How to Train a Puppy

Practice leadership training activities. A new puppy should look to its owner as a trusted, calm pack leader. Enforce this principle right from the beginning (or beware a pushy troublemaker). Walk through doorways before your pooch. Do not feed the puppy table scraps, and do not allow the puppy to sleep in your bed.

Potty train your puppy. Utilize one of three basic methods--crate training, pretreated trays and pads or positive leadership observation--to encourage housebreaking. Understand that puppies are prone to make mistakes, so clean up messes quickly, efficiently and do not scold or harm the puppy. When the puppy does release outdoors, praise it with affection, verbal cues and a toy or treat. Look for signs of the need to eliminate--such as circling an area or sniffing the ground--to help prevent in-home messes. Soon the puppy will seek to please you by going potty in the right place.

Teach basic commands. Begin educating your puppy on basic obedience skills, such as sit, come, heel, stay and quiet. Utilize positive reinforcement and clicker training to help reap successful behaviors. Give verbal commands in a calm, firm voice. When the puppy completes an action, click the clicking device and offer a reward. If the puppy does not respond to the command, continue practicing. A puppy will learn through repetitious and positive-reinforced action. Do not get discouraged. Continue with 10 minutes of training and 10 minutes of play several times a day.

Educate your puppy on proper leash behavior. Teach your puppy to heel (and not pull) while on the leash to ensure an obedient dog as it matures and grows stronger. Clicker training can prove effective for leash education. When the dog pulls, stop walking. Wait for the leash to slack. This communicates to the puppy that the walk is its own reward and that the pack leader must be followed to receive it. Young puppies may roll over and fight the collar. Do not pick the puppy up and carry it. Encourage desired responses through consistent action. Over time, a puppy will learn the correct way to walk on a leash.

Provide safe chew toys. Dogs are natural chewers. Provide healthy chewing activities to help alleviate boredom and encourage obedient puppy responses. Allow your puppy supervised access to chew toys--such as Kong Toys--and do not play tug of war because this can encourage the puppy to bite you. Never hit or harm the puppy, as this wrong response can lead to future dominance and aggression issues. Instead, if a puppy nips you, yelp loudly and cease play. Additionally, utilize spray deterrents on furniture, shoes, rugs and carpets to prevent unwanted chewing.

Ignore negative behaviors. Puppies will whine for attention. Ignore this behavior. If you are sure the puppy is not communicating something to you (such as hunger or that it's cold), ignore the whining puppy. Pay attention only when it's quiet and calm. This way, the puppy will not grow into a needy, pushy adult or develop more-serious issues, such as separation-anxiety disorder.

Encourage a healthy and happy lifestyle. Puppy training should be coupled with excellent nutrition and care. Visit the veterinarian regularly and allow constant access to fresh water. Encourage active puppy play and socialization and promote a loving home environment. An obedient puppy will never exert signs of dominance or aggression. Establish positive behaviors by socializing your puppy at dog parks and through frequent, daily walks.