Do You Have The Heart To Do Puppy Training?

Training a new puppy can be a heartbreaking experience for just about anyone who has a conscience. This helpless and adorable little dog is just staring up at your eyes, making you melt and you think to yourself, “How in the world am I going to discipline, I just don’t have the heart!”

I realize that your puppy is cute and you just want to hug it all day long, but you must learn to give the discipline when necessary.

You have to muster up the strength to spritz your puppy’s nose with a water bottle when needed. You have to learn how to instill a little respect into your dog with quick commands whenever it is doing something wrong. It’s all about tough love and I know firsthand just how hard it can be.

Don’t Get Me Wrong…

Loving your puppy is definitely a good thing and huge amounts of affection and caring should be given to your dog on a daily basis, especially after it has done something right. However, you have to provide a balanced dose of tough love or else time will go by and your puppy will be two to three times its current size and with behavior problems.

If you do not start taking the necessary steps to initiate training at a very young age, you will miss this golden opportunity to train and socialize your little puppy. Your dog will end up as a
problem adolescent that will destroy your home and your relationship altogether.

Consider the fact that in one to two years time, your puppy will be considered a “teenager”. We all know that teenagers can be hard to control if they are not properly disciplined in their younger years.

What Can You Do?

Many of you will not have the luxury to afford puppy training classes due to either finances or time. With busy schedules day and night, you have to do your best with the tools you have when it comes to training your puppy. It is imperative that you teach your dog how to behave during this prime early socialization period. The ages between 3 and 16 weeks is the optimum time for such training.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to help guide your puppy training initiatives:

1. Am I establishing open lines of positive communication between the puppy and myself?
2. Am I supplying the puppy with the basic necessities of life; good nutrition, sound sleeping quarters and a clean atmosphere?
3. Am I setting and maintaining consistent rules and boundaries?
4. Are good manners and basic dog etiquette a priority when spending time with my puppy?