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HOUSETRAINING

This is commonly referred to as 'housebreaking' which nowhere resembles what actually happens and if you think about it, a pretty harsh way to introducing a new puppy to your household by 'breaking' them into the house rules. Just the topic, Puppy Behavior Problems, if you look at from their prospective, most of the things WE call behavior problems are total natural to the puppy. Jumping, barking, chewing, digging, whining, Before the puppy arrives you should have acquired the following

Crate [veri-kennel or steel mesh]
Stainless steel food and water dish
Dog treats
Clicker
Nyla-bone
Dog biscuits
Bedding for crate
Poop Scooper
Dog leash
Adjustable Web collar
Choke collar
Kong Ball
Child Gate
Toys - just a few like a knotted rope or tug toy
Odor neutralizers for elimination mistakes

PUPPY- PROOFING

Before the puppy arrives you MUST 'puppy-proof' the home. A puppy love to chew, grab, shallow and stick its nose and paws into everything. You are concerned with everything from floor level up to about four feet Plants, electrical cords, rugs with frayed ends, newspapers, magazines, all objects which could be chewed or swallowed like kids tinker toys and blocks, glassware, vases, all shoes, drapery cords. Use the child-proof locks are all floor level cabinets, especially those with chemicals. Consider what's accessible in your garage or your shed in the way of poisonous chemicals.

Most homes now have computers, which usually has multiple connection plugged into a surge protector that you have to be concerned about. An your trash can, garbage pails or wastebaskets are smorgasbord of enticing smells to a puppy. Prevention is the Cure, or preventing access is best; we train the puppy not to get into them garbage at all.

If you buy the puppy a stuffed animal, he will have no idea there is a difference between his toy and your kids stuffed animals if they are left laying around. Puppy-proofing is just like child-proofing a house. If there is anything which I could guarantee the puppy will chew, it would be table legs, anything wooden, electrical cords and plants. You will need to keep handy, toys which you can redirect the puppy's attention to when it gets a hold of something it should not. You have kids, have them get down on all fours and look, from approximately the same level as the puppys' eyes and see if there isn't vulnerable which was overlooked.

Besides a crate, the other tool, which I highly recommend is a child-gate. Most are expandable and portable and get more then one. Their primary use. In the kitchen. During the first week, the puppy may spend a lot of time with you in the kitchen, if they make a mess, you can clean it up. If you have to leave them for a moment, there isn't anything they can harm themselves with [because you picked it all up, right!]

child gate

Now, we spent time roaming the house for problem areas but don't forget the backyard, shed or garage. The garage will hold the most potent pesticide and insecticide that are harmful, along with the well threat of anti-freeze of which a teaspoon amount, sweet tasting, would kill a dog. There is also lots of tools, nails, wood, rope or plastic that they can destroy. Same goes for any sheds or shelters. As for the backyard in general. My question. What don't you want the puppy to dig in? Everything? Well you had better get a big fence. While you are at it. If this is a service dog, you really, really need to invest in a kennel. I have made a few, some out of wood, some out of fencing material. The best is a kennel which is comes in sections, the frame is heavy metal and not aluminium, the wire mesh is much stronger then the usual standard. They come in 6' x 12' or 10' x 10' and are commonly sold at Ranch Supply Stores.. This picture is courtesy of HiQaul Manufacturing, Rapid City, S.D. http://www.hi-qual.com/equine/dog-kennels.html

KIDS AND PUPPIES

Kids and puppies go together. SUPERVISED. There is NO exception. That includes your own kids. Teach your kids the rules and they can be of GREAT assistance when their friends come over. All of my kids were very good at taking care of my puppies and they made sure none of their friends even came close to doing anything wrong. An the puppy was GREAT entertainment for the kids. Actually, they entertained each other. They understand about running and jumping and biting, which is very important. What you let happen to your kids, should be the same thing if it was the neighborhood kids. Some things you want to consider.

Besides puppy-proofing the house, educate your kids on the rules prior to the puppies arrival.
If you kids are preschool, educate them on how to handle a puppy by demonstrating with a stuff toy
Consider writing the puppy rules down and put the poster in the kitchen. When their friends come over the kids can have them read the rules.
Stress the importance of not getting overexcited when they meet the puppy the first. BUT. YOU should expect that they will, so be ready to help remind them.
One thing which always happens, is the kids will be totally thrilled to chase or be chased by the puppy. While it is seemingly innocent play, it always ends up with kids falling, puppy's tearing pants or biting legs.
When kids come over you need to be there every SECOND.

PUPPIES AND OTHER PETS

While having a resident dog already in the house could help you out in the long run; you need to take steps to avoid complications for the first meeting. Even the best of dogs can get a little testie with a new puppy. Introduction should ALWAYS be done on neutral territory. Does that always happen, NO. Carrying the puppy into a house and then setting it down and see what happens isn't a good idea either. Does it happen, YES.

The present 'house' dog should meet the new puppy in a neutral place.
I do not recommend the philisophy of the dog's will work things out for themselves. SUPERVISE
If there is more then one dog already in the house, introduce them one at a time, in a neutral place.
Use separate feeding dishes for food and water, an separate places to eat
Show as much attention to the 'house' dog as you do the puppy, during the first meetings
Favorite toys, food or more attention to one dog then the other can cause jealousy
An experience handler/trainer should be there during the first introduction. The ability to intrepet canine body language is a talent. During every initial meeting between dogs, there is always a certain range of behavior which might appear as threatening and often misunderstood by new owners.

ARRIVAL

The first thing you should try to do is view the puppy's introduction into your home, from their prospective. Size alone, we are giants compared to an eight week old puppy. We don't smell like anything they left behind in the litter. We don't communicate or even understand the same language.

One thing I like to do is get down to their level, that's right, lay right on the floor and of course they love it. In this way, they don't have to be picked up, which leads to them jumping on people or whining to be picked up. Puppies are the purest example of a socially-oriented animal. They live to be with people, well most of them do, unlike cats you can take us or leave us.

On the door where you will be taking the puppy out to eliminate, tie a bell to the handle, hang it down low enough that the puppy can touch it with its nose. When you walk the puppy out, lure him to ring the bell to entice him to tap it with his nose or paw and praise him when he does it, at the same time.

CRATE TRAINING

I believe 100% in using an airline crate/veri-kennel to transport your dog and as a place for the puppy to sleep in the house. A giant refrigator cardboard will do at the beginning but eventually you need to buy a crate. When it comes to transporting a dog in the car, there is nothing which will save the interior better then a crate. Dogs naturally attract water and dirt like a magnet and their hair doesnt' just fall off it weaves itself into your car seats. If you think a crate is inhumane, I'm sorry, you have a right to your opinoin but it isn't one I agree with.

The crate should be in the house BEFORE the puppy arrives. On the date of his arrival, put a couple piece of food inside. Let the puppy find the food on its own. MAKE SURE, the crate is balanced and can NOT tip over when the puppy walks inside. When you are throwing a toy for the puppy, have it land inside the crate. You can disassemble the crate and allow the puppy to walk in and out of the bottom half before you put the top half on. If the crate is together, secure the front gate, allowing the puppy to walk in and out of it. You do not want to put the puppy in the crate, close the door and walk away for him to figure it out.

Crate training IS dog training, so make it a POSITIVE experience. It should not be a place where you put the puppy for long periods of time. It is not something you pull or push the puppy into. In the first few times, if possible, it is best if the puppy can just spend short periods confined, rather then doing it all at once. You also may need to get up once in the night to let the puppy relieve itself but then it goes right back in the crate.

Do not overload the crate with toys and bedding. Some puppy may push the bedding out of the way. I have put a water dish inside but the water bottles that you use for hamsters is better. Make sure the puppy elminates before you put him in the crate for the night. If you put the crate by your bed, I suggest it is lights out when you go to bed yourself. If the pup whines, do not throw anything at the crate to shut him up. If he will not stop and he decide you have to move him, expect this. First, take the pup outside, just in case he needed to go. Then place the crate somewhere else in the house. When you put the puppy back into the crate, it wouldn't be long before it is whining again. If you go to the puppy, he will keep whining all night long.

There are a couple rules you need to follow

Remove all collars, chokers or harness prior to putting the puppy in the crate
Kids should not be allowed to pester the puppy when it is in its crate
Make sure the puppy has eliminated before putting him into the crate for the night
Do not put the puppy in the crate if it is vomiting
Do not put the puppy in the crate if it has diarrhea
Do not put the puppy in the crate inside a crate that is exposed to extreme temperatures, i.e. in a car, outside.

If you have done the introduction correctly, the crate can become a place of refuge for the puppy. When you travel, the crate goes with you and when you stop at night, the dog has own place to sleep. If you have done any travelling with a pet, you will know that it is stressful on them. They don't eat right and their stools are not as firm for a couple of days. My experience has been if you give them the choice between sleeping in the car, in their crate, they prefer that over sleeping in a motel room. An when it comes time for training they will beat feet to get into their crate in the car. Still, there is nothing to say, you or someone will have a dog, that hates the crate or as a puppy, even soils in it but most don't.

These are the website you can investigate for further information

Housetraining Rules

When you call the puppy to you, never disclipline or correct them, regardless of what they did before. The simply point is, coming to you has to be a positive experience. If the puppy was doing something wrong, you have to go to them and not call them to you and THEN correct them for their bad behavior.
Do not correct them for submissive-urination. If you catch the puppy eliminating inside the house, you may correct them but if they are responding in a submissive posture, they often can not control their bladder at an early age and the excitement will cause them to pee, THIS you should not correct them for.
Do not rub the puppies nose in any elimination 'mistakes' you find after the fact. I actually read a newsgroup posting once that said that you COULD correct them. They said, if a puppy can 'remember' the location of where it left its toy, any number of hours after the fact, they will understand why you are rubbing their nose in something they did hours ago, say, while you were away.
Do not use OK as a release command. I was told this and then it happened to me and once I paid attention I could easily see my mistake. Saying OK to release the dog from a stay, down, etc is natural. But then, I had the opportunity of putting my dog in a long 'down' and someone came to talk to me and during the conversation, without thinking, I said 'ok' to the person I was talking to and the dog got up. This is just a short explanation and my recommendation but not an absolute necessity if you choice to use the command.
Do not use the word NO! for everything. In times of crisis, such as the puppy running in front of a car or times of an immediate doggy crisis, you will instinctively yell NO!. Save no for those important times and use 'sounds' to grab their attention away from what you don't want them to do. It WORKS! The point being, try using the sounds FIRST and then NO if that doesn't work.
Praise the dog every time it comes to you, even if you didn't call it. Now let me outline this a little bit. Obviously every time he comes when you call his name or give the 'come' you praise him. What I am referring to is, when you walks up to you, whether you say 'good boy' or not isn't as important as you at least reach down and pet him. Even if you just did it a minute ago, do it again a minute later or again five minutes, etc.
During the first week, know where your puppy is at all times. You say, you should know this all the time not just the first week. This is true, but I believe the first week is MOST important. The two of you are getting use to each other. If I said, wander or go find the puppy, any moment they are out of your sight for the first six months many people would say IMPOSSIBLE. The point I want to make is, especially in a new place, for the first week, you really have to commit yourself to watching the puppy every minute. Just because you think you have picked up everything that the puppy could chew on, doesn't mean you have gotten everything. I have taken off of work for one week, with every puppy I have had, just for this purpose.
The puppy should not be allowed to jump up on people who come to the door. Its cute now but when it grows up it can become a real problem.
Develop a schedule which the puppy can learn to adapt to. One the earliest problems a puppy confronts is know when or how its needs will be met.
Paper Training. You might assume paper training is easier then the standard way and I hate to say this but it is. You can look at it a couple ways. If the puppy is trained to go at a specific place on paper and you pay attention to them 24/7 then it works. Otherwise, the puppy is being trained to go on PAPER and as far as it is concerned that means ANY paper. It could care less if its newsweek or the daily news. With potty training you really don't want any mistakes but a few will happen.
Close supervision is essential and confine the puppy when it is not possible
You are the first one through the door, not the puppy.
You are the first one out of the car and not the puppy.
The puppy should eat at specific times, in a specific place
The puppy is taken outside to eliminate after every meal
Do not allow the puppy to have treats from the table. EVER.
Any time the puppy is with children of any age, an adult should be present
When the puppy goes out, you go out with him to make sure he eliminates
A puppy's place is not on the furniture or your bed
Keep all training session short, minutes not hours
LAST, everyone in the household needs to follow the same puppy rules.

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