BRINGING HOME YOUR

 NEW PUPPY

When you do pick him up take him right home and maintain a quiet and peaceful environment for him. Let him explore and roam around. Watch him and if you have children don't let them play or hug him yet. Let your puppy start to feel at home.

Show him where his food and water is, take him outside to show him where to got potty, show him his crate - his safe place to sleep and get away. Eventually he will learn his schedule, where he eats, sleeps, goes out and his walk or exercise time.

The first night may be hard on you and your puppy. He will miss his family and feel uncomfortable in his new surroundings. Put him in his crate to sleep. A puppy will usually settle down quickly but if not place his crate by your bed. He then knows you are near and if he cries you can touch the crate to quiet him. If he refuses to settle down place him in another room with some food and water.

You can try putting a night light in the room with him too. Just remember never hit your puppy for crying. One last thing, just remember if you start by letting him sleep in your bed it will quickly become a habit.

DOG TOYS

Choose toys according to size of your puppy and for safety. You don't want small toy that can be swallowed and will cause him to choke. Good rawhide chews, hard rubber balls, small and safe soft stuffed toys, watch for eyes that can cause choaking hazards.

CRATES

They come in plastic or wire and buy the smallest size for your puppy breed. Place a towel or blanket with some toys inside to make it feel like his den-his safe place. Crates are an effective housebreaking tool since a puppy doesn't like to soil his sleeping place. They, also, are good to use for traveling.

          
LEASHES AND COLLARS

Choose a leash and collar that fits your dogs size, his need and the function you are using it for. Collar and leash should be lightweight and comfortable for your puppy. Harness type is safer and their are quick-release collars. The leash should be about 6 foot long.

SHAMPOO

Watch skin and hair for dryness and change brand if necessary.  Use an oatmeal Shampoo, it will help soothe the skin.

House Training Tips for

your New Puppy

Puppy Housetraining Do's

-Provide constant access to the toilet area. If you are home, take your puppy there every 45 minutes or less.

If you are not home or cannot tend to the puppy, then you must make sure he cannot make a mistake. It's actually not really a mistake because he doesn't know any better. With young puppies, when the urge comes, they go - it usually doesn't matter where they are or what they are doing. If we didn't put diapers on human babies, they too would soil our carpets and floors. Confine your puppy to a dog-proofed area and line the entire floor with papers. If the weather is nice, the area safe, etc, you can confine the pup to a small pen outside. Don't leave your pup out in the sun, wind, heat or cold. Be sure to provide shelter and water in the confinement area. It's ideal if the pen is set up on dirt, grass, gravel or concrete. The idea is that no matter where the puppy eliminates while confined, it is on something that resembles his toilet area. Your goal is to never allow your puppy to eliminate on carpet, tile, hardwood, or anything that resembles the flooring in your home. Once a habit is established, it is difficult to break, therefore, do not let your pup form bad habits in the first place.

-Praise and reward your puppy each and every time possible for eliminating in his toilet area.

-Feed your puppy at regular times. What goes in on schedule will come out on schedule.

-Use a crate to help your puppy develop self control. Confine him for gradually increasing periods of time when you are home to monitor him.

-Be patient. It can take until the dog is 6 months old for him to be housetrained.

Crate Training is one of the most efficient
and effective ways to train a puppy or dog.

The key to house training is to establish a routine that increases the chances that your dog will eliminate in the right place in your presence, so that she can be praised and rewarded; and decreases the chances that your dog will eliminate in the wrong place so that she will not develop bad habits.

It is important that you make provisions for your dog when you are not home. Until your dog is housetrained, she should not be allowed free run of your house. Otherwise, she will develop a habit of leaving piles and puddles anywhere and everywhere. Confine her to a small area such as a kitchen, bathroom or utility room that has water/stain resistant floors. Confinement is NOT crate training.

                         What is Crate Training?

Crate training can be an efficient and effective way to house train a dog. Dogs do not like to soil their resting/sleeping quarters if given adequate opportunity to eliminate elsewhere. Temporarily confining your dog to a small area strongly inhibits the tendency to urinate and defecate. However, there is still a far more important aspect of crate training.

If your dog does not eliminate while she is confined, then she will need to eliminate when she is released, i.e., she eliminates when you are present to reward and praise her.

Be sure to understand the difference between temporarily confining your dog to a crate and long term confinement when you are not home. The major purpose of confinement when your are not home is to restrict mistakes to a small protected area. The purpose of crate training is quite the opposite. Short term confinement to a crate is intended to inhibit your dog from eliminating when confined, so that she will want to eliminate when released from confinement and taken to an appropriate area. Crate training also helps teach your dog to have bladder and bowel control. Instead of going whenever she feels like it, she learns to hold it and go at convenient scheduled times.

Crate training should not be abused, otherwise the problem will get drastically worse. The crate is not intended as a place to lock up the dog and forget her for extended periods of time. If your dog soils her crate because you left her there too long, the house training process will be set back several weeks, if not months.