I think we can all agree that dogs are one of the most beautiful creatures on this planet. They are loving, friendly, and are always there when you need them. From afar it seems like it is all fun and games when raising a dog, or at least I thought so. My roommate got a 6 week old puppy in May. Here are some things that I have learned about raising a puppy.
- Do not live with someone who is planning on purchasing a puppy. When my roommate first mentioned that she was going to get a puppy, I was excited. I love dogs, especially puppies. But I have never raised one. I have only seen them from another’s perspective and not a first hand point of view. I was not prepared for the dirty work that comes along with it. I keep saying that I am raising the dog even though it is my roommate’s dog, but she is barely home and I spend more time with the dog than she does and he has more of a loyalty to me than he does to her. Which is kind of scaring me because I can see her trying to pawn him off to me in the next year.
- Patience. Puppies are not trained. They do not fully understand the commands that you are saying to them. They are going to go to the bathroom in places they are not supposed to. But you have to have patience with them. They will learn. You have to remember that they are still babies. Keep training them and make sure you reward them when they do something right. I would not recommend positive reinforcement training unless you are able to spend 90 percent of your day with them. Otherwise they will be rewarded for things and they won’t fully understand why they are being rewarded. But if you are able to spend a lot of your time with them then it may work. I just have never personally seen it work.
- Walks. Be a good dog parent and take your dog for walks. Take your dog for a ten minute walk before you feed it breakfast. Let them have ways to get their energy out. When they are puppies they are going to be looking for ways to get their energy out and if it is not on a walk then it is going to be them chewing and biting at your whole body. I almost don’t believe the dog that lives with me is really a dog. I have never seen a dog act the way he does. It scares me sometimes. And his owner isn’t doing anything about it, so I guess it falls on my shoulders. I have been taking him for two walks a day and it seems to have been working. He is a lot more mellow throughout the day. With the occasional zoomies.
- Exposure. When you are taking your dog for walks, let him play with other dogs. Keep a close eye on them but let him get used to being social. You do not want your dog to be anti-social. They want to have fun too. Let your dog meet people and enjoy the love and affection they crave.
- Meal Prep. Depending on what type of dog you have you are going to want to meal prep for them and have their meals ready to go. You are going to want to have a precise time when to feed them and stay on that schedule. The same goes for going to the bathroom. Take them to go to the bathroom at specific times so that they can get used to going to the bathroom on your walks.
- Love and affection. Show your dogs that you love them and make sure they know that they are loved. Yes, they are going to annoy you and nearly drive you to your breaking point; but they deserve to be loved. Do not abandon your dogs just because it gets hard. You made the decision to be a dog owner. You do not get to just abandon them when it gets tough. That is not fair to them.
- Toys. Make sure you have toys for your dog to chew on and play with. Do not overload them with toys because they will get bored of them and start to chew on other things. Give them 1-3 new toys every other week and it should do the trick. If you see them chewing on something other than their toy, grab their toy and put it in their mouth and push them away from what they were chewing on.
- Social media. Do not rely on social media to learn how to train your dog. Sure, you can find some good tips and tricks but every owner and dog is going to be different. Some things that work for one dog may not work for your dog. And most of the people that are making dog training content are trained professionals that are spending the whole day training their dog without break. You are more than capable of training your dog.
- Living situation. Small dogs are okay to raise in an apartment, but if you have a growing dog that is supposed to be big then it is probably not in your best interest to raise them in an apartment. Sure, there may be exceptions. But big dogs need a lot of space and have a lot of energy to get out. So unless you are proactive about getting them out of the apartment and letting them exert their energy then I would recommend not raising a puppy in an apartment.
- Crate train. The last but the most important step. Crate train, crate train, crate train!!! You can leave for work knowing that your dog is safe and not destroying anything. Also if you crate train your dog they will have a better chance at being potty trained and will have less accidents.
There are a lot of things that you are going to learn when raising a dog. You are going to learn a lot about yourself and your dog. I am not saying it is an impossible task and that it is not worth it. Just make sure you treat your dog right and raise them right and you will reap the rewards.
