Puppy Training - Understanding Your Puppy Part 2

In an earlier post, we covered 3 different breed groups - hounds, terriers, and sporting dogs. Without further ado, let's take a look at the next breed...

Non-sporting dogs

This is a rather broad category that includes many different types of dogs. Dalmatians, Chow Chow, Bichon Frise, Keeshonden, Finnish Spitz, Poodle, all fall into this category.

Of these, the dalmatian and the chow chow are the most commonly seen. The dalmatian is popularized by popular media (think movies), and the Chow Chow is popular because of its adorable outward appearance.

Unfortunately, both breeds have active personalities, and they are not as calm as most people think. There are often bought by pet owners who don't really understand them, so they are often under appreciated.

Working dogs

These are dogs that you want to stay clear of. They are called working dogs for good reason. Mostly, they are used to guard homes, properties, etc. To function well in this job, the dog is usually mid to large size. These breeds include the Samoyed (Sammy), the Newfoundland, the rottweiler, and Akitas. Other breeds include the Siberian Husky, Saint Bernard, Doberman, Boxer, Komondor, and the Schnauzers.

It is important to socialize working dogs while it is still young. Let it be around children so that it can grow comfortable in the presence of human beings. A working dog that is not well socialized tend to be aloof, independent, and may jump at children or adults who appear less confident.

Toy dogs

Toy dogs are what you would expect them to be: They are smaller in sizes. But being small doesn't mean that they don't have a temper. Some toy dogs can be as fierce as the larger dogs.

But because toy dogs are generally smaller in size, they are most ideal for smaller apartments. It's also easier to carry them around. Some examples of toy dogs include Shih-Tzu, Pomeranian, Yorkshire Terrier, Maltese and Toy Poodle.

Taking care of a toy dog is similar to taking care of any other dog. Some will come with thick coats of hair, which means that you have to comb the hair regularly to get rid of dead hair. Others don't have this need.

Choosing between purebred and the mutt

Regardless of the group, you will eventually have to decide between buying a purebred dog, or a mutt (mix breed). There are many arguments for (and against) both choices. Ultimately, it's up to you to make a decision.

On one side of the fence, pet owners who prefer to keep purebred dogs argue that behavior is much more predictable. The problem with mutts is that you never know what its temperament is going to be like. On top of that, there may be physical attributes that you may not be aware of. How big is the dog going to be in 12 weeks time? Will anything unexpected happen?

While this sound like a logical argument, pet owners who don't mind having a mutt as a pet argue that you can't really predict the behavior of any dog. It all comes down to training and conditioning.

Then, there is the issue of price. A purebred dog can cost you anywhere from $300 to $1,000. Sometimes more. You only have to pay a small fraction of that price for a mutt.

So how to make a wise choice?

Trust your own observations. There are purebreds that make very good pets, and purebreds that come across as undesirable pets. Similarly, there are mutts who may be well behaved, and there are mutts that simply can't fit in. It leads one to think that perhaps purebred and mutt don't really come into the picture while choosing a dog.

Both types of dogs are capable of loving you back. A better question would be, "Why would you want to own a dog?"

We'll explore that issue in another post.

Puppy Training - Understanding Your Puppy Part 1

Before you even start thinking about puppy training, you should already have some background knowledge of the breed group that your puppy belongs to. Having at least a basic understanding of your puppy breed is important because it helps you to anticipate behavior.

But bear in mind that not all puppies behave exactly in the same manner, even when they belong to the same breed groups. For example, a hound can be lethargic, or it can be highly active. But the basic characteristics should be similar.

If you went out to a pet shop, see a cute little puppy, and can't resist the temptation to bring it home, you may end up buying the puppy without knowing what you are in for. This scenario plays out all the time in the real world.

The bad news is, not all dogs are easy to train. Some will remain difficult, regardless of how committed the dog owner is. Others will be more gentle, well behaved, and make perfect house dogs. That is something you should keep in mind way before buying the puppy.

Fortunately, even for the more difficult dogs, they usually offer loyalty and great companionship. If you have already bought the puppy, you are left with little choice but to acquire a deeper understanding of your puppy's breed group.

Hounds

There are different types of hounds that belong to this group. Scent hounds include the Basset, Beagle, Black and Tan Coonhound, Blood hound (sounds scary), Dachshunds, Foxhounds, Norwegian Elkhound, Otterhound, and Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen. Sight hounds include the Afghan hond, Basenji, Borzoi, Greyhound, Ibizan hound, Irish wolfhound, Pharaoh hound, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Saluki, Scottish Deerhound, and Whippet.

Hounds are known for their heightened sense of smell and sight. They have an elegant and slender looking body, which is perfect for speed. The Greyhound is one of the fastest dog in the world. Because of their athletic build, you often see hounds participating in hunts or sports events.

If you are considering owning a hound, there is something you must know. Hounds are able to creating a rather unique sound through baying. This is not your usual barking sound, and you must be prepared for it. For some people, baying can be a rather chilling sound. Many hound owners may protest though. They think it's more like singing!

Terriers

Terriers may look very adorable because of their size, especially when they are covered by a soft coat of hair. But don't be fooled by this deceptive appearance. Most Terriers actually possess a rather feiry temperament. For this reason, they are not suitable playmates for young boys, who may like to play rough. The Terriers will be up to the game!

Hard coated Terriers are easier to have around because they don't have special grooming needs. There is no need to clean dead hair off the dog on a regularly basis. That, you have to do for soft coated Terriers.

Herding Dogs

Herding dogs are highly intelligent animals. They are also very active, bold, and determined. Because of their intelligence, they are used by various agencies such as the police force, search and rescue, etc. to perform difficult tasks. In such challenging situations, only the most disciplined and obedient dogs can perform up to mark.

Herding breeds include the Border Collie, the German Shepherd (very beautiful dog), the Australian Cattle Dog, the Briard, the Australian Sepherd, and the Puli. Note that these different breeds differ in temperament. The Border Collie is perhaps the most active of all. If you own a Border Collie, walking alone is not enough. You have to have meaningful games for the dog, like a game of fetch.

Sporting dogs



These are popular breeds and they include spaniels, setters, pointers and retrievers. They are highly athletic animals that can work in land, in water, or both. Ever heard of the Golden Retriever and the Labrador Retriever? These are the 2 most popular breeds in this group.

The only problem with sporting dogs is that it's not a very homely dog. Therefore, if you try to chain it up to a fence, you may face some resistance. That's because the dogs are merely trying to follow their natural instincts - which is to be hunting in the outdoors.

To be continued in part 2: Puppy Training - Understanding Your Puppy Part 2

House Training a Puppy

In an earlier post, we talked about a couple of common house training approaches for puppies. In this post, let's focus a little more on paper training, and scheduling. Paper training is a well known approach as well, but this approach may take a little longer when compared to crate training. You can combine the two approaches to house train your puppy to eventually follow schedules. This will help make everyone's life easier.

There are 2 types of house training - outdoors and indoors. What is important here is to learn not to mix the 2 types of training together. If you live in an apartment, and you want to house train your puppy to eliminate indoors, then just stick to paper training for indoors. Make sure that your puppy develops the habit. If you mix the 2 methods, your puppy may be confused easily.

Paper training for the indoors.

Pick a room in your home and lay the entire floor area with paper. Don't let your puppy roam around the entire house. Too much freedom is a common mistake made by many inexperienced dog owners. The puppy will start eliminating all over the house, and you will have a hard time cleaning after it.

Keep the puppy confined in the room and observe its behavior. At first, the puppy may eliminate in all 4 corners of the room. That is perfectly normal. Give it some time. After a while, the puppy will start to choose a favorite corner to eliminate. This is because by nature, dogs like to keep their play and sleep area clean. When you see that happening, reduce the amount of paper on the floor.

Notice that all this time, your puppy is eliminating on paper. Over time, the puppy will associate eliminating with paper. As you reduce the paper on the floor, you are also narrowing down the eliminating area. When you are confident that the dog has successfully cultivated the habit of eliminating on paper, try moving the paper elsewhere. Use an odor neutralizer to get rid of the scent. Otherwise the puppy may recognize the scent and go back to the same area to eliminate.

Also, when you move the paper, don't move it too far away from the original spot. Try inches at a time. You are more likely to succeed this way.

Training for the outdoors.

Training your puppy to eliminate outdoors will save you a lot of time (you don't have to clean up after your puppy). There is no need to use paper (huge savings here!). Bring your puppy out on a leash and let it wander around. It will start to pick some spots that it feels comfortable eliminating. You can also bring the puppy to a spot that you have chosen and let it sniff around the area.

When you see the puppy starting to eliminate, use some verbal cues to encourage the dog. You can use something like "pee quick" or just "pee pee". Show lots of praises on him to let him know that he has done something right.

House training the puppy to eliminate on schedule.

Now that your puppy knows where to eliminate, you can train it to learn when to eliminate. Remember that this doesn't happen overnight. There are no short cuts. You have to give time to the puppy to develop good habits. But you have to start somewhere right?

Let's take a look at a couple of possible schedules.

If you are working, you need to focus on the time that you are at home - like in the morning or during the evening after you come home. While you are away at work, get some help to make sure that your puppy don't stay alone for too long. You can get help from friends, family members, or even neighbors.

Sample schedule:

7 a.m - You have just awaken. Take the puppy out from the crate or sleeping area and bring it to the potty area. Do the potty drill and bring the puppy back in again.

7.15 a.m - Bring the puppy back in and give some water to the puppy.

7.45 a.m - Bring the puppy out to potty area again. But this time, after business, instead of bringing him back in, spend some play time with the puppy (probably till about 8.30 a.m)

8.30 a.m - Bring puppy back in for a nap and go to work.

This is a sample schedule if you are working. If you are not working, you can make a schedule for the whole day. It'll be rather similar to the above schedule. Just remember to include the following activities in your schedule:

1) Time for naps.
2) Time for water.
3) Time for eliminating.
4) Time for structured play.

If the puppy misbehaves or if accidents happen, don't lose heart and more importantly, don't get upset. Just stick to the schedule as much as you on a daily basis. Over time, you will find that your puppy's behavior will improve, and life will get to be a lot more easy and joyful for both puppy and owner.

Puppy Training - How to Train a Shy Puppy

A puppy may be shy for a few reasons. Some puppies are shy naturally - they have gentle dispositions. But most puppies are shy because they have not learned how to socialize with other dogs, other human beings, and with the environment. This is case, you can do a lot to help the puppy.

Puppies learn most about social behavior when they are 12 weeks or younger. During the first 12 weeks, you may need to do all you can to eliminate the shyness. Again, this takes time and patience. The key is letting the puppy know that is okay to be around other dogs, other human beings, and other objects in the surrounding.

So how do you do that?

The best place to start, is in your own home. The moment you bring your puppy home, the first thing you need to do is to let the puppy be familiar with the house. Stay with the puppy as much as you can as you let the puppy walk around and explore the house. If you sense any anxiety or shyness, pet your puppy reassuringly, and use calming tones to let it know that you are around. Remember, the puppy will feel what you are feeling. If you feel anxious, the puppy will also feel anxious.

Also, introduce the puppy to your family members. The puppy may be reluctant to play with your family members initially. Give it some time. Don't frighten the puppy by making sudden movements. Behave gently and continue to reassure the puppy. Let the relationship grow. Tempt the puppy to play and come out of its "shell" by using toys and balls. Bit by bit, the shyness will eventually wear off.

The home, is just the beginning. As the puppy's confidence grows, expose it to as many different situations as you can. For example, bring your puppy to crowded places like shopping malls or public parks. When you are just starting to do this, start with just 10 to 15 mins walks. This is to prevent sensory overload, which may cause unnecessary stress for your puppy. When you see that your puppy is getting more and more comfortable, increase the duration.

You may also bring your puppy to a dog park so that it can socialize with other dogs. But you have to be a little careful here. I highly recommend that you bring your puppy to dog parks only when you see that your puppy is no longer shy. That is because your puppy may come across bigger dogs who may be very playful and aggressive. Your puppy may feel intimidated by these big dogs, and defensive behavior will arise naturally. Always keep your puppy on a lease when at a dog park.

Remember, usually, your puppy is shy because it has a fear for something. Perhaps it is not comfortable with young children. Or perhaps it is fearful of crowded places. Your goal is to help the puppy get rid of this fear. That will tackle the problem at its root. You do that by letting your puppy know that it's perfectly safe to be in the presence of human beings, or other playful dogs, etc. That is why you must always remain calm and composed, even when your puppy is not.

Soon, your puppy will learn to accept its surroundings, and it will learn to behave like you - calm and composed in many different situations. Compared to a shy and anxious puppy, it is much easier to train a calm and confident puppy.

Training Your Puppy and Having a Good Time Doing It

I can almost see the pain on your face. That's understandable. I know that many puppy owners hate the thought of having to train their puppies. They think of it as chores, or as cumbersome tasks that they must perform.

But I'm here to tell you, training your puppy doesn't have to be a living hell. You can train your puppy, and at the same time, have the time of your life.

Think of its this way - your puppy is like a newborn baby to you.

The problem is, not everyone understands this. Some even get angry with their puppies when they do something wrong. The thing is, the puppies don't know what they did wrong. They are just babies. They don't know why you are angry. They just know that for some reason, you are upset with them. And if you follow up with punishment, they will soon learn to resent you or be afraid of you.

The relationship is certainly heading southwards quickly. After some time, you won't enjoy being with your puppy, and your puppy certainly won't enjoy being with you. So how to carry out proper training in an environment like this?

For puppy training to be effective, you must approach the training with an open heart. In other words, accept whatever the puppy is going to do, or has done. There is no point getting upset over something that happens naturally (for the dog that is). If the puppy pees, just take a wet cloth and clean up the mess. Don't overreact. It's a sign that the puppy needs more house training. That's all.

Here is when a strange thing starts to happen. When you keep an open heart, you will actually start to feel joyful. There is no room for any negative emotion. You are giving both you, and the puppy, a chance to build a meaningful relationship.

And you don't have to wait for ages for a meaningful relationship to blossom. You can have that, right now, just by keeping an open heart.

Enjoy every moment with your puppy as you train your puppy. A dog's life is short you know. Don't focus on all the "bad" things that your puppy has done. Think of all that as humorous or funny situations. Laugh at yourself, and laugh at your puppy. It's just a young pup, being mischievous, and doing something that it's not supposed to be doing. Drop it, and enjoy the company of your pup.

Turn the puppy training into a fun and enjoyable experience. Make it into "play time". Of course, when you have to be firm, be firm. You know what is best for your puppy. The key is in knowing how to make the best out of a challenging situation.

When you learn that the pup has done something wrong, don't react immediately. Stop for a moment and breath. Notice how all that anger starts to go away? Don't let the anger build up.

Your puppy is a living creature. It knows how to respond to love and anger. If you shower it with anger, you build resentment. If you shower it with love, you breed cooperation, and you foster the relationship.

So train your puppy - yes, that you must do. It's your responsibility as a dog owner. But be present every moment, and enjoy the company of your puppy. Have the time of your life, training your puppy.

Puppy Training Tips for First Timers

Is this the first time you own a puppy? If it is, you may be worrying about how to take good care of that adorable little pet of yours. Here are my top 10 puppy training tips. Hopefully, they will help you out. :)

Tip 10: No unnecessary punishment.

Never punish your puppy, especially when you are unsure if your puppy has done something wrong. Some puppy owners just like to blame the dog for everything!

Tip 9: Start training immediately.

Focus and zoom in on the problem areas quickly. Don't let bad habits start to form. For example, if your puppy has the habit of urinating at the most inconvenient hour, come up with a potty training plan immediately. The longer you wait, the harder it is to train your puppy.

Tip 8: Use proven methods.

Talk to puppy training experts and seek out great advice. Don't resort to trial and error. If you do the wrong things, it's going to be hard to reverse the behavior.

Tip 7: Use verbal cues.

These are verbal commands. Train your puppy properly to follow these cues. Do it consistently, and regularly. After some time, your puppy will find it effortless to follow your commands.

Tip 6: Manage your own emotions.

Training time is always a test of your patience. Manage your own emotions properly, and don't let yourself flare up. If you lose control and fly at your puppy, your puppy will grow to be afraid of you. That's going to make training even more difficult.

Tip 5: Understand your puppy.

Every puppy has its own personality and characteristics. Pay attention to your puppy so that you can understand it better. The more you know about your puppy, the more effective your training will be. That's because you can easily adjust your training program to suit you and your puppy. For instance, if you are training a shy puppy, you must know how to make it come out of its shell. Otherwise, it's just hard to get anything done. The puppy may just keep hiding or running away from you!

Tip 4: Don't grow soft.

Your puppy may whimper, and your puppy may bark. But you can't soften, especially when you know it's the right thing to do. It's normal for puppies to bark especially when it's going through a temporary stage of discomfort. But you know what the training is for. Your puppy doesn't. So don't give in easily. Be there for the puppy, but be firm as well.

Tip 3: Make smooth transitions.

Don't expect your puppy to change overnight and become a super pup or something like that. Make smooth transitions from one phase to another. That means making small changes at a time. This approach may take up more of your time, but it will ease the pain that your puppy has to go through. If your puppy can't achieve a goal, scale back a little and try again.

Tip 2: Don't lose heart!

Persistence always pays off. In the beginning, things may start out by looking a little rocky. It always does, and that's common. But the important thing is, never give up! To say this in another way - have patience.

Top Tip #1: Shower your puppy with love, praise and reward!

This is my number 1 tip for you. Nothing beats this tip. If you want your puppy training to be successful, just base it on praise and reward. You are actually showering love on your puppy when you do so. Always have some kind of reward (like a dog biscuit) in your pocket. When you catch your puppy doing something right, just give him the reward.

Reward the right behavior, and the puppy will learn to do the right thing.

Crate Training Puppy - A Step by Step Guide

Crate training is a very effective method that can be used to house train your puppy. If you are thinking of adopting this approach, there are a few things that you must take note of. Firstly, a crate is not a prison. Your puppy will be spending a lot of time in the crate. It will even sleep in it. That means you shouldn't do anything that will evenly remotely suggest that the crate is a bad place for the puppy. Otherwise, your crate training may fail.

The goal of having crate training is to train your puppy to have better control over its bladders. By nature, young puppies find it hard to control their small bladders, so they urinate rather frequently. If your puppy already has adequate control over its bladders, crate training may not be the most suitable approach. Usually, this approach is adopted for puppies that are at least 9 weeks old.

Here is a step by step guide that you can follow to commence crate training for your puppy.

4 simple steps to start your crate training



Step 1: Choose a suitable crate with the right size.

The size of the crate depends on the age and the size of the dog. As a general rule of thumb, the crate should be at least 2 - 3 times that of the puppy. If it's too small, the puppy will find it uncomfortable, and may be unwilling to settle down in the crate. If it's too big, the puppy will just eliminate in one corner, and then go settle down in another. That will defeat the whole purpose of having crate training.

Step 2: Bedding for the crate.

Not all puppies prefer to have a soft bedding. You can use a towel or a blanket as a bedding. Observe the puppy while its in the crate. Does it push away the towel? Or does it rest on it? Some puppies do prefer hard surfaces, so it's completely normal to see a puppy pushing away the bedding. If you have a very small puppy, try using a thick blanket that doesn't tear easily. This will prevent the puppy from biting some pieces off and choking on those pieces.

Step 3: Lavish the crate with toys.

Place small little toys for the puppy to play with in and around the crate. For the time being, the crate will be like a second home to the puppy. So do all you can to keep the puppy happy. This will also help reduce anxiety. An anxious puppy may bark non stop due to separation anxiety. Toys will help keep the puppy occupied while its in the crate.

Step 4: Water, water, water!

The crate is not a desert. Place a small dish of water in the crate so that the puppy can drink whenever it wants to. If the puppy is till very young, a water bottle with a feeder (like those you use for hamsters) will work just as well.

Once you complete the above steps, you have a crate that's ready for your puppy!

Now where do you place the crate, and for how long should you keep the puppy in the crate?

If possible, try to place the crate in the presence of a family member. Try not to leave the puppy alone. It's normal for puppies to crave for attention. And if its left alone, it may get excited or anxious and start urinating or barking.

The duration that you should keep a puppy in a crate depends on the age of the puppy. This ranges from 30 mins to 6 hours. The duration slowly increases as the puppy gets older. Again, it is important to remember that it's perfectly normal for very young puppies to eliminate very frequently. So don't keep young puppies in the crate for too long!

Crate training failing.

Crate training usually works, but in some cases, the training may fail. For example, if a puppy has been kept in a crate that is too large, it may just get used to eliminating in the crate. Some puppies are kept in small crates when they are still in pet stores. That means they have little choice but to eliminate in the crate. After some time, they get used to eliminating in the crate. In such cases, it's hard to be successful at crate training.

Fortunately, young puppies are highly adaptable. With a little bit of perseverance, your crate training efforts will eventually pay off.

Puppy House Training - Some Common Approaches

Question: What is the most commonly known method for house training a dog?

If you have spoken to any puppy training expert, they would have recommended these 2 approaches to you. One takes longer than the other, but both have been proven to be effective.

Approach 1 - Puppy house training from the inside.

This means that you will be starting the house training from the inside of your house. Place some papers where you want the puppy to urinate or defecate. You can use special liquids that can be easily bought from your local pet store. These liquids contain a special odor that puppies recognize naturally. They will be lured to the place where the papers are placed.

You continue to do this on a daily basis, but bit by bit, you reduce the reliance on the odor. Soon, you start moving the papers towards the door. You then place another set of papers outside the door, and encourage the puppy to go there when it needs to let go. If it's doing the right thing, remember to praise the puppy! When you see the puppy going to the outside more often, you eventually remove the papers on the inside altogether.

This approach may take a little more time and patience, but it has been proven to work well.

Now let's consider the second approach.

Approach 2 - Crate Training

This is another commonly known approach. Crate training basically means placing your puppy in a small cage. The cage should be just about the size of the puppy. The rationale behind this approach is that puppies hate to dirty their own dwelling place. So when you keep it in a crate, they will naturally try to hold their urge to urinate or defecate. When this happens, the puppy is actually training itself to control its bladder. This is important because puppies, being young, don't have very strong bladders. That is why you often see young puppies urinating frequently. Don't worry. Now you know how to house train your puppy.

Also, when you keep the puppy in the crate, try to do it within specific time slots. This is the time you don't want your puppy to urinate. After some time, the puppy will get accustomed to the time periods, and will adjust accordingly. For example, you don't want your puppy to be urinating during morning. That's when everyone is busy getting ready to go to work or school. Your puppy urinating at the wrong time may just spoil the day for everyone!

Finally, remember to use verbal cues whenever possible. Most people like to use the word "outside", but this can be confused with the command that you use for getting the dog to just go out. You can choose another word if you like, that has a more specific tone, like "out poo" or "poo poo outdoor". It's up to you what you would like to use.

Notice that we didn't mention anything about punishment? Some dog owners get angry with their pups when they urinate or defecate at the wrong place and at the wrong time. That is understandable. But dog owners must also understand that in order to train a puppy quickly, it is important to have a good relationship with the dog. There are other ways to let the puppy know that it has done the wrong thing. But you have to give time to the puppy to adjust and modify its own behavior.

To make things worse, some owners even punish their puppies the first thing they get home - even before they confirm that the puppy has done something wrong. Eventually, the relationship between the puppy and the owner becomes a sour one. That is certainly not a pleasant experience for anyone.

So always strive to be patient. Remember, remember, remember - the puppy is still young, and it's just a baby. Shower it with love and give it your fullest attention whenever necessary. Don't let a little obstacle like house training come between owner and pet. Your puppy will give you back what you have put in 10 times more.

Puppy Training Information

Hi! Welcome to my new puppy training blog!

A new puppy, although cute and adorable, can cause serious problems if you're not careful. In a way, it's just like a little kid. It can't help being cute, and it can't help creating undesirable problems. What is needs, at this young age, is your patience and understanding.

I know the tone sounds a little bit serious, but just think about the problems that your puppy has caused for you:

• Barking non-stop (Very serious problem)
• Urinating and defecating everywhere, dirtying the house
• Biting and destroying furniture
• Disobeying oral commands
• In rare instances, hurting young children
• etc, etc, etc

A puppy, if left untrained, will continue behaving in a similar manner as it grows up. Unless you can put up with it during it's short life time, you'd better be thinking about how to train your puppy.

In fact, some problems can become so serious that you may be forced to get rid of your puppy. For example, if your puppy has the habit of barking during the wee hours, when everyone is sleeping, you will get complains from neighbors sooner or later. And when that happens, you will have to face the inevitable - find some way to get your puppy to stop barking, or sell away your dog.

For sure, before you have a chance to develop a relationship with your puppy, you don't want that to happen.

Fortunately, puppies can be easily trained - if only you know how. The more you conduct the training, the better you become. Soon, you'll come to realize that it's actually easy to train puppies. After all, they are creatures of habit. They operate on a pretty primitive level. All you need to do, is to find that right triggers and help them to remember the right behavior at the right time.

Of course, different puppies have different personalities. Your approach may have to change a little, according to each puppy's unique temperament. But by and large, the approach you adopt should be rather similar. It should be based on some kind of reward system.

So what kind of reward system works best? And what has been proven to work? That's the million dollar question.

This blog will attempt to provide some free tips and information on puppy training, and share some personal experiences. Also, every now and then, you may see some products being recommended. That's because it's always good to have some kind of structured method to train a puppy. It'll help accelerate the process.

Train your puppies as early as possible, and don't wait till they form hard-to-change habits.

Puppy Potty Training - Be Patient

Potty training for your puppy is probably one of the most important training goal. The earlier you train your puppy to let go at the right place, the less hassle you will have to deal with. An untrained puppy will let go any place, and at any time - even at the most inconvenient time like midnight.

As the owner, you must understand that this is not the puppy's fault. You shouldn't get angry with the puppy just because it urinated or needs to poo poo at the wrong time. A puppy is just a baby dog. And like all babies, it needs to be taught what to do. But until you can train it to behave in a satisfactory manner, be patient ok?

If you just bought a new puppy, find out from the previous owner whether the puppy has been potty trained or not. If it has been trained, that will save you a lot of trouble. Communicate with the previous owner and find out about the potty schedule as much as possible. When does the puppy usually need to relieve itself? You can pick up the training from there.

But if the puppy has never been potty trained before, you need to start everything from scratch. So how do you begin?

A good point to start, is by observing the natural habits of your puppy. Your puppy, not knowing what is the right thing to do, will let go whenever it feels like it. It doesn't care where, and it certainly doesn't care when. It's your job, as the owner, to train the puppy so that it can develop acceptable potty habits.

In the beginning, it may be a little bit tough. You won't be able to get the puppy to change immediately. Reserve a space specially for your puppy while it's undergoing training. You certainly can't watch over it for 24 hours! This is just a temporary phase. Until the puppy learns good potty habits, it will have to defecate in the confined space. It's also easier to clean up.

There is another good reason for keeping a confined space for the puppy. When a puppy urinates or defecates, there is going to be a strong odor. Cleaning up the same space with soap and water will remove the odor, but only for human noses. But the puppy, having a much more sensitive nose, will still be able to small the odor. It may think that's the defecating area, and goes back again to poo poo again. If it's doing it at the confined space, that's fine. Imagine the puppy going back to your expensive sofa set to defecate!

But if you find your puppy doing that, you can always go to a pet store to buy some special chemicals that will remove the odor completely - even for dogs.

Your puppy needs a lot of water as it is still a baby. Keep a fix schedule when you are giving water to the puppy. For example, if you give the water to the puppy at 2pm, observe when it urinates. Usually, the puppy's biological clock will tell you what to do. If you don't want your puppy to be urinating at odd hours, then control the feeding!

The next thing to do, is to let your puppy know when is a good time to relieve itself. The best way to do this, is to keep repeating the same behavioral patterns day in and out. For instance, take your puppy out to do its business after each meal. Keep doing this until your puppy falls into the habit of letting go after eating.

When you are out with your puppy, don't play with the puppy. Let the puppy know, gently, that it is supposed to be potty time, not play time.