Celebrate National Pet Month!

All month long, we’re focusing on the love of our four-legged best friends! Here are some of the amazing benefits that having a pet like a puppy can do for you, as well as some great ways to #pawitforward for your pup, including how to spread love to the ones still waiting for their forever homes!

Our puppies come into our lives and bring us laughter, adventure, and a ton of new experiences together! May is National Pet Month, a time to celebrate these life-enriching qualities and also draw attention to how we can help more people enjoy all the amazing benefits puppies have to offer.

Before we dive into how to celebrate National Pet Month, let’s highlight the top ways pets make our lives better:

1. Unconditional love. Pups and humans share and incredible bond, and with that comes some of the strongest love you’ll ever feel!

2. Companionship. Having a pup can also feel like you gained a best friend; the best listener, the best snuggle-partner, and someone who is always there for you when you need them!

3. Improve our mental health! It’s pretty obvious that puppies make us happy! There’s something about those adorable faces and addictive personalities that get us hooked. They can be an instant mood-booster and a positive influence on our mental well-being and state of mind. Having a pet has also been linked to reducing anxiety.

4. They get us moving! Another wonderful health benefit here! Even if you enjoy binge-watching the latest Netflix series on your weekends, something about having a pup makes you determined to get up and make sure they get their exercise in, even if you’ve chosen to skip your workout that day. Having a pup almost guarantees you will be moving that body of your daily!

5. They make us more social! Having a pup and taking them outside usually means you will be interacting with other pup owners you come across on your outings. You never know the new friendship that could spark and pup playdates that can ensue, all because of having a pup!

Now let’s dive into our fav ways to celebrate your pup and other pets for National Pet Month!

Plan special excursions with your pup!

Give your puppy devoted time and affection by planning a few fun activities to do together throughout the month!

Depending on where you live, that could be an outdoor adventure like hiking a new trail, trying out a dog beach, or attending a local pup-friendly event!

Learn how to prep your pup for pup’s first hike here, “How to Prepare for Your Puppy’s First Hike!” 

Have a puppy party!

Now that you’re probably making new puppy friends wherever you go, plan a playdate with some of their favorite pup friends in your own backyard or at a local park!

If your puppy is new to socializing with other dogs, start off with one or two they naturally gravitate to and match the energy level. For more tips on how to properly socialize your puppy so you ensure it’s always a great experience, check out our socialization blog!

Play with your puppy!

One of the best ways to bond and show your love with your pup is through structured playtime sessions with them!

This is where you’re actively playing and interacting with your pup through fun activities that also strengthen their listening skills and basic obedience commands. Our favorite games for this are Tug and Fetch! Learn more about how to play with your puppy and improve their skills while you do so in our blog, “Puppyhood Made Easy for New Owners: How to Play with your Puppy Pt. 1!”

Do some puppy training with your puppy! 

Puppies love to learn new things! Teaching your puppy obedience commands and training routines is both mentally and physically stimulating for them, which helps them feel more fulfilled!

Bonus: not only will you build your relationship and bond together by working more together, you’ll have a well-mannered pup that can accompany you out in public for all your adventures!

Puppy training helps puppies achieve their full potential, working on their natural love of work and play. In our Online Puppy School, you have all the tools necessary to train your puppy from the comfort of home, while teaching your pup some awesome skills they’ll use for life!

With our curriculum of on-demand and live training classes, we’ll show you step-by-step exactly what to do to help your pup grow up to be an amazing companion dog that you can take anywhere and enjoy life to the fullest with! Try out our favorite routines right away when you enroll into The Puppy Academy Online School.

Have another way you love to celebrate pets? Let us know in the comments!

#PawItForward

If you don’t have a pet yet or want to know how you can further extend the good for National Pet Month, here’s some ideas to consider:

Adopt a homeless pup

Adoption not only saves the life of the puppy or adult dog you are bringing home but of another dog too! By adopting, you are allowing a rescue organization or shelter to open up space and resources to another homeless pup. 

Fees that go into adoption sometimes include an amount to help cover expenses for food, bedding, medical supplies, and toys for other pups in the shelter.

And by adopting a puppy, you are becoming an advocate for that rescue or shelter, bringing their name, work, and pups in need to others in your own network!

Become a foster

Opening your home to a pup, even if it’s just for a period of time before they find their forever home, can change their life for the better! 

As a foster, you can help a puppy learn to adjust to living in a home with people and even other dogs if you have them. That first experience can have a positive impact on that puppy that will carry on with them as they grow.

Oftentimes, fosters can give pups a new lease on life by introducing them to a structured home, a daily schedule, and basic puppy training.

Donate to a rescue organization or local shelter

When adoption isn’t an option, you can still help by donating valuable resources and covering financial burdens for a rescue organization or shelter in your area! 

Many of these groups will post their pups' needs on their website or social media! Pups with health issues greatly benefit from caring individuals donating to cover their vet bills and additional care!

Have more questions about raising your puppy and training? Join us at a live Ask a Puppy Trainer q&a on our @thepuppyacademy Instagram. Bring your questions about how to raise, train, and care for your new rescue puppy and our trainers will help you live!

Also, sign up for the Very Important Puppy mailing list to receive weekly puppy training tips every new puppy owner needs!

Check out these blogs related to puppy training and more!

8 Effective Ways to Bond with Your Puppy!

Why Puppies Bark and How to Stop it!

How to Introduce Your New Puppy to Your Dog!

Play the Name Game: How to Teach Your Puppy Their Name!

Follow the tips below to quickly and easily teach your puppy their brand new name!

One of the very first, if not THE very first thing you will train your puppy is to respond to their name!

Your puppy’s name helps establish initial communication between the two of you, gains their attention when you need to, and helps facilitate teaching your puppy obedience commands and coming to you when called.

Hi! My Name is ______

Whatever name you picked for your puppy, start using it from day one! 

Puppies can learn their names quickly (most can pick it up within 1-3 days!) but generally, you’ll want to practice using their name regularly. A good way to start teaching your puppy their name is to use it to gain their attention by saying their name and rewarding them when they look at you!.

By creating a positive association for your puppy responding whenever you say their name, you’re reinforcing that behavior, establishing this good habit, and getting your puppy used to their new name!

Tip: Nicknames are cute but in those first few days, refrain from using anything other than your puppy’s proper name to avoid any confusion!

Use food as a motivator

Use food as a reinforcer and reward!

Food rewards and using a food lure work wonders to speed up the name-learning process! Not only are they excellent puppy motivators, but they also reward and reinforce the behaviors your want to see more of.

In the beginning, when you say your puppy’s name the first few times, they may just look at you out of curiosity. But if you say their name and give a quick reward when they look at you, it will help establish that this sound has a good — and delicious — outcome.

To practice, take your puppy to a spot in your home with minimal or no distractions. A harness and leash can be super helpful in this process too, so your pup doesn’t wander off! With your puppy in front of you, gain their attention by saying your puppy’s name clearly, then put a treat in front of their nose and guide that same piece of food up to your eyes (which will draw their eyes up to yours to establish eye contact). Next, say “Good!” when they look at you and reward them with the treat! Check out our video later in this blog for s step-by-step on how to do this!

We recommend our students’ parents to do training sessions like these at their mealtime, and use a portion of that food for training. Puppies love to work (especially for their food!) and it’s a great way to combine mental and physical activity, while you speed up the process of teaching them their name.

As they get better, you can start adding obedience commands to these training sessions to ensure they respond consistently to their given name when said out loud This can sound like, “Puppy, Sit. Good!” and then give them food reward for listening!

Tip: If your puppy isn’t that food-motivated, you can try using a higher value treat or their favorite toy instead!

Practice using your puppy’s name regularly

Repeat this name exercise daily for about three to five minutes a session. You can split up practice sessions by keeping some of their food on you and saying their name throughout the day anytime you are seeking to gain your puppy’s attention and rewarding them when they respond. 

Shorter training sessions are better in the beginning as young puppies don’t have very long attention spans and can get tired and start tuning out. 

New owners sometimes make the mistake of trying to get their puppy to learn too much too soon. And the same goes for learning their name!  If you notice your pup's attention starts to fade during the training session, switch it up and finish up with some playtime. Always end training with fun to keep your puppy wanting to do more of it and looking forward to the next time.

Once your puppy starts to look at you when you say their name, you can start practicing in other spots in your home and slowly adding more distractions.

Tip: Don’t repeat your puppy’s name over and over again. It will lose value, they’ll start to tune you out, and they won’t respond to it! (The same goes when saying verbal obedience commands!)

Introduce challenges

And that brings us to our last tip: adding challenges. In this case, this means new locations and more distractions!

New environments always bring out the natural curiosity in puppies as they offer so many new things for them to take in. That instinct to explore and observe will present a challenge in gaining your puppy’s full focus.

In order to set you and your pup up for the biggest success, consistent practice sessions around your home (both indoors and outdoors) will help build up your puppy’s muscle memory in responding to you when you say their name. Start off in a more quiet area to minimize distractions, then slowly build on more distractions and new areas for them to get used to.

Tip: Keep in mind that it’s very common that when you introduce a new location, your puppy will often not listen right away. This is when you may need to rely more on leash guidance and high-value food rewards to gain their focus back on you again! Once they’re doing better, you can ease up again.

Teach your puppy to respond to you no matter what!

One of the most common requests we get from puppy owners is: “How do I get my puppy to come to me EVERY time I call them?”

In the trainer world, we call this “reliable recall”. And it all starts with your puppy learning their name really well!

In our Online Puppy Training School, we teach puppy parents simple yet effective routines that help advance your puppy’s listening skills so you can feel confident they will come to you, even when you’re in another room away from them, or when they’re heavily distracted!

For more info and to enroll today, check out The Puppy Academy Online School!

Tip: As your puppy gets older and becomes really good at this, you can start substituting praise and affection instead of food so your puppy learns to respond to their name whether or not you have food on you and continue their great name recognition routine.

For more tips like this on teaching your puppy their name or to come when called, join us each Wednesday at 1 pm PT on @thepuppyacademy Instagram for a live Ask a Puppy Trainer Q&A! Don’t forget to sign up for our Very Important Puppy mailing list for weekly puppy training, raising and care tips!

Check out these blogs related to puppy training and more!

8 Effective Ways to Bond with Your Puppy!

Why Puppies Bark and How to Stop it!

Canine Fitness Awareness: How to Keep Your Puppy Active & Healthy as They Grow!