Puppy Training Housebreaking

New Puppy….training tips?

I just got a lab puppy and he’s going to be indoors. Any links or good advice on crate training and housebreaking puppies. he’s only 9 weeks old, i’m not sure how soon they take to training? Thanks in advance!
he’s not going to be completely indoors, he will go outside too, but at night I want him to be able to stay inside.
for those of you worried about a big dog inside I have over 1.5 acres of yard for him to run and we are out in the country. He will get plenty of exercise and we are a very active family. I just don’t want him to be one of those dogs that are outside in a kennel and stay outside all winter.

I would love to answer this question with a few tips and some advice learned through experience. It’s never too early to train a puppy. However the lenght of time and intensity of the training need to start low and gradually increase.

Crate training is relatively easy. Fist of all the crate size is very important. Your puppy should only have room enough to stand and turn around. If you give a puppy enough room to walk around in their crate then they have room enough to go potty where they don’t sleep. It’s also important to note that a puppy has little control over it’s bladder at first. Potty breaks must take place very frequently in the beginning. Take you puppy out of the crate to potty every 2 to 4 hrs for the first few weeks. Don’t be tempted to let the pup out for whining. This is no different than a small child whining to get there way. Be strong and soon the crate will become a place of comfort for the pup. Don’t let the puppy play around in the potty area. Once the pup has done it’s business, bring it back inside. The time after the potty break is a good time to get some initial training and exercise in for the pup.

Training is most easily done with food at first. You can manipulate a pup into the sit by place a small bit of food in your hand and moving it over his/her head until it eases back into the sit. Use food when calling your pet. Give the treat and lots of praise any time the puppy comes to you when called. NEVER reprimand a pup when you get them back after they run from you. Coming to you should be a good thing ALWAYS.

It’s also important to note that a dogs concept of time is not like ours. If the pup pottied in the house 10 minutes ago and gets punished now, it doesn’t really know why its being in trouble. Try to keep corrections reserved for when unwanted acts are actually occuring. Always use lots of praise for the good things your puppy does. Praise is both physical and verbal.

While working with our dogs we use three types of voices. Command voice is for telling the dog what to do. This voice should not sound like you are requesting the dog to listen. You need to project yourself as the dominant person. Next is the praise voice. Think of this voice as one of talking to a baby. Higher pitched and very excited. You must let the dog know he/she has just done something good. The correction voice should conve’ your displeasure with what just occured. Sharp, short, lower toned voice should be used. “NO”, “Fooey”, “AhAh” are all examples.

How to Train Puppies : How to Housebreak Your Puppy

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