Puppy Training

Training your Puppy

House training your puppy: puppies need to defecate and urinate frequently. It is best to establish a schedule so your puppy will know when and what to expect. Most puppies are fed twice daily. Small breeds may need to be fed three times daily. Eating stimulates the need to defecate in puppies. Immediately after the puppy finishes his or her meal, take it outside or to the area where it is supposed to go to the bathroom and leave it there a few minutes. Activity also stimulates the need to urinate and defecate. Therefore, set up frequent play periods for your puppy. Play with it a few minutes and then take it to the area where you want it to use the bathroom and leave it a few minutes. Observe your puppy's behavior. Most puppies, when they need to go, go off to the side or start acting like they are looking for a spot. Immediately pick the puppy up and take it to the designated area. Never take a puppy back to a spot it has messed in and stick it's nose in it or scold it. It will not know what you are doing and it will just confuse it and can lead to personality problems. Reward your puppy when it does good and usually a sharp "no" is sufficient to let it know when it has done wrong. Patience, persistence and vigilance are keys to successfully housetraining your pet. Always treat your puppy with love, patience and kindness and it will grow into a loving, trusting and faithful companion. Crate training a puppy is often successful. Insure the crate is large enough for the puppy to move around in. Put in warm bedding. Get your puppy a stuffed toy about it's size and let it keep it with it. Do not leave the puppy in the crate too long at a time as it cannot "hold it" and may soil it's bedding. This is disconcerting to the puppy. As your puppy matures, it will develop bladder and bowel control and can stay in it's crate or in the house for longer periods of time without losing it's house training. Do not feed the puppy after 7 PM. Take it out after feeding and again at 10 PM for just before you go to bed to help it last. Initially, it may not last through the night.

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