Bringing Your New Puppy Home [The do’s and don’ts]
Bringing a puppy home can be very overwhelming not only for you, but the puppy too. I have complied a list of common mistakes people make when they get a puppy and have broken them down into 9 simple do’s and don’ts. So, here are some tips for establishing good habits and boundaries with your pup. Following these suggestions should help you build a stronger bond with your dog and make training easier as they grow up.
DON’T feed their full meal out of a bowl.
DO use part of their meal to train and interact with them.
Meal time is a great opportunity to build your relationship with your new dog. Feeding your puppy out of your hand teaches them to look to you for needs. In a way it teaches them to depend on you to take care of them. This can also help prevent them from developing resource aggression over their food, bowl or specific areas, especially if you feed them in different places and in different ways. Try feeding them bits as you play with them and reward them when they play without biting or when they go potty outside. Mark the behaviors you want by rewarding them with a handful of kibble to build positive associations with those actions. As they get older, you can use their meals for more specific training when teaching things like sit, heal, lay down and any other commands you plan to teach your dog. Hand feeding can be more time consuming than dropping a bowl on the ground but it is a great way to build a strong bond with your dog in the long run.
DON’T let your puppy run wild and play with other dogs uncontrolled.
DO Keep interactions short, positive and uneventful.
It is difficult to get a dogs attention once they are in an aroused state when they are playing or chasing something. Teach your dog how to stay calm around other dogs and how to focus on you while there are distractions. You can do this by going for walks with friends and their dogs while keeping them separate or having other well behaved dogs over and letting them all lay down and relax in the same space. In the long run, this will make training easier as they will have better control over their drive. This comes in especially handy when teaching your dog recall. Teach control before you teach chaos because chaos comes easy, control does not.
Dogs are also extremely impressionable when they are young and they learn behaviors from other dogs or can be very easily traumatized by one incident. If you want to let your puppy interact with older dogs, make sure they are well behaved dogs that won’t play too rough as your dog will likely pick up those habits. Don’t let things get too rowdy or have more than a couple dogs playing at a time. It might sound fun but It is not worth risking a bad interaction and your puppy developing aggressive tendencies from being in a dog fight at a young age. Another easy way to keep things under control is to call the dogs back every so often to remind them to pay attention to you. A well socialized dog is one that can control its drive and remain neutral and get along with most other dogs.
DON’T let your puppy use potty pads.
DO take them out often and reward them for going potty outside.
I know potty pads are confident because you don’t have to pay as close attention to your puppy but really they just confuse your dog. If they are allowed to use potty pads in the house at 8 weeks then all of the sudden at 11 weeks, they are not allowed to, they will get confused. At this point they will have already learned that going potty in the house is okay and you will have to maintain that behavior.
To avoid the confusion, be very clear with expectations right off the bat. Pay very close attention to you puppy and try to learn the signs of when they have to use the bathroom. Take them out often and reward them with food when they go potty outside. Don’t set them up for failure by letting them roam the house unsupervised. Instead, use a crate or playpen to keep a close eye on them. If you want to lay potty pads down “just in case” that is totally fine but don’t use them as a crutch as a way to be lazy with training.
DON’T let people bombard your puppy.
DO keep interactions calm and positive.
You do not want to stress your puppy out with tons of people surrounding them. Underwhelming is better than overwhelming. Don’t let your dog associate people with stress and fear by pushing them too far too soon.
Just like letting your puppy interact with other dogs, you want interactions with people to be controlled and positive. I know this can be hard to control because the first thing anyone wants to do when they see a puppy is run over and talk in a squeaky voice to get them riled up. But, if someone asks to pet your puppy, you can always say “yes, as long as they stay calm and don’t jump up”. If your pup gets overly excited, just cut the interaction short and move on.
DON’T rush into advanced training too soon.
DO give them time to explore and observe the world.
Your puppy is already trying to learn how the world works. Expecting too much from your puppy early on could put additional pressure on them and likely curb their socialization progress. Let them observe their environment, other well trained dogs, people and other aspects of their space before beginning formal training.
Focus on shaping and rewarding good habits like being calm, potty training and paying attenion to you when their name is called. Training sit, stay, lay down and other obedience commands can wait until the dog is truly comfortable in their environment. Sometimes, depending on the dog, this means waiting until they are 4 months old or older.
DON’T let them roam free.
DO kennel train them.
Kennel training is very important and can be very helpful. It teaches them to relax and observe. It is a safe space for them to watch interaction in the house and learn from those observations without the stress of being in them. It can also be important for a dog to be crate trained in the case of an emergency situation or when traveling. As a dog matures they may grow out of needing a kennel but when they are little (under 1 year) it is best to use a crate to ensure that they are comfortable with it. It does not have to be a bad experience either. When crate training is done correctly, a dog should enjoy its crate.
DON’T give them a kennel that is too big.
DO grow the size of the crate as they grow.
During the potty training process this is SO important. Puppies will typically not go to the bathroom where they sleep so having a properly sized kennel is very important. If they have enough space to use the bathroom on one side of their crate and sleep on the other, they will. To avoid this, simply get a crate spacer and move it as your pup grows. Or switch them to bigger kennels as they grow.
DON’T use the crate as a timeout or punishment.
DO use the crate as your dog's place to relax and feel safe.
A dog's crate should be its safe place. It should be a place for your puppy to relax, decompress and destress. If you use the crate as a punishment, your dog will form a negative association with it which will cause them stress and anxiety when in the kennel. That is the exact opposite effect the crate should have on your dog and will make crate training very difficult for both you and them.
DON’T ignore the teething process.
DO give your puppy a chewing outlet while teething.
The first year of a puppy’s life is all about forming habits. If a puppy starts biting hands and chewing on furniture, shoes or other things in the house when it is just a pup it will likely think it is okay to do those things when they are older as well. To keep these habits from forming, give your dog plenty of bones and toys to chew on. If you catch them chewing on something they are not supposed to, replace the item with something they are allowed to chew. It also may help to only put out a few toys or bones at a time and cycle them as your pup gets bored to keep them excited about their toys every time you bring a different one out.
I hope these tips help you and your dog live a long happy life together.
