When families get a dog and bring him into the home, he is not just a pet to watch the house or guard property but a member of the family. As a member of the family, there are rules that should be followed. One basic rule is to keep the home clean. This is where the need for housebreaking comes in. But one must keep in mind the kind of dog he they are bringing home: a new puppy or an older dog that may have come from a shelter or a previous family.

For a puppy, it is important to let it know its surroundings and being new in the world and not in the just in the household, there would be so many factors that may distract him as he is just being introduced to them. But a good rule of thumb when housebreaking or even training in general is to praise when praise is due and show disapproval immediately if something is done wrong to reinforce and instill the message in the mind of the puppy. When the puppy relieves himself in a place that is not proper, immediately show your disapproval for they won’t remember if it’s told the next day or five minutes later. But owners must aid in the learning such as bringing them out after meals to relieve the bladder pressure and praise them when they do their thing in the right places. Crate training is a very good method as it keeps them in one place and it is just big enough for them to comfortably lie down. Dogs usually do not like wetting their area of rest. Once the puppy is seen running in circles, it’s the signal to take them out. As time passes, they will be accustomed to having to go out to take a leak and not indoors.

For older dogs, it may be a challenge to some. Other factors have to be taken into account when wanting to housebreak the dog. They will be having a new environment like how the puppy experiences it for the first time, but the older dog may have had a bad past with a previous owner and the style implemented by the new owner might make them withdraw or shy away. The rule of thumb of praising still applies. Since they have better bladder control, they may adjust to an eliminating schedule by taking them out at specific times of the day. However, crate training can still be used with older dogs.

Dogs have the innate need to please their owners. Owners that show compassion, patience and understanding will win their dogs over no matter what age.

The post Housebreaking The Dog first appeared on Puppy Blog.

Training a puppy can be a difficult, yet rewarding task. If done properly, you will be rewarded with a loyal friend for life. If done improperly, it can lead to frustration on both the part of the dog and the owner. One of the leading causes of learning disabilities in puppies is not due to defective genes or breeds, but to early separation from the dog’s mother. Because dogs have a much shorter life span than humans, they mature and learn at a much faster rate. A puppy learns more in the first 6 months of its life than it does in the remaining years. To break it down even further, many of the dog obedience training basics are not taught by the owner or trainer, but by the puppy’s mother.

In a natural environment, a puppy learns about social structures such as pack leader, dominance, etc from its mother at a very young age. The puppy learns that there are appropriate places to go to the bathroom, appropriate ways to act around the pack leader, and more importantly, patience. If a puppy is separated from its mother too soon, many of these vital skills are not taught and can make the foundation for training much more difficult to establish. Furthermore, a puppy with separation anxiety, generally brought on by early separation from its mother, will exhibit more aggressive behavior, destructive behavior such as chewing or scratching, or nuisance barking or howling.

So how do you know when it is too soon to separate a puppy from its mother? The general rule of thumb is that a puppy should not be separated before eight weeks, but it could be longer if certain signs are prevalent. These signs include, but are not limited to, abnormal dependence on the mother or failure to conform to social norms within the pack. If these signs are evident, the puppy still needs more time with the mother before being made available for adoption. Once a puppy begins to exhibit independent behavior, it is a good indicator that he is ready for adoption and will have better success during the training process.

Even once the puppy is separated from its mother, it still needs just as much love and attention as it got when it was inside the family unit. Its mother used to respond to its every whine and whimper, and in order to keep the puppy’s self esteem high, it will require you to do the same until it feels comfortable with you. Once you have created this bond however, the dog will see you as the one in charge and will respond better to your voice commands, function better in your home, and be less likely to develop separation anxiety when you leave the home.

The post Puppy Training – How Early Separation Can Lead to Puppy Learning Disorders first appeared on Puppy Blog.