10 Things You Must Teach Your Puppy Before They Are A Year Old

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Have you ever come across a dog at the dog park, or had to look after a dog for a friend, and found that they had absolutely no doggie manners at all? That's because they haven't been trained properly.

In our book, 10 Things You Must Teach Your Puppy Before They Are A Year Old, we teach you the 10 things you must do to ensure that your puppy grows up into a well behaved and respected dog. The 10 things you must do are:

• Be in charge - to have your puppy grow up to be a well behaved dog, you need to be the boss or pack leader.
• Toilet training – teach your dog when to go, how to go, and where to go.
• Sit, Stay & Drop – the fundamentals of dog training. You cannot control your dog if you can't get him to sit and stay.
• Walking on leash & off leash – teach your dog to walk with you, not drag you along.
• Fetch & release – how to fetch, and how to let go so you can do it all over again.
• Doggie etiquette – how to win friends and influence people (or dogs).
• No jumping – no biting – the absolute no no's for puppies, especially those that are going to grow into large dogs.
• Sharing food & toys – puppy must learn to share with others, both other people and other animals.
• Go to your bed – a safe zone, or a time out zone for a naughty puppy.
• FREE time – the reward for all that training!

And in this book, we don't just tell you what you need to do – we tell you how to do it with detailed step by step instructions.

To order your copy of 10 Things You Must Teach Your Puppy Before They Are A Year Old for only $17.95, just click the Order Now button below, or keep reading for more information on what you get in 10 Things You Must Teach Your Puppy Before They Are A Year Old.

tell me more about the 10 things .....

OK – we'll start with the basics….

Who's in charge. You need to be the boss. In the wild, dogs live in packs. In every pack there is a natural hierarchy which determines who gets what in terms of food, sleeping areas, the choice of mates, and so on. A dog's position in the pack is determined by many things, including who their parents are, how assertive they are, their natural demeanor (timid dogs are never pack leaders), and their size. New puppies quickly learn where they stand in the pack by how the other dogs treat them.

You need to teach your dog where it stands in your pack (family) and you do this by treating them appropriately.

Toilet Training. We all know it's important to teach your puppy where to go to the toilet, but it's equally important to teach them to alert you WHEN they need to go to the toilet. You might think it's easier to teach the puppy to go at pre-arranged times (after meals and just before bed), and this is true. However, there may be times in your dog's life (such as when they are unwell) when they might just need an extra pit stop.

It's a great idea to teach your dog to alert you when they need to go outside. Or, you can teach your dog to answer your question "do you need to go pee?". No seriously – if you ask this question each time they go out to do their business, they will eventually associate that phrase with going to the toilet. So when you ask the question, they will either be disinterested, or jump up ready to go. Trust me – this comes in very handy later on in your dog's life.

Sit, Stay, Drop. It seems to me I shouldn't have to mention this, but it amazes me the number of dogs who won't sit on command! The earlier you teach your puppy, the better. Drop can be particularly hard for puppies, but it's worth persevering with. The Drop command is quite a submissive action for a dog, and can be very useful when there are young children about, putting the dog below them in terms of height.

Walk on Leash & Off Leash With You. Going for a walk should be fun, but not out of control. Teach your puppy from an early age to stand still while you put on their leash (and collar if they don’t wear one indoors).  When walking, your dog should walk beside you – not in front, and not wandering all over the place sniffing and peeing. Your dog can have some "free time", but most of the walk should be by your side and calm.

It's also a good idea to teach your dog to walk beside you off leash (once you have mastered on leash of course). It's best to start this off in your own fenced yard before you move outdoors. And always take the lead with you as back up. However, this is very handy if your dog somehow gets out or off leash when you are outdoors. You should be able to call them to you and then put them on leash or walk them home without one.

Fetch & Release. Throwing a ball or Frisbee and having them retrieve it is a great game for a puppy. It's great exercise, it's fun, and they are with you! However, it is just as important to teach your puppy to release the ball or Frisbee when they return to you. It is more important actually – they need to acknowledge that you are in charge of the game, and that the ball always gets given back to you.

Do NOT wrestle with the dog for the ball or Frisbee, and don't allow them to "play growl". Tug is a separate game played with a tug toy. In Fetch they must always release the ball back to you. If they won't – stop playing.

Doggie etiquette. When your puppy meets another dog or cat, it needs to know the right etiquette for introducing itself. Puppies usually learn this from their litter mates, but I have seen many cases where puppies were obviously taken away from their litter too soon, and they have no idea at all how to behave around other animals.

You'll know if your puppy has a problem by how it behaves when guests arrive. A well behaved puppy will approach the visitors and want a pat or some attention, but not demand it. Badly behaved puppies demand attention by pushing their noses at people, or jumping. If your puppy does either of these, chances are it won't behave very well around new animals either. And that could spell trouble at the dog park! Nip it in the bud now.

No jumping, no Biting. Following on from our point on etiquette, you may think it’s cute now that your puppy jumps at your legs to get attention or tries to jump on your lap. But wait until they are a fully grown dog, or when they try it on a frail or elderly person and knock them over. No jumping on people – ever. And those "play nips" will start to hurt as puppy's teeth get stronger.

Sharing Food and Toys. This is a very important lesson to teach if you have, or plan on having, other animals or children in the house. Some dogs can be very possessive, especially with their food and/or toys. Puppies need to be taught at a young age that nothing is theirs alone – not their food nor their toys. You need to start this training when they are young. Take the toy or food away from the dog and give it to your child to give back to the dog. This teaches the dog that things come back – they won't necessarily lose them forever.

If you have another animal, especially another dog, then make sure that both (or all) dogs play with all toys. No toys belong to any one dog.

Go to your bed. Your dog needs a "safe" zone – somewhere they can go to get some time out, sleep, or eat their food. This can be their bed, a rug, or even their crate. Teach them from an early age to go there on command. This way, if puppy misbehaves you can send them for some time out with this command.

"Free" time. OK – I mentioned this when we talked about walking on leash. It is important that your dog is allowed some free time to run and play and be silly and sniff things and pee on things. Teaching your dog early by using the word "free" said loudly and happily will train your dog that now he can be himself! This is a great command to use at the dog park. You also need to have an "off" word so they come back to you when it's time to go home or back on the leash. Whether that's calling their name, or "come", or another word you use.

If you teach your puppy to be a well behaved, well mannered puppy, then you'll have a dog you can be proud of later in life.

And in this book, we don't just tell you what you need to do – we tell you how to do it with detailed step by step instructions.

To order your copy of 10 Things You Must Teach Your Puppy Before They Are A Year Old for only $17.95, just click the Order Now button below, or keep reading for more information on what you get in 10 Things You Must Teach Your Puppy Before They Are A Year Old.

A sneak peek at what's in the book

Still want to see more?

Well, here's an excerpt from 10 Things You Must Teach Your Puppy Before They Are A Year Old on toilet training:

"Basic Toilet Training

When you first bring your puppy home, chances are it will NOT be toilet trained. So you'll have to start from scratch.

The first thing to do is to denote one area in the house where puppy is allowed to go to the toilet on newspaper, toilet training pads, or in a specially designed tray.

Try to make this area near to a doorway, as we will eventually teach puppy to go outside.

Now, take puppy to the designated area and give him your special command word for toilet, whatever that may be. You can use "go pee" or "toilet" or whatever is most comfortable for you. But the important thing is to be consistent.

The first 10 or 20 times you use the command word, puppy won't really get the connection, but through repetition he (or she) eventually will. Puppies naturally want to urinate just after eating, so try taking puppy to this special place as soon as they have finished eating. This will increase the chance of puppy "getting it right" quickly and making the connection.

And don't forget to praise puppy when they pee in the right place!!

Praise is best given in a soft high pitched voice (as if you were talking to a baby or a very young child). But if you are a baritone and cannot manage that, that's OK! So long as the tone of your words is the opposite of your scolding voice, puppy will get it!

Scenting

If puppy has an accident somewhere, dab up some of the urine with a paper towel and rub this on to the newspaper or tray where puppy is allowed to toilet, so that the scent of the urine is there.

All dogs are naturally attracted to the scent of urine – their own, other dogs and even other animals. They are natural "scenters". So using their own urine to denote the toilet area works in well with their natural instincts.

Timing

The next step is to realize when puppies are most likely to pee.

As mentioned earlier, most puppies will want to go to the toilet immediately after eating. But they often need to urinate as soon as they wake up from a nap also. And you should always make sure they have a toilet break before they go to sleep at night.

When puppy wakes or finishes eating, immediately pick it up and take it to the toilet area and use your command word, like "go pee". Keep puppy in place if need be.

If puppy is very good, he or she may even follow you with encouragement (saving you having to pick up puppy). I did have an accident with one of my dogs when he was only 8 weeks old – when I picked him up to take him to the newspaper, that's when he started to pee – all over me! So, if you can get them to follow you there – even better!

Don't worry if the first few times you do this puppy just looks at you strangely and refuses to do anything. If they do move off this toilet area and then start to pee, quickly move them back on to it so they start to associate that area with going to the toilet."

And there's plenty more just on toilet training! So, you can see we definitely tell you how to do it with detailed step by step instructions - not just what to do.

This book is jam packed full of useful information and tips, and is a steal at only $17.95. In fact, we are so confident that we are offering a 60 day, full money back, no questions asked, guarantee. If this book doesn't help you, just let us know within 60 days and we'll cheerfully refund your money - no questions asked.

To order your copy of 10 Things You Must Teach Your Puppy Before They Are A Year Old for only $17.95, just click the Order Now button below.

PS: C'mon - isn't $17.95 cheaper than having to get your carpets replaced when puppy pees everywhere? Where else can you get so much valuable and useful information for that price? It's a bargain, so grab yours now!