with you is very much like raising a child for some people too. However, just like raising a child, there are always things to learn and experience when raising a puppy, as well as problems that can arise such as damaged furniture, accidents, and more until they are properly trained. While there will be a learning curve regardless, there are some things that can be done to help protect your property as well as help the new pup in learning how to behave properly.
To help your new dog adjust and grow, giving them a safe space to exercise away from wires and other potentially hazardous objects is key. This area can be a large playpen area and should most likely be lined with some type of material to keep them from damaging the floor underneath when they have accidents while still learning. Over time as the dog grows and adapts to your home, you can begin to change their environment with things such as a crate, larger spaces, as well as the obvious like leash training.
Ensuring your dog doesn’t chew up furniture or bite you and your friends is incredibly important, but generally puppies do not understand that. While they are teething or simply growing, it is important to have multiple chew toys for them to use. While some of these can be normal toys, providing many toys filled with food as a reward system is key to this training. These toys teach dogs what to chew and what not to chew by rewarding them for going after only the toy, which means that they will learn to avoid things that don’t reward them for their behavior. With this as well, switching out toys is key too. Puppies, much like children, get bored easily so giving them a variety of toys and having them change out regularly will improve their overall happiness too.
To improve their safety and your control over their behavior, leash training and holding them properly is key. Leash training will keep them more under control than otherwise, and will in turn aid them when they are out in public. This type of training will also help them associate you with safety, just as holding them properly and securely will do. If your pet associates you as a safe place, you will be able to ensure they stay closer and react more positively to your behaviors as well.
Training your puppy requires much more than just leash training and ensuring they are housebroken, with more training being related to how you interact with them, maintenance, exercise, and more. Just like any young animal, puppies are impressionable. They learn from your behavior and interactions, such as who is good to be around, what tone of voice to avoid, and where to be careful. Additionally, these types of training will help your dog as they get older by ensuring they understand what type of behaviors to avoid as they age.
