I bet you’re super excited about your new puppy!
I want you to have a successful first week home with your new puppy so in this week’s
video I’m going to share my top tips for surviving the first week home with your new
puppy!
Click the link in the comments below to watch this week’s full episode.
Hit that like, subscribe and bell to get notified when next week’s video goes LIVE
Michele here with How to Train a Dream dog, visit me on my other social networks too,
the links are in the description below
If you haven’t brought your new puppy home just yet… here’s a tip…
Make sure you bring your new puppy home in a crate.
I know you’ll be tempted to keep them on your lap on the way home but…
You’re missing one of the very first opportunities to work on crate training with your puppy
and…
We want to keep your pup safe on the car ride home, we don’t put babies on our laps when
riding in a car, they stay in a car seat…
The same idea with a new puppy, keep them in a crate for safety.
Trust me if you want the first night to go smooth, you’ll heed my advice and start
crate trianing asap!
Check out my New Puppy Shopping List so you know which supplies to have on hand and which
ones not to waste your money on.
You can learn more about this list in this video as I take you through a local pet store
and show and talk about certain items hat should be on your list
Now don’t forget to puppy proof your home before puppy arrives, you can learn more about
puppy proofing here in this video…
You’ll want to set up a few things prior to pup’s arrival or if you just brought
pup home, set these things up now.
#1 Puppy pen inside for play, you can learn more about what to put in the puppy pen here,
and what to put under it so accidents don’t ruine your floors
#2 A puppy pen outside, this is where you’re going to take your pup to potty outside.
We use a puppy pen when pups don’t have all vaccinations and we don’t want them
to eat things on the ground
I have more info about that in this video (puppy potty supplies)
#3 set your crate up in a semi-quiet place and get something bigger to put on top of
the crate this way when you put the sheet or blanket ontop, puppy won’t pull it in
and chew on it.
When you arrive home you are going to take your puppy to the potty spot before you even
enter the home
Reward your puppy outside in the potty spot, not when they come back in, you’ll learn
in this video here all about housebreaking a puppy fast…
That I only recommend you stay outside for about 10 mon tops not any longer, this gives
pup a chance to play or lose focus when they should going potty
Inside your home… make sure you give your pup access to one room right now.
Since you’re already working on potty training from the minute you bring your puppy home
you’re going to want to keep pup in one room right now
Your pup is given access to more space when they can be trusted and for most pups this
is about a month away
We give access to one room at a time so as not to overwhelm pup and set pup up to have
more accidents inside
You can use a puppy pen inside if you have a more open floor plan.
Now you’re going to want to follow a pretty tight schedule at least for the first week
or so as your puppy adjusts to their new home.
The puppy schedule can be found inside my free new puppy starter kit under the potty
training lesson the link is in the description below
The New puppy starter kit also has some other really important new puppy / new owner lessons
in there as well as a potty chart and a workbook all about puppy training during the first
month.
You won’t want to miss grabbing this free resource!
The schedule outlines, crate time, playtime, nap time and training time.
It also covers how frequently your puppy should be going outside to potty.
Back to your pup’s first week home…
During this first week, you’re going to want to limit visitors or extra excitement
for your pup because they are already taking in so much in such a short amount of time
Leaving litter and mother or rescue group… new home, new routines, new schedule, new
people, new everything.
Wait about a week to introduce your puppy to people outside your home.
If you’re introducing a new puppy to kids… advise all kids to be calm, quiet, and to
sit in a chair upon first meeting the puppy.
Kids sitting on the floor tend to want to grab the puppy, hug, kiss, and overwhelm puppy
too fast
Once pup is feeling more comfortable and confident, have one child at a time, move to the floor,
not all at once.
Let pup come to them, have kids remain calm and quiet, no fast movements
Dogs are drawn to movement and may think kids are playing so puppy may nip or bite thinking
this is what they are supposed to do.
Whether you’re taking pup out to potty, walking them around the house or meeting new
people… make sure they are on a leash.
One of the skills you’ll be working on during week one is leash skills.
Many pups panic when a collar and leash are first introduced
We want to make collar and leash a positive experience and use them often as these are
skills they will need for years to come.
I see all too often new puppy owners letting their pups roam free outside to potty or walk
around the yard because they say the pup freaks out when they collar and leash get put on.
Teaching pup early on to wear these will help training go much smoother
Pup will stay more focused on the task at hand instead of take off
Now during week 1 you’ll also be working on something trainers call impulse control
This means your puppy will learn to control their excitement or behavior and things before
they react.
This isn’t a skill a puppy knows right away, it has to be taught to them
This is the difference between a puppy who knows how to politely sit to say hi vs one
that jumps all over everyone to say hi
One puppy knows impulse control and manners and the other doesn’t
During week one you will also be working on Name Game with your puppy,
This means you will be teaching your puppy their name means tune in to you when you call
it
For this reason we don’t ever want to use our dog’s name in low corrective tones.
We want our pups to want to tune in, not tune us out
I use a firm eh-eh when I need to stop my pup from doing something I don’t like, such
as chewing on a shoe or furniture.
Anytime you correct your pup using the eh-eh, you have to redirect them to what you want
them to be doing instead
Keep in mind your puppy wasn’t born knowing what words mean so you shouldn’t be saying
things like
Come here, come on, leave it, quiet, knock it off, stay,
If you ask for these words before you’re puppy actually knows what they mean… you’ll
likely teach them the wrong word association.
This means if your puppy is barking and you say “quiet” (and they don’t really know
what quiet means) you’re going to teach them the word quiet means keep barking
Because you’re airing the word quiet with their barking.
Pup has to stop barking first and then we can pair that silence with the word quiet.
Later down the road it becomes the command quiet in which our pup can then stop barking.
Now this same word association concept is applied to every single word or eventual command
you want your puppy to know and follow.
I cover that in great detail in my puppy training online course, the link is in the description
below.
During the first week home there is a lot happening and a ton your puppy can learn that
will super beneficial for the weeks and months ahead.
Before I share my last tip… if you haven’t hit that subscribe button just yet… be sure
to do so now
Now the last tip I want to share with you is be prepared for barking, crying, biting
and accidents.
I think new puppy owners underestimate how much new puppies are like brand new babies.
New puppies require a lot of time and commitment, but I’m here to help you through all that.
For example if your pup is having a tough time in their crate there are some super important
tips I share here in this video ( stop puppy crying in the crate)
And if your puppy is a baby shark, which most are… and your pup wants to bite you and
the rest of the family…
You’re definitely going to want to watch this video here all about puppy biting tips
for new puppy owners.
You’ll discover that puppies are drawn to movement and your hands and feet are easy
targets because they move a lot.
You’ll want to make sure your puppy is not overtired which leads to extra biting and
doesn’t have a ton of pent up energy which also leads to more biting
There are some really good exercises to help tire out your pup both mentally and physically
here (puppy exercise tips to tire out a puppy)
And here.
Canine enrichment activities to help tire out your pup here
If you want more help training your puppy, teaching them manners, how to control their
impulses, learn to love their crate
and go potty outside… find out more by joining our Puppy Training - Better Puppy Behavior
Workshop by clicking the link below!