A four-pawed canine friend can prove to be the sweetest support system you have.
For ages now, humans and dogs have shared a bond beyond beautiful words strung together.
Everything friendly and heroic, emotional and tiring, happy, and fulfilling has passed between the two.
When it comes to a bond so unique, it is vital to understand your little puppy and its needs.
A solid relationship can only take shape if the formative years of your puppy are well defined.
This brings us to the basic question – “How do we build a strong relationship with our puppy?”
The answer might take to a lot of paragraphs, but at the end of the day, the journey will be nothing but fulfilling.
Each dog breed comes with its specific traits and needs. Thus, building a good relationship does not necessarily always depend upon your willingness and effort.
Being a good parent to your canine child can bring a lot of hassles along with it if you lack the requisite knowledge about the breed at hand.
Along with these differences, there are universal tips that tag along.
These common tips uniformly apply across all breeds and will help you further nurture a bond that is exquisite from its very beginning.
Seven key secrets to a good bond with your puppy
Here are some basic tips that should be at your fingertips when it comes to your ebullient puppy.
1. Your exercise begins right from day one
Getting a new puppy in a lot of ways resembles having a new baby.
So, it is needless to say that to have a good bond with your puppy, your parenting test starts from day one.
However, you shouldn’t throw yourself into a fit of stress for all your bundle of joy demands is specific need and attention.
No matter how young the puppy is when it is brought home, negligence is the key to spoilt formative years. So, your exercise does begin from day one.
2. Attention and affection
Two definite traits that you will have to show often around your puppy are attention and affection.
It is also important to understand the link between the two. You should try and understand how your puppy behaves while trying to find the underlying meaning behind every expression or action.
For example, if there are stimuli that your puppy is exaggeratedly receptive to, then you should note them down, trying to understand the pattern of such behavior and the cause.
If your puppy seems to be scared by being near certain objects in your house, or runs away and hides under the bed often when a certain guest comes over, you need to take note of such behavior.
Eventual training should come into play to help the puppy snap out of unjustified fears and behavior.
(A lot of times it is sheer unfamiliarity with certain new objects or surroundings that might instigate weird behavior).
You need to understand what comforts your dog and what doesn’t, what does it like to eat, what duration of physical activity does it prefer, its ability to be friendly with strangers, etc.
Identifying these patterns will help you create the desired training and parenting pattern.
With all the attention taken into account, the need for affection slips in. It isn’t merely careful towards your puppy’s needs that counts.
You need to be constantly affectionate in order to build the bond of your dreams with your dog friends.
Belly rubs, ear rubs and constant treat sessions become a must as these are few ways your puppy will begin understanding your love.
3. One-on-One helps
Having one-on-one time with your dog becomes indispensable the very moment you consider having a good bond with your dog.
You cannot expect your dog to be delighted, wagging his tail for your sheer presence if you haven’t been present for it from the very beginning.
A one-on-one could mean a variety of fun exercises. You could spend time taking your dog out for walks, being there with him during his meals, while bath and grooming sessions or simple workout and treat sessions.
Patience turns out to be an important virtue here. However, it isn’t just a ten-minute one-on-one once a week that would suffice.
Whichever exercise you choose to indulge in, the quantity and quality of time you spend together will make all the difference in the world.
The standard duration that you should maintain at all costs everyday should be at least around 20 to 30 minutes.
4. Hold your act
All dog owners need to be well acquainted with the fact that your puppy’s learning book is your behavior.
The way you act around your puppy does determine how will it grow up to be as an adult dog.
The simple adage “Actions speak louder than words” applies at its best here. Turns out various research experiments that point that a dog’s personality resembles the personality of its master hold truthfulness to the core.
So, it is advisable that you hold your act around your puppy and behave reasonably and sensibly.
Visual signals are perceived strongly by dogs as they do not hold the ability to understand what you would try to convey vocally.
The right dog training methods thus involve definite patterns of action accompanied by simple and basic keywords so that your puppy can receive them well.
Negative behavior around your dog during its initial years can lead to a destructive and ill-trained dog.
So, it is necessary that good owners display cordial behavior around their puppies.
5. Train and evaluate
Effective training is an essential part of forming a strong relationship with your dog.
A good bond doesn’t simply stem from emotional consistency and the showering of love.
A well-bred and perfectly trained dog understands how to perceive your gestures and emotions.
It further learns its own means of reciprocation with advancing age. A good training pattern that is breed-specific should be adopted.
However, simply breed specific information is not enough to guide you through. Each dog is different and unique.
Therefore, you can arrive at the perfect training pattern for your dog by first understanding the needs of the breed you are dealing with.
Secondly, you can establish a much-needed training pattern by understanding your dog’s specific needs and behavior.
It is important to understand that training signals given to a puppy need to be consistent.
Frequent varying visual signals or keywords will only make the puppy confused.
So, it is important to stick to basic training with patience and determination.
Along with puppy training, tags along the basic process of evaluation.
You also need to evaluate the development of your puppy’s understanding and reward it for the same.
A bland and boring training pattern will distract your puppy. Keeping the right treats in store can save your grace here.
However, over rewarding can prove to be dangerous too. It is important to understand the right balance.
6. Shower generous love
Your little fellow will always come up with its unique ways of showing its love and affection towards you.
All the sloppy licks and tail wagging counts. Reciprocation then becomes the key.
It is very important that you shower love generously and let your pet know that it brings joy into your life.
Occasional trips that your dog might like could do the trick. Set it free and let it have a wild run, let it be mischievous once in a while without tugging at the leash, do not refrain from soft rubs and cuddles.
The kind of affection that your puppy seeks will come home to you within a few months of having it wreck and ruin your place while stuffing it with happiness.
It is important that you took time out understanding it and put forward the right kind of ambiance and love.
7. Look into specific needs
We know how we love it when someone knows just what we would want. Your little puppy works along the same lines when it comes to happiness.
As a responsible owner, it is a must that you understand all that your puppy is trying to communicate.
You should keep its water bowl filled and must take care of its nutritional needs.
You must not hold yourself back from taking it out for a walk when laze envelopes you.
The key to a good bond is unconditional love topped with a cherry of sacrifice.
So, if you wish to have an exemplary and fun relationship with your dog, it is important to take care of its needs in the right manner.
A strong relationship cannot be built over a day or months. It is a constant effort that you will churn out.
However, for a friend that can make life annoyingly real and seemingly surreal at the same time, you need to put out nothing but your best.
It is still safe to whisper, “The returns will outweigh your investments.”