Being proactive and in control is all about setting your puppy up for success in any way you can.
Real life example: When housetraining and potty training a puppy, creating schedules and routines around eating, drinking and sleeping is a really great way to predict when your puppy will need to use the washroom and will therefore set them up for success. You’re taking control of when your puppy eats and drinks water then being proactive by taking them out around 20-30 minutes after eating/drinking. Sounds simple but many owners get this wrong.
BONUS TIP: Eating at the same set times every day and not drinking water after a certain time in the evening are more ways of being in control and helping your puppy succeed. We cover a lot of these principles in much more detail in our Potty Training and Housetraining course.
Controlling your puppy’s environment is a critical component to ensuring your Rottweiler’s success and to getting fast, long-lasting results.
Real life examples:
Introducing and using a crate early in our opinion this is essential to properly housetraining and potty training a puppy. This will create the necessary routines around sleep for your puppy at an early age and will help you get faster results when housetraining and potty training.
For young puppies, keeping them on a leash indoors and attaching it to you will allow you to be close to your puppy at all times and also allow them to get comfortable in different areas of your home with you close by.
BONUS TIP: Remember to properly and calmly introduce your Rottie to their first collar and leash. We cover this topic in more detail in our Puppy Training Foundations course.
For bigger puppies and older dogs, using a long leash (20-30+ feet) can be an amazing tool when training in larger areas – especially in distracting conditions and in more public scenarios. This gives your puppy more space in challenging situations while they are learning but you still have the control to guide them back to you if necessary.
These are just a few great examples of ways to control your Rottie’s environment and set them up for success. This is a very important topic and we will definitely cover it more.