Selecting the Perfect Pup – Get Nature on your side!
Small Yorkie on White to ensure you eventually have a perfect pet and not a paranoid pooch as an adult, be sure to spend some time selecting your pup. Different breeds have different temperaments but even in each litter you will find pups with different natures.
You need to see the whole litter of pups. Be wary if the breeder keeps the litter behind closed doors and brings only a single pup for you to look at. First, watch the way the pups play with each other, then look at the way the pups respond to you.
For a good family pet, choose a middle-of-the-range puppy. In other words, avoid the pup that seems to run and hide from the others or that is reluctant to come to you for handling. Such a pup may be too fearful to be an ideal pet. On the other side of the spectrum, avoid the pup that pushes all the others around and is the bully of the litter. This one may be too dominating and boisterous to handle and could even be aggressive.
Handle a few of the pups. Very gently roll a pup upside down and hold it for a short moment. If this scares it or it submissively urinates, again it may be too fearful as a pet. If it growls and wriggles and perhaps tries to bite your hands when you hold it upside down, it may be too aggressive.
I would select the pup that serenely tolerates you rolling it onto its back and even looks just a little bit scared by this process, without going out of control.
Raising Your Pup – Nuturing the Correct Behaviours
Having selected your pup, how do you optimise the nurturing side of things?
Nothing is better than a puppy preschool. You will find many veterinary surgeries and dog training businesses around town hold puppy preschools and they are becoming very popular because of the benefits.
The goal of a puppy preschool is to introduce the puppies to each other, to other people and to novel situations and environments. Usually the instructor discusses all the basics of puppy care too.
The instructor will guide each owner through the techniques needed to train the puppies to respond to basic obedience commands. He or she will also give advice on how to gently handle problem behaviours such as aggression and fear.
Much of this learning, though, is from what pups do best – playing! Playing is a vital part of learning. By allowing your pup to have guided play with the others it will learn the limits of its behaviour. The other pups are likely to set limits if your pup is too boisterous but you can step in too if needed.
With puppy preschool at your local veterinary clinic, your puppy will also learn that the clinic is a fun place to be in. So often dogs associate a veterinary clinic with nastiness and resent going to the clinic. It is not surprising as the vets stick various foreign instruments into various private areas. Needles go under the skin, otoscopes are shoved into ears, fingers go into mouths and we all know where the thermometer goes! No wonder dogs so often regard their vet as a visitor from another planet. By having fun and games at your local veterinary surgery, your pup will look forward to its visit at the vets.
Your veterinarian or local dog trainer will be happy to give you more advice. However, to have a perfect pet, the rules are simple – choose your pup wisely and start its training early. Your inaction could hound you for life!