Potty Training Your Pup
Keep in mind the younger the pup, the smaller the bladder.
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Potty training in kids and puppies are very similar. Children learning how to address the urge to potty will sometimes disregard the full bladder sensation due to distractions, play time, or just not wanting to miss out. Puppies are very similar. There are important time periods when potty training can be optimized. In our experience, good times to take your pup outside are right after a nap, being crated, and right after or during indoor play. A pup will urinate mid play if excited enough! Potty training isn’t something that happens overnight and can exceed 6 months if not consistent with training. The key is to reward what you want. Shoving your pup’s nose in a soiled carpet doesn’t produce results. If your pup does use potty indoors, there is no need to jump down his/her throat. Positive enforcement and patience is key.
Puppy Socialization:
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Socialization starts with external factors.
We all know dogs have great hearing and react to the slightest sounds that we may not have even heard. This will be the dynamic of your relationship w/ your dog for the rest of his/her life. You want to begin conditioning your pup to disregard day to day sounds. This is as simple as having the TV or radio on throughout the day as the puppy plays and rests. By having these subtle sounds associated with normality as a puppy you will begin to eleviate potential issues in the future such as: negative reactivity during walks, high anxiety in public and vehicles, extremely reactions during celebrations/holidays.
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Learn body language
General body language in dogs is simple: tail tucked= fear or nervousness : tail wagging= happy : lips curled/growl=angry. While that is vaguely true, dogs body language is a little more complex and suggestive than the basics. As your puppy grows and you begin to take your pup out into the world, you will need to understand what your dog is feeling/thinking and that of other dogs. For example a “loose” tail wag does mean happy while a “stiff”, high carried tail usually indicated uneasiness. A Seemingly innocent interaction at the dog park can easily escalate into an attack because you misread or didn’t understand the signs leading up to the event.
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Introduce family/faces that will be around puppy frequently - positive interactions
A healthy, confident puppy is generally happy go lucky and willing to interact in a comfortable setting. Help your puppy embrace that attitude by creating as many positive interactions with strangers and frequent visitor as possible. When a visitor comes over, give them a treat to offer you puppy upon entry (be conscious of door manners). On walks, allow strangers to calmly pet your puppy and offer affection. This is probably the most important aspect of socializing your puppy. Allow you puppy to interact with adult and children. The earlier in your puppy’s life that you begin this the more rewarding your puppy’s life will be.
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Take puppy on plenty walks, public areas (with shots) sonic, park, Home Depot, etc.)
Once your puppy has some leash manners and is relatively non-reactive to distractions, you can really zero in on the puppy’s training at this point by going to more advanced areas to play and dwell such as Sonic, Home Depot, Tractor Supply, Petco/PetSmart Car rides, Hikes, etc.… For inexperience dog owners or new Rottweiler owners, it may be in good interest to look into one of the many popular pet stores will offer puppy training and beginner classes to help get your puppy moving in the right direction.
Crate Training Tips & Tricks
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Pick a crate that is good size
Your puppy should be able to comfortably be able to stand up, turn around, and sprawl out/lay down. Ideally, the crate isn’t too big because with extra space the puppy is likely to take advantage of that and potty where there’s “space”.
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Crate placement
Where you place you crate in your home is an important t part of your training. You want to have your crate in a room or area of you home where the puppy will possibly sleep or take breaks away from the family. This can happen in phases and slowly progress over time. By starting with the puppy crated in your living room for example while you watch tv is a great way to start your training. As the puppy ages and is better without crying, start to create more and more distance/seclusion.
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Fun experiences and distractions
Create a fun and happy environment that your puppy associates with the kennel. For feedings, crate your puppy. When crated give plenty of rewards. Play games in the crate doorway and make it a place of refuge for your puppy.
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Short durations gradual increase
During initial puppy training try to keep sessions very short. 5 minutes of fun. As your pup gets better with crate training and has more of an attention span, begin to extend the time that you puppy spends in the crate for that session.
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Reward good responses immediately
As your puppy begins to quiet down and stop crying, reward that behavior and release the pup. This is how your training should go until your pup is a competent crated pup that won’t scream at you all day to let them out!
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Keep low energy/excitement when interacting through crate
Your puppy will react and respond according to your energy and intention. If your goal is to train/condition your puppy to be quiet in the crate, you don’t want to enter the room by speaking to your puppy or baby talk. You should ignore the puppy if the pup is doing what is expected. Subtly reward the pup and maintain a low controlled energy. This will go a long way.
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Patience
Be patient! The same way we can’t expect a 3-year-old human baby to perform at a 6-year-old level, we can’t expect unrealistic thing from our very young pups. Everything happens with time and patience.