Terrier Puppy Training - Have Your Puppy Trained Today

By Diana Swanson Diana Swanson
Level: Basic

Author and article writer for training dogs and puppies with a special interest in terriers.


Choosing a new terrier puppy can be an exciting point in an owner's life. While terrier puppies can start out small, some breeds can reach over 80 pounds. Traditionally, terriers were bred and raised to hunt and control small animals such as foxes, rabbits and rats. Larger breeds of terriers were used to hunt badgers. You'll find that your terrier will have a very energetic spirit, a loyal heart and an attitude usually bigger than their size suggests.

Picking Out Your Terrier Puppy

When you're going to pick out a terrier pup, make sure that it's at least 8 weeks old, doesn't display aggressive behaviour and is generally friendly. If you can, have a vet take a quick look to ensure your potential new best friend is in good general health.

Terrier puppy training should begin when you bring your terrier pup to your house, assuming your pup is old enough and has been socialized properly first. If your terrier pup isn't quite ten weeks old or hasn't been acclimated properly with small groups of people or other dogs, you should take some time first to ensure your puppy is used to being around other dogs and people. This will prevent any issues with small dog aggression.

Puppies Training For Terriers

When your terrier puppy is at the right age, I would recommend some basic household training. Certain breeds of terriers such as bull terriers can be especially stubborn when they're young. I recommend that crate training be used and it's really recommended that you're home as much as possible during the house training so you can start establishing pack leader status and correct deviations quickly. While it may seem to take a long time at first to get your terrier puppy properly housebroken, once proper behaviors are established, you will find your terrier puppy will stick to the rules of the house with uncanny loyalty. The time investment up front will be worth it in the end, trust me.

Once the basics are covered, the next step is to build your terrier puppy's surrounding to help establish that you're the clear alpha pack leader. Instruct your terrier puppy not to bite using toys. If your terrier puppy bites you, you can help correct that behavior by letting out a clear whining sound to let him know it hurts. Also, a word about furniture. Don't let your puppy to leap onto the couch and don't let it sleep in the same bed with your. The crate should be used as much as possible in the early stages of your puppy's life. Over time, you'll extend the length of time in which they can stay in there.

When your terrier puppy reaches 3 months of age, it's time to get into obedience training. Try and nail the basics such as getting your terrier to stay, sit, lie down, focus on you, come when called, wait inside doors and not yank on the leash. The emphasis on obedience training should continue until 6 months of age.

Terriers have an especially good knack for picking up motion cues from their owners, though with some breeds of terriers, you'll find that that might not want to follow your lead right away. Be patient, over time, they'll tune will change.

Utilizing Terrier Puppy Training To Protect Them

Since terriers are naturally curious creatures, you'll find that they will want to go out and learn about the new environments they encounter as much as possible. In the terrier's early life, teach them not to chase cars as that behavior is sometimes the first reaction a terrier has when they encounter this new moving object. Also instruct it stop at curbs and to not dash away from you in public settings. Otherwise, they risk hurting themselves by cars crossing the road or by getting lost in a crowd of people. Keep the leash on the terrier while you're out walking it until you can be confident that it'll return to you when called and that it won't venture off too far away from you. Trying to chase a fast terrier can be a very exhausting exercise indeed!

While training a terrier can seem challenging at first, especially to dog owners who've never owned one before, you'll discover that terriers are really a loyal breed. With proper terrier puppy training, they'll start to follow your commands on queue, stay with you when you're out in public without a leash and keep your house free of "surprises". But you have to ensure you set the rules down early and be keen on enforcing them in the critical early years.

All the best in your quest to training your terrier.
Diana Swanson
Founder of http://www.TopTerrier.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Diana_Swanson

House Training Small Breeds - By: Julia Morais

Housebreaking small dogs is the same as training larger breeds. Nevertheless, some dog owners seem to think that training smaller breeds is harder or more problematic compared to training medium and larger dogs.

There may be some behavioral differences between small dogs and large dogs; however, the technique of training these dogs to have proper potty behavior is the same, regardless of what type of dogs they are.

Dog owners have, in the past, faced difficulties training small dogs and they usually come across these two issues; Crate Training and Aggression. However, what they don't know is that these issues have nothing to do with the dog being a small breed, but it is caused by the owners themselves. Here is why, and how you can overcome it.

Small dogs or toy dogs are like dolls or play things, and their owners have the tendency of carrying them around and placing them on their laps. Herein lies the problem.

A dog, in general, whether small or big, is a canine with a natural inclination to be the master of his domain. Be it his food, his owner or his territory, he has to be the alpha dog. When a small dog places himself on his owner's lap unbeckoned, he is actually displaying hostility; his instinct to be the alpha dog. But instead of chastising or showing displeasure towards this behavior, his owner displays pleasure by cuddling him instead. This act of praising him encourages and develops the aggressive streak in the dog.

This same aggression is displayed when a small dog growls at a larger dog as this is a clear act of violence. Unfortunately, the owner, inclined to seeing this as an adorable behaviour, will end up praising the little pooch, instead of correcting it.

Toting a small dog or puppy around, even at home, does not help with house breaking. Owners of these dogs tend to carry their animals to their potty place, then pick them up and carry them back inside the house, which makes it pretty impossible to house break these puppies. There is no way for the dog to give any indication to his owner that he has to do his business. The dog will also have no way to learn that he has to go outside place to do his business.

When training your miniature dog to do anything, do it like you would any other breeds. House breaking your puppy of a small breed can be done successfully if he is trained like other normal breeds, which are brought to their acceptable potty area on a leash. Once you've stopped totting your pooch around, you'll be surprised at how much easier it is to train him.



If you want to know more about puppy training, visit my website at http://www.squidoo.com/potty-training-puppies-guide.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Julia-Morais/88996