Hihi

In This Chapter Communicating to your Pom Figuring out your Pom’s communication system Motivating your pup to achieve Training the basic commands Adding some tricks to the repertoire Nobody likes a brat. Sure, the brat’s parents may think she’s just so cute, but everybody else — humans and canines — run at the sight of her. You don’t do your Pom any favors by letting her become the brat everybody avoids, and trust me, even a small dog can be a huge annoyance! Fortunately, she doesn’t need to be a scholar to become polite. A little home schooling, perhaps a short stint at a finishing school, and she’s ready to hold her own in any social gathering. But before you can train your Pomeranian, you’ll need to speak her language as much as she’ll need to speak yours. What you don’t want here is a failure to communicate. Talking to Your Pom Most people use such a mishmash of signals, it’s a wonder their dogs haven’t attacked them in their sleep just for being so confusing. The fact that dogs st...

  In This Chapter Setting the stage: The when and where of housetraining Managing the gotta-go schedule Defining the den Ready, set, go! When training comes up short: Special challenges Babies don’t come potty trained. Neither do puppies. Toy dog puppies, in particular, seem to take a little longer to housetrain — but at least their messes are miniature! As you soap up yet another Pomeranian puddle, don’t despair. By following some simple guidelines, you really can housetrain your Pom puppy. And if your adult Pom has problems, maybe she wasn’t trained well to start with. You can go back to basics and train her as though she’s a puppy. This chapter guides you in all you need to know — from getting started with the training to solving potty-behavior dilemmas. Deciding When and Where to Housetrain Your Pom Pup The best time to introduce housetraining is when your puppy is between 7 and 9 weeks of age. Younger puppies either don’t have the physical control to comply or can’t comprehend...