The arrival of a dog puppy at home is undoubtedly a wonderful moment for the entire human family. In fact, it is the long-awaited arrival of an animal that will become another member of our household.
Before you have made this decision, it is important that you understand that the priority is to satisfy your puppy's needs and not for your puppy to satisfy your own needs. For this reason, the ideal is that the arrival of a puppy at home is also a highly positive experience for the dog.
To avoid physical and behavioral problems during the puppy's growth and also in his adult stage, in this article on our site we show you what are the common mistakes when educating a puppy.
1. Weaning the puppy prematurely
This is a very serious error. At approximately a month and a half of life, the puppy starts weaning naturally and progressively and this is usually completely finished when the dog has already reached two months of age.
Not respecting the natural weaning period due to impatience before the arrival of the puppy is a very clear symptom that the needs of the animal are not taken into account, but rather the desire of the caregiver is prioritized.
Premature weaning not only has negative consequences on the puppy's immune system, but also on its socialization, since it is not the human family that initiates the period of education, but the mother. We recommend that you never foster puppies under two months of age
two. Disturbing puppy's sleep
We want to indulge in pampering, affection, games and all kinds of attention to the puppy. We want to stimulate it in the best possible way so that it grows enjoying a full state of well-being. These interactions are essential, but as long as the puppy is awake.
It is a very common mistake (and typical when there are small children at home) that the puppy's sleep is disturbed to start activities that we have mentioned before and this supposes a disorder for their organism, since the puppies sleep a lot because they are in full growth stage and they need all their energy available. Therefore, disturbing the puppy's sleep is one of the common mistakes when training a puppy that has the worst impact on its well-being, we must avoid it.
Up to 3 months of age a puppy can sleep from 18 to 20 hours a day and if you want to care for and educate it properly, it is essential that you respect this rest time.
3. Humanize the puppy
A human baby needs the arms and continuous contact with its mother, but a dog is not a baby and unfortunately there are many people who still do not understand this and treat their puppy as if it were a pet. toddler.
A puppy needs a lot of care, but among them the fact that he should be cradled in our arms is not contemplated. This makes him uncomfortable and creates a horrible feeling of insecurity,as he loses his support by not being in contact with the ground.
Another error that has to do with the humanization of the dog is practicing co-sleeping with a puppy, that is, letting him sleep with us. During the first nights the puppy will need a very comfortable, warm space and it may even be necessary to incorporate a dim light and a hot water bottle for him to feel good. If you don't want to sleep with your dog when he's an adult, don't put him in your bed while he's a puppy.
4. Give him our food while we are eating
Among all dog lovers we can affirm that this is the most widely committed mistake regardless of the vital stage in which our dog is.
If you want your dog to follow a homemade diet (with prior advice from an expert in canine nutrition) perfect, if you want your dog to follow a feed with dry food and reward him sporadically for his good actions with food human, perfect… But feeding him when the human family is eating is a very serious mistake.
But why is it one of the common mistakes when training a puppy?
Very simple, it will favor the development of overweight and obesity in the adult stage of the dog, since if in addition to its usual diet and edible treats, we give you our food every day when we are eating, it is very easy and likely that a daily excess of calories will occur. Ideally, your puppy should have its own meal schedule and that it should be respected above all else.
5. Punish and scold the dog
Among all the errors related to dog training this is one of the most dangerous. If you want to properly educate your puppy you must understand something very basic: the dog is not scolded for his mistakes but rewarded for his successes
This practice is known as positive reinforcement and all of your puppy's education should be based on this system. If this is not the case, you can develop fears in your puppy and in the future regret observing a shy, distant and insecure behavior.
6. Not socializing the puppy or doing it poorly
Dog socialization is essential to have a pet with a balanced character and can be defined as the process by which the puppy has contact with humans, with other dogs and with other animals. Not dedicating time to socialization will bring you many problems as time goes by, but also it is dangerous to socialize the puppy poorly
If we want to expose our dog to new stimuli we must do it progressively and carefully, because if these stimuli are massive and also do not result in a positive experience, it will be very difficult for the puppy to mature properly.
In addition to all of the above, poor socialization or wrong socialization can cause our puppy to become reactive, skittish or simply no knows how to communicate with other dogs.
7. Do not teach him manners
One of the common mistakes when educating a puppy is, precisely, not educating him as he deserves. Remember that he doesn't know how to behave and that he barely understands human language.
You must patiently teach him where he should urinate and what things he can chew and what not. If we ignore this type of education from the beginning, it is very likely that in the future our dog will not know how to behave.
8. Do not start training
Finally, we must remember that it will be essential to start training our puppy when it is between 4 and 6 months old, which is when they learn best and most effectively.
Teaching him basic dog commands will be essential for his safety. If we don't teach him the orders, in addition to not knowing how to communicate with him, we will be putting his safety at risk if the leash breaks at any time
If you have been wanting to know more about puppy training, don't hesitate to visit our complete guide to puppy education.
