• Try to feed a good quality food and avoid frequent changes of brands etc. Any changes should be introduced by gradually mixing old and new foods with increasing proportions of the new food, and decreasing the old food over the course of 5 - 7 days. If your dog doesn’t eat the food straight away, leave it down again later - you say when it is feed time, because you are the leader of the pack!

• Call him to you rather than approaching him in his bed - that it his space. However, you should be allowed to go near to the bed without problems - you can try sitting in his bed when it is vacant, so he learns that you can go where you want, as you are the leader of the pack.

• Remember that he will be worried and uncertain at times. Try not to make this worse by extra attention or excessive ‘comfort’ as this can unnerve the dog more - just act as though it is all normal.

House Training

This is one of the most stressful training exercises to be performed. It is also one of the most important. It is essential that the owner(s) remain calm during this time, to ensure continuity of training and low stress levels in the puppy.

• Although there are always bound to be a few mistakes, following the guidelines below should help to make training your puppy or dog a relatively easy and stress-free part of ownership.

• Take your puppy out into the garden at regular intervals:
          • We usually recommend every 40             minutes or so
          • Especially after playtimes
          • Especially after waking from nap

• Closely supervise your puppy at all times and watch for signs that your puppy may wish to pass urine or faeces:
          • Restlessness
          • Sniffing areas, i.e. floors
          • Circling
          • Scratching the floor
          • And finally squatting

• At times when you are unable to supervise your puppy it should be;
          • Confined to a puppy safe area
          • Access to newspaper to urinate             upon if necessary
          • Have access to water to drink-this             will not make house training harder             if they have access to water. ALL             PETS MUST HAVE ACCESS TO             FRESH CLEAN WATER AT ALL             TIMES
          • YOU MUST NOT LEAVE YOUR             PUPPY ALONE FOR ANY                         GREAT LENGTH OF TIME

• If you were to catch your puppy or dog in the act of passing a motion, it is recommended that you do not shout at them. But you can:
          • Say “NO” in a deep, firm                         voice…DO NOT SHOUT!
          • If you have a small puppy and you             are close to the door, simply pick
            up your puppy and take it out into
            the garden
          • BE AWARE THAT YOUR                         PUPPY MAY CONTINUE TO             URINATE OR SOIL WHILE YOU             ARE MOVING HIM/HER!!

• Cleaning up after your puppy is always a task which we want to get done as fast as possible

• It is important to clean the area as soon as possible but do not use strong smelling bleach, as this may prompt your puppy or dog to scent mark over the area.

• The most important thing to remember when training your dog is plenty of praise when they get it correct

• You may want to use a toy as a praise item, or often a quicker way to give a small treat to say “well done”

• Once your dog understands what you want from him/her and moreover that they get a treat for doing something as simple as weeing outside, you’re onto a winner!

• When praising your dog it is important that you do so as soon they perform the act, even during is great:
          • “Good-Boy / Good-Girl”
          • “Clever-Boy / Clever-Boy”
          • Chirpy tones, but not high pitched             tones as these will distract your             puppy from the act and they won’t             understand what you are saying.

• Try to teach your puppy to eliminate on demand.
          • When you take your puppy outside             say…”Do a wee-wee” etc and when             they do give lots of praise
          • Soon your puppy will understand             what to do

Toilet training although difficult is an ideal way to bond with your dog. Try to keep calm; we know it is very hard sometimes. But the calmer you are, the easier and quicker the training will be. If you are experiencing problems in this area, please do not hesitate to contact the surgery.

ENSURE YOUR PUPPY WEARS A WELL FITTED COLLAR WITH A NAME DISC AT ALL TIMES

• Take him/her to the garden every hour after sleep or food, and stay with him for 5 - 10 minutes to get him/her to go to the toilet. If you have no joy, bring him/her back in, and keep trying at regular intervals, or if he/she looks like they may have an accident in the house.

• Praise him/her when he/she gets it right, but ignore any mishaps, he will not understand rubbing his nose in it means don’t do it again!

• Get him/her used to being apart from you when you’re not in the house, and gradually build it up so when you go out he/she doesn’t get upset. Only leave the house when you are happy that he can be in another room away from you without being anxious, and start by going out for a few minutes, gradually building up the time he is on his own.

• Keep him/her on the lead until his/her recalls are 100% - an extension lead is a useful tool for training.

• NEVER leave a dog alone with children.

• ALWAYS call us for help and advice rather than struggle with problems - most can be overcome with time and effort, and also keep us informed with progress - we like to know if our advice helps, so we can help others in the future!!

BE PATIENT AND CALM!

• Encourage your dog to play and chew toys, and hopefully he will be less likely to chew your things. Always initiate play with your dog, and put toys away when you have finished so your dog learns that you initiate and play games.

• Do not allow your puppy to do anything now that you do not want him to do as an adult - i.e. jumping up, getting on furniture - it will only confuse him later when he is told not to do it, and could lead to problems.