Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The First Few Nights of your Puppy

Unless your puppy is already familiar with sleeping on his own he will miss his mother and siblings and whimper or howl when left alone. If you do not want sleeping on your bed to become a habit, do not allow your puppy to do son now. Instead, provide a dog bed with warm blankets near your bed, a wind up ticking clock may be helpful if placed near the bed. It simulates the heart beat of his former bed mates and will soothe him. If the puppy whimpers resist the temptation to go to him. As long as the pup is warm and well fed you can be confident that the problem will cease within a day or two as the puppy becomes familiar within his room and surroundings.


Collar and Lead Familiarity

During the time bonding is taking place; it is a good idea to familiarize the puppy with his collar, choke chain, and lead. No attempts should be made to train, simply to accustom your puppy to the feel of these, and of the restraint a lead creates. Place the collar on the puppy before playing he will soon forgets he’s wearing it. After a short while remove the collar. Repeat this process over a few days and the collar will become a neural object. Never leave a choke chain on a puppy unless you are present. Once the pup ignores the collar you can attach the lead and walk around the room letting the puppy go where he wants. Do this when he is quiet and when there no distractions. After this has happened a few times you can encourage the pup to go where you want by calling him to you while applying the gentlest of tugs on the lead.

“Training can be a wonderful way to bond with your puppy. “

Never drag the puppy. Always coax him. By this gentle process the puppy will learn in a matter of days to walk with you without bucking and pulling. This will be especially beneficial one you commence housebreaking, as well as during training exercises.
            As you can se3e from the examples discussed so far, training can be introduced very gradually as the puppy bonds with the family. There is no pain, or even discomfort, yet the puppy is already being taught to associate simple words with action, as well as learning appropriate behavior through encouragement and restraint.

“Training can be introduced as a puppy bonds with his family. There is no stress involved, yet the puppy is already being taught by encouragement and restraint.”