When we talk about disciplining a puppy, we need to understand that dogs are pack animals and packs always have a leader.
Dog will be your best friend as long as you are the good leader he needs and wants.
Discipline, however, is not violence or abuse of a puppy or a dog.
Though positive training is an important aspect of a non threatening and pleasant approach to training your puppy, there are times when your puppy will disobey or forget the rules.
As dogs are pack animals, you must show your puppy that you are the pack leader, and this is done through discipline.
When your puppy misbehaves you must correct him or her quickly or else the bad behavior can get out of control.
Discipline is important for your puppy, but you must make certain that you discipline your puppy correctly, as well as immediately following an infraction.
One of the greatest mistakes that new pet owners make is to try and discipline their puppy after waiting too long after an offense has occurred.
This can be seen when a pet owner leaves for the day and goes to work, then comes home to find the puppy has made a mess on the floor.
If the owner tries to discipline the puppy hours after the fact, the puppy will be left confused and scared.
Many methods used to discipline puppies should be looked at carefully to determine whether or not a dog's mother or pack member would perform the same action in the wild.
For example, a mother dog would never take a rolled up newspaper and hit a misbehaving puppy, but she would grab him or her by the scruff of the neck and give him a clear indication to stop the behavior.
Another important tool used in disciplining puppies is through direct eye contact.
It's important to know your puppy well and to understand his or her natural traits and characteristics.
By knowing your puppy's character you can determine when he or she is willfully being disobedient or if a careless mistake has been made.
You should also be prepared to tailor your disciplinarian tactics towards your puppy and reject a one size fits all mentality.
Every dog is different and what will impact or affect your dog is not necessarily what will work on another dog.
The punishment that you use for your puppy must be tailored to the act he or she has committed and it must be something that your dog will respond to.
Do not underestimate the power of verbal discipline and make the mistake of thinking that you must use corporal punishment on your puppy.
Often a cold look straight in the eyes with a firm and corrective, "No!" is enough to get your puppy's attention and correct his or her behavior.
Puppies between the ages of 2 and 3 months old may need more reinforcement.
For puppies within this age you can grab him or her by the scruff of the neck and give a firm shake while stating, "No!" If the dog is older, you may need to use both hands and firmly grab the dog by the scruff of the neck.
Lift the dog up so that you are seeing eye to eye and so that the dog understands that you are the leader of the pack.
Pick the dog up and firmly tell him or her, "No!" The point of this method of discipline is to reinforce the understanding in your dog that you are the leader of the pack and that he or she is in submission to you.
Discipline is a very important part of your puppy's training, make certain not to neglect your dog's training and you will be well rewarded with an obedient, well trained dog.