Puppy Chewing

Puppy Behavior

Before you bring a puppy into your home you must decide what breed of dog will fit into your environment. Puppies of any breed are delightful, but they grow up, so there’s no point bringing a potentially large dog into your home if you’re unable to accommodate it. So think carefully for your own sake as well as that of your puppy.

By the time a puppy is ten weeks old the chances are he’ll be taken from his mother and brothers and sisters and brought to a home where everything is unfamiliar and with people he has never seen before.

This can be quite a traumatic experience and although in the main puppies accept their new environment quickly, some will feel very frightened. They wont like being left alone at night, and will cry and whine. This is quite understandable given that up until now they’ve been nestled up to their mother every night feeling warm and protected.

During the first few weeks it’s important to establish a set routine with the puppy so it’ll understand where it fits into it’s new home. Puppies like to feel safe and so his own place in the home with a special toy will help him to settle down and know that when he’s tired he can snuggle down and feel secure.

Don’t allow your puppy access to the whole house. In the first place it can be overwhelming and it becomes difficult to control puppy behaviour. Also being in a more confined area within the home will make him feel safer and help him to adjust.

He may be quite subdued for a while and not the happy bouncy little puppy you saw when you went to pick him up. This is quite natural and to help him adjust it’s essential to give him the love and attention he needs to see him through this period. Puppies are prone to illness in the early stages and if he’s unhappy he will be more likely to pick up infections.

Try to create a calm atmosphere in the home and teach your children not to get too excited around him at first as this will just confuse him.

The first few months of a puppy’s life is all about learning, and most of this is done by sniffing and chewing. He will start to explore his new environment and day by day grow a little stronger. Puppy chewing is natural activity but one you must control.

As he grows stronger he will start to show pack leader behaviour and at this stage it’s important to establish that you are the leader and he must obey your rules. As he integrates into the family he must be taught his place in the pecking order, and this discipline will give him security and you a delightful addition to your home.

Puppy training classes will introduce him to other puppies and he will learn how to mix with other people and dogs. These classes are quite important if you want a sociable dog as there’s nothing worse than having an anti-social pet. Within a short time you will have a lifelong companion and friend.

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