How to raise a puppy to benefit all involved

Some people know a lot about raising puppies and have wonderful familial relationships with their well-behaved dogs; this post is not for them.  This post is for people that are thinking about getting a dog or already have one - and there hasn't been an effort to learn about raising one.  Many things in life can be done in a good enough fashion by winging it.  We're all busy.  There's only so much time in the day.  I get it.  Buying or adopting a dog though, is not a light hobby.  It is another living being that will completely depend on you for it's vital needs and happiness.  This should be taken seriously.  And there are definitely things to know about the nature of dogs before you raise one successfully.

First, dogs have evolved over thousands of years to become domesticated (descending from wolves) - and they STILL have many innate instincts tying them to their origins.  One of them is making their home in a den.  A cozy dark cave where they can feel safe, eat their food, sleep peacefully, rest during the day - having a den is as essential to a dog's comfort as having a good home is to a person.  The translation of a dog's den in a person's home is a kennel, period, full stop.  To not have one for your dog, have your dog sleep with you at night, have your dog wander the house freely when no one is home - these things may make YOU feel great but actually they are not what is best or suitable for your dog.  Your dog doesn't understand the objects in your house or more importantly how to keep themselves safe in this foreign environment.  Also, your dog has a pack mentality understanding there is always an alpha.  At least one person in your home needs to be seen as the dog's alpha for a natural respect and authority balance.   If your dog sleeps with you, that's been annihilated.

Second, when your dog is a young puppy, potty training and behavior training are both non-negotiable.  If you potty train your dog properly (in a way that understands and adheres to their natures) it should only take a day or two.  If you do not potty train your puppy, not only will you be picking up pee and poop all over your house for months - this will create unnecessary tension and shame, felt regularly by your new family dog.  To potty train your dog, they must understand it is only acceptable to ever go potty outside.  In order to do this, you must bring them outside (to match their bladder ability) and each time they pee or poop you say 'go pee'  'yes!'  or poop, etc.  Eventually after a few dozen repetitions, they associated when they've peed with 'go pee' and when they've pooped with 'go poop' and now you have an effective command to understand what you want / how they can please you.  The most important part of this step is understanding the puppy bladder.  When they are 8 weeks, they will need to go pee every 20-30 min.  This means for 24 hours, you have to take them out at least every half hour.  This discipline and difficult first few days is part of why people skip the step (just for their own sake and getting a good night's sleep).  The good news is their bladders quickly adapt and can hold more for longer, so you've got 2-3 days of every 30 min, then it can be 45 min, every hour, then 2 hours, 3, etc.  Any reputable breeder or website based on dog science can give you a chart to follow.  I have raised multiple large breed dogs and amongst all of them I can count the inside my home accidents on one hand.  This method works.  It works because it's based on the science of the dog.

You're potty training the dog, now we need to train for behavior.  If you are new to training a puppy, regardless of how comfortable you are around dogs - you need to be trained, so you can train your dog.  Sign up for training courses that will go throughout the puppies first six months at least.  Make sure you are very consistent with whatever words you choose for commands (and make sure there are two that sound the same or aren't also close to your dog's name or other people names in the house) - your dog will never understand English words.  What they will understand is certain sounds mean certain things.  If two commands sound like the same word, they won't be able to differentiate.  Dogs need hundreds if not thousands of repetitions to learn things.  This is why it's imperative that you and EVERYONE in the household is 100% consistent with commands, expectations, and how you interact with the dog.  The first things you'll need your puppy to know are 'go pee', 'go poop', 'go house' (directing them to go curl up in their kennel for downtime), 'ah ah' (the correction for an undesired behavior - this command should never be 'no' because that word is used too often in conversation and will confuse the dog to hear it when it isn't a command directed at them), recognizing their name so use it very often with an affectionate tone, how to sit, how to lay down, and how to stay.  Many of these commands will make it pleasant for your dog to feel part of the family, pleasant for the family to have a dog living with them, and some of these could save the dog's life.

There's a lot more we could get into today, but my main goal is to open up your eyes to a very well-established, science-based, important body of knowledge that is essential to being an excellent dog owner.  There are tons of books and many dog training facilities all over the country.  If you love dogs and want to give your dog the best life, this is the way to go.  In order to best guide ourselves, we need to learn about the dogs and train ourselves to be the best guardian possible.