Bringing a new puppy into your home is a big change for your family, as well as the puppy that you’ve added to your family. Here at Abundant Life Ranch, we want to do what we can to your puppy have a long and happy life with their new family. A well-trained and properly conditioned puppy is going to make for a much happier family environment in the coming days. We hope these training tips and videos will help you as everyone gets used to the changes.
Crate Training
Crate training is a very important step to having a happy puppy and a happy family. You want your puppy to learn that their crate is a place where they can feel safe, comfortable, happy, and even where they go to relax. There will be times when your puppy needs you to crate them because they can’t be supervised, and they need to be kept safe. You shouldn’t leave your unattended puppy out of the crate unless they are fully house trained. Your crate should be large enough for a puppy pad, and for them to lie down in a clean area if they go potty while you’re away. As your puppy’s bladder grows, they will be able to go longer without having to go potty in their crate. We recommend feeding twice a day. It is a good idea to feed them and allow enough time for them to go potty before crating them for long periods. Your puppy food package will tell you the recommended feeding amount for your puppy based on their age and their expected mature weight. Be patient with your puppy, and remember that all training takes time! Set up the crate and have the door opened for them to go inside. Place treats just inside the crate to lure your dog to approach the crate. When your puppy goes in and takes the treats, praise them so they know it’s a good thing to go into the crate. As your puppy becomes more at ease with going in and out of the crate, place treats further inside. Keep giving your dog treats and praise as long as he stays in the crate. When your dog is comfortable inside the crate for a few moments gently close the door of the crate. Give him a treat and praise him a lot when opening the door. Play the game with them and increase the time with which they stay inside the crate. When they are comfortable with the longer periods of time begin leaving the room for short sections of time. ( one or two minutes and gradually increase ) When you re-enter the room keep your attitude calm so you don’t rile the puppy up as he comes out of the crate.
Potty training
Potty training your puppy is also a very important part of your responsibility to your new puppy. All of our pups go home with the knowledge of using a doggy door, and they are already used to going outside before they go potty (most of the time). If you have a doggy door, the process of training your puppy to go potty outside will be much easier. If not, you can still train your puppy on when and where not to go potty. This is accomplished by giving them plenty of opportunity to go potty at the right time and the right place. Here are some key points to help with the training.
- Take your puppy outside frequently for potty breaks
- Have a feeding schedule
- Learn the “I need to go potty” signs, and watch your puppy closely for these signs
- Keep your puppy in a crate at night and when you’re not at home with them
- Clean up messes ASAP
Here are some videos that we hope will help you in training your new puppy.