Housetraining your Puppy

It would be great if puppies came to us knowing all there was to know. Unfortunately one of the things they don’t already know is where to go to the bathroom. This article details how new owners can housetrain puppy.

Dogs are creatures of habit. Giving them a routine makes them comfortable. It also makes housetraining easier to learn when things are done in the same way and at the same time everyday.

Puppies need to go to the bathroom more often when they are young. They still need time to grow into their bodies. So, how do you know how often to take puppy to the potty? Simply, take puppy’s age and add one. This equals the number of hours that puppy can wait before needing to visit the “little puppy’s room”.

Set feeding times when you can be home to take puppy to the bathroom. The hard part will be to maintain the same schedule on the weekends. You may be tempted to sleep in, but for the sake of puppy and the various corners of your home, keep to the status quo.

Offer puppy praise and discipline when he deserves it. When it is time to go outside, lead puppy to the area that you have designated as his bathroom. Be patient while he does his business. Think up a command to use each time he goes to the bathroom. Afterwards, praise him for doing well.

Do this as many times a day as you need to in order for puppy to remember the spot. This includes using the same route to reach the back yard. Keeping everything the same will help speed up the process and make it easier for puppy to learn. Be patient with puppy as he learns this all new routine.

Puppy will make mistakes. If he is nervous or afraid, this can lead to his using the bathroom in the house where he is not supposed to go. Yelling at puppy will only make the situation worse. Rubbing his nose in his mess, besides being gross, is no way to discipline puppy.

Wait until puppy is somewhere else in the room and then clean up his mistake. Continue with your housetraining routine as before. Cleaning up all of the mess keeps puppy from coming back to that spot later. He is little, but he will learn.

Watch for tell-tale signs that puppy is ready to go to the bathroom. He may whine, scratch at the floor or the door, or wiggle. Don’t trust puppy to make it outside by himself. If he starts to go in the house, scoot him outside quickly to the bathroom area so he can finish.

Housetraining puppy can be trying at times and patience is a virtue in this case. As you continue with the routine, your hard work will pay off with a well trained puppy.

Stop Puppy from Chewing

Puppies love to chew - on anything. Chewing can cost you thousands of dollars in damaged furniture and household goods. Follow a few simple tips to keep puppy’s teeth free of your valuables.

Puppies are so lovable. People are entertained when puppy chews on a sock as if it were a snake in the brush. He wags his tail at it, pounces, and then chews until it lies in tatters on the floor. Puppy suddenly becomes less lovable when it is your Italian leather couch he is munching on. A lot of the expense incurred by pet owners comes as a result of chewing. Puppies chew the most when you either aren’t home or aren’t looking.

The first step to curbing the chewing habit is to puppy proof your home. Keep puppy confined to areas of the house where you have no valuables. Don’t leave your puppy alone even when you are in the house. When puppy is in the room with you, use a baby gate to prevent him from wandering around.

Use a curio cabinet for collectibles and other trinkets. Coffee tables need to be free of vases, flowers, and other things. Store these things in higher places where puppy can’t reach or knock them over. If puppy gets a hold of marbles, coins, or small kid’s toys, he could choke while chewing on them, so be sure these small things are picked up and out of puppy’s reach at all times.

Puppies chew when they are excited. It is a way of releasing pent up energy. He doesn’t know that he has done anything wrong unless you tell him so. If puppy does chew on stuff in the house, don’t spank him. He may be responding to your behavior. Leaving and entering the house showing a lot of emotion (waving wildly at puppy) will get puppy hyped up. Not knowing what to do with his heightened emotional level, he will begin chewing on stuff.

Give puppy a chew toy. When he must chew, he will chew on something that is meant to be used for chewing. Nylafloss is a piece of nylon rope that helps to clean puppy’s teeth while he is releasing his emotional energy.

Another way to help puppy stay calm is to be calm. Resist the urge to broadcast to puppy that you are leaving for work. When you come in forget the fanfare and be as quiet as possible.

Puppies are excitable creatures. This excitement can cause them to chew everything in sight. To avoid destruction and mayhem, stay calm around your puppy and remember; this too shall pass. With a bit of consistency and forethought, training your puppy to only chew on his chew toys will pay off.

Feeding your Puppy

There’s one thing that puppy will run for every time - lunch!  Puppy needs to be fed regularly in order to grow big and strong.  Learning to feed your puppy is an important part of his care.  Puppy doesn’t care what you feed him, but you should.  Puppies are not adult dogs.  They don’t need to eat the same food that you would feed to an adult dog.

Go to a store that is used to dealing with pet food like Petco.  Ask one of the salespeople about puppy food.  Don’t immediately go for the least expensive bag in order to save money.  In this case, cheap is not necessarily the best.  Puppy is in his formative years and needs the right food. 

The type of food is as important as the brand.  The can of beef flavored pieces in smothered gravy sounds appetizing, but it is not for puppy.  Puppies need to eat kibble.  Kibble is the dry nuggets of dog food.

When choosing kibble, make sure that it is the puppy formula.  Large dog kibble nuggets will be too large for puppy to eat without difficulty.  He may even choke on it.  The pieces should be easy to eat and swallow.

Puppies are normally fed three times a day at first.  Use the serving size suggestion on the bag of dog food to determine how much food to give to puppy.  Let him eat for a specified amount of time and then remove the food bowl.  You don’t want puppy to wander back to the bowl later.  This encourages overeating.

As puppy grows, he will eat less often.  When he goes down to two meals a day, cut out the middle of the day meal.  Cutting out the evening meal has puppy going too long between feedings.  This is can also be a cause of overeating.

Whatever you do, don’t feed your puppy from the table.  He may be another member of the family but he is not a human being.  Table food can wreak havoc with puppy’s digestive system.  If he is given the wrong food, it can make him very ill.  Eating at the table works in the cartoons, but not in real life.

Puppy food contains all of the nutrients that a growing puppy needs.  Resist the urge to give puppy extra supplements that may be available in the store.  Unless prescribed by a veterinarian, these supplements can cause more harm than good.

Puppy needs the appropriate food for his age.  Do your homework.  Consult store professionals and veterinarians about what you should feed him in order to give him the best possible diet.