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If you have children the discussion about getting a puppy has no doubt cropped up time and time again. You have also no doubt discussed the responsibilities your child or children will have to assume because you know what it takes to look after a new pup.

Prior to bringing the puppy home, bring your family together and have a meeting of what the rules will be for the dog and family. Write a chore list and distribute certain chores such as feeding, watering and walking the dog.

So when is the best time to start your new puppy’s behavior training? As soon as possible. It will be best for the pup if it knows as soon as it arrives in your home what the rules are.

A few basic things you will need to take care of before the new member of the family joins you will be to create a comfortable place for it to sleep and eat. Also be sure to designate an area outside for it to do its business.

Once in agreement and everyone understands their roles, is when you should bring the puppy home. Instruction will also be easier to give to your puppy when you designate who in the family will be the “Alpha Dog” or the leader of the family. It should be someone who will be responsible for the dog’s primary training.

Repetition is key to any good training program for your dog. Always remember to praise your dog when a task is performed well and use a frown or form of disapproval to let the dog know you are not pleased.

There is a technique some people use to display disapproval to a new puppy and that is to ‘growl’ at it when it misbehaves. It does sound silly but this is how the puppy’s mother would have let it know if it was in trouble. If it works for you then use it otherwise just a firm ‘no!’ should suffice.

Behavior training should be done in the moment. This means that should your puppy start to do something you don’t want it to do like chew on a slipper, for instance, you will need to enforce discipline right there and then. The dog will not learn if you wait until later and then try and teach it not to chew on shoes.

From this point on, your dog will respond to a sharp “No,” knowing that what it is doing needs to stop.

Make no mistake, if you want order in your house with a dog around, you and the entire family will need to be involved in the behavior training. It will take a lot of patience but will be worth it in the end.

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