The puppy you brought home is unlike any other dog you've ever owned. No two puppies are alike. Treat her like the precious individual she is, and have patiencewith both of youwhile you start your training program. It takes effort to train a puppy, and it's not going to magically happen overnight. It may be hard work, but the results are worth every effort. And if you use reward-based methods, you'll learn that just because it's work doesn't mean that it can't be fun.

Would you like a puppy who goes up to people and sits politely to be petted, rather than jumping all over them to get attention? Do you want a puppy who only pees and poops outside your home, rather than on your carpet? Do you want a puppy who doesn't chew your furniture to bits or destroy your household belongings? Wouldn't this be a great puppy to share your life with? Puppies aren't born knowing how to behave in that way, thoughyou have to teach them.

You want your puppy to learn manners so that she can fit into your family routine. You want her to respond to you when you ask her to do something, because doing so will help to keep her safe from harm. You can achieve these goals by training your puppy. Rather than getting frustrated with all the things she's doing wrong, teach her how to do things right.

It's never too early to start training your puppy. In fact, if you wait too long, you may end up with behavioral problems or bad habits that will be harder to fix later. Puppies are great sponges for learning.

There will be times in training when you will get frustrated and feel that you're just not getting through to your puppy. This is normal. Perhaps you've never taught a puppy before, so you're learning something new, too. Maybe you have trained a puppy before, but are trying these modern, reward-based methods for the first time. Or maybe you have fond memories of an older dog who never seemed to need training because he was perfect. If you did indeed have one of those dogs, consider yourself very lucky, because it rarely happens twice!