Training is necessary for affens to be productive family members. Training may be in the form of simple housebreaking or learning to walk on a lead; training may also be more elaborate - from keeping off the furniture and not chewing on a favourite shoe to not jumping on visitors. In short, training involves everything relating to how an affen interacts with its family members, in particular, and society, in general.

You must decide what is important to teach you new puppy. This is a decision that must be made by the whole family. The rules for the dog must be followed by everyone. So if the dog is not to be allowed on the furniture, everyone must make sure that the affen is not allowed on the furniture, it is too confusing for the dog otherwise. Everything must be made black and white, there are no grey areas.

Like young children, affens are curious and love to explore. They eagerly test their world in a variety of ways. Once your affen realizes you are the source of its needs and wants, it will experiment with different ways of attracting your attention until one or more brings results. The object is to channel these natural inclinations into paths that are socially acceptable, as well as useful and helpful.

From the time a puppy enters your life it is learning and adapting its behaviour to you and its environment. Affens use modes of behaviour that yield maximum results with minimum of work. Thus, if your affen learns that whining or refusing to eat results in attention, it will continue to whine and turn its nose up at dinner. If eliminating indoors brings less comfort through discipline than the discomfort of waiting to go out, the affen will resist housebreaking. However, if your affen learns right from the start that your way of doing things results in praise and affection, while contrary ways result in a reprimand, it will choose the easier way. Making sure what you want is the easier and more desirable way is a fair definition of training.

The key in training is consistency, persistence, and knowing what you expect from you dog. Your affen should expect that you will consistently respond to a particular action with the same reaction. In training, this means certain actions are always prohibited and certain others are always encouraged. Inconsistency is the worst thing you can do in training a dog, it destroys the secure world in which all affens, at any age, seek to live. A well-trained affen knows what it can do and what it cannot do, and this is only established by consistent reinforcement.

Even though an Affenpinscher is a small dog, it still should be trained. If your dog can not settle down, or come when it is called, is not fun to live with. If your dog chews things, gets into trouble it is not the dogs fault that you have not trained him basic manners.

All dogs no matter the size should be taught to walk without pulling, sit and down, stay and come, not jump on people, etc. Use lots of praise, and short frequent trainings sessions and you will find your dog will respond quickly. It is important to take your puppy to classes and socialize it.

Housebreaking

Affenpinschers are notoriously hard to housetrain. It takes a lot of time and patience, but it can be done.

The only "trick" , that I have found to housebreaking an affen, is to apply the same system, being patient and understanding and diligent. This can be a very trying period in a puppy's life for both the new owner and the young pup, who's trying its best to please. I do not paper train my dogs, I find that it is too confusing and time consuming and to me you are basically telling your puppy that it is okay to relieve itself in the house Follow a simple set of rules.

The puppy must be allowed frequent access to the outdoors, and given a chance to urinate and defecate before being brought back inside. Once inside, you have two options. One is to restrict the puppy to a certain place in the house, such as the kitchen, while you keep a close eye on it. The other is to place the puppy in a comfortable but enclosed living and sleeping ... crate, until you can supervise its activities.

In either case, the puppy will be limited to a small area in which to play and sleep, an area that it will naturally be reluctant to soil. When accidents happen, mildly chastise the puppy and immediately take it to a familiar outdoor place. Young puppies need to eliminate often, so be sure to go outside frequently in the early days--right after each feeding and any time you suspect there's a need. The necessary outings will eventually be reduced, but control develops slowly. If you think that crates are cruel, rest assured that they are not when they are used judiciously. Many dogs appreciate having a designated space of their own, and certainly it is kind to accomplish housebreaking quickly and efficiently. Most housebreaking problems originate with the softhearted owner who lets an untrained puppy have free run of the house. The puppy then falls into the habit of soiling the floors and furniture, and for years afterward, may be subjected to constant corrections.

If you do use a crate, make sure it is big enough. A dog should be able to stand up and turn around in the crate. And never leave a dog in a crate all day. Give your puppy plenty of attention and playtime both in and out of the confinement area. Some apartment dwellers have a harder time with housebreaking because they can't get outside as often as necessary. Therefore, they may opt to use paper training as an intermediate step to full housebreaking.

To paper train a dog, begin by covering the entire floor of one room (preferably a small room such as the kitchen) with several layers of newspaper and confine the puppy to that area. Replace soiled newspapers with fresh ones as necessary. After a day or two, leave a small corner of the room bare. If the puppy chooses the bare corner to urinate or defecate, give a mild correction and place the puppy on the newspaper.

But remember, a correction is useful only if you catch the dog in the act. Never drag the puppy over to a soiled area and then scold it. Dogs are simply not able to understand what you are trying to teach them in that situation. They will not associate the correction with the housebreaking accident. If you cannot catch the puppy in the act, simply clean the mess and be patient with your dog. As the puppy grasps the idea of the paper, gradually decrease the amount of covered floor until you are left with a papered space equivalent to two full newspaper sheets. Allow the puppy to use that area for a little while as you start reinforcing the idea of eliminating outdoors. When the puppy seems to understand that the...[outdoors] is the proper place for elimination, remove the papers. During this transition time, watch carefully for any indication that the pup needs to go out, such as frantically searching for the papers [or going to the door] and respond immediately with a walk outside [on a leash]."