I know, I know, I was supposed to write a series of blogs out lining the first couple of years in the game. I know this, but I felt like this was an appropriate time to write a blog about owning an American Bully puppy for the first time or just a puppy in general. After I break all this down for you all my next blog will be all about the time spent in the bully game again. Alright, so as you can tell this will be about when you first get your puppy and the things you need to do right away. If you don’t have a clue this post is going to be for you. If you think you know it all, keep reading I may have some gems for you that you could appreciate.
For the first couple of weeks after you get your new American bully puppy you will be so excited every time you see him/her. That’s a natural reaction, but let me explain what you show the puppy when he sees your eagerness to greet him. Naturally being a puppy when you first see him either in the morning, or even after your home from work he’s going to be excited. Wagging his tail excitedly then he notices your face doing the same thing his butt is doing. Unfortunately, your compounding a problem you’ll have to break if you want a calm dog around the house. See, the thing is that you can avoid a lot of early problems by just waiting until your dog calms down before you get excited. I KNOW! It’s so hard not to smoosh his face into yours or pick him up and hug him firmly as soon as you see him. I promise you, if you just wait 5 minutes after you pup sees you to finally pick him up or to get excited you will never know what It feels like to feel embarrassed when your friends or family comes over and your dogs is overreacting so badly you must kennel him.
Now that we have that out of the way. Kennel and potty training go hand and hand. Quite often the hardest thing to do for first time owners is to teach their puppies to use the restroom outside. In fact, I would say that almost all of us struggle with doing this. Follow these simple guides and you’ll have your pup going outside in now time. 1. CONTROL THEIR WATER and food INTAKE. That means you need to be watching them every time they drink water or eat. The reason is because pups will typically evacuate right after or during their feeding time. If you aren’t watching they will go right after their done, I promise. 2 After they are done put them in their kennel. Now remember, the kennel needs to be big enough for the puppy to be comfortable but not big enough that they can walk to one side use the restroom and then walk back and lay down comfortably. You want to make sure they hold it until they can release. After about 20 or 30 minutes after your dog’s eats and drinks water, carry him outside hell do his business, you say “good boy” positive reinforcement is very good and then go about your guy’s day. Do this consistently for a couple of weeks eventually leading him to the door after being in the kennel, then letting him out to us the restroom and boom you’re done. You successfully potty trained a puppy.
These are some basic strategies you can apply to help your pup be more receptive to training. A lot of people think when they hear the word training that you should get a stupid little pouch with treats or a clicker when that isn’t the case. So, I’d like you all to think of behavioral conditioning or just raising the perfect puppy! The ground foundation you lay for you pup will ultimately allow him to be the best version of his self he is supposed to be. It all starts with how you great him or her in those first couple of weeks.
