Dog Trainer Shares the Very First Thing People Should Teach a Puppy
Bringing home a new puppy can be exciting...and a lot of work! It's like having a baby, and you have to teach them everything. So where do you start? According to dog trainer Garret Wing of AmericanStandardK9, there's one thing that you need to immediately start training your pup, and he shared it on Sunday, January 21st.
The first thing you need to teach your new pup is potty training. It's a daunting and frustrating task, but once your successful with the training your life gets a whole lot easier. Garret says that potty training and crate training should be done at the same time because they go hand in hand. He then goes on to explain what you should do next, and his take on teaching a dog a new trick is pretty interesting!
Would you agree with @Garret? I think it makes complete sense that you shouldn't just focus on teaching your dog one basic command at a time- like how to sit - and instead work on a few different things. Keep training sessions short - maybe 5 minutes or so a few times a day - and always keep your cool and patience; you can incentivize with treats and a ton of 'good boy' positivity!
Related: Golden Retriever Puppy’s Funny Reaction to Learning to ‘Sit’ Is Beyond Adorable
Potty Training Tips for Success
When Garret said if you do it right you can have your dog potty and crate trained in 48 hours, my jaw nearly dropped! It took us a lot longer than that to get our West Highland Terrier trained! But there are some tips to help make potty training a little less frustrating. Many people start potty training by using training pads (wee wee pads) in the house. We had great success with that! But you don't want your pup to potty in the house forever, so at some point you've got to get them to go outside.
First, you'll need to watch for clues that they may need to go potty. Pay attention to their behaviors before they go, and if you think your pup is sniffing around looking for somewhere to go, take them outside. Many training tips suggest if they have a accident or purposely go Number 2 in the house, to take it outside so that the dog understands that that's where they should be doing their business. When you go outside, always take them to the same spot to go potty.
Consistency is key; take them outside on a regular basis (like once an hour to start), and while you are out there tell them to go potty on command. I would suggest you don't use a word that you say a lot - if you have a small toddler, you might use the word 'potty' in the house. Choose a word that you don't use regularly - we used to tell our dog to "go peepees", a word we never used any other time.
Reward your dog for going potty outside, but never punish them for accidents! Use positive reinforcement when it comes to potty training...really any kind of training. With patience and lots of positivity, your pup will be potty trained before you know it!
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