Puppy Training Tips for First Time Puppy Owners

A puppy can be the cutest bundle of joy but best of all, puppies are literally sponges ready to absorb and learn all about the world surrounding them. There is no better time to start training a dog than when it is a puppy. Bypassing this very important phase of a dog's life can cause many future problems, possibly 100 pounds later, if you are dealing with large and giant breed dogs. Knowledge is ultimately power when it comes to training puppies therefore the more prepared puppy owners are, the higher the chances they will own a well behaved and well mannered dog. Following are some helpful training tips for first time puppy owners.

• Don't Miss Out Socialization

Often, many new puppy owners do not realize that in puppies there is a special grace period where they must be socialized as much as possible. This small window of opportunity is only open from the age of four weeks up to 16 weeks. This is the perfect time for exposing the puppy to a wide range of people, pets, objects, sounds and textures. Puppy classes are recommended as they will expose the puppy to other dogs and people, while teaching new puppy owners how to master the first leadership techniques. 

• Training can Start Already

It may sound odd, but puppies may already learn a lot even if they have very short attention spans. Even an eight week old puppy can learn how to sit on command. All that is needed is a treat as a lure. The puppy is shown the treat and the treat is lifted up at the pup's nose level until the puppy is persuaded to sit on its own. Once the bottom is on the floor, the pup is given the treat. After a few attempts, the puppy will realize fairly quickly that every time the bottom touches the floor, the treat is released. 

• House Training can be Easy

House training may be a big ordeal for new puppy owners. Fortunately, most puppies learn fairly quickly if effective training methods are used. One good way to predict when the puppy has to go is to watch him after eating, sleeping and playing. Catching the puppy in the act is key to house training fast. Watch for the puppy that stops playing and strays away to sniff. If the puppy is caught getting ready to squat, a loud noise can be made to startle him and then the puppy is carried out promptly. If he goes outside lots of praise is given. 

• Puppy Bladder Rule

There is an easy calculation that may help new puppy owners determine how long their puppy can stay until it will have to go potty. As a general rule of thumb, it must be calculated how many months the puppy is and then one is added. For instance, if the puppy is 2 months old, one is added and therefore the total to the equation is three. Three hours therefore is amount of time the puppy may need to go out to potty. If the puppy is three months old, one is added therefore the puppy can stay four hours and so forth.

• Correct Swiftly

If you notice your puppy is doing something it is not supposed to, make sure you correct him in a timely matter. Half a second after the mishap is a good way to correct. If you correct your puppy too long after the fact, the puppy will not understand what is going on and will not learn. The classic cliche' of an owner coming home and scolding the puppy for a dry poop possibly made many hours ago, is a big mistake. The puppy will not understand what it is being scolded for and will associate the scolding with what he was just doing. If you come home and scold him he will think you are mad at him for wagging his tail, or being happy to see you. Not only, the puppy will also lose trust in the owner because he will be seen as unpredictable.

• Crates are not Cruel

In nature, puppies in the wild used to live in dens. A crate is nothing more in a puppy's eye than a den. The puppy therefore may love its crate if the owner knows how to use it to the puppy's advantage. Always make going inside the crate as a wonderful thing. Give a treat every time the dog goes inside as you say ''Inside''. Make the crate extra comfy with toys and blankets. Puppies by nature do not like to soil where they sleep, therefore a crate is a great tool to house train a dog. Very likely the pup will whine before going so owners are given advance notice. Crates must be the right size in order to work well, you want the crate big enough so your puppy will be able to stand up and turn around but you do not want it snug enough so the puppy will bothered if it goes potty in there.

• Watch Attention Seeking 

Puppies quickly learn how to manipulate owners. If your puppy whines it may learn that whining will give him attention and sooner than later, whining will be used as a tool to manipulate. A good owner must learn to be protective but not overly protective. If your puppy whines go and check if he or she needs to go out or some water, but if there is nothing the pup needs, learn to ignore the behavior or you will end up with a needy, whiny dog.

• Puppies will Mouth

Just as babies put all sort of objects in their mouths, puppies are also prone to learning about the world by mouthing. This includes biting hands, shoes and clothing. If an owner is bitten by a puppy the best course of action would be to make a big yelp and withdraw, totally ignoring the puppy. This is what a playmate would do if the puppy would bite too hard. This is how puppies are taught ''bite inhibition'' by their litter mates, and this approach works well even if to scream ''ouch'' is their human friend. 

• Puppies will Chew

Ass puppies grow, the eruption of permanent teeth will begin causing them to chew everything in sight. Favorite objects are shoes, clothing, sticks, and of course, toys. Providing the puppy with as much chew toys as possible is a good outlet for this need to chew. A dog that chews on a shoe should be told ''no'' and should be redirected to a chew toy. It is a good idea to not keep out all the toys all the time, but rather rotate them so they will gain more interest every now and then.

As seen, puppies are surely a handful, but they are also so adorable and fun to watch. Enjoying puppy-hood is a must as it is relatively a very brief season in a dog's life. Puppies grow very fast and they will mature into great dogs if the owners work hard enough to train thier puppies into stable minded, well mannered dogs.