Dog training in Hannibal, Mo, Quincy, IL, and surround areas. It’s not magic, it’s dog training!
03/24/2025
-Puppy Mondays-
Some how I have officially had this perfect boy for 2 weeks now and that just seems crazy to me! I weighed him last night and he’s already 19lbs! 😳 He is impressing me in every way and doing so good on all the basics like kennel training, potty training, and play biting.
I figured this week I would go over some things that have made the last two week WAY easier for both him and myself!
1- Use a timer! I like using the timer on my watch as it’s always on and with me, but use whatever works best for you. I use this timer to make sure I don’t get busy and forget to take him out regularly. He’s still very young and small so I generally set it for 30mins, unless he’s asleep, then I just take him out immediately after he wakes up and set the timer when we come back in.
2- I learned this trick with my last puppy and I love it! I buy a BOX of cookie type treats (Milkbones, Buddy Biscuits, Bark, etc) and leave them in a an easy to reach (for the human) place by his kennel. This means I always have the perfect sized quick reward for popping in his kennel. I find the box to be easier to handle for this case than a bag of treats, it’s easier to pop open, easier to close, and the shape makes it easier to grab and put away when half asleep in the middle of the night for potty trips. 😅
3- Xpens! I love xpens for puppies for the same reason parents love pack n plays for their babies. It gives them a safe place to play and hang out when I can’t give my 100% attention to them. His is pretty small at the moment, enough space for a bed, some toys, and his water bowl. I also put a washable p*e pad underneath just incase of accidents, but honestly it’s mostly kept the floor dry from his water that he is really good at making a mess with… 🤦🏼 We keep it in our living room where we spend most of our time and once he gets a little bigger we will get a bigger one to give him more space and make him less likely to learn how to jump out.
4- Leashes, tethers, and back-ties oh my! Unless outside in a safe area, in his kennel, in his xpen on in a small enclosed space Monday spends most of his “free” time on leash. He plays with it on, we train with it on, we just exist with it on… my leash (and xpen) are how I keep him 1) safe and 2) from developing bad habits. He can’t sneak off into another room to have an accident if he’s attached to me by a leash, he can’t grab my dirty socks and play catch me if you can if he has a leash dragging behind him, he can’t jump on guests if he’s back-tied to the couch. “Until you have a line of social responsibility, you must have a line made out of material.”
It is our job to teach our puppies what we want them to do and not do, it’s not fair to make them guess through trial and error, trust me it’s much easier to just use the leash until their are capable of being trusted without it. Some dogs earn that freedom at 6mo old some earn it at 18mo old. It all depends on the dogs and how much they can be trusted to make good choices at liberty, but at 10wks I’m going to assume he needs help and I’m happy to provide it. Once he outgrows the xpen and/or learns to climb out we will graduate him to using a tether more regularly, right now he uses it in class and occasionally at home just to work on the skill.
Raising a puppy is hard and tiring, but hopefully one or more these things can help make it a little easier for you! (Also all this stuff can be applied to adult dogs. Especially if they are new to your home.)
