When your family is looking to get a new addition to your family the first thing to think about is what kind of puppy best suits your families activity level, if you have kids, whether you have another dog, if so what is his or her personality and if you live in a house or an apartment. Those are just a few things to think about. However, these are important factors in making sure that you set the puppy up for success. If you are having a problem with what kind of dog to choose for your household and life style, make a list of a few dogs that interest you. Do some research on them.
When everyone comes to a decision on what breed, size and energy level you think would be best the next step is finding a breeder that interests you. A few things that might help you decide which breeder to pick can be if the parents are on site, how long he/she has been in business for and ask them questions on the info that you found on the breed that you have decided to go with. Ask them if you can come to their house or kennel to see the parents and the condition they keep them in. If for some reason they say no, that is a clue you don’t want to do business with them and that they are trying to hide something.
Once you bring your puppy home it is very important to make sure that you have all of the things they need before you bring them home. Puppies can start training depending on the breed anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks old. At a young age the more socialization the better. Introducing them to something new should be a gradual thing. Your goal is to set everything up so your puppy gets something good out of that experience. Some of the things that is important to introduce them to is men, women, children, different sounds and walking on a leash. It is important that the training is a positive and fun experience so they look forward to learning new things. Never hit your puppy when they are having a bad day or when they do something that you are not happy with. Put them in their crate and try it again the next day.
Moving on to training. Whether you go to group classes or get a trainer to work with you and your family it is important for the dogs stability to have boundaries that everyone follows. For example, one person can’t tell the puppy that they can come on the bed and then the next person yells at the puppy when it gets on the bed. Everything has to come across clear so he/she doesn’t start to get confused and then they don’t know what is being asked of them which will set you back in the training. Taking your puppy out to practice training should always be when you are in a good mood. When you are having a bad day the puppy will pick up on this. In turn that session will be a waste of time and will get you nowhere.
