Do you have a new puppy that loves to run away with your new shoes and tear them to shreds? It can be very frustrating to find a dog chewing on your expensive shoes, furniture or other household items.

It may seem difficult to stop puppy chewing, but there are a few easy ways to prevent your puppy from destroying everything in your home.

Puppies need to chew. Chewing exercises the dog’s jaw bones, soothes the dog and helps with the teething process.

All puppies lose their baby teeth just like humans do and chewing is part of the process. The problem is that once a puppy finds something that they like to chew, such as furniture or shoes, it may be difficult to break this habit as the dog gets older.The first step to stop puppy chewing is to provide the dog with plenty of toys to chew.

This may sound contradictory, but puppies who are teething cannot control their urge to chew. There are many toys on the market today that will entice a puppy to chew on them instead of your household items. There are rubber-type bones that can be filled with yummy treats and hundreds of different types of flavored rawhide bones. Providing the puppy with these delicious items to chew will tire them out and leave them less likely to go after your new shoes.

Never give a puppy free reign of your home. They should have a small area or a puppy crate which they can call their own. This is the only place that they should be given chew toys, so that the dog will come to know that they are not allowed to chew in other areas in the home. Creating a safe place for dog to lie down and chew will also help with the dreaded potty training too, as the dog will not want to make a mess in their small space.

Puppies need to be watched at all times! If a dog is chewing, it is actually the owner’s fault for not keeping an eye on the dog. Chewing household items is not only annoying, but can be dangerous if the dog chews electrical cords or items that they could swallow. In fact, swallowing foreign items is one of the most common reasons for emergency vet visits during a dog’s first year of life. Be careful not to leave things around that the puppy could chew and watch your dog just as you would if it was a human toddler.

Finally, to stop puppy chewing, consider taking your dog to puppy obedience training. Obedience training sounds serious, but it can actually be fun for both the dog and the owner. It gives the dog an outlet for its excess puppy energy and helps them learn good behaviors. Actually, any type of exercise will also help to stop puppy chewing. Exercise and training help to relieve stress on the dog too, which is main reason why dogs continue to chew after the teething phase is over. A tired dog is a dog that will sleep instead of looking for trouble by chewing your household items.

Oh, don’t mind Rover. He’s just teething” some pet owners may say of their new puppy. They would only be partially correct. It is a very natural thing for all puppies to bite and chew. While some of this is due to teething, your puppy may also be testing the strength of his or her bite.

If left in the litter, a puppy’s brothers and sisters would quickly teach the pup how hard was too hard to bite. Once the puppy is taken from his or her litter-mates, this becomes your responsibility. The sooner you begin training your puppy in bite inhibition, the better. There are several methods proven to stop puppy biting.

The first method is very simple, and in most cases, highly effective. Each time your pup latches onto you with his teeth, say “No!” clearly and firmly. Then quickly but gently disengage his mouth and offer him a chew toy instead. A piece of ice may also be given to a teething puppy, as the coldness may sooth sore gums. Often, this method of training, if started at a very early age, is all that is needed to stop puppy biting.

Another popular technique is to make your puppy think that he is hurting you. Giving a sharp “Ouch!” or even a “Grrr” and then ignoring your puppy will mimic the type of response he would get from his litter-mates. Soon he will associate his biting of you with your refusal to continue playtime and understand that he is being too rough.

Some obedience trainers recommend wearing a pair of gloves, painted with a foul tasting substance such as vinegar to discourage biting and chewing. While this may work in some cases, exceptionally smart dogs quickly realize the difference between gloved and bare hands. Once the gloves come off, you become fair game for their teeth again!

In rare cases of excessive biting, choke or pinch collars can be used for dogs over the age of 6 months. When the dog bites, a quick sharp tug is given on the lead and the dog soon learns to associate the discomfort HE feels with the discomfort you feel when he bites. This is considered an extreme method and is not recommended by most trainers for the average pet.

Regardless of which method you choose, here are a few things to keep in mind. Never react aggressively in a physical manner. Hitting your puppy or smacking his nose does NOT work. Your pet may assume that you are playing or may even learn to fear you. Another thing to avoid is playing ‘tug-o-war’ type games while you are trying to stop puppy biting. Such games only encourage the negative behavior. The most important tip however, is to be consistent! You and anyone else whom your puppy interacts with MUST follow your chosen method of behavior reinforcement each and every time your puppy bites.

Different dogs take longer to grow than others. Generally, the size of the breed determines how long it takes for the puppy to be full grown. A toy puppy, for example, will be full grown at a year. A larger breed, such as a retriever, will be full grown at two years. It all depends on the size of the dog, but most dogs are fully grown by two years old.

If you have a mixed breed or mid sized dog, it might be difficult to determine when it is fully grown. Usually, by one year, a dog may still act like a puppy and get into trouble here and there, but for the most part, they are through with using your house like a toilet. By a year old, a dog should be using the designated bathroom spot in which to do his business, no matter what size breed.

A larger breed dog may still jump and act like a little puppy. This can be a problem because he will be big in size but small in brain. He will still think like a puppy but with the body of a dog. It is important to train the puppy and make sure that he is not only going to the bathroom in the designated spot, but also able to behave himself around humans.

No one wants a dog jumping all over them the minute they walk in a door, no matter how much they love animals. A big dog can cause a lot of problems and can actually knock people down. This is why it is important to start puppy training as soon as you bring your puppy home.

Understand now that it will take a year before your puppy can be trusted to be around the house and not have an accident. However, even when full grown, your puppy will have the mentality of a two year old child. They will be able to understand simple commands and respond well to love and affection.

When your puppy gets older, he or she will calm down a bit and not seem so “hyper.” You do have to also do some research on the breed to determine how highly strung the breed normally is. Some dogs are always going to be rather highly strung and others will be relaxed. Pure bred dogs are usually a lot more maintenance and higher strung than mixed breed dogs.

If you adopt a puppy from the pound and are not sure if he is full grown, you will usually be able to tell by his actions as well as some physical characteristics. Puppies lose baby teeth just like humans, so if you take a look in the mouth of the puppy, you should see adult sized canines. This will give you an indication that the puppy is full grown or close to being full grown.

There are other characteristics, too. A female dog will grow nipples and become able to breed at six months. Male dogs will begin humping different objects at about six months to a year. This is a sign your dog is actually a teenager and about to enter adulthood. If the animal has been spayed or neutered, you will not be able to determine the age of the dog by this characteristic.

Rule of thumb is that a small dog will be considered full grown at one year old and a larger dog generally by two.

When you imagine training a puppy, you probably think about potty training or housebreaking. While this is one of the most important aspects of puppy training, there are other things that you should also teach you new puppy.

The best time to train a puppy is when you first get the animal. When puppies are young, they are eager to learn to please you. Dogs are social animals and rely heavily upon social interaction and acceptance.

More than anything, your puppy wants to be accepted by you. Some important aspects when it comes to training a puppy include the following:

Chewing

Puppies love to chew. They have to chew in order to get their teeth to grow in. They will chew anything in sight. Do not allow them to chew on old shoes or they will think that it is okay to chew on new shoes. Get your puppy a chew toy and give it to him whenever he starts chewing on anything inappropriate.

Furniture

Do you want your puppy on the furniture? This can depend on the breed of the dog. If your puppy is going to be a big dog, you will probably not want him on the furniture. His nails may rip the fabric and he may have dirty paws from being outside. If you do not want your puppy on the furniture, you have to admonish him to get off the furniture whenever he jumps on.

Walking

You may think that you can just hook your puppy up to a leash and go for a walk. Wrong. A puppy has to be taught to walk on a leash properly. He should not pull at the leash and should walk along side you without tugging. This can be taught at obedience school or by using a choke collar. You can start teaching your puppy to walk on a leash when he is about six months old.

Basic Commands

You do not have to train your puppy to do tricks for amusement, but you should teach him how to sit and how to stay. These basic commands can make him a much more desirable pet as he gets older and grows into a dog.

You do not want your dog to be jumping on top of people who come to your house. You need to teach your puppy how to sit.

Your puppy should also know how to stay. This is important. Imagine your dog following you across a street. You can potentially save his life if you can teach him to understand how to stay put.

You do not have to use force when training a puppy. You should not rub their nose in anything or hit them. Puppies react more to a stern voice. Severe punishment for a dog is being banished from the pack. If the puppy misbehaves, you can put him away from the family for a few minutes and he will get the hint. There is no reason to hit the puppy as this may actually hurt him and is really not an effective way to train the animal.

Obviously, if you get a new puppy you want to get him potty trained as soon as possible. You should realize, however, that it will take at least a year before you can truly trust your dog in the house alone without worrying if he is going to have an accident.

Puppies are very much like little infants. They cannot be expected to hold their bladders or bowels for any period of time. As they get older, they get better control of their muscles and can wait to go outside.

Still, it is never too soon to get your puppy in the proper routine and start potty training. Here are some good tips for potty training a puppy:

1. Use a crate. Keep the puppy in the crate when you are not watching him. This will reduce the number of accidents that he will have;

2. Have an established routine when it comes to eating. If you feed your puppy at the same time each day, he will go to the bathroom at the same time each day. At first, it will be you who will be trained and not the puppy. But gradually, he will learn the concept of going outside;

3. Take the puppy to the place where you want him to go after eating. Allow him some time to sniff around and wait for him to go to the bathroom. You can either use this method or the walking method. Walking will sometimes allow the dog to go quicker and gives you some exercise, too. But it can be a real pain in the winter or rain. Once you establish a routine with a puppy, you do not want to break it often. Think carefully of where you want him to go so that it is convenient at all times of the year.

4. Give a command using the name of your puppy. Telling him to “do his business” will start to sink in. When he has done his business and you take him in, he will gradually understand the meaning of these words. Dogs can pick up tones and some words. They can understand basic commands. Give your dog the command to go to the bathroom when you take him outside.

5. Admonish bad behavior. If your dog has an accident in the house, show it to him, tell him off and send him away from the family for a few seconds. You must not rub the puppies nose in it and also do not hit the puppy. Just showing him the mess caused and sending him away gives him the message that he did not do a good thing. Do not be harsh on a puppy. You can simply say “no” when he does this. Do not hit your dog under any circumstances as you may actually hurt a little puppy and they really do not understand.

6. Reward good behavior. This is very important. Give your dog plenty of affection and a treats when he goes to the bathroom in the designated spot. He will love this reward and look forward to it each time. Make sure, if you use doggie treats, that you always have them on hand.

Be patient and treat your puppy kindly and do not expect too much,, too soon. Get some good carpet cleaner and wait it out. By the time your puppy is a year old, he will be potty trained to the point where you can leave him alone and he will not go in the house.

It can be a bit overwhelming when you bring home a new puppy. It is a lot like bringing home a new child. You have to make certain preparations, including “puppy proofing” the house.

Like small children, puppies seem to get into things that they should stay away from and seem to be bent on a death wish. You are wise to lock up any dangerous chemicals or liquids.

The introduction of your puppy into the family will go a lot smoother if you follow these simple tips:

Have everything prepared before the puppy comes home. Have a crate where the puppy will sleep. You will want to have a crate so that the puppy can be locked up when you are not in the house and also when you are not watching him. Crate training is the best way to train a puppy and gives the animal a sense of security. The crate becomes his den.

In addition to the crate, you will want to have a baby gate so that you can keep the animal in an area where the crate is and where, if he has an accident, he will not ruin carpeting or flooring. You will want to make sure that shoes and other small objects are not laying around on the floor. The puppy will chew shoes and may swallow small objects.

Have food and a bowl. You will most likely be instructed to feed your puppy three times a day at first. When the puppy reaches maturity, you can feed him twice a day. You should always offer fresh water in case the dog gets thirsty.

Develop a routine right away. This is crucial to puppy training. Puppies thrive on routine. Feed the puppy at the same time each day and then take him out for a walk or to the litter box, or papers. He will most likely have to go to the bathroom after eating. If you feed him the same time each day, he will most likely go to the bathroom at the same time each day.

Realize that by doing this routine, you are being trained and not the puppy. He has to make the connection and realize that going to the bathroom is a good thing and going in the house is wrong. Use both positive and negative reinforcement when teaching your dog good from bad. You should praise heavily when he goes outside and give him a doggie treat. This will make the routine all the more pleasant. Scold when he goes to the toilet in the house. Do not hit the dog as that does not do anything but relieve your anger and can hurt your dog. The carpet can always be cleaned.

By following a routine and continuing to reinforce good behavior with affection and negative behavior with scolding, your puppy will soon learn how to behave. This will not only be good for potty training, but also things like not jumping on people, not jumping on the furniture, not chewing shoes and other bad habits.

With patience and love, you can guide your puppy to becoming a good dog. A dog is one of the most loyal pets in the world and can be a great companion. It is up to you to make him into a good dog.

The first thing that you have to understand when puppy potty training is that your puppy is going to have accidents. Puppies are very much like little babies.

They cannot be expected to hold their bladders or bowels for a long period of time. Your puppy will be a dog before he or she can fully be potty trained.

You can reduce the number of accidents your puppy has in the house by keeping him or her in a crate when you are not watching. The puppy will get used to being in the crate and will most likely want to stay in there even after he is fully trained. Puppies get a feeling of security from having their own crate as it is like a den to a puppy. Make it comfortable and warm and put a chew toy in there and your puppy will enjoy being inside his little home.

In order to be successful at puppy potty training, you have to understand the concept that puppies and dogs do not like to go to the bathroom anywhere near where they sleep or eat. Your puppy will not go to the bathroom in his crate. You will need to let him out every often so he can use the outdoors. If you have him fenced in yard, you can allow him to go out and watch him to see if he goes to the bathroom outside. Once he does, you should make a big fuss and reward him with a biscuit or doggy treat.

Small dogs can be either paper trained or even litter box trained. This can be ideal if you are living in an apartment or someplace where it is not convenient to take the dog outside. This only works well with small breeds, however. The larger the dog, the more exercise it needs. You cannot expect to keep a large dog in a small apartment and litter train him.

Once your puppy uses the designated place to go to the bathroom more than a few times and is rewarded, he or she will begin to associate the reward with using the toilet and will tend to understand that this is where he should go to the bathroom. Puppies are creatures of habit and will often go in the same spot.

You can also take your dog for a walk after he or she eats and allow them to go to the bathroom during the walk. You should always bring a scooper and bag with you to clean up any mess your puppy makes. Puppies thrive on routine, so if you want to take the puppy for a walk and teach it to go to the bathroom during the walk, you need to do this several times a day at around the same time each day.

Another trick to puppy potty training is to feed the puppy at the same time each day. Do not change around the food and feed him on a schedule. This way, he will also go to the bathroom at the same time each day.

Puppy potty training takes patience, but is not difficult. Once your puppy is about a year old, he or she should be fully housebroken and will not go to the bathroom in the house.

Once your puppy is about six months old, you can take him for puppy obedience training. This is a good idea if you have never before owned a dog or are planning to show a dog in dog shows.

If you have owned other dogs, you probably already know about puppy obedience training and how to make sure that you cute little puppy grows up to be a calm, friendly dog.

The first thing that you need to do when you get your new puppy is to give him a name. Dogs understand their names. Use it often and he or she will begin to understand when they are called.

You will want your puppy to be able to do the following:

• Come to you when you call him
• Sit down
• Lay down
• Stay put
• Stop doing something destructive

Some puppy obedience classes teach a dog to heel, which requires the dog to kneel before you. This is not necessary unless you are putting him in a dog show.

Why is puppy obedience important? Simple – so that your puppy becomes a well behaved dog. Imagine a cute little puppy jumping up and barking when a guest enters the door. This might seem cute. But it is not very cute when the cute little puppy grows up to be a 150 pound dog and knocks people down because he is disobedient.

A dog is supposed to bark when someone comes to the door. He is supposed to guard the house. Dogs are very territorial animals and your dog is simply doing his job when he does this. However, you are supposed to be the top dog. If you say that it is okay for your Aunt Mildred to enter without being knocked down, then it should be okay for your dog.

You should be able to tell the dog to lay down or sit and he should understand this command and comply. Puppies naturally want to please the pack leader. In a family setting, the person who feeds and cares for the dog becomes the pack leader. Many times, this is a mom. The mom feeds the dog, takes the dog out for a walk and takes care of the dog. The dog will see the mom as the pack leader. The dad may be just another dog in the pack and the children are thought of as litter mates.

Once the dog learns the commands from you, he will be able to understand them from others. You will want your dog to come to you when you call him. This can be crucial if he gets off his leash or gets out of the yard. You do not want your dog to be the menace of the neighborhood, wreaking havoc wherever he goes.

A well behaved dog is a great pet. A dog that has not learned obedience training is a public menace. Which would you rather your little puppy become? If you choose the former, make sure that you enforce some puppy obedience training early on in his life.

If you have a small breed dog, you can teach your puppy to use a litter box instead of taking him outside. This can be a great thing, especially if you live in a high rise apartment building.

Most of us do not relish the idea of taking our dogs out for a walk in the cold, ice or rain. Yet once you establish this routine with your puppy, you should follow through with it. A puppy, like a child, thrives on routine. When you break a routine, a puppy feels stressed and may act out by tearing up things in the house, causing destruction or even going to the bathroom in the house.

Cats naturally like to go in a litter box and require very little training, if any. Simply scratch their paws in the litter box and they know where to go. Puppies, however, are a bit different. It is not as natural for a puppy to go in the litter box, although the new litter is soft and puppies do like to go where it is private and the ground is soft.

The trick to get your puppy to go in the litter box is to put some of his own dropping in there and allow him to sniff it. There is also a urine like spray that is used for paper training puppies that you can spray in the litter that will give your dog the hint that this is where he is supposed to go. This can be purchased at your local pet store, along with a litter box, litter and a scoop.

Puppies have the habit of going in the same place all of the time. Once your puppy understands that this is his toilet, he will get used to using it. You can scoop the litter box daily the same as you would do for a cat and not have any odor in your home. Once a month, you can change the litter and wash out the litter box. It is very easy.

You should put the litter box somewhere discreet. Dogs do not like to be watched when they are going to the bathroom. If you have a laundry room, this can be the perfect place. You need to also make sure that it is far away from his food. Dogs do not like to go where they eat. Again, you do not want it near his bed as dogs do not like to go where they sleep. They are more human like than you can imagine. Dogs.

Once you have used puppy litter box training, you will be glad that you choose this method for housebreaking your small breed dog. Remember that this method can only be used for very small dogs.

If you think you are going to hook a collar on to your puppy and put him on a leash and he is going to parade down the street like he is at the Westminster Dog Show, you are sadly mistaken. Your puppy will struggle against the leash and the collar and the entire walking process.

Have you ever wondered what makes a show dog a show dog? Some of it is the coloring and appearance of the dog, but a lot has to do with the way the dog behaves in the arena. A dog will not naturally want to walk calmly next to you on a leash. He will struggle and try to break free. You may end up dragging him along or he may end up dragging you. Either way, this is not the way it should be.

Puppy leash training is essential for a dog to be able to behave when walking on a lead.

When your puppy is six months old, you can start teaching him obedience. This can include leash training. You need to make the leash short at first and give it a slight tug when the puppy moves away. The puppy should walk on the outside of you and right along side of you, at your pace. When you stop, so does the dog. When you run, the dog runs. This takes practice.

One method of puppy leash training is using a choke collar. This is a slip knot collar that goes around the puppy. When he pulls at the leash, the collar chokes him. Once he stops struggling, the collar releases him.

Using a choke collar is the most common method used for leash training a puppy. Be very careful that you carefully supervise the puppy at all times and never, ever put a choke collar on a dog unless you are in the process of leash training the animal. A choke collar can easily get caught in a fence link, or even in the crate. This can end up killing the animal if he is not supervised. Each year, hundreds of dogs die because they are left alone with a choke collar. This is a very dangerous practice.

Of course, good behavior should be rewarded. When your puppy performs well, you can reward him with a treat and a kind gesture. Soothing words are also very good when training a puppy. A puppy does not understand what you are saying any more than a two year old, but does understand the tone of your voice. There are some words the puppy will pick up. His name is one of them. Using a kind tone when your puppy performs well works wonders.

Try to make puppy leash training fun by offering your dog treats and giving him a lot of attention when you are training him. Make sure that you are relaxed when training your dog so that he can relax as well. Leash training will be a lot easier if you are both relaxed and ready for fun.