You’re super excited about your puppy’s
arrival
You’ve been nesting and getting your home
ready
The day is almost here!
In this video, I want to share some very important
care and training tips to help you prepare
as you bring home your first puppy!
Before we start...
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Michele here with How to Train a Dream dog
We are going to begin with the car ride home….
So you’re picking your pup up from the breeder’s
or a shelter and you need to get your pup
home safely
Most people think that bringing their pup
home on their lap is the best option
I’m here to tell you, not so fast….
Puppies should ride in their crate on the
way home.
This is the safest place for them to be and
the best place to be in case they get car
sick
Which happens to most puppies under 1 year
of age
You see your pup’s equilibrium isn’t fully
developed till they are about a year
The car ride can make pup’s queasy and dizzy
Also, keeping them in the crate is like putting
a baby in a car seat.
You never know who is going to slam on their
breaks in front of you, and we don’t don’t
want them to go flying off your lap
Think about it like this… an average 60
lb adult dog turns into a 2700 pound projectile
when an accident occurs at just 35 miles per
hour
This is a whole physics lesson in itself but
let’s just say if you don’t let your kids
climb all over the car and into your lap while
driving
Don’t give your dog this same unsafe access
We also use the crate because this will be
the first time away from their littermates
and mother.
We want to use the car ride effect of lulling
them to sleep to our advantage
This makes the first 24 hours go a whole lot
smoother if they can fall asleep in their
crate on the ride home.
If you experience crying in the crate you
can use a snuggle puppy or a heartbeat dog
to help soothe your pup’s anxiousness
I’ll link this item in the discription below.
Covering the crate will help decrease the
stimuli they see as you drive
You can get DAP spray to help calm your anxious
pup too
Dog appeasing pheromones are similar to the
scent the mother dog naturally gives off to
calm her pups
There’s a spray, a collar and a plugin you
can use.
Now when you arrive home you will be excited
and apprehensive
What do you do with a new puppy?
Do you show them your whole house?
Do you give them access to the carpeted rooms?
Do you allow them free roam
Nope, Nope, and Nopedity NOPE!
When you arrive home, and before you head
in the house, I want you to take your pup
to the potty spot
This will be a spot you’ve established as
the place you want your pup to go potty each
time you take them outside.
Now in this video here, I talk all about setting
up a puppy pen outdoors to section off where
your pup should go
This helps them stay more focused outside
as well since there will be a lot of distractions
that will get them off track
Once your pup has gone potty you can head
inside, but you’ll only allow access to
one room right now
I use a baby gate like this to close off access
to other rooms
If you give your pup too much space they will
likely have an accident
Besides they aren’t trustworthy just yet
A trustworthy pup has earned access to other
rooms by proving they haven’t chewed anything
in the first room you gave them access to
And they have stopped having accidents for
at least a few weeks in this room
We usually start with the kitchen or the dining
room
This is also the place you can set up a puppy
pen and a crate
The pen is for playtime and the crate is for
naps and bedtime
You’ll want to keep 1 crate on the main
floor for easy access especially in the middle
of the night when pup will need to go potty
outside.
You can learn more about the puppy schedule
from this video here
You’ll discover how frequently your little
pup will need to go outside
Now for a more comprehensive puppy potty training
schedule and lesson be sure to grab the Free
New Puppy Starter Kit
The link is below.
You’ll also find a potty training chart
and some links to important potty training
supplies such as potty bells and accident
cleanup supplies
When you take your pup out in the middle of
the night you’ll want to limit the number
of lights you turn on so you don’t overstimulate
your puppy in the middle of the night
After they go potty, quietly return them to
their crate and go back to bed yourself
I still give puppies a little tiny treat when
they go potty outside in the middle of the
night
I want to stay consistent with the training
process
When your pup arrives they will be a bit overwhelmed
so don’t be surprised if they don’t want
to eat their food, take treats, play and run
around
It’s common for pups 10 weeks and under
to sleep upwards of 18 hrs per day
Let a sleeping puppy lie
You can learn more about these kinds of expectations
in this video here
The first day and into the 1st week really
are all about establishing good routines and
starting the training games
These are games that we talk about inside
30 days to Puppy Perfection
Games that help with leash and collar skills,
impulse control, working on obedience cues
like sit, down, stay, leave it and the come
command
Honestly the first week or so will be about
leash skills, crate training, and potty training.
Keep in mind your puppy will have no understanding
of commands such as leave it, no bite, get
down, or come here
These are the most common cues new puppy owners
say to their new pups but to be honest it
all sounds like the Charlie Brown teacher
that says WahWah Wahwah Wah Wah
If you’re interested in learning more about
better puppy behavior and where I go into
more detail all about this topic you can check
out my Free Better Puppy Behavior Workshop
I’ll put the link to that in the comments
below too
Now back to bringing home your new puppy
I think the hot topics or the areas where
new puppy owners struggle the most are
Potty Training, Crate Training, and Biting
Biting is one of those behaviors everyone
wishes would stop but you can expect it to
stick around for a while
Your puppy has a natural urge to bite and
chew and it gets stronger during the teething
stage which usually kicks in around 12 weeks
and goes until about 6 months.
Most brand new puppies around 8-10 weeks do
a little nipping and biting but not nearly
as much as a teething puppy.
I want you to be prepared when this behavior
starts or gets worse as there isn’t one
magic thing to make it stop
There are several things we can do to manage
the behavior so make sure you watch this video
here all about puppy biting.
And this video here all about stopping nipping
What you’ll end up finding out is that it
boils down to your puppy’s energy level
and if they are overstimulated
A puppy with a lot of energy to burn off will
bite more
A puppy that is overtired and overstimulated
will need a nap or they too will nip and bite
more
Your new puppy will need daily mental and
physical exercise
We want to tire out their brain and body appropriately
based on their age so they can relax and focus
better
Remember your new puppy will not have very
good control over their impulses
This is a skill we need to teach them
For example, your puppy will chase after you
and nip or jump on you when they are excited
If you give them attention when they jump
you will be reinforcing this behavior and
the behavior will become stronger and stronger
Before I share my last couple of tips with
you, be sure to hit that subscribe button
to get notified when next week’s new lesson
becomes available
Lets talk about the puppy pen for a minute
At some point you are either going to need
to do some household chores or your puppy
is going to get too nippy or bitey but they
might not be ready for a nap just yet
You’re going to want to use a indoor puppy
pen
This will be the play space your puppy can
hang out in while you’re busy or you need
a little time away from your land shark
This is also a great place to keep them safe
and learn to be away from you for short periods
of time
Remember your puppy will naturally cry for
you and wait for you to return
This is a natural behavior they would do when
they wanted their mother to return and feed
them
We need to teach our puppies that this behavior
doesn’t work anymore
Our puppies should learn to be away from us
for periods of time otherwise they will develop
separation anxiety later in life.
True separation anxiety usually includes trying
to escape from the crate, excessively licking
or chewing on themselves, harming themselves
or destroying your home in your absence
Most new puppy owners think their puppy is
experiencing separation anxiety when they
bark and cry
We don’t call this separation anxiety as
it typically hasn’t escalated the activities
I mentioned a moment ago
What your puppy is doing is going through
what we call the extinction burst
They need to learn you won’t return every
time they bark and cry
This is why it’s so important to start immediately
working on crate training and spending some
time away from your puppy
Otherwise, they will become very dependant
on you and continually get stressed out in
your absence
The last topic I want to talk about is introducing
your new puppy to either a resident dog or
kids
It’s important that if you have another
dog in the home that you do a slow introduction
when they puppy arrives
Do not expect them to become instant best
friends, it may take several weeks for your
older dog to get used to the puppy
It will be important to make sure both dogs
are well exercised before meeting as this
takes some of the tension and pressure off
when they have already released some energy
When you allow the dogs to play or interact
together be sure to do this in small increments
of time, 10 min at a time to start is ideal
This way neither will get overwhelmed and
reactive
Giving the dogs breaks is important
Play should look like an even game of tag
back and forth and if one dog is getting pinned
frequently this is not good play
Now if you are introducing your new puppy
to the kids…
Make sure to tell the kids ahead of time what
to do and where to be when puppy comes in
the home
We don;t want to overwhelm the puppy with
high pitched squeals, screams or racing and
running around
Kids should be sitting calmly in a chair or
on a stool
We like to have the kids up off the floor
so pup doesn’t pounce all over them and
start nipping
The lower to the floor they are the more excited
a puppy becomes and this can lead to overstimulation,
nipping, and biting.
Let the kids know they will need to move through
the house calmly and quietly as fast movements
and higher-pitched talking and noises actually
draw puppy in and the nipping starts
Puppies can get very confused with kids as
their body posture often gives conflicting
messages
Arms and hands flailing, lowered body posture
such as leaning over, pulling hands away when
puppy attempts to lick or nip can all confuse
a puppy
Kids often ask the puppy to perform commands
that they just don’t know yet and they tend
to accidentally reinforce the wrong behaviors
Like I mentioned earlier if a puppy jumps
and gets attention, even if it’s a kid pushing
a puppy off… this can be seen as reinforcement
to a puppy.
Training the puppy and teaching the kids goes
hand in hand.
Both kids and puppies will not know what to
do or what not to do until they are both taught
these skills.
I hope this video helps you and your puppy
start out on the right path, brining a new
puppy home can be super exciting and a little
nerve wracking at the same time
Expect setbacks and successes often within
the first year of your puppy’s life.
There’s a lot a puppy needs to learn and
a new puppy owner too
In the comments below tell me when your new
puppy is due to arrive home or if you have
your puppy already how long have they been
with you?
