Puppy Training

Puppies are soooo cute aren't they? Even pitbull puppies are sweet, but whatever puppy you pick up, please make sure you're ready to give him or her the time and attention necessary. Raising a puppy is not easy, but with some patience and consistency, you may see results pretty quickly.

Before you bring home your puppy, here are 3 things to keep in mind about raising and caring for a pup.

Housebreaking

Puppies cannot physically hold their "waste" for too long. In fact, puppies under the age of 3 months should be allowed to relieve themselves every 2 hours. Asking your puppy to "hold it" any longer than that is not reasonable and is unfair to your puppy. Understand the limitations your puppy has. He is not a mature adult yet, so don't think he'll act like one right away.

Chewing

Most puppies will go on a chewing binge at one point or another. I've never heard of a puppy who didn't love to chew. Again, be realistic in your expectations of your puppy. Be fair by teaching your puppy what is okay to chew on and what is not before dishing out punishment. Also, if there are things you absolutely do not want chewed, keep them out of reach for your puppy. One of the benefits we've seen while feeding raw (see our raw fed dogs hub) is that it provides and outlet for a puppy's strong desire and need to chew.

Set Boundaries

Yes, puppies are cute, but that doesn't mean you should allow him to get away with murder. Yes, you need to be realistic about your puppies maturity and what he can do, but that doesn't mean that you don't begin setting boundaries and teaching your puppy the rules you want it to live by. Remember, if you allow your puppy to jump all over you when he's little because you think it's cute, it would be very unfair of you to begin correcting that same action later just because he gets a bit bigger and it's no longer cute. After all you've been encouraging and rewarding the behavior for months. Think ahead and set your rules and guidelines now. Don't give him one set of rules as a puppy, then go changing them later as he gets older. It's not fair to him and you'll only make your training tougher.

For additional information on training your pitbull puppy, check out the free articles at EasyPitbullTraining.com.