Your New Puppy!
December 11, 2009
So you went out an got yourself a new puppy! Congratulations! He’ll be the perfect addition to your home and family! He’s going to adjust perfectly fine, never to chew anything he shouldn’t. As a matter of fact, on the second day that you bring him home, he’ll already be sitting, staying, fetching, and shaking paws – all on your command! And if that were not perfect enough, he will never ever do the following:
- Chew your shoes
- Bark uncontrollably
- Pee in the house
- Dig holes in the backyard
- Use you as his own personal chew toy!
photo credit: cwgoodroe
Hum…yeah…if that were the case, I think we’d all drop dead of heart attacks! Why? Because that’s not reality! Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that bringing a new puppy into our homes will require tons of patience, forgiveness, tons of patience, training, love, and did I mention tons of patience?
You see, puppy training is more of an art form than techniques learned from books or your nice next door neighbor. Simply reading a book on how to house train your new dog will not teach you to have patience, or even forgiveness. And that’s the key to a successful owner/canine relationship – it all comes down to love…
I brought my puppy home from her breeder 16 months ago. I began kennel training her, tethered her to my belt loop while indoors, and more – basically to show her the ropes of “life with me“. But what she showed me was so much more. She showed (and still does!) me unconditional love, forgiveness, patience, and joy.
So remember that your new puppy will not be perfect, and it’s going to take patience and love on your part to train her and make her a true part of your pack.
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Posted in German Shepherd Articles
December 11th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
I agree that puppy training is more of an art form as we often need to act based upon our intuition about what might work. We rarely can predict the behavior of our dog during the training period. As you emphasized the most important skill from our part is patience. Thanks for posting this great article!
December 13th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
@Neapolitan Mastiff Puppy – Patience is something we tend to forget about after about 3 week with a new puppy, when the real puppy behavior starts lol.
Nice puppies you have on your site, btw!
Martin