There’s nothing like being a kid and growing up with a new puppy.  Now that I am a father, it has become a priority to have my little ones part of training our dogs.  In my opinion, the first step in training my dogs is dog crate training.  Not only will it help your canine understand some boundaries, but it is one of the best strategies to housebreaking your canine.  Since puppies are children, I have kind of tied the two together here.

When you have a young child, it is wonderful to have him or her to grow up with a puppy dog.  Not only is it almost every kid’s dream,  but it has educational benefits as well.  Dog training and crate training help teach your children to be responsible.  It also teaches your dogs how to behave around children.  My 18 month old already feeds our two dogs.  He looks forward to it everyday, and is actually really good at it.

Small children love to be busy and they are more than happy to help you fill up the food and the water bowl plus accompany you when you take your new puppy on a walk (even if the accompaniment is in a stroller.)  Having a puppy implies you will have to housebreak him or her as well as teach the dog to sleep during the night.  Dog crates are the most productive technique to accomplish this.

Get your children involved early on.  It makes it much easier.  That is one of the reasons I have discussed one of the first and most basic steps to training your canine here, dog crate training.  Most of you who have heard anything about training know that it is much easier to do it right the first time than to fix bad habits.  It really is essential if you have children because their safety is a huge priority.  Your dog’s safety is very important too, and if you do it right the first time, you will save yourself a lot of headaches later on down the line.

With my son being only 18 months, I keep it simple.  It is amazing what dogs understand.  They really do understand actions and mannerisms better than words, because he can get them to do the same things I can and believe me that is words are far from recognizable.  Most of it has just come from copying Mom and Dad, but it is fun to watch him yell and pat his leg for the dogs to come.  The best part is that they do!

Whatever and however you do it, get your children involved early.  Begin when you begin dog crate training your new puppy.  There is a natural bond between children and dogs.  You can make sure that it is grown the right way by teaching them both how to live with and treat each other in the way that gets the best results for both.