Here are a few tips that you may find helpful.
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Health care-Your new puppy needs a clean comfortable environment, fresh water and a good quality puppy food. He will also need regular vet checkups. Most vets recommend at least 4 rounds of immunizations in addition to a rabies vaccination. Registration-be sure to remember to send in your registration application and get your new puppy registered in your name. Spend time with your new puppy. Not necessarily just from a training point of view. He needs socialization. Even if he isn't a house dog let him come in the house sometimes and go for rides in the car but NEVER let him ride loose in the back of a truck! Expose him to many different places and people. House Breaking Dogs are conditioned animals. They repeat what works. It is easy to create good habits and sometimes hard to break bad ones. The best way to house break a pup in NEVER let an "accident" happen. Vigilance on your part is the key. Below are some steps to follow that will help make this housebreaking period go smoothly and quickly. You will need a crate, pet porter, vari-kennel etc.. Because dogs are by nature den animals, this will become the puppy's den or bed. At this time, DO NOT give the pup unsupervised full run of the house. That is an "accident" waiting to happen. Play with him, hold him, let him explore, whatever, but WATCH him. You will quickly learn his posture when he is about to "go" and you will only have a second or two. For #1 he may only stop in his tracks and squat if a female and stretch out a little if a male. For #2 he may spin around. Pick him up and take him out to the area where you want him to "go", don't just put him out of the house, stay with him. Rain or shine, make sure he "went". Stay until he does. Bring him back in and play or whatever. But remember NEVER unsupervised. When he is tired put him in his crate. Yes, I know he will bark. Don't give in. Let him take a nap. He will need to "go" as soon as he wakes up. At this age he can't wait, take him out. It is best to carry him because he may have an "accident" on the way to the door. Stay with him. Make sure. He will most likely need to "poop" after feeding. So as soon as he is finished eating take him out. Puppies can't hold it very long so don't leave him in the crate for more that 2 or 3 hrs. If your puppy does have an accident in the house or crate NEVER NEVER punish the puppy. Do NOT scold or rub his nose in it. What he did wasn't wrong. It was only in the wrong place. If it does happen then YOU be more vigilant. Every time you allow an accident it only takes that much longer to complete the house breaking process. To establish the right habit varies from dog to dog but in a few weeks you will be glad you took the time to be so vigilant from the start. Good Luck! Remember at around 4 months your pup will go through teething. That is he will lose his baby teeth and his Main K9's will appear. During this teething period bad habits can be formed. Some dogs will not retrieve because their mouth is sore. Some will try to retrieve and drop the bumper a lot. Some may run out to it but not pick it up. If any of these things happen to your dog just quit retrieving for 3 or 4 weeks. Give the teeth a chance to grow in, work on obedience and spend time with him in other ways. Here are some important DON'Ts for you to consider: DON'T play tug-of war. He may try that with birds when you go hunting. DON'T give him squeaky toys. That may create "hard mouth" he may try to squeak your birds. DON'T chase after him if he doesn't return with a retrieve. Use a check cord to reel him in. Use it every time (until he is fully under control) or he will learn to come back only when he has the check cord on. DON'T hold him back (steady him) or try to make him retrieve on command. That comes later. Let him have fun retrieving. DON'T throw too many retrieves, No matter how much he wants more. Stop before he gets DON'T introduce a pup to very cold water. Wait until he is older. DON'T throw in heavy or difficult cover. You want him to be successful every time at this age. Good luck! Let us know if we can help you in any way. |
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