The most important puppy training tip a dog trainer can share with you!
Many new dog owners ask me, can you give me a puppy training tip? What is the one tip that I can share with them. Or, they ask me what to do or what should be the first thing to do when they get their puppy? My puppy training tip to you is the following.
Before you do anything with your puppy, please make sure to understand that your puppy has a very sensitive and delicate nervous system. Therefore you don’t want to force them to be flooded in very complicated and stressful situations, conditions, and environments.
Flooding is a technique used in dog training and is used to force dogs to be in the proximity of something that they are afraid of.
If you flood the young puppy or force the puppy to be in an environment that is too busy or noisy or crowded may help them to develop a fear of sounds, smells, and sights of people if it is not done slowly, gradually, and carefully.
If this happens too often, it will cause a breakdown in the natural function of the nervous system. You don’t want to do that. Instead, you need to introduce NEW scents, sights and sounds gradually within the lifetime of your puppy and dog. Don’t rush.
Puppies from the age of 6 weeks to about 6 months, go through a phase which is called the “fear cycle” or the “fear period”. During this phase, their senses are underdeveloped physically, emotionally, and mentally. Anything can make them be fearful of things. If you make the wrong move, if you have the wrong tone of voice…and if they experience things in a negative form, they will develop fear-based behaviours which will last them all their adult life. This is a very important puppy training tip.
Socializing your puppy needs to be also done carefully. If you rush or do it the wrong way, you will create a puppy and a dog that would be traumatized and become anti-social with dogs and people. You can learn how to use training to socialize your puppy and dog by reading this article.
One another important puppy training tip that I have is to start building a routine or plan to introduce new things to your puppy on daily basis and introduce training to your puppy at the right age and time.
You can start this experiment at home and by introducing one new thing at a time and see how your puppy feels about it. Experiment with new sounds and sights. Try paying attention to your puppy’s body language. See how it feels and then move on to the next experiment.
Training your puppy can start from home as well. This is a much healthier and smarter approach. That is because your puppy is at home and is familiar with space. The puppy is more relaxed and can take in information better before you add other spaces or environments. Once the puppy is more confident about some new experiences, then you can start adding more and more new experiences.
In this day and age, we have the option of learning and working from home. I’d say one great benefit of pandemics. Learn everything that you need to know before you attend a class or in-person puppy training. So, start training your puppy at home by registering for Saro’s Puppy Training 101 online course.
By following these simple puppy training tips, you will help your puppy to develop positive connections with its surroundings which will lead to the development of a happy, healthy, and confident adult dog.
Watch the following video for even more tips.
