5 Things You Must Teach Your New Puppy

July 2, 2018

Bringing home a new puppy is a huge responsibility! One of the most important things you can do is ensuring your puppy develops good behavioral, social, and physical skills.

How you train your puppy can dramatically shape their personality and future. At Petland Miami, we’re huge fans of training our pups through positive reinforcement using any of the scrumptious training treats we carry in our store.

In order to make sure you’re setting your tail-wagger up for success, here’s a checklist of 5 crucial training and behavioral tips!

1. Basic Commands

Sit, Stay, Come, Leave It: These are the golden commands that can make your life so much easier. “Sit” and “Stay” help teach your dog patience. “Come” is very important! Coming when called is one of the most important skills for your dog to have on lock, because it can keep him safe in potentially dangerous situations. “Leave it” is best used for when they fixate on something, whether it’s destroying your shoe or trying to steal a treat off the streets.

You can read more on how to teach your pup some commands in our previous blog: Essential Commands to Teach Your Puppy.

2. Personal Space 

It’s important for your dog to love their bed or crate. Having consistent spots in the house helps them feel secure. The best way to get them to like their area is to reward them with a treat when they are in the bed/crate. Soon enough they’ll begin to develop a positive association with the area and automatically go their designated spots!

3. Boundaries

Dogs respond well to boundaries as long as they have been clearly defined. If your dog isn’t allowed to chew shoes, make sure you say a stern “No” and swap the shoe for one of their toys so they know what’s acceptable.

Similarly, if your dog isn’t allowed on the couch, gently push them off and when they stay down, reward them with a tasty treat and tons of praise, but make sure you stick to these rules.

If you allow them on the couch sometimes and don’t at other times, it’ll confuse your dog and make it harder for them to know what’s ok and what’s not.

4. Go Potty

The best way to train a puppy to go potty in the right places is to deliberately walk to the spot when you know they need to go and when they do go reward them with praise and treats. By constantly reinforcing the behavior you’ll be able to get them on a steady routine where both you and the pup know when it’s time to go! You can read more about house training your puppy in our other blog: How to House Train Your Puppy in 7 Days.

5. Teaching Them to Stay Home Alone. 

If you’ve managed to train your pup to like their crate then leaving them home alone shouldn’t be too difficult. However, for those of you who don’t crate, the best way to get your pup to not worry when you leave is to stagger the amount of time you’re gone and reinforce the good behavior with treats.

First, you can start by leaving them for 5 minutes. Come back and reward them if they don’t howl. Gradually increase the amount of time you’re gone.

With some patience and time, your dog will eventually learn that when you leave it doesn’t mean you’ll never come back. This a great way to also build trust between you and your dog. Once they start to trust they’ll be more at ease.

Having a solid foundation of training, no matter how old your four-legged family member is, will not only make you happy, but your pet as well!