Good habits to teach your pet

In the movie Marley and Me, it was said, " A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his." While this is both true and absolutely beautiful like the movie itself, you have to give your pup more than just your love-filled heart. You will have to train him. Below are 5 good habits to teach your pet. Begin the training early and keep loving him all the way.

1) Good chewing habits

Just like toddlers, dogs love to chew on stuff. You can buy different types of toys for him. Special types of toys are available for pets to chew on. Make sure you go through the required details and information available before you buy them. To get your dog to learn appropriate chewing habits, you can buy toys that have concealed treats in them. It will help in luring your dog away from other things he might want to chew on. Redirect your dog to its toys when it picks up something undesirable. Praise your pet when he listens to you. Do not give him the same toys for a long stretch of time. Your dog will get bored easily. Buy different types of toys and rotate them. Teach your dog to fetch and find. In this way, you can keep him occupied and have him disciplined. Give your dog treats when he listens to you and plays along. Make sure your house does not have unnecessary things lying around. Keep your puppy under supervision until he is trained properly.

2) Socializing

It is important to teach your pooch to socialize with other dogs. It will make him happy and will make him a friendlier dog. Make your dog socialize with people too. If you have guests over at your place, introduce them to your dog as you would to another person. Get your dog to feel comfortable with them, interact with them if he wants to. Take your dog out for walks and get him to meet other dogs. You can take him to dog parks or plan with your friends to synchronize your dog walking timings. Socializing is extremely important. Lack of it could make your dog unnecessarily aggressive, lead to excessive barking and bad behavior. For example, English Bulldogs feel very shy around strangers if you don't get them to socialize properly from a young age. Even though Bulldogs are usually passive, they become very aggressive if they feel threatened at all.

3) Housetraining

House training is the foremost thing you will have to focus on once you get a new puppy. Once again, it is just like the things you have to do when you get a new baby to the baby house. Have a schedule in mind and try to stick to it as much as possible. Feeding the pup at similar times each day, taking him out for defecation, keeping him hydrated, showing him his place for sleeping. Also known as housebreaking, it is important to not mess up the schedule or confuse your pup. That way, he will grow up to be obedient and know exactly what to do and where to do it.

4) More positive reinforcement, less punishment

Your dog will learn better if you use compliments and treats to praise him once he does something good. Punishments should be out of bounds as it might stop your dog from doing what he was at that moment, but he won't understand what you actually want him to do. Harsh punishments can make your dog aggressive lead to behavioral issues. Instead, it is better if you reward him with little treats and compliments every single time he listens to you or does something good on his own. It is also very easy to get your puppy into practice something with a lure of treats. For example, you can call out his name from a distance and start walking towards his meal bowl. If you keep doing this for some time, your pup will beeline behind you every single time he hears you call out his name because he will know that you are leading him to a treat. However, there doesn't have to be a meal bowl every single time. You can carry bits and pieces and give them to him to not let him down. Giving treats or complimenting is also a way of showing your dog how proud you are of him.

5) Bite inhibition

This is a very important part of training your dog and a habit that you must instil in him. Bite inhibition will keep you and other people who visit your house safe from your dog's razor-sharp teeth. Most pups learn bite inhibition from their mothers and by interacting with littermates. However, many puppies still need to keep learning it when they find a new home. You can devise various games centred around this. Let your puppy use his mouth while you are playing with him. If he uses his mouth too hard, let out a yelp so that he knows that it hurts you. Then end whatever game you were playing with him to send a message. Your puppy will then connect the both- that using his mouth too hard will lead to the end of a nice time.

All these habits must be taught to every dog starting from when they are a puppy. Get him used to command keywords like 'Come', 'Go', 'Sit', 'Leave it', among others. These will be crucial when you get him used to the above-mentioned habits. Dogs will always be the good boys that they are if taught properly.