Congratulations on your new puppy! If you’ve never had a dog before, you may be wondering what to expect and what you should do. Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Get a crate and set up a puppy room. It will make housetraining much easier. When you can’t supervise, you can put the puppy in his baby-gate-room. There should be some kind of bed on one side and pee pads on the other.
Baby gates are your new best friend. You can manage the chaos if you can keep your puppy out of places you don’t want destroyed. - Supervise. This is a really challenging time in the dog’s life, but it’s really important. Make sure you can keep an eye on him so you can reinforce good behaviors and prevent misbehavior.
- Have a potty spot. If you want your dog to have a specific corner of the yard to poop in in stead of pooping all over the yard as an adult, you have to start teaching NOW.
- Enroll in a puppy class. There are great places like K9 Basics that have dog training. The class will give your puppy a chance to get used to being around other dogs and people, which is a necessary skill for a lifetime.
- Don’t encourage behavior that you don’t want in an adult dog. A jumping puppy is really cute. It’s easy to pet and play with a dog that is eager to see you. But letting a little puppy jump today is teaching a 60 pound dog to jump on you tomorrow!
- Desensitize gently. Whether it’s meeting new people or puppies, being handled, learning a trick, going for walks, or whatever else you can think of, introduce your puppy to new experiences slowly. Don’t let your puppy get overwhelmed by the new sensations. DO make sure you gently touch the feet, nails, tail, ears, belly and mouth so your puppy gets used to being handled. The vet will thank you!
- Reward good behavior. Positive reinforcement of desired behaviors is more effective than punishing bad behaviors. Don’t wait until he has done something bad to give him the attention he needs.
- Get your puppy microchipped. This will help protect against your precious pooch getting lost.
- Take as many pictures as you can. Puppyhood goes by so fast. Get those pictures, and post them on our facebook page!
Click here to read 10 Tips for New Kitten Parents
Good friends of ours just became puppy parents, and their new dog has been a handful–to say the least! All of these tips are excellent, especially about puppy classes; this new dog needs obedience training a lot. The last thing that they are really good about is your last point: take lots of pictures! They grow up really fast.