Seven Ways to Minimize the Mess of Training a Puppy
Training a puppy can be a stressful and messy affair. Do you have the patience of a saint? Are you ready to give up your personal time for the next six to 12 months? Do you have lots of time to clean up after a puppy? They are little bundles of energy that love to chew on anything they can get their teeth on, dig through your sock drawer, and knock over your favorite vase. They are notoriously messy, scattering food and water everywhere.
The good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way. There are ways to minimize the mess when training your puppy. By creating an environment filled with positive reinforcement and redirection techniques, you can help keep things tidy and leave your house on a more even keel. With the right tools and techniques, you can train a puppy in no time at all. From dog bowls to discipline, let’s take a look at how it’s done.
1. Create a Training Environment
Your puppy will learn faster when the setting is consistent. For example, if your puppy is learning to walk on a leash, train them near a door or in your backyard so they don’t associate learning on a leash with the inside of your house. If they learn to walk on a leash outside, they will be more likely to associate potty time with outdoors instead of indoors.
2. Train Your Puppy With Consistency and Repetition
When training a puppy, you want to make sure you’re consistent and you repeat the same command over and over. For example, if you want your puppy to sit, say “sit” and gently press the puppy into a sitting position. If your puppy doesn’t understand what you want them to do, try using different commands or saying the word in a different tone.
3. Teach Your Puppy to Come When Called
You want them to know that when you call their name, he needs to come back to you. This is not only convenient for keeping them from covering themselves in mud, but for their safety and possibly the safety of others, too. Reward your puppy every time he comes back to you when you call their name. Do this for about two weeks, and he will learn to come back every time you call him.
4. Don’t Reinforce Bad Behavior
If your puppy chews up your favorite slippers or tries to eat the remote control, they need to be denied access to those items. If your puppy continues to chew on items they shouldn’t, provide an appropriate toy or chew toy that they can play with instead.
5. Housebreaking Without Breaking Your House
It’s important to be consistent with housebreaking. If your puppy has an accident in the house, don’t punish them. They don’t understand that they did something bad. When your puppy starts to have an accident in the house, get their attention by making a loud noise they associate with being corrected, quickly carry them to the door if possible, leash them, and take them outside to the appropriate location. Be thorough in cleaning up indoor messes, or they’ll do it again in the same spot.
6. Crate Train Your Puppy
If you’re having trouble training your puppy or if they’re having trouble with the housebreaking process, you can try crate training. Crating your puppy will allow them to have a safe space of their own while also preventing them from having access to anything they shouldn’t be chewing on.
When you’re crate training your puppy, start by putting their crate in a room where you spend most of your time. When your puppy is first crate training, it might scream and cry. The best thing you can do is ignore this behavior and don’t let your puppy out of the crate until they stop.
7. Puppy Purchases
There are a few essentials that every puppy parent should have in the household to help keep things tidy during training. They include:
- Spill-proof stainless steel water and food bowls
- Puppy pads to put a barrier between their accidents and your floor
- Damage-resistant pet bed
- Suitable chew toys so that they aren’t tempted to chew inappropriate items
- Poop bags to dispose of waste
- Grooming tools to keep shedding under control
- Shampoo to stay on top of odors
Puppy Perfection
A puppy is a long-term commitment and comes with a lot of responsibility. Before you bring a puppy into your home, make sure you are ready to take on the challenge. Not only will you have to clean up after your puppy, but you’ll have to spend time training him. However, the payoff will be worth it when you see your puppy growing up and becoming a well-behaved dog. With the right methods and tools, you can train a puppy in no time at all.