Life With A New Puppy | Training Tips

 

In January, we welcomed another little puppy into our family. Tommy and I have already ‘brought up’ Yvie and Jasper – what feels like many years ago now. With Yvie, we were so young and just loved and cared for her. We trained her a little bit but mainly just bonded with her, she is so clever she didn’t need much help from us. When we got Jasper, a year later, he followed Yvie everywhere. Toilet training was easier because when Yvie went outside, so did Jasper. He is much quieter and laid back than Yvie, but they are both such good dogs.

 

When Tommy mentioned about getting a third I thought he had gone mad. Never had we thought about getting another pup and the thought really scared me. I was worried a third would ruin the bond between Yvie and Jasper, and their bond with us. We read up a lot about it, and decided to go for it. We have so much love for the older two and both loved the idea of having a house full of joy, life and laughter – three things we definitely get from our dogs. A few weeks ago a friend of mine told me she was getting her first puppy and if I had any tips. I started out by giving her a couple of pointers and by the end of the messages I had basically written an essay. It got me thinking, perhaps I know more about this subject than I thought I did. After all, raising 3 puppies is no easy feat, and now that I am a bit older and we are bringing up Tinks, I am able to see how much work is actually involved. So here is my advice, to any of you who are thinking about getting a puppy, or are in the early stages of having one.

 

Crate Training

At first, when somebody suggested getting a crate for Yvie, I thought it sounded horrible but it is honestly the best thing we ever did. We made the crate really cosy by putting blankets and toys in there. The first night a puppy spends in a new place is obviously going to be daunting and very scary for the pup, but you have to be strong and let them calm down on their own. Tinks barked and cried for a couple of hours and it is heartbreaking, but it would have only been worse in the long term if we had gone back down to her. The first night, she started crying again about 4am so I went down, let her out into the garden and put her back to bed. She only cried for a couple of nights and now she sleeps right through. Obviously, each dog is different, but if they think that every time they cry you will go to them and comfort them, life will be much more difficult later on. After a few nights, they will start to see the crate as a safe place and somewhere they can sleep soundly.

 

Toilet Training

Puppy training mats will become your new best friend. You probably will have never heard of them before you think about getting a puppy, but buy them and buy lots of them. They are large square mats which are specially scented to encourage puppies to go to the toilet on them. We put one in their crate too, although try to avoid them pooing in their crate – it can be distressing for them and very messy too! Every time they wake up, we put them outside so they are more likely to go to the toilet outside. Then we came up with a command, so every time they went outside, we said ‘Outside’ which they then relate to going outside. Now, to Yvie and Jasper when we ask them if they want to go outside, they immediately run to the back door. When Tinks goes outside, we say the word ‘outside’ and give her a lot of praise. Gradually, you will be able to move the puppy mats nearer to the back door and going to the toilet indoors will stop after a little while.

 

Food

Everybody will try to tell you a different thing when it comes to what you should feed your dogs, but you will find what is right for them, and for you after a bit of time. We have changed the dogs food so many times and now keep them on a diet of ‘Chappie’, which is meat, and also ‘Wainwright’s’ biscuits. They enjoy it and they seem happy and healthy on it. Some foods, like they can with humans, disagree with different dogs. Jasper used to be quite sick frequently when they were eating ‘Cesar’ meat. The vet told us that ‘Cesar’ is quite a rich meat so we should try him on something blander. If your dog is hungry, they will eat. Like with the food we eat, you get what you pay for in most cases.

 

Commands

We love our dogs just being dogs. We were never interested in making them roll over or do anything fancy. I do however, think it is important that they know some basic commands. Ours, (Tinks is getting there) respond to sit, wait, stay, down, paw and a couple of others. Although you get used to each other. If I say to Yvie, “Do you want to come upstairs?” she will wait at the bottom. If I tell them to get on their beds, they do, just like if I ask them if they are hungry they run to the room they get fed in! As with everything else, there is a balance and it is surprising how much you mould around each other, they are clever and attentive little things.

 

Teething

Puppies will chew as they are puppies and their teeth are just coming through. Tinks is the only one of ours who has chewed ‘typical’ puppy things like slippers and her favourite – skirting boards! When we catch her doing it we pull her away and say ‘no’ quite firmly. They will nibble your fingers and it can nip a little bit, but when it happens grab a puppy teething toy (life savers!) and put it in their mouth. It isn’t necessarily that they want to ruin your best pair of shoes, it is because their teeth are hurting and that is the only way they can relieve some of the pain.

 

Bathing

Warm water, baby shampoo and a big snuggly towel to wrap them up in afterwards. The sooner you get them used to being bathed, the better in my experience.

 

No means no

Let them know who is boss! Our 3 are treated, walked, loved and cherished, but they know that when we say no, we mean it!

 

People friendly

I am a big believer in letting our dogs be dogs. When people come round I don’t make them stay in one room, away from the dogs. From day one, all of ours have been used to people coming and going, interacting with them and being around many at a time. This way, when you go out in public, people don’t phase them. They learn to love people. I always joke that if we got burgled, ours would just lick them and definitely wouldn’t bark!

 

By no means is any of the above set in stone, each dog is different, as we all are, but hopefully you will find some of it useful. It really is just the basics, that I have found have helped us along the way to having three, very lovely dogs. The most important thing is to love them and let them know they are loved, it will happen very quickly and when it comes it will never leave you. Nobody really understands the joy of having a dog and how lovely they can be unless they have had one. The bond is unbreakable and we love our little three so much, I can’t imagine life without them. If you are thinking about getting a puppy, it isn’t easy at the beginning, but it is so worth it. Good luck!

 

ALF x