National Puppy Day’s Tips for a Happy Puppy

This year, sponsors include Animal Miracle Network, Purina’s petcentric.com, Nu BowBow, Pet Home Magazine, Zany Zak, Mommy Bus and Style & Bliss Magazine. In celebration of the day, we are asking puppy lovers to make a donation to the Animal Miracle Network’s Japan Animal Disaster Relief Fund.

Choosing the Right Breed
When considering bringing a puppy into your home, make sure that you’ve researched the breed you’re adopting, taking into consideration their temperament, activity level, breed characteristics and other needs in relation to your home environment and family lifestyle. When adopting, make sure to ask if you can be alone in a more isolated area to interact with the puppy and observe his or her behavior. Also ask the shelter staff about the personality of the puppy you’re interested in, as they will have spent more time around the puppy to better gauge that.

Not Just a Dog
Never adopt a puppy as a gift for a child, as this turns the puppy into a novelty but rather explain to your children about the overpopulation of pets in shelters and let them know that the puppy is a new family member and needs to be treated with love, respect and patience, just like a new baby would need.

Child/Puppy Safety
If you have small children, really young, hyper puppies are not a good match because they can scratch and chew on sensitive fingers and hands. Never adopt a puppy that is less than at least 8-10 weeks old, preferably 12 weeks or older, as they have had more time to learn social cues from their littermates and mother, which helps a puppy behave better in the long term. Teach young children to never pull on a puppy’s ears or tail, as both are sensitive and could injure and scare the puppy, creating a bonding problem between child and puppy.

Finances
Keep in mind that your puppy won’t be a puppy forever. Visualize how much your puppy will grow and how much they’ll eat. Make sure you know ahead of time that you can afford to feed your puppy once full grown. Veterinary trips are always inevitable at some point and time, so keeping an emergency fund for your dog is a smart idea, so you don’t get caught with major vet bills you can’t afford to pay.

Grooming
If you have an aversion to pet hair floating around your home and brushing your puppy every day seems like an abominable task, you may want to consider adopting a breed that has little to no shedding.

Exercise
Puppies need exercise every day, preferably shorter walks more often, as young puppies tire easily, especially in heat. Make sure to read about the breed or breeds of a mixed breed puppy to better understand what your puppy needs in terms of physical activity.

Nutrition
Give your puppy a great start in life! Make sure you buy an all natural, preferably organic food that is void of corn, wheat, sugar, by products, chemicals and dyes.

Teething
When your puppy is teething, he will try to gnaw on anything he can find to relieve his discomfort. The best way to quell this is to take an old washcloth, cut it into strips and tie a few small knots it in it, sticking the strips in a Ziploc bag and putting in the freezer. Once frozen, hold a frozen strip and allow your puppy to chew on it, which will soothe and numb sensitive gums. Always hold it and never allow your puppy to chew on it unattended.

Potty Training
The first and most important thing to remember about training your puppy is not to yell or become angry. Your anger just frightens him and makes him likely to lose control of his bladder. It also makes him fearful about going potty in the house, now he will just learn to hide it from you, a vicious cycle. Your puppy has a three second memory. If you leave him to run to the phone and aren’t watching him, he very well may go potty. If you find this spot an hour later and rub his nose or face in it, you are only ruining his trust and any bond you have created. He has no clue why you are angry and why you’ve chosen to shove his face into the carpet. If you can’t catch him in the act, just clean it up and move on.

Another part of your potty regimen should be doubling up on potty runs outside. The more you work with your new pup, the faster he’ll be trained, which applies to ANY problem. Another helpful hint is the use of baby gates. This helps contain the puppy in the kitchen where he cannot soak the carpet with urine when you are unable to watch him. It’s very important not to let your puppy on the carpet anywhere in the house unless you can devote 100% of your undivided attention!

Once you’ve caught your puppy in the act, pick him up and say calmly but firmly, without raising your voice or sounding angry, “No! Let’s Go Potty Outside”. Then immediately take your puppy outside, put a leash on him and lead him to a spot you’ve designated for him. You should then repeat over and over again, “go potty! go potty!” in a friendly tone. Give your puppy a good five to ten minutes for this. If he doesn’t go it’s ok, just try again later. If he does go potty, praise him with much exuberance! Make it a huge deal and even offer him a treat or throw a ball for him. Once you can give him a positive and fun association with going potty outside, he will want that experience again.

Another helpful hint for this process is putting some feces you’ve found in the house in the designated outdoor spot. When he encounters this it will help to reinforce that this is the spot for him to eliminate. If you have any urine soaked housebreaking pads, you can leave one outside in his spot, which will work just as well. Remove it as soon as he goes potty on his own in that area.

All puppies need to be taught to go outside. Until they are 16 weeks of age it’s very common to have potty problems. If housebreaking has become a repetitive problem over a period of months and your puppy is pushing five to six months old, then you haven’t removed enough of the odor in the carpet. This applies to feces as well as urine. Your puppy can detect odors 1000 times better than you.

Nature’s Miracle and other enzyme-based odor removers work well, but only if you let it dry completely. Often a puppy will be let back into the room before the spot is dry, smell the remaining odor which triggers the problem all over again. Remove the puppy from the area, let the treated spot dry completely, and then vacuum before you let the puppy back in. Make sure there are no other dry urine spots in that area to trigger a response. You can use a black light, (best used at night,) to detect urine stains.

At night it’s wise to crate your puppy next to your bed or put him in the kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room where there is no carpet he can soak. Be prepared to take your puppy out at least once during the night to potty so you don’t wake up to a mess in the crate. Never leave your puppy in the crate, other than for sleeping at night, for more than a few hours at a time. It is preferable that you never leave your puppy in the crate for more than 20 mins. When you’re gone, to leave him in a bathroom or gated kitchen. When you’re gone, whether in a crate or not, offer him a big stuffed animal to cuddle with. He’ll feel like he’s got his mommy or a sibling with him to help him not feel too lonely. Once you’ve doubled up on his potty runs {taking him out every hour when you’re home} and completely eliminated the odor in the carpets, you should find peace… at last. You can also purchase my book, “The Good Behavior Book for Dogs” {below} to educate yourself and help to start your puppy off on the right paw, so you can avoid future behavior problems.

photo by Colleen Paige