With all the excitement and joy about your new family member, please do not forget that your puppy could not have guessed what was coming today: from now on you have turned his world upside down! He was just with mom and siblings, where he was born, and now everything is strange. He may be seeing his new people for the first time today …
All of this needs to be processed first and for this your puppy needs rest.
Puppies need 20 to 22 hours of rest (sleeping, dozing, lying around relaxed) per day and even in the awake phases they do not have to get to know the whole house, its surroundings and all of their friends and neighbors immediately. For starters, it is enough to offer him a quiet room in which he will find a cozy bed, food and water.
Dogs have to learn to be alone slowly and in small steps. If your puppy wants to follow you every step of the way so as not to lose sight of his new caregiver again, leave him alone. Even if he is allowed to be there now, he will not want to accompany you to the toilet for life.
Control of the intestine and bladder must also be practiced first. As a rule of thumb, take the puppy outside after sleeping, after eating, and after playing. Otherwise, they simply pay attention to whether he becomes restless, seems to be looking for something, or even begins to squat down. In these cases, go to him calmly and slowly so that he may not startle you, crouch, gently lift him up, and carry him outside. When he has finished his business there, praise him. Please make sure that you do not praise too early (and possibly with great jubilation), so that he does not forget with excitement that he is actually ready to release himself.
Many puppies are initially unable to relieve themselves outside because they are too distracted or may be scared. Find a quiet, sheltered spot near your house for your puppy to make it a little easier. Carry your puppy to the selected spot: This will prevent it from loosening on the way there in the stairwell or on the sidewalk and it will get used to visiting natural soil from the start. They also save him from having to pull on a leash if it should be urgent.
Should a mishap happen to your puppy, please remove it calmly and without comment.
Some puppies become house-trained within a few days, others take several months. Don’t worry about it: sooner or later they’ll all learn it!
Puppies don’t go for a walk!
Puppies instinctively tend to stay near their litter burrow, which greatly increases their chances of survival in nature, and so many of them begin to “buck” as soon as they are supposed to move away from the house. On the way back, on the other hand, people pull hard on the leash to get back to safety as quickly as possible. Please be patient until your puppy wants to explore the world on its own. Until then, wear it: viewed from the safety of your arm, the world quickly loses its terror for a puppy.
Protect your puppy!
Every now and then you will come across things or living things that scare your puppy. Let him feel that you can support him competently in such moments and offer him a safe retreat: provide a distance from which he can look at the creepy object without fear. Take him in your arms, on your lap or let him escape between your legs. If it turns out, examine the object and let him watch it. Don’t ask him to come closer, but leave him if he wants to.
Fellow species, but also people – even if they mean it kindly – can be quite intrusive and cause great discomfort to a puppy. Please protect him even then.
Five minutes per day of life!
Whatever you heard about your dog’s running and activity needs: It relates to the adult dog! Walking on a leash is physically and mentally exhausting for your puppy and should always be adapted to its development.
Of course, puppies are active for a long time, play and romp around and do not look at the clock. Then, in contrast to a walk, you decide yourself when you want to take a break. Some of them also fail: they find no end without help and first have to learn to calm down.
People tend to watch their puppy’s first meals with excitement and joy: Feeding animals is fun and you also want to know if they like it! However, many puppies react to this with uncertainty and then do not trust themselves to their food. And the more fuss humans do in an effort to encourage them to eat, the more weird the whole thing becomes. So do not look so keen-eyed, pour the food, should the bowl be creepy, on a washable surface and simply give your dog time.
Whether your dog should later sleep in a separate room, in a basket in the bedroom, or in your bed is simply your decision: all variants have advantages and disadvantages. If you want it to be a separate room, please keep your puppy company there for the first few nights until he has learned to relax there alone. You will also notice when he becomes restless because he wants to go outside.
Training with a puppy
Please do not forget that your puppy is learning continuously, regardless of whether you are training in a structured way or if he is “just there”. It makes no difference to him.
A first signal that he can now learn without any problems is his own name: Speak to him by name when he is not distracted by something else and “have something for him” when he looks at you: a treat , a game, a petting – everything that he now enjoys! Please keep in mind that his name is just his name – he is not a substitute for “come here” or even “leave it!”.
You can practice the signal for the approach: speak it out when it is running towards you anyway and reward it when it reaches you (the moment you hand it over to it is very suitable for this).
In addition, you can simply praise any behavior that you would like to see more often.
Of course, you will not harm your puppy if he is already learning signals like “sit” or “place” in a playful way, but please do not lose sight of the fact that there is still a dog’s life for this.
