The Ups and Downs of Owning a Puppy

Everybody loves cute little animals, right? Kittens and puppies appeal to the "mother" in all of us, and what could be nicer than to invite a little bundle of cuteness into your home? However, your idea of how things will be organised from day to day may not be that of your new puppy! You must assert your position as "pack leader" from the start or things may go seriously awry. Puppies need to be trained to do the things we expect from a well -mannered animal--,it does'nt come naturally, but with gentle and consistent training there will be few problems. Your puppy wants to please you, even though it may not seem that way when he starts to destroy your shoe, but he will only be showing his natural instinct to chew anything he can get hold of. After all,like all babies, he is probably developing new teeth and needs to bite something. Just make sure it is'nt you! The Purina company has a lot of good tips here and say the best way to deal with your puppy biting the wrong things is to have oodles of toys available for this exercise. Another area of concern is training your pup not to think your whole house is his toilet! Training him to use the right place takes time and patience and newspaper or "puppy pads" come in very handy. As your puppy gets older, and you continually reinforce the good behaviours you want, you will get many happy hours to spend with him and he will be happy too, knowing that he is pleasing you, and is secure in your love for him.