Using Dog Ramps to Train Your Puppy

The best thing you can do for a new puppy when bringing them into your life is to limit their access to your home. They can't turn your new carpeting into their personal bathroom if they aren't given access to that carpeting until they are fully potty trained. They cannot turn your shoes into chew toys if your shoes are kept out of their living quarters.

The separation between your living areas and those that are free reign for your puppy doesn't have to last forever. It just has to last long enough for your puppy to learn how you want them to behave in your home. As they adapt to new skills and prove that they can live according to your rules they can be opened up to more and more of your home. Eventually, they can have complete freedom to go wherever they want and become a full member of the family.

So, what do dog ramps have to do with this gradual training process? They have a lot to do with it! Dog ramps used in the right manner can make training a new puppy to your rules easier and they may even make the process faster for some puppies.

Let's say you are working on potty training with the newest addition to your family. You obviously want to get them outside on a regular schedule which corresponds to their food and water schedule. One way to do this is to send a signal to the puppy when it is time to go potty. Most will learn very quickly that it is time to go potty whenever they see this sign. One great sign is to flip a dog ramp off the porch or deck down into the yard.

This is a great idea even if you have steps that dogs can easily get down to go potty. You are putting the ramp out only when it is time to go potty so they know exactly what you want them to do when they see you do this. The ramp is also a lot more fun for puppies to run up and down so they will look forward these moments when they get to run out in the yard.

You can also use small dog ramps inside the home for training purposes. Use the ramp to extend a welcoming bridge whenever you want to welcome your puppy into a new area of the home. For instance, if they can't climb up on the bed you don't want to give them access to this area until they are ready for it. They may spend some time whining at the foot of the bed from the floor but when the day comes that you drop down that ramp and welcome them up for brief moments of cuddle time they will know that they have reached a new point in their training.

When you don't want them on your bed you can keep the ramp up until they are fully trained, grown dogs that are well mannered and welcome at any time. This type of gradual learning is very hard to do if you don't have a dog ramp. Dogs are able to know their limits and where they cannot go by looking for the ramp.