Training your puppy is a process that requires a lot of patience and dedication. While there are some rules that all pet owners expect their dog to obey, the truth is that these will depend on his breed, age, and temperament. However, Balto brings you 5 fundamental tips to start raising your pet.
1. Use positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is one of the best ways to reward or punish our pet's behaviors. Whenever your dog obeys an instruction or improves a behavior, such as urinating in the correct place, you should reward him with a cookie, his favorite toy or some special caress that tells our puppy that what he did was right.
You will save yourself a lot of punishment and anger!
2. Set rules from the beginning
The arrival of a pet to the family always fills the home with happiness, however, for this to continue you must establish rules and routines that your pet assimilates with good behavior. That is why a fundamental part of their education will be based on the main rules such as meal times, walks, and things they can or cannot do at home.
If, for example, you don't want your pet to get on the bed or the sofa, you should reward him once he gets down from here so that he understands that not going up to these places will have positive consequences.
3. Don't scold him in his first days at home
If your puppy has just arrived home, you should give him some time to adapt, and during this time you should not scold him for urinating on the carpet or for making a mess since everything is a process and you should give him time to understand and assimilate his new around.
During the first few days it is normal for your puppy to want attention by doing anything like crying at night or climbing up where he shouldn't so that you can put him down, however after a few weeks you should ignore him when he wants to attract attention, in order to that it does not generate separation anxiety in the future.
4. Newspaper or diapers will be your best friend in those first months of going to the bathroom
It is important that you keep in mind that before finishing your puppy's vaccination schedule, he will not be able to go outside, so this will be the perfect time to teach him to relieve himself in the newspaper or in the diaper. For this, the key is to have a fixed, spacious and private place so that your puppy can go to the bathroom at home.
But how do you teach him to do it in the right place and not on the carpet? When he does it in the right place, you should congratulate him and reward him with his favorite cookie. However, if he does poop where he shouldn't, don't use harsh methods such as hitting, change them to forceful words that your puppy assimilates as punishment for doing something bad. For example, you can say a resounding NO.
Likewise, you must keep in mind that habits are extremely important to be able to establish adequate channels during their development, this is why it is essential that even though they relieve themselves in the house they have times to go to the bathroom, such as 1 or 2 hours after each meal.
On the other hand, if your dog urinates or defecates in the wrong place, never clean with traditional grooming products, since it does not eliminate the marking 100%, which can cause your pet to repeat the behavior. For this, the best recommendation is to use cleaners with a natural formula that eliminates traces of animal urine.
5. Stimulate your mind with basic and simple commands
Dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to teaching him basic behavior and obedience commands such as come, give his paw, jump, follow, wait, etc. This will prevent your dog from having behavioral problems in the future.
Remember that the best way to achieve this is through positive reinforcement and that consistency and patience will be essential in the training process of your puppy.
