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Kate Jackson, Certified Dog Trainer:
Kids and puppies, could there be a better combination? Yet puppies can be easily overwhelmed by even the smallest of children and begin to develop bad behaviors—even bite.
Fortunately there are a lot of things you can do to prepare your family for bringing your new puppy home much like I'm going to show
Holly and Brant, and Cyler…like guys, who's going to get to feed the puppy?
Brant:
Me…
Kate Jackson, Certified Dog Trainer:
You? And who gets to clean up after the puppy?
Cyler:
Me!
Kate Jackson, Certified Dog Trainer:
You do? Very good. Oh and who is going to get to take the puppy out on potty breaks?
Brant:
Me!
Kate Jackson, Certified Dog Trainer:
Excellant, because getting all these things figured out before the puppy come home makes it easier for you guys and for your puppy.
You're probably going to want to pick your puppy up and carry him around. But puppies can get seriously hurt—even killed—if they are dropped,
So Mom, make sure that your child understands this—never leave kids and puppies to play unsupervised.
Holly:
Here's a topper dog
Kate Jackson, Certified Dog Trainer:
As puppy grows, how gently they should be handled depends completely on the size and temperament of the breed.
A larger breed like this golden doodle can handle a lot more rambunctious play than say, a teacup poodle.
But, any puppy can get overwhelmed. So you need to be watching your puppy very carefully to see if he's telling you he needs a break.
And you need to look for those things, cause otherwise you can get yourself bitten. Some of the things your puppy is going to do is he's going to back away when you try and reach for him,
Or sometimes his little tail will tuck right between his legs,
Other things he'll do is he'll put his ears flat on his head…or the worst thing you need to be extra careful if you hear him growl.
So if you see him do any of those things you need to stop what you're doing and give him some space to make sure you don't get yourself bitten.
If you run, your puppy will chase you, and some puppies are really bad at nipping at your heels or biting at your clothes or jumping up and tripping you.
So, it's a good idea to play the statue game… the minute the puppy begins to nip or jump, stop dead and freeze.
Once the puppy is calm, you can start to play again.
No matter how careful, at some point you'll probably trip or fall over your puppy or step on his tail or foot.
So it's a great idea to learn how to desensitize your puppy playing with his tail and his paws, looking into his ears and brushing his fur.
Mom, it's also important to have your children play a key role in feeding and potty training your new puppy.
This not only teaches them an important lesson in responsibility, it teaches the puppy that even the smallest person in the house is worthy of respect as provider and caretaker.
For WebMD's One Minute Puppy Trainer, I'm Kate Jackson.
