Your puppy has many things to learnโฆ from you! To see success when training your pup read these 4 tips and techniques for positive puppy training to get off to a good start! Your puppy will be learning:
- To sleep through the night
- House training
- Your house rules: where to sleep and where to eat, where they can go...
- To recognise and respond to their name
- To walk on a loose lead
Experiences during a pup's first year can have a big influence on how they feel about other dogs, people and different situations. A puppy that doesn't have the chance to experience the world, will often find things worrying and less able to cope with new situations.
A pup's socialisation period is from around 3 weeks of age to 12 weeks, depending on their breed. Check what experiences your puppy already has had with the breeder and work on developing this. Consider what you and your dog will be doing in the future, for example, will you be traveling on trains, or maybe you will be spending time outside coffee shops, or you need to go into an elevator to get to your home, and make sure to do these with your pup.
Before exploring beyond your home, make sure your puppy is fully protected by their vaccinations. In the meantime you can help your pup get used to visitors (and their dog if their dog is fully vaccinated), different sounds, different textures under their paws and different smells. Going out and about is possible too - just keep your pup in your arms and not on the floor. Have treats with you, so you can help your pup to associate good thing with the new experiences.
We recommend joining puppy classes run by your local accredited dog trainer or behaviourist. You and your puppy will learn some basic training together as well as meeting other puppies and their parents! Read the Benefits of Puppy Classes for your puppy.
