Where to start and how to go about if you have a 3-4 month old puppy untrained at all, not used to collar, let alone leash and crate? confused on where to start and how
First off, this site has excellent training guides you can look into getting for your new pup. There is plenty of literature out there too, books and videos for training.
The bottom line with training a puppy anything is to figure out how you personally want to go about it and how you want your dog to behave, and then stick to repetition of the same training methods.
For leash training just put puppy on lead and see how he acts, most dogs don't pay too much attention to the lead. When he struggles against the leash and pulls, give a sharp tug on it and say "heel" or "no" til he gets the idea. You should remember though its not recommended to take new puppies out for walks in a random environment until they are fully vaccinnated.
For crate training, start him out early! First few nights! He will whine to begin with, but ignore it. If you show him any attention, good or bad, when he whines he'll learn that whining gets him what he wants. You should take him out at least once in the middle of the night to pee, so that he doesn't learn to pee in the crate. Put toys and maybe a shirt of yours in the crate so it becomes a happy, safe lace for him and he'll like to be in there. Incorporate it into play time, throwing toys and such in, and praising him heaps when he goes in.
Basically you can train him however you want, just stick to the same routine and be sure to praise and correct the same things every time. Dogs are remarkably smart and pick up on basics very quickly!
I'm sure other members have advice to give, I tried to keep it general, hope it goes well
First off, this site has excellent training guides you can look into getting for your new pup. There is plenty of literature out there too, books and videos for training.
The bottom line with training a puppy anything is to figure out how you personally want to go about it and how you want your dog to behave, and then stick to repetition of the same training methods.
For leash training just put puppy on lead and see how he acts, most dogs don't pay too much attention to the lead. When he struggles against the leash and pulls, give a sharp tug on it and say "heel" or "no" til he gets the idea. You should remember though its not recommended to take new puppies out for walks in a random environment until they are fully vaccinnated.
For crate training, start him out early! First few nights! He will whine to begin with, but ignore it. If you show him any attention, good or bad, when he whines he'll learn that whining gets him what he wants. You should take him out at least once in the middle of the night to pee, so that he doesn't learn to pee in the crate. Put toys and maybe a shirt of yours in the crate so it becomes a happy, safe lace for him and he'll like to be in there. Incorporate it into play time, throwing toys and such in, and praising him heaps when he goes in.
Basically you can train him however you want, just stick to the same routine and be sure to praise and correct the same things every time. Dogs are remarkably smart and pick up on basics very quickly!
I'm sure other members have advice to give, I tried to keep it general, hope it goes well [/QUOTE]
Thank you so much for your reply will definitely try my best!
Dog 101 on TV had a show on this just last night. From it, I'd like to add a bit to KOPCaroline's excellent advice.
Stop food or drink a few hours before putting the puppy to bed. Play with him (so he goes to bed tired) and take him to his potty area (wherever you intend his PERMANENT place to be) before putting him to bed.
Also carefully check, at his level, for interesting things to chew and put them away or spray with a bitter taste.
Good luck; remember puppyhood doesn't last as long as childhood, so enjoy it while you can; take plenty of pictures and videos; enjoy!
My Chihuahua broke her leg the week I brought her home at almost four months of age. I had to keep her crated most of the time for six weeks so that the bone would heal - due to being so young she had to have the bandage replaced every third day and so she has an aversion for vets and crates. I could not let her run around until she was six months of age and as she saw me as punishing her we had several problems with training.
I started her training by putting a harness on her together with a leash and had her drag that around the house. This enabled her to become comfortable with the harness and leash before I started walking her.
When I allowed her to play outdoors having her come to me was a real problem as she probably thought I would confine her to her bag taking her home.
She is now ten months of age and is doing really well with her training. I am a very proud and happy puppy owner.
The point of this message is to give you encouragement and remind you not to be anxious as your dog will pick up on this and may negatively react to it.
