Puppy Training Tips

1) Always be consistent with training.

2) Always use one word commands, like 'sit' not 'sit down' or 'ball' not 'get your ball'.  Otherwise your pup will have to learn 3 words for one command.  Try to develop your 'dog voice', this should be low, sharp and fairly loud.  This takes some practice but once mastered is extremely effective and a lot better than having to raise your hand. 

3) We don't tend to use newspaper when house training our pups as this sends them the wrong message. To a dog it says you can wee inside as long as its on the paper.   This system does work but takes alot longer as you then have to teach your puppy not to wee on the paper but outside.  We tend to put our pups outside as soon as it wakes from a sleep, after every meal and first thing in the morning.  Make it your very first job to pop the dog outside before you do anything, don't make a cup of tea first. In general if you let your pup out every hour to two for a wee you won't go far wrong.  If your dog does have an accident inside don't tell it off, just give it lots of praise when it does go outside. As your pup gets older it will need to be let out less and will wait by the back door when it does need the toilet.  As you become familiar with your dog you will also learn its routine and body language for when it needs the toilet.

4) Always have a safe place you can leave a pup, as they will chew anything they can, including electrical wires, shoes, kitchen units, fridges, washing machines, tights, knickers, nails, stones etc! I know a male bullie who chewed through the pipes and cables of a washing machine then pulled it from the kitchen to the front room.  They soon invested in a cage. Pups get bored very easily so get them a few toys they can play with while your out.  Don't leave them bones or pigs ears. I find the best toys to leave is the ones you can put treats in they will spend hours trying to get the last bits out. 

5)  My pups come without their injections as if you keep a pup till its old enough to have its jabs they get used to being in a pack and find it hard to re-adjust to being on its own.  (Instead I take the price off the jabs off the asking price). See kennel club website for more information.

6) If the breeder your buying from says its been vet checked, ask for paper work to back this up. I take my pups to the vets when there 3 weeks old for an initial check then at 7 weeks to check there are no heart murmurs or defects. I always give the new owners a copy of the paperwork I get from both appointments so they can give it to their vets.  It also has the contact details of my vets.  To date we have never had a puppy with any problems.  We believe that this is because we carefully select the right dogs. 

7) We worm our pups on panacur granules at 3 weeks then at 6 weeks the again at 9 weeks and again at 12 weeks.  Do not worm your dog between 15 to 24 weeks as your pup will be teething. Do NOT use Drontal as this seems to be too strong for bullie pups, speaking to other breeders I have heard some awful stories about it.

8)  If your pups teething give it half a raw carrot, as they seem to love chewing them and there alot cheeper then a chair leg! Try puttting it in the fridge for about an hour as the cool carrot will feel nice on their gums.

9) If you introduce your pup to new things before its five months old they tend to except it as the norm.  For example if you let it meet your cat,dog,car,horses etc they tend not to take much notice. If you wait till they're older you could have problems, also they're alot bigger and harder to control.