Many owners take their new puppies to puppy school, (usually held at the local vet) which offer puppy socialisation, basic training and advice on raising the puppy which can be a great help, especially to people who have never owned a dog before. Puppy school is the first step towards training you new puppy however it is not a prerequisite to obedience training so do not be concerned if, for whatever reason, you did not go to a puppy school. When you join the Club you and your puppy will join our Puppy Class where you will learn all the basics of obedience training and the skills to train your new puppy.
Not everyone gets their puppy at eight weeks of age so do not worry if you have just got, or considering getting, a much older puppy. Training can start at any time with great success; it is your patience and perseverance that is needed.
Our experienced instructors are always on hand to offer help and advice regarding your new puppy. Below we have highlighted our puppy training top tips.
- Buy a crate and a puppy pen or use baby gates to confine your puppy to its own area.
- Ensure that your garden is escape proof.
- Enrole in puppy school. Your puppy will learn some basic obedience, but the real benefit is socialization with other puppies and people.
- Continue obedience training after puppy school at a club or with a trainer.
- Don’t encourage behaviour that you’ll regret when your puppy grows bigger. Jumping up is cute when it weighs 5kgs but it won’t be cute when its 35kg.
- Get your puppy used to being handled from day one, gently touching feet, nails, tail, ears, mouth, teeth, and tummy.
- Introduce your puppy to all kinds of novel things such as people in funny hats, remote control cars, kids on skate boards, balloons, cats and car rides.
- Socialise, don’t traumatize. Introduce new experiences slowly and never let your puppy get overwhelmed.
- Frozen wet face clothes make great chews for teething puppies.
- Avoid the dog park. A couple bad experiences could ruin your puppy’s opinion of its own species.
- Don’t leave food out to graze on.
- If you plan on changing the diet do it gradually.
- Pick up anything you don’t want destroyed. If it’s on the floor, it will be chewed.
- Be aware of dangers such as cables and power points.
- Check your garden for dangerous plants that the puppy might chew on.
- Focus on what you want, not what you don’t want e.g. teach your puppy to sit when greeting people, don’t just yell at it for jumping up.
- Rotate through the toys. Let your puppy have two or three toys at a time. Changing the toy selection will keep it interesting.
- Treat-dispensing toys make great puppy sitters.
- Practice separation. Letting your puppy have time alone in its crate or pen will help prevent separation anxiety.
- Don’t over exercise, remember the five minute rule, five minutes for every month of age, i.e. a six month old puppy should have no more that thirty minutes exercise.
- Hellos and Goodbyes should be no big deal. Don’t make a fuss over your puppy when you leave or come home.
- Don’t use ammonia-based cleaners. Your puppy will think it smells like urine and it will actually encourage it to pee there again.
- Puppies should not jump or climb more than a few stairs until they are over one year old,
- Leave the TV or radio on when you leave your puppy home alone.
- Remember that your puppy is a baby – don’t ask too much of it.