This article is intended to help you ease your new puppy into your home, helping your pup have little to no stress as possible. I hope by now that you have done plenty of research on this breed of dog and that you are ready to take on the challenges and joys of raising a puppy. In this handout, we will go over how to get your home ready for a curious puppy, how to bring your puppy home, and how to start things right with your pup.

A puppy can be a real delight and a magnificent addition to a family. But, training a puppy to go outside to use the potty will keep the home from always smelling like puppy urine – and make everyone’s existence more pleasurable. Puppies have an incredibly short attention span, and just taking your puppy outside to go potty doesn’t necessarily translate to encouraging the puppy to conform.

Dog parents remember a universal mistake is lack of concern. All too habitually, a pet puppy parent says I detest this or that about my animal, but it’s just too tough to change it. Changes can be made and, if your pet sees that they bring about rewards, he will take action much quicker to a direct and determined method. So, loosen up and understand change can and will take place. Let’s get going.

Start training a puppy to go outside by keeping the puppy contained by a little box or crate when he is snoozing or sleeping at night. Puppies do not like going potty in their sleeping area, so they will naturally try to keep it unsoiled. When they are up, keep them in a small area of the home lined with paper. This will absorb their mess for an easier clean-up and provide you with a feeling of where they are naturally indicating as their selection for a potty spot.

Do not keep chow in the house within the puppy’s reach. Freshwater is good for the puppy to continually have available but not rations. This should be set aside for consumption times only. Watch for a plan, and when the puppy begins to go to sleep, situate them in their crate and when they wake up, take them outside right away.

Take the puppy outside every hour or two through the day for periods of up to half an hour at a time. Make these trips outside on as frequent a schedule as probable. The pup will also likely need to poop within forty minutes of eating. Do not initially play with the puppy when you go outside as you are training a puppy to go outside for the rationale of going potty.

When you take the puppy outside, take some goodies and keep the dog on a harness. The leash should be reasonably long to allow the puppy room to roam, smell and search an area of 10-15′ around you. If the dog either pees or poops offer the puppy a treat.

In conclusion, watch the puppy for behavior. If the puppy is sniffing about, this could be an indication they need to go potty. If the puppy is dancing or acting annoyed, again, they might need to go potty. Training a puppy to go outside takes fortitude and does not present instant results. However, with a little patience on your part, your puppy will be successful.

Readying Your Home for a Puppy

Before bringing your puppy into your home, you need to make sure it is puppy-proofed and that you have the rules and boundaries already planned out for him/her. Puppies are like babies; they constantly want to explore and taste everything. To keep them from getting into harmful things or getting into things you don’t want them to, you need to make sure you have harmful things put away where the puppy can’t get into them. As far as things you don’t want the puppy chewing, you need to make sure any child toys, shoes, clothes, etc., are picked up and properly put away. Your puppy may even be interested in chewing table legs, couches, wall corners, etc. One thing you can do before bringing your puppy home is to buy some bitter apple spray (which is odorless and is safe spraying on just about anything) and spray it on anything you may think your new puppy will try tasting. This way, it will associate early on that everything in your house is not a fun thing to eat because of the bad taste.

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Since dogs are extremely social animals, it would be smart to pick out a place in your home for their crate in a semi-busy area, such as the kitchen, TV room, or laundry room. This way, they can be around their new pack (which is you and your family) almost always but still have a place to lie down and relax when they get tired (which is their crate/kennel). Crate training is a crucial part of potty training and behavior training with your puppy. I recommend buying a crate that your puppy has just enough room to stand up and turn around in. If there is extra space in your puppy’s crate, they will use it to go to the bathroom. If you have a large breed puppy that will grow out of crates quickly as they get older, there are big crates you can buy that come with a movable divider in it. This will make it easier for you to adjust the crate as your puppy grows.

To start your new puppy off on the right foot with potty training, someone needs to be able to be home with the puppy at least every 2-3 hours for the first month or so that your puppy is with you. Puppies can only hold their bladder for so long while they’re learning, so they will need someone there with them constantly to be able to take them out to relieve themselves. You will also need to be prepared to take them out once or twice in the middle of the night. Be sure to plan your schedules to their potty needs accordingly.

Supplies Needed for Puppies

  • Food and water dishes
  • Collar and leash
  • A training collar (ask us about which type of training collar we would recommend for your pup)
  • Grooming equipment (nail trimmer, brush, ear cleaner, etc.)
  • Wire or Plastic Crate
  • Pet odor cleaner for when they have accidents (we recommend Nature’s Miracle)
  • Toys and bones (preferably not something that they will destroy in seconds)
  • Dog food

Dog Food

Choosing the proper diet for your pup is very crucial to their development and even their temperament. I’ve seen many dogs live off really poor food and be extremely grumpy because of it. Then once they get changed to better food, their mood changes because they’re getting better nutrition and feeling better. Ideally, you want to stick with a holistic diet for your puppy because a holistic brand will never put corn, fillers, or by-products in their food. Dogs can’t digest corn; it just sits in their stomach as a filler until they poop it out. You’re basically paying for them to poop in your yard. By-products (which are the heads, feet, and intestines) aren’t completely horrible for your dog, but they don’t have as high nutritional value as pure chicken, beef, fish, or lamb. Those types of ingredients you want to stay away from when looking for a good brand of food. If you ever wonder if a certain brand of food is good for your dog or not, the best thing you can do is look at the ingredients.

Listed below are some brands of food I would recommend getting for your new puppy:

  • Kirkland (the Costco dog food brand, only found at Costco)
  • Natural Balance
  • Purina Pro-Plan (white bag only)
  • Naturally Wild
  • Ultra
  • Blue Buffalo
  • Royal Canin
  • Nature’s Best
  • Solid Gold
  • Wellness
  • Innova
  • Canidae
  • Evo

If a certain food brand wasn’t mentioned, such as the one you would find at a grocery store, it is most likely extremely bad food for your dog. Buying holistic dog food is definitely more expensive than buying cheap grocery store brand foods, but there are so many more benefits for buying better food than buying the cheap stuff. Basically, the better the food your dog is on, the less they are going to eat, the less they are going to shed, and the less they are going to poop. They will also be so much healthier that you will most likely pay less in vet bills as they get older. The difference between grocery store brand food and holistic food is basically the difference between eating fast food 24/7 and eating fresh home-cooked meals 24/7. You decide which is better for your dog.

Books I Recommend:

  • “Cesar’s Way” by Cesar Millan
  • “Be the Pack Leader” by Cesar Millan
  • “How to Raise the Perfect Dog” by Cesar Millan
  • “The Art of Raising a Puppy” by The Monks of New Skete
  • “How to be Your Dog’s Best Friend” by The Monks of New Skete