Having boundaries established for your puppy before bringing them home will set everyone up for success. If you have a multi family household sit down together and establish what the puppy can and can not do in each room.
Living Room:
- Are they allowed on the furniture?
- Are they allowed to look out the front windows?
- Where should they go if they are in the room with you?
Meal Times:
- Where will they eat?
- Will they eat in the same room as the family?
- When will they eat?
- Where will they be while you or your family are eating?
Play:
- What can they play with?
- Will rough play be allowed?
- How rough is too rough?
- If there are small children what games can they play safely with the puppy?
Visitors:
- Where should your puppy be when people come over?
- How do you want visitors to greet your puppy?
- How do you want your puppy to greet people?
These are just examples of questions you might want to think about when bringing a new puppy home. You can break it down room by room or even by objects. Perhaps you have nice furniture you don’t want the puppy on, but the couch in the basement is ok. How are we going to train this?
Sit down and think about how you want to raise your puppy. As they grow they will have a healthier relationship with you because they have been taught what to expect. Don’t worry if you have a few failures, it happens. As long as you and the rest of the household stick to your boundaries then you are already setting your puppy up for success
Need help knowing which boundaries to set? Visit our private lesson or day training school options and set up a phone consultation with one of our trainers!