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76 Posts
Hello,
I thought I would share my experience as a first-time puppy owner and what I've seen are the most important aspects (and products) to have in mind when you are a first-time dog owner. I apologize in advance if many of these have been said previously on the forum. I just wished I found such a post when I brought my dog a home.
1. Do not let your dog sleep with you (or make sure you are going to do that for the rest of his life. It is difficult to un-train a dog.
There is plenty literature on the internet for the reasons not to do it, as well as for the benefits. Having a second dog who initially slept with us I saw how difficult was to teach her to sleep downstairs and how easy was for us to have the puppy (him) sleep from the beginning downstairs.
2. Buy a Gentle Leader. I wish I did that from day 1 with him. I tried everything to teach him not to pull...and nothing worked until I used this type of harnesses. It is God sent. If you realize you do not need it you wasted $15 (on Chewy.com).
3. In the first 2 weeks of our cohabitation, I did not want to leave him alone (with the old dog only) downstairs, so I brought a mattress in the living-room and I slept at the same floor. I did that to wake up each time I would hear him he wants to go out. It worked as he was housebroken in literary 3 weeks, at the most. He pooped in the house 5 times in his lifetime and he peed some inside but no more than maximum 3 weeks.
4. Make sure you are at home in his first month with you. It helps a lot to be there all the time, and to take him out every hour or so, so he does not develop a habit of peeing in the house.
5. Something that is rather difficult to change - but it helped me tremendously - are tiles in kitchen / hall way. Cleaning after his mess was a breeze and there was no spot that preserved the urine smell. Tiles help you a lot with not getting frustrated and yelling at your dog. I personally NEVER yelled at him when he soiled the house. Again, cleaning tiles or linoleum, is as easy as it can be.
6. Gate your formal rooms for a while at least. Gating my living-room helped me always be relaxed. I cannot stress out enough the benefits of gating the rooms. He had plenty room in the kitchen and hallway when I was not at home, and when I was at home he had free access to the dining-room as well. Plus a huge fenced back yard.
7. Stop waking up with him / for him after 2-3 weeks. When my vet saw me how tired I was, he told me that I will have a very un-trained dog and I am going to be a very tired person if I keep waking up with him. The vet said to let him sleep downstairs throughout the night and if he cries to buy a pair of earplugs. In less than 48 hours my dog was sleeping all night long and more importantly I was sleeping all night long as well.
8. Because of the tiles and gates, I did not need to crate my dog. Thank God, he does not like to chew much. So far, nothing had been chewed other than an ugly pair of plastic slippers. All my other shoes are in a shoe drawer ( BTW - excellent investments to keep your home clean and organized
If you decide to crate your dog, however, make sure you keep doing it. Not being consistent does not help you and the dog.
In conclusion:
doing all these I have never gotten frustrated with him and punished him because he ruined something. I did not give him many chances to do that. We work now on not jumping on people. The Gentle Leader solved the pulling problem (he is an English Cocker Spaniel) and these dudes tend to be very excitable.
I hope this helps. Again, I cannot stress enough the importance of gates (it prevents you from getting frustrated and punishing your dog hours after he did something wrong)
And of course, for me at least - the Gentle Leader was a miracle.
I thought I would share my experience as a first-time puppy owner and what I've seen are the most important aspects (and products) to have in mind when you are a first-time dog owner. I apologize in advance if many of these have been said previously on the forum. I just wished I found such a post when I brought my dog a home.
1. Do not let your dog sleep with you (or make sure you are going to do that for the rest of his life. It is difficult to un-train a dog.
There is plenty literature on the internet for the reasons not to do it, as well as for the benefits. Having a second dog who initially slept with us I saw how difficult was to teach her to sleep downstairs and how easy was for us to have the puppy (him) sleep from the beginning downstairs.
2. Buy a Gentle Leader. I wish I did that from day 1 with him. I tried everything to teach him not to pull...and nothing worked until I used this type of harnesses. It is God sent. If you realize you do not need it you wasted $15 (on Chewy.com).
3. In the first 2 weeks of our cohabitation, I did not want to leave him alone (with the old dog only) downstairs, so I brought a mattress in the living-room and I slept at the same floor. I did that to wake up each time I would hear him he wants to go out. It worked as he was housebroken in literary 3 weeks, at the most. He pooped in the house 5 times in his lifetime and he peed some inside but no more than maximum 3 weeks.
4. Make sure you are at home in his first month with you. It helps a lot to be there all the time, and to take him out every hour or so, so he does not develop a habit of peeing in the house.
5. Something that is rather difficult to change - but it helped me tremendously - are tiles in kitchen / hall way. Cleaning after his mess was a breeze and there was no spot that preserved the urine smell. Tiles help you a lot with not getting frustrated and yelling at your dog. I personally NEVER yelled at him when he soiled the house. Again, cleaning tiles or linoleum, is as easy as it can be.
6. Gate your formal rooms for a while at least. Gating my living-room helped me always be relaxed. I cannot stress out enough the benefits of gating the rooms. He had plenty room in the kitchen and hallway when I was not at home, and when I was at home he had free access to the dining-room as well. Plus a huge fenced back yard.
7. Stop waking up with him / for him after 2-3 weeks. When my vet saw me how tired I was, he told me that I will have a very un-trained dog and I am going to be a very tired person if I keep waking up with him. The vet said to let him sleep downstairs throughout the night and if he cries to buy a pair of earplugs. In less than 48 hours my dog was sleeping all night long and more importantly I was sleeping all night long as well.
8. Because of the tiles and gates, I did not need to crate my dog. Thank God, he does not like to chew much. So far, nothing had been chewed other than an ugly pair of plastic slippers. All my other shoes are in a shoe drawer ( BTW - excellent investments to keep your home clean and organized
If you decide to crate your dog, however, make sure you keep doing it. Not being consistent does not help you and the dog.
In conclusion:
doing all these I have never gotten frustrated with him and punished him because he ruined something. I did not give him many chances to do that. We work now on not jumping on people. The Gentle Leader solved the pulling problem (he is an English Cocker Spaniel) and these dudes tend to be very excitable.
I hope this helps. Again, I cannot stress enough the importance of gates (it prevents you from getting frustrated and punishing your dog hours after he did something wrong)
And of course, for me at least - the Gentle Leader was a miracle.
