Advice on a new puppy?

Question

My family is considering a new puppy,and I need some advice on taking care of it if we get one.
1.How to properly train a puppy? Like how to train it to use the bathroom outside and other basic commands?
2.What supplies are needed?
3.If no one is home,is it okay to keep the puppy in a big room until someone gets home? (I have 6 hours of school,but sometimes my dad is home)
4.Is using a leash or harness better?
5.Treats to buy,and any human food it can and can't eat? Best brand of dog food?
6.Is it better to get a bed,or to crate train your puppy,and if you crate train, how do you do it?

Any additional information that might help also,thanks.
Also,I have a guinea pig and he stays in my room on my table (the dog wont be able to reach) if I take my guinea pig out of the cage for play time,would the puppy hurt him? Or should I just play with my guinea pig in my room with the door shut? and the puppy will be okay for a while without my attention (there will be my dad and mom) right?

Sorry there's a lot,but if I do get a puppy this will be my first one,so I just needed some advice.

Thanks so much for answers and any extra info!

Answer 1

As with anything, consistency is the key.

1 - Toilet training. Puppy pads are excellent, most large pet stores will sell them. Leave them by the back door and as soon as you see your pup go to the pad, pick them up & take outside to the back garden. Lots of fuss & a treat or 2 - ham, cheese, puppy treats from the pet store, when he/she gets it right & goes on the pad or in the garden. If he/she makes a mess that clean up the mess. NEVER SMACK YOUR DOG. After eating or playing always take your dog outside, but give it time to go to the loo. Initially feed 3 meals a day, breakfast, lunch & dinner, gradually reducing them as the puppy grows older. Basic Training - The short answer is training classes, this will show your dog who is the pack leader & will also socialise it with other dogs, injections will be required first though. Neuter your dog too, preferably by age 2, no earlier.



2 - Supplies - Food bowl, water bowl, bedding, some old piece of clothing that you no longer wear, (preferably unwashed so it has your scent on it to leave with the puppy when you go out), collar, a harness will probably be the best method for you, a lead, several chew toys from any major pet shop & a crate or secure room in which to leave the dog., as well as several packs of training pads.



3 - Leaving your dog alone. - there should be no problem with leaving your dog alone. Make sure that he/she has had plenty of exercise before you go, leave the bedding & something of yours either in a crate - if that is what you choose - or in a secure room. I have never considered using a crate, both our dogs remain in the hall, with no other access to any other rooms in the house while we are out, but they always have their bedding & a few toys. Initially I left something of mine - an old jumper - as my staff/boxer cross suffered with anxiety when I left her - due to a previous owner ill treating her. Thankfully, almost 15mthslater she is pretty much over this & knows I will be back. There are some excellent Kong toys available, which make excellent chews, but also have hollow centres that you can fill with treats, which will keep you dog amused for several hours as he/she tries to get the treats out of the toy!



4 - Harness or lead & collar - See item 2



5 - Treats - there are plenty of healthy dog treats available from any large pet store. Certain human foods such as grapes & chocolates are really bad for dogs & can essentially poison them. Our dogs get any scraps left over from dinner, they each have a carrot while I'm cooking dinner & adore cheese, crisps, ham & sausages. Vegetables are excellent forms of nutrition for dogs & bananas make a great treat if your dog will eat them - 1 of ours loves bananas the other looks at you as if you are about to poison her!



6 - Crates or not - As I said earlier, I have never used a crate, nor would I ever consider it. Both my dogs sleep on our bed - which can be a bit of a squash, but I wouldn't have it any other way. If you want to use a crate, then ensure that you leave the door open so the dog can go in & out at will, leave it's bedding in there, something of yours & possibly a cuddly toy. Initially, wrap an old fashioned alarm clock in the blanket, the ticking will sound like it's mother's heartbeat & will stop the puppy pining too much when you first bring it home. If the dog has decided to go in it's crate, then leave it be, think of it like you wanting some space & going to your room - the last thing you want is people barging in when all you want is some time out. Make sure you play/exercise your puppy last thing at night before you put it in the crate, this will ensure it is tired & will just want to sleep, hopefully allowing you all to sleep too.



7 - the guinea pig - I would probably suggest you don't allow the dog into the room when it is out. It won't harm the dog & will prevent the dog from giving the guinea pig a heart attack. We have 3 cats besides our 2 dogs & they all get on great, but not until both dogs had received several left hooks off each of the cats - just to let them know who was top dog out of the 5 of them!



Remember your dog will have it's own personality, just like people, always be calm & firm when telling it off & don't allow it to do anything your not happy with. Good luck & I hope you enjoy your new pet.

Answer 2

1. Training it to go outside should be simple. Since it's a puppy you'll have to take it out often. Whenever it Pottss outside, praise it, and give it a treat. If it has an accident indoors scold it, and then immediately take it outside to show it where it should be going. "Sit" is another simple one. Get a few small treats and then say "sit" and slowly move the treat back over the puppy's head. It will naturally sit down as you do that. Don't keep repeating sit either. Just say it once and then when the puppy sits say "good sit" and give it the treat.



2. Keeping the puppy in a big room by itself for 6 hours is a bad idea. It should be kept in a large kennel with room enough for a bed, a puppy pad, food and water dishes, and toys. Six hours is a long time for a puppy, so give it plenty of attention and excersize whenever you're home.



3. Basic supplies

-puppy food

-puppy treats

-teething toys

-plenty of other dog toys

-food and water dishes

-bed

-puppy pads (for it to use when you aren't home)

-a large kennel (the bigger, the better)

-dog brush

-flea and tick treatment

-puppy shampoo (remember, don't bathe them too often. It dries out their skin)

-collar

-leash



4. I think you mean collar or harness. Harness's in general are a better idea, but for most breeds do fine with a collar.



5. You should mainly stay away from giving the puppy human food and scraps. Definitely no chocolate. Not sure on the best brand of dog food, but I've always used Purina.



6. For a puppy, crates are always the better idea when they don't have supervision. It keeps them, and your house safe.



The puppy will probably think the guinea pig is a toy, and attempt to bite and chew on him.

It's good that you're doing research.. I'd google more information.



Good luck with your new fur-baby!:P

Answer 3

1 I posted what I know after housebreaking many puppies at https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20110323192053AA3hpXm



3 I am a big believer in crates, but hate to see any dog left over 4-5 hours. If your dad can't make it back to give it a mid day break, see if a neighbor or professional dog walker can. We never had any problem leaving 7 week old puppies 4 hours.



4 I have mostly used collars, but recently started using the same harness with an older dog as we use to secure him in the car. Usually our puppies ride on the floor.



5 Treats are easy to over do. I use some of the puppy's regular kibble or free samples of this and that we pick up. The less human food, the better. Grapes, raisins, and anything with Xylitol- an artificial sweetener can be deadly in small amounts. Chocolate is bad, but usually takes quite a bit to harm a dog.



Best brand of dog food? They are all formulated to have all the nutrients needed for a complete and balanced diet. There is little reason not to follow the safest course and stick to what the breeder was feeding. Too many people end up changing and even done slowly, the puppy still has problems. Remember, nearly everything you read about dog food originated in a marketing department and some people will say anything to sell their product.



6 The crate. I covered them in the links in the first 2 answers. I seldom crate a puppy if somebody is available to watch it. Accidents and damaged possessions are the fault of whoever was watching the puppy. When you are watching it, immediately correct it as soon as it goes for anything except its own toys. In a quiet, but firm voice give it an ''Ah, ah, ah!''. Gently remove what ever and replace it with one of her toys, or if older, hold eye contact until the puppy drops it.

Answer 4

1) It depends on your puppy's learning style and what kind of dog it is. The puppy might work better with play time rewards or treat rewards (thats most dogs) so when the puppy comes home try to figure out its personality and find out what would be good inspirations for the puppy to learn. This website will answer most of your questions:

http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/how-to-train-a-puppy.html

2) Supplies again depends on the puppy and how your training it. You definetly need a collar and a name tag. You will need to be able to get the puppy it's shots at the right time and you will need a leash.

3) If nobody is home and you get a puppy that isnt house trained yet you will come home to a mess of doggy potty all over that room because they dont know any better. If you will not be able to change your schedules to at least let the puppy out every hour or so you might want to think of getting a puppy in the summer so you can have around 3 months to potty train it, or adopt an older dog thats already potty trained.

4) I would say using a harness is better especially on dogs that pull hard because the leash could slip off or choke them easily. It mostly depends on the owners preference.

5) Dogs (depending on the breed) sometimes like to eat a little meat like turkey from your lunch or something. Even though they enjoy it I wouldnt recommend feeding them human food often. Dogs CANNOT have chocolate and if they do... lets hope they have a strong immune system because chocolate is very hard for them to digest and they often end up throwing it up.

6) I personally like having my puppy out of the crate and near me when I am around the house and sleeping but this is another thing that depends entirely on owner's preference.



Hope that helped a little and again this website: http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/how-to-train-a-puppy.html should be able to help you with most of you questions. Good luck with your new puppy and remember to spay/neuter! :)

Answer 5

-It depends on the breed of dog how easy or hard it will be to train them, if you stick to the training it will pay off in the long run.

-You will need food, obviously a constant fresh water supply, toys, treats, and lots of love!

-Yes that is totally fine, I would wait until you are out of school for the summer to get the dog because you will need to train it to go to the b-room outside and stuff, the dog will need your attention 100 percent of the time..

-To train my dog when she was a baby, i used a harness. Which I personally think a harness is better when you have a puppy because collars are easy to slip out of. I now use a collar on my dog since she no's how to walk properly on a leash.

-You will find out shortly after getting your dog what types of treats it likes, what it doesnt like, and what gives it the poooops! It really isnt good to give your dog human food, but every now and then isnt going to kill it. I give my dog a chip here and there, some noodles, and shes fine. Just NO CHOCOLATE. The dog food I use is Dog Chow, but again it basically depends on what the dog likes, normally where you get the dog from, they will tell you what type of food they are eating at the moment, and you can change the food after awhile to something cheaper, because the high-brand name dog food is not cheap.

-I crate trained my dog, but, i stopped the training because she listens without being in her cage, (sometimes) I actually have a pop up cage in my living room, and my dog nos that when she is bad she goes in there without me even telling her, because that how I trained her. She nos the cage is her "bad girl" spot.

If you see the dog doing something bad, say no, and put it in the cage. Dont give in to the crying! I no its going to kill you, but you cant let them win. Once they calm down and stop crying, take them out of the cage.



For the guinea pig thing, you have to gradually introduce them. Put the cage on the floor in your room and let the dog into your room. dont open the cage. If the dog doesnt notice it try to focus his attention onto it. Once you feel that she/he is calm enough to meet the animal face to face, then do so. I wouldnt suggest letting the guinea pig run around your room while the dog is in there, because even when the dog is trained it could be mean..But then again, the guinea pig will stand up for it self if it feels threatened. So it basically depends on how you feel.



Taking care of a puppy is like taking care of a newborn child. It needs your attention all the time. It is hard at first but trust me it will be worth it in the end.

Answer 6

Knowing from experience on this issue that I'm regretting, it all depends on the breed of dog you get. Bigger dogs tend to be more chill, while small dogs seem way more hyper and yappy. You and your family all need to be on the same page or you will not succeed. I would not advise you to leave it in a big room. It's going to poop and pee. I would crate train them and they need to be in a crate only big enough for them to sleep... no playing in the crate.... if it's big enough for them to do more than sleep they will pee and relocate to the other side where it's clean. A small crate will deter them because there will no room to get away from their waste.



Every time you take them outside you should ring a bell or use a clicker so they associate that with going out. If you crate train, they should be in there most of the day until they are trained. It will take a lot of time for your dog to get trained if you are not consistent and not all following the same routine. You should not feed them human food at all because once you do they will always expect it and it will become annoying that every time you go to bust into a bag of chips you have the dog there begging.



It's an expensive adventure. I've spend over $2000 in the past month with spaying, shots, supplies, paper towels, cleaners, getting rid of carpeting, dog training classes, outside play yard because they are not trained and will take off, heart worm and flea medication, treats that are not made in china.....



Personally, I wouldn't do it........



It's nothing, but a huge pain in the butt.

Answer 7

Cavaliers are great dogs, however I think you should know that if you do plan on children I would advise on staying away from the cocker spaniel or any breed mixed with it. They are at the top of the list of dogs that bite. I haven't seen the list in the last two years but I know that they were number 1 for a long time. People don't realize this because smaller dogs don't do the damage like larger dogs do when they bite so nobody really hears about it. I have worked in shelters and for vets for over 20 years and I have seen a lot of nasty cockers. When I worked at the shelter that was the number one reason that they were sent to the shelter because they bit someone, and about 7 out of 10 times it was a child. Check out books or the web and look at breeds and see what their disposition is. Most of the books will actually tell you if they are good with kids or not. Good luck.

Answer 8

Give them plenty of room in the crate is they are going to be in there a long time. Don't put your pup in a teeny tiny crate - under an hour in a small crate is okay. More details in the potty training link below.



An excellent book to get you started the right way is "Before and After Getting Your New Puppy" by Ian Dunbar: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1577314557/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER



There is a LOT of really bad advice on the internet. There are a lot of bad trainers. And there are still a few bad books still out there. The above one is a great place to start.



Another great book is Puppy Primer by Patricia McConnell



Anything written by these authoris is good

Ian Dunbar

Patricia McConnell

Jean Donaldson

Karen Pryor

But start with the first book I listed.



Don't listen to anyone who wants you to do mean or scary things to your puppy. It will ruin your relationship.



Please don’t listen to any advice that is just a repeat of television shows. TV is for entertainment and ratings – not education. So please do not listen to advice about alpha rolling, dominance, pack leader, showing who’s boss etc..



There is a reason why the screen on those TV shows flashes “Do not try this at home” – because the techniques are extremely unsafe.



Please absolutely no alpha rolling, leash yanking, hangings, no leash corrections (same as yanking, jerking). There are better ways to treat your best friend. Please no shock collars



If someone says it doesn’t hurt, it probably does: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/latrenda/2011/05/when-someone-says-its-doesnt-hurt-it-probably-does/



Please don’t be mean to your dog by rubbing his nose is his potty.



Additionally, there is absolutely no reason to yell or scare the dog. This causes reverse housetraining.



No need to every yell at or hit hte dog or hold the snout close when he nips. etc..



Please see below for for positive training details. Includes crating, potty training, etc..

Answer 9

Dr. Ian Dunbar's book, "Before You Get Your Puppy," is the best thing I've found to answer your questions. You can download it for free here. Or, they will mail you a hard copy for the cost of postage.

Answer 10

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